《Earth's Alpha Prime》 Chapter 1 - Prologue - Unexpected Notifications! It was Dec 31st, 2021, and a few minutes before midnight, I was awoken by the loud celebratory noises from my neighbourhood as it was New Year''s Eve. Everybody was in a great mood to wee the new year 2022, as the Covid pandemic settled down by the World Health Organization that made the Covid vine avable to everymon person in thest 2 months. So, even though it was a bit disturbing, I didn''t bother them by asking to keep the noise down. I plugged in a pair of noise-cancelling earphones in my ears and tried to go back to sleep. Just when I was about to drift into sleep, I heard some noise, but it was neither the sound of music nor the sounds of people partying in the neighbourhood. It was a rather strange voice since I couldn''t tell if it was a male voice or that of a female. So, I opened my sleepy eyes and found a series of light blue rectangr boxes that contained information that had appeared floating half a meter before my eyes, startling me. Those reminded me of notifications that could be seen on a phone or PC. But they looked more futuristic like a holograph, which was a 2D version of the hologram. These notifications were extremely peculiar, and even though they filled a part of my vision, I could see everything clearly as if the notifications were transparent. In general, upon observing a notification on either a phone, a PC or any other device, we have to read the content to understand it. But that was where the peculiar aspect of the strange notificationses into ce. The instant I looked at them, I understood all the content in notifications within a fragment of a second as if all the information within those notifications was transmitted to my mind. [System is assimting Earth with the rest of the Vast Universe.] [For efficient assimtion, a Trial Program is required so that System could record data from 1111 individuals with the Highest Potential Innate Abilities from the assimting.] [This Trial Program was further divided into 3 Sub Programs, namely, ALPHA Program, BETA Program, and GAMMA Program.] [These 1111 Individuals were further separated into 3 Programs ording to their Innate Abilities.] [The entire duration of the Trial Program is estimated to be 18 months, and the number of members assigned for each program was different] [ALPHA Program - 11 members - Beginning 3 months of 18 months.] [BETA Program - 111 members - Middle 6 months of 18 months.] [GAMMA Program - 1111 members - Final 9 months of 18 months.] [Congrattions! You are one of the 11 Chosen individuals among 7.8 billion for the ALPHA Program.] [As a Chosen member among 11 individuals of Alpha Program, you will be one of the first to begin the Trial Program.] [Once the three months of the ALPHA Program getspleted, BETA Program will begin. The 11 ALPHA members will continue with 100 other members chosen for BETA Program, bringing the individual count to join Beta Program to 111..] [After the six months of Beta Program getspleted, the 11 ALPHA members, along with 100 BETA members, will continue with another 1000 members chosen for Gamma Program, which brings the final individual Chosen count to 1111.] [When the GAMMA Program ends, it marks the end of the Trial Program and the assimtion with Earth begins.] [Survive, ovee danger, and grow stronger. All the Best.] [You will get teleported to the Trial zone in 1 minute, prepare yourself.] [Time Left: 60 Sec] Once I understood all the information in the strange notifications, I recovered from my daze. I tried to move away from those notifications but to no avail since they followed me as if they were attached to me. I tried to touch the notification that began a 60-second countdown, but my hand passed through it, almost like the notification was non-existent. But when I concentrated on them, I was able to mentally move them to a side of my vision. My face was filled with disbelief from the unbelievable interaction with notifications. Even though I didn''t believe all the unusual information, the existence of the abnormal notifications caused me to reason with my self to prepare for the scenario where I might really get teleported. Chapter 2 - [STATUS] [Time Left: 57 sec] With 3 seconds already lost, I didn''t dally any longer and rushed towards my wardrobe and quickly wore a ck Track Suit and a pair of sports shoes. This might be the quickest I have ever changed my clothes. In a rush, I picked my small duffel bag that was ced on the top right corner of my wardrobe, and I nced at the countdown notification. [Time Left: 32 sec] I didn''t have a lot of time, so I moved as swiftly as possible and slipped two pairs of clothes, a pair of boxing wraps into my bag and ran towards the kitchen. There I grabbed a few high-calorie foods and stuffed them in my bag along with a Kitchen knife which was lying nearby. When I thought I finished my preparations, I looked back at the countdown notification. [Time Left: 9 sec] In thesest 9 seconds, I ruffled my long hair that reached my nape. A sudden realisation hit me, because if the information in the notifications were really true, then it wouldn''t be possible for me to return to earth for another 18 months. Since I was living alone, if my family don''t hear from me for several days they would be worried. If I was out of contact for 18 months, they would freak out and might even believe that I was kidnapped or killed. Intending to send a message to them, I rushed towards my bedroom to my phone that was left on the bedside table, while carrying the mini duffel bag on my back. While running towards my bed, I shouted, "Hey Siri, Send a voice message to Kay!" By the time I was near it, the iPhone screen had brightened up, and an animated Siri Orb appeared on the screen along with a message that stated, "OK, recording...". I didn''t make a normal phone call because it was midnight and it would have taken a few seconds before my younger triplet brother ''Kay'' could pick up my call. Once the recording started, I started speaking as fast as I could in a serious tone, "Kay, listen to me carefully, I might be out of contact for the next 18 months for an unexinable reason. Tell the rest of the family that I went on a long overseas business trip or something like that or else they would be worried sick. Ok, bye!" After that, I stopped speaking, and in a second, ?Siri? disyed a wave of the recording on the screen along with options to Send, Cancel, and a y button to rey the recording. Just as I tapped the send option on the screen, I vanished from the spot where I stood and my phone fell on my bedside table. After that, I appeared in a dense forest, and with utmost self-control, I suppressed my urge to puke from the teleportation. I searched my vicinity and found no living beings. In the first few seconds, I got agitated about being teleported to an unknown forest terrain in an unknown area but as I calmed down, I was actually d that I prepared myself, instead of ignoring the notifications. The forest around me was primitive. I was in awe of the size and majesty of the trees around me because the height of the surrounding trees were mostly above 20 meters with an average width of 4 meters. After a few seconds of amazement, I ran towards an enormous tree that had a burrow with a diameter of 1 meter. I carefully checked if any other creatures were inside the tree burrow and sighed a breath of relief after not finding any signs of other living creatures. What surprised me was the space that was prettyrge for a burrow. I entered it and even being 6 feet tall, I had to stand on my toes while stretching my hand vertically to touch the top of the burrow space. I stealthily went outside while crouching and harvested a few nearby bushes to cover the burrow entrance whilst retreating inside the burrow. It was dark because I covered the entrance, but I wasn''t concerned about that. I sat down and gathered my thoughts about those notifications and summarised it shortly within my mind. An entity named ''System'' is assimting Earth with the rest of the Universe. Due to that, the system requires data from individuals with the Innate Abilities with the highest potential. I am still clueless about innate abilities. Among the 3 Sub-Programs of the Trial Program, the ALPHA program was the first to be started. That means only 11 Chosen got teleported into this Trial Zone. After three months will another 100 individuals get selected for the BETA Program to enter the Trial zone. Since I couldn''t discover any of the remaining 10 Alpha Chosen near me, I realised that they must have been teleported randomly within the Trial Zone. I tried tomunicate with this ''System'' but was only met with awkward silence. After that, I mumbled to myself, "If I want to survive, hiding won''t do as I don''t know how long I''ll have to stay in this ce." That was why I decided to find a water source and sources of food, and while I was deep in thought, a glint located at top-left of my vision interrupted my train of thought. [ALPHA Program, Day - 1, Time - 00:12:47] It showed the time from when I teleported to the Trial Zone. Another discovery is that I found a letter ''S'' at the top right of my vision. I thought about it, and a notification tab abruptly appeared in front of me. ___________________________ [STATUS] Name: Jay Age: 23 Race: Lesser Human (Male) Level: N/A Life Energy: 25/100 Tier: N/A Strength: 12 Agility: 10 Vitality: 11 Endurance: 12 Spirit: 8 Health: 110/110 Stamina: 60/60 Spirit Energy: 40/40 Luck: 7 Undistributed Stats: 0 INNATE TALENT: (Grade Unknown) (Locked) ___________________________ Chapter 3 - Unknown Grade INNATE TALENT When I first received notifications, a simr situation urred once again when this tab appeared. It only took a fraction of a second for me to go through all the information within the Status tab as all its contents got instantly projected into my mind. Even though I vaguely understood the meaning behind attributes such as Strength, Agility, and so on, I didn''t get a clear understanding of them. While mulling over it, I subconsciously concentrated on the attribute ''Strength,'' and another notification appeared, giving me a clear understanding. [Strength: Increases muscle power and attack power.] Through this idental discovery, I concentrated on the remaining attributes, and few other notifications appeared. [Agility: Increases movement speed, reaction speed, and reflexes.] [Vitality: Increases overall Health, Regeneration properties, and Immunity from diseases.] [Spirit: Increases perception of time, thought processing speed, critical thinking, all five senses, Spirit Pool.] [Endurance: Increases overall Stamina and Body Constitution like bone density, tendon strength, ligament strength, skin hardness, and improves overall body defense.] [Luck: Increases probability of getting a Higher Grade Item from killing monsters and surviving a life and death situation. Undistributed stats can not increase it and extremely difficult to obtain.] [Health=Vitality x 10, Stamina=Endurance x 5, Spirit Energy=Spirit x 5] Now that I got a clear grasp of the six attributes, I concentrated on other unknown words such as Life Energy, Level, and Innate Talent. [LIFE ENERGY: Life Energy is the Life Source of every being.] [Through the System, you will absorb Life Energy by killing creatures.] [LEVEL: Once Life Energy reaches a specific value, one can increase its level. With every level increment, you will get five undistributed stats to boost Attributes to be powerful.] [INNATE TALENT: Once assimted with the System, every individual will awaken an Innate talent or Innate Skill, and rarely some Awaken both.] [Throughout the Universe, all the Innate talents were separated into five categories.] [ELEMENTAL Category, WEAPON Category, MARTIAL Category, VARIANT Category, UNIQUE Category] [Except for Unique Category Innate Talents, the other 4 Innate talent Categories have 10 Grades.] [The Higher the Grade of the Innate talent, the higher their Affinity and Comprehension within that Innate Talent Category.] [Grades of Unique Category Innate Talents are Unknown and are the rarest of all the 5 Categories.] [INNATE SKILL: These skills mostly depend on the Species of the individual.] After going through these descriptions, I got some theoretical knowledge about my ''Status.'' I didn''t get any description when I concentrated on my Innate Talent as it was locked. I couldn''t find any clue to unlock my Innate Talent, and for now, I left it at that and kept on thinking about my future course of actions while conservatively drinking water from one of the two water bottles that I brought along with me. I decided on scouting my nearby surroundings to get some idea of what was there in the Trial zone. Slowly, I tied my boxing wraps around my hand till it covered my wrist and walked out with the Kitchen knife in my right hand, and ced the bushes back at the entrance of the tree''s burrow to keep it hidden. Through the position of the sun above me, I made myself a hypothetical east direction. I moved towards the East, where the tree''s density looks high since I could have more trees and bushes to take cover. While I was moving by taking cover, I didn''t forget to mark the trees to find my way back to my tree hideout. Every 20 meters, I would stop and thoroughly look at my surroundings for any potential danger or edible fruits. After I travelled for nearly 500 meters, I finally heard some voices talking in an unknownnguage. I carefully moved towards the direction where the noise ising from. I saw 2 Green midgets with pointy ears and ugly faces through the bushes, one with a rusty Sword and another one with a rusty mace. To my surprise, they already sensed my presence and rushed towards me. I picked up a small stone, and when they got even closer, I threw it at the green midget with a rusty mace in its hand. The stone I threw hit its head and slowed the second Green midget down, and with my rtively fit body, it was easy to dodge the iing sh from the first Green midget. Now that the first Green midget missed the attack, there was an opening in its defense. Since they attacked first, intending to kill me, I swept thest bit of hesitation to the back of my head and took advantage of the opening to stab it in the neck with my Kitchen knife. The moment it died, two notifications appeared on the left side of my vision. [Lv.3 Goblin Killed] [75 Life Energy obtained] [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.1 (Stage-1).] [Lv.1: Lv.1 Dagger Training methods will get transferred into your mind.] [Lv.1 (Locked).] Even though I ignored the notifications, the information in them directly passed to my mind, and I felt like I had trained with a dagger for ten days and instinctively changed my standard grip over the Kitchen knife to that of a reverse grip. Along with the familiar feeling over Dagger, I somehow knew a set of Dagger moves for practicing. I can imagine myself performing those moves and what felt even strange was that I couldn''t produce those movements correctly as if I needed to practice them more. Through these notifications, I came to know that the creatures that attacked me were Goblins. I picked the Rusty Sword from the dead Goblin and moved towards the other Goblin. Watching me kill the first Goblin, the second one went even more aggressive and even though it was short in stature, it heavily swung the rusty mace upwards aiming at the side of my head. I understood its intention and instead of moving away, I dodged it by ducking down and shed at its knees with the Rusty Sword. In that way, dodging and attacking can be done at the same time. It fell to the ground with blood gushing out from its knees. I jumped towards it and stabbed it in the chest with both of the Kitchen knife and Rusty Sword. [Lv.4 Goblin Killed] [100 Life Energy obtained] [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.1 (Stage-1).] [Lv.1: Lv.1 Sword Training methods will get transferred into your mind.] [Lv.1 (Locked).] [Congrattions! You have reached Lv.1] [5 Undistributed Stats are avable] [ is unlocked] I even forgot about my increase in level and newly gained and focused on the notification about as I was curious about my Innate Talent description. ___________________ [(Unique Category) (Grade Unknown)] - Able to loot away 10% Stats -Able to choose one of these (INNATE TALENT / INNATE SKILL / WEAPON MASTERY / SKILL) from any existence within 1 hour of its death. ___________________ "Dammn!!" It was the only word that left my mouth. Just by thinking about the potential of my Innate Talent, I stood there in amazement, and only after a few seconds did I recover from dazing. I wanted to check out my Unique Category Innate talent, , and the situation is suitable with two dead bodies of Goblins. I looked towards the dead Goblin that I killed first and activated with a thought. ___________________ [Choose one of these to loot from the Dead Lv.3 Goblin.] {1.} Lv.2 (Common): Dexterity of fingers increases by two-fold. {2.} Lv.3 (Common): Ability to see clearly in the dark, within the range of 30 meters. {3.} Lv.1 (Stage-1): Lv.1 Sword Training methods will get transferred into your mind. ___________________ I could look at their descriptions while using . After a brief consideration, I chose the Skill since I already gained Minor Sword Mastery by myself, and the Innate Talent only increases dexterity of fingers. After choosing what I wanted, I saw transparent energy flowing from the dead Goblin towards me and entered my chest. [7 Stats Looted] [Lv.3 (Common) Looted] [By acquiring Looted Stats, you have awakened your 1st Innate Exclusive Skill, .] [: A Unique Secondary Status is created for Looted Stats.] While I am not sure exactly how this worked, I didn''t check it out and saved it for experimentingter. I can''t dally any longer near these dead Goblins as their blood smell will attract more trouble for me. I nced at the second dead Goblin and once again activated . _________________________ [Choose one of these to loot from the Dead Lv.4 Goblin.] Lv.4 (Common): Dexterity of fingers increases by four-fold. Lv.4 (Common): Ability to see clearly in the dark within the range of 40 meters. Lv.1 (Stage-1): Lv.1 Mace Training methods will get transferred into your mind. _________________________ If I had checked both of them before choosing through , I could have noticed that there was a higher level Skill, but I didn''t dwell on it and chose the Skill, Nimble fingers, since I had already looted Skill. [8 Stats Looted] [Lv.4 (Common) Looted] Chapter 4 - 1st INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILL - I didn''t dally any longer and left the area where any other monsters might appear because of the smell of dead Goblin''s blood. It took me 20 minutes to carefully reach my tree hideout. I repeated the process of covering the entrance with bushes. I entered the tree burrow, and it becamepletely dark inside. I tried to use the newly obtained Skill and a notification popped up. [Merging with will cause a permanent change within your eyes. [Do you wish to merge with ?] I epted it after thinking my survival takes more priority than my eye appearance. The moment I epted it, I felt a painful burning sensation within my eyes. While I was enduring pain, two notifications popped up. [Lv.1 (Common) obtained.] [Lv.1 : Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 1%.] [Lv.1 ? Lv.2 ] [Lv.2 : Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 2%.] Even though I can''t look at it, all the information contained within the notification was directly sent to my mind. I was intrigued to find that Skills can be even learned in such a fashion. And the pain sensation slowly washed away after a few seconds. To my amazement, when I opened my eyes, I could see in the dark. Even though it was not as clear as day, everything was clearly visible within my vicinity. Still, the colours were rather dull than clear. I couldn''t see what kind of change urred in the appearance of my eyes. So, I left it and tried to use another newly obtained Innate Skill, . [Merging with will cause a permanent change within your body.] [Do you wish to merge with ?] I epted it. Instead of a burning sensation, I experienced a shock coursing from my brain to fingers on my hands through my nerves, almost as if I was experiencing an electric shock. It continued for a few seconds. [Lv.2 ? Lv.3 ] [Lv.3 : Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 3%.] When I recovered, I felt a strange sensation within my fingers and they started moving subconsciously at a rapid pace. Strangely it looked like I was ying the Piano. Within another few seconds, my control over my fingers improved. I started testing my Skill in a somewhat risky way. I ced the kitchen knife''s pointy edge between my fingers and slowly started tapping between my fingers and started increasing the tapping speed. I strangely felt confident in controlling the knife within my hand. The speed at which I was tapping was at an unprecedented and was very controlled. I enjoyed the adrenaline rush while ying such a dangerous game, and after that, I took out some food from my mini trekking bag to eat. While eating, I thought about the notifications that appeared after I killed those Goblins. A tab of information opened in the left portion of my vision, which contained the records of all the previous notifications I received. I closed the information tab and looked at the top left corner of my vision to check the time. [ALPHA Program, Day - 1, Time - 01:05:09] It''s been 1 hour and 5 minutes since I got teleported. I curiously opened my and found as ''INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILL'' under my ''INNATE TALENT'' category. By concentrating on it, my tab flipped on its back, and some information simr to that of the ''STATUS'' tab appeared. Still, the Attributes in this tab has different values. ___________________ [LOOTED STATUS] (Secondary) Name - Jay Age - 23 Race - Lesser Human Expected Level - N/A* Estimated Tier - N/A Strength - 0* Agility - 0* Vitality - 0* Endurance - 0* Spirit - 0* Luck - 7 Health - 0*/0* Stamina - 0*/0* Spirit Energy - 0*/0* Looted Stats - 15* INNATE TALENT[ - (Grade Unknown) INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILL - [SKILLS] Common Grade - Lv.3, Lv.4, Lv.3 [RESISTANCE] Physical Pain Resistance - 3% [SPIRIT ITEMS] Common Grade - [WEAPON MASTERY] STAGE 1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - LV.1 - LV.1 (Locked) STAGE 1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - LV.1 - LV.1 (Locked) ___________________ The tab had nothing about Life Energy. There was ''Estimated Level'' in the ce of ''Level'' and ''Estimated Tier'' instead of ''Tier.'' Except for the unchanged Luck attribute, all other Attributes present in were 0. Beside each Stat value, there was a star mark showing that the Stats were Looted Stats. It also contains an additional detail called ''Looted Stats'' instead of ''Undistributed Stats.'' I tried to see if I could add these ''Looted Stats'' to my attributes and found that I could change nothing. When I was in deep thought while looking at the , a notification appeared as I identally concentrated on the word, Looted Status. [Looted Stats in should be at least double than Overall Stats in except for Luck, to use Looted Stats.] Then I understood that all thebined stats in the 5 main Attributes such as Strength, Agility, Vitality, Endurance, and Spirit in needed to be twice their corresponding Attributes in for me to use the Looted Stats. I looked forward to using Looted Stats as it exponentially increases my chance of survival in this unknown ce. Since I had nothing to do in , I thought of themand , and the tab flipped back, and the tab appeared in my sight. ___________________ [STATUS] (Primary) Name - Jay Age - 23 Race - Lesser Human (Male) Life Energy - 175/300 Level - 1 (Low-Phase) Tier - 1 Strength - 12 Agility - 10 Vitality - 11 Endurance - 12 Spirit - 8 Luck - 7 Health - 110/110 Stamina - 60/60 Spirit Energy - 40/40 Undistributed Stats - 5 INNATE TALENT[ - (Grade Unknown) INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILL - [SKILLS] Common Grade - Lv.3, Lv.4, Lv.3 [RESISTANCE] Physical Pain Resistance - 3% [SPIRIT ITEMS] Common Grade - [WEAPON MASTERY] STAGE 1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - LV.1 - LV.1 (Locked) STAGE 1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - LV.1 - LV.1 (Locked) ___________________ Chapter 5 - Successive Level Ups In With an expecting look on my face, I added 1 Undistributed Stat to the Strength attribute and instantly felt my muscles squirm along with some increment in muscr strength. [Undistributed Stats: 5 ? 4] [Strength: 12 ? 13] I tried lifting my mini trekking bag and amazed to find that my bag feels even lighter than its actual weight. I became sure that I can distribute Stats into Attributes and carefully pondered which attribute I should increase for higher survival chances. I finally concentrated on increasing the 3 main physical attributes, namely Strength, Agility, and Endurance. With that in mind, I added 3 Undistributed Stats to the Agility Attribute and 1 Undistributed Stat to the Endurance attribute. [Undistributed Stats: 4 ? 0] [Agility: 10 ? 13] [Endurance: 12 ? 13] [Stamina: 60/60 ? 65/65] Moderate pain coursed through my body since I added 3 Stats to Agility at once, but it was still bearable. My reflexes, reaction speed, and control over my body increased by a notable amount with increased 3 stats in Agility Attribute. I tried punching in the air and found that I could punch way faster than my average punching speed and also felt my body be lighter than usual. I felt that my body became more sturdy because of the increase in the Endurance attribute, and even my skin felt harder than before. Because of the change in ''Endurance,'' my ''Stamina'' increased. I thought back to the word ''Common'' beside Lv.3 Skill and wondered about what the Skill''s higher grades might be. Suddenly I remembered about finding more information when I identally concentrated on the word, ''LOOTED STATUS.'' So, I tried to do the same thing by opening the tab and concentrated on the word ''Common Grade.'' It worked, and another notification appeared beside my tab. [These are the 10 Grades for Skills and Spirit Items in downward ascending order. ********** 1. Common 2. UnCommon 3. Rare 4. Epic 5. Legendary 6. Mythical 7. Sovereign 8. Ancient 9. Divine 10. God ********** With the recent information, I understood what existed above the Common Grade. I found that these Skill Grades are also the same for Spirit Items. Thinking about Spirit Items, I noticed the Rusty Sword I ced beside my trekking bag. I picked it up, and since the sword was rusty, I tried to go close and observe the cracks on the de, and suddenly a notification popped up. [Because of your actions, you have gained Lv.1 (Common)]. [Lv.1: able to find information about anything, as long as the Skill''s grade and level meet the requirements.] I learned that I could gain Skills by doing particr actions. I was also d to get such a convenient skill. Still, its level was pretty low, so I started using it on everything in my vicinity by starting with the Kitchen knife. [Kitchen Knife - A knife that is intended to be used in food preparation. It does not increase any Stats since it is not a Spirit Item.] [Mini Trekking Bag - A bag that is intended for carrying things for long distances on climbing terrains. It does not increase any Stats since it is not a Spirit Item.] By the time Ipleted using the Skill, on all the things in my bag, the Skill had increased in Level. [Lv.1 (Common) ? Lv.2 (Common)] Finally, I used Inspect Skill on the Rusty Sword, and its description appeared. _________________________ [ (Common Grade)] - A heavily chipped yet somehow sharp Sword that got abandoned because of weariness of time. Effect: Strength+3^ Requirements: 10 Strength Condition: Decayed Durability: 38/100 _________________________ [Do you wish to form a bond with ?] I epted it mentally and instantly felt a surge in my strength as my muscles painfully squirmed for a few seconds. My muscles got bulkier, and well-defined abs showed up. [Strength: 16 (13+3^)] Even though I work out daily, I never had such defined muscles and abs. I didn''t feel such a change when I only added 1 Stat to Strength Attribute, and now that I added 3 Stats, my strength increased visibly. I felt a mental connection with the Rusted Short Sword, and through this, I could sense the Short Sword''s condition. With the increased strength, the weight of the Rusted Short Sword felt almost negligible. With a bit of experimentation, I noticed that even if I let go of the Rusty Short Sword after the bond formed, I still had the extra 3 Stats in Strength Attribute. The Stats added from Spirit Item got marked with Caret (^) symbol. After going through that, I turned my attention to the ''Weapon Mastery'' section. I wanted to try out the and when I got after killing the Goblins but waited for the right time to test it. "Now that I got a proper understanding of details in both of my Statuses, it is time for me to check out how Weapon Mastery works." I held on to the . I tried to practice the Sword stances and moves from the Lv.1 Sword training methods that I received directly into my mind when I gained the Lv.1 . While practising Lv.1 Sword training methods, I felt like I already knew how to use the basic Sword moves and stances. Still, my body didn''t have the required muscle memory to perform those exact Sword moves. It felt a lot easier to practice knowing how to practice precisely, and I went into a state of concentration. After 5 minutes of intense practice, a light grey-coloured sma light appeared flowing around the in my hand. [Congrattions! You unlocked Lv.1 byprehending Lv.1.] [Lv.1: Damage Output increases by 10% when used on Sword Spirit Item. Cost: 1 Spirit Energy per minute.] I didn''t find any difference when I practised by coating the Sword Aura around . So, I shed at the ground once, and for the next sh, I deactivated the Sword Aura, and the damage behind the Sword sh was less than when I coated the weapon with . To put it simply, if my attack can bring out imaginary damage of 100 points, then when I add Sword Aura for the same attack, the imaginary damage output will be 110. I also noticed that the durability of the decreased while using the Sword Aura. [Due to using on Rusted Short Sword for prolonged periods, its durability decreased by 1.] [Durability: 37/100] With that, I deactivated the Sword Aura to save durability and continued with my practice. After another 5 minutes of practising with Sword, a notification appeared to congratte me. [Congrattions! You have advanced to Lv.2 byprehending Lv.1.] [Lv.2: Lv.2 Sword Training methods will get transferred into your mind.] [Lv.1 will advance to Lv.2 byprehending Lv.2 .] My familiarity with Sword increased yet again, and I felt like I had been training with swords for a month. Information about some advanced Sword training methods appeared in my mind. Typically, to learn a skill, it would take dedicated years of training and dedication. Still, by assimting with the System, I could learn at an extreme pace, and it felt magical to learn so much in a short 10 minutes. I became excited about the new prospect and set my priority to practice and increase my Minor Sword Mastery Level to increase my survivability. I even brought food that couldst me for 2 days if eaten conservatively; I didn''t worry about food for some time and started practising the Sword training methods. After a few minutes, I got another notification. [Congrattions! You have advanced to Lv.2 byprehending Lv.2.] [Lv.2: Damage Output increases by 20% when used on Sword Spirit Item. Cost: 2 Spirit Energy per minute.] When I closely watched, I found an interesting point. When my increased from Level 1 to Level 2, the Light grey coloured Aura became brighter and caused 20% more than my actual damage. I didn''t stop at that, and the Intense practice continued for 12 hours with many brief breaks in between to recover my Stamina. The result of my hard work appeared in the notification. [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.11 byprehending Lv.10.] [Lv.11: Lv.11 Sword Training methods will get transferred into your mind.] Lv.10 will advance to Lv.11 byprehending Lv.11 .] After acquiring Lv.11, Even though I got mentally tired, I persisted in practising to advance to Lv.11. Previously when I advanced to Lv.10 [Minor Sword Mastery], the grey coloured Aura grew brighter to the point it wasn''t Grey anymore. When I gained Lv.11 [Minor Sword Mastery], a few Cyan coloured sparks started appearing within the pure Grey coloured Aura. I became eager to know what might happen to Lv.10 when it reaches Lv.11. After another 30 minutes of training, Iid exhausted on the ground while looking excitedly at the newly popped up notifications. Chapter 6 - Stage-2 [Congrattions! You have advanced to Lv.11 byprehending Lv.11.] [Congrattions! Your and upgraded from Stage-1 to Stage-2.] [Congrattions! You gained the Mastery Perk by reaching Stage-2.] [Congrattions! You have met 1 of the three requirements for Tier-2 Evolution.] __________________________________ [Tier-2 Evolution Requirements]: {1} Reach Stage-2 Sword Mastery ? {2} Obtain enough Life Energy that is required to reach Lv.11 ? {3} Obtain 1 Umon Achievement Title and 3 Common Achievement Titles ? __________________________________ [Congrattions! You received an Achievement Title, ] [A new section for Achievement Titles got added to your .] I was able to understand some important information from the new notifications that popped up. First of all, my Stage-1 Upgraded into a Stage-2, and even though I was eager to check it out, I could barely move in that condition of Low Stamina. [Stamina: 3/65] Second, by achieving Stage-2, (Lv.11 - Lv.20) and Stage-2 Sword Mastery (Lv.11 - Lv.20), I even fulfilled one requirement to undergo Tier 2 Evolution. Third, the Evolution to Tier-2 will ur when trying to reach Lv.11 by crossing Lv.10, and I also need 1 Umon Achievement Title and 3 Common Achievement Titles for Tier-2 Evolution. Finally, to find out more about Achievement Titles, I opened my Status tab and found a new section in it. _____________________ [Achievement Title]: (Common) Effect: Endurance+5¡ã _____________________ After looking at the Training Maniac-I Achievement Title and the Stats added through Achievement Title, there was a " ¡ã " symbol. I received another notification above the Status tab. [Do you wish to activate the Achievement Title, ?] I dly epted it, and in the exact moment, where Iid on the ground withplete exhaustion, what I needed the most was Endurance. [Warning: Sudden increase of 5¡ã Stats in Endurance causes severe pain.] [Do you wish to proceed in Safety mode?] [In Safety Mode, Stats will get added periodically so that your body can easily adjust to its improvements.] I selected Safe Mode as I felt it was not worth experiencing extreme pain since it was not critical to immediately needed Stats. [Endurance: 13 ? 14] [Stamina: 8/70] I felt my body bing sturdier, and along with that, my Stamina also increased by 5 points. With the recovered Stamina, I plodded the bushes at the entrance and looked outside. The Sunlight was still there, and it was even brighter; I ced my hand within the sunlight, and the shadow was slightly below, showing that it was a little past afternoon. The new revtion baffled me and inwardly wondered to myself, ''Just how many hours are there in this ce for a day toplete?'' As there was nothing I could do about it, I pulled my Mini trekking bag to use it as a pillow and went into a deep sleep. ********** Just as I woke up, what greeted me was a notification. [Endurance: 14 ? 18] [Stamina: 90/90] I mentally swiped them off and checked the time on the top left of my vision. [ALPHA Program, Day - 1, Time - 18:04:11] I slept for nearly 4 hours, and it''s been 18 hours since I got teleported. Because of all the heat, I wasn''t able to sleep properly. I felt a drastic change in my body became even sturdier, but it didn''t show much of a change in my appearance. Because of an increase in Endurance Attribute, even when I only slept for 4 hours, I felt refreshed, but the problem was that my body took a toll from the increase in my constitution, and that caused my stomach to let out a hungry roar. I started eating food ravenously like I had been starving for a few days, and without realizing, I almost depleted all of my food items. Then I went out and search for alternative food and water sources. For that, I need to prepare myself for any encounter with monsters. So, I checked the Weapon Mastery section in my Status tab for the . __________________________________ [WEAPON MASTERY] STAGE 1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - Lv.1 - Lv.1 (Locked) STAGE 2 (Lv.11 - Lv.20) - Lv.11 - Lv.11 - __________________________________ [Lv.11: Damage Output increases by 110% when used on Sword Spirit Item. Cost: 11 Spirit Energy per minute.] [ - The Sword Aura bes sharper as it extends beyond the Sword and the overall Damage output increases by 2 fold. Cost: 11 Spirit Energy per Second.] After noticing the description of Stage-2, I tried out using it on my , and a Cyan coloured aura started flowing on it. With reaching Stage-2, my control over the sword aura increased to an even higher level. I tried to use the , and an even sharper Cyan coloured Aura appeared, and it extended beyond the Sword tip and the , which was a half meter long, looked like it became one and a half meters long. The doubles the already increased overall damage, including the additional damage from . When used inbat as a surprise attack, it can be quite deadly! The problem was it consumes a lot of Spirit Energy and even affects Stamina. Once again, I received a notification saying that Rusty Short Sword''s Durability decreased, and this time it even reduced by 3 points at once. Even my Stamina and Spirit Energy decreased by 5 points and 11points, respectively. [Durability: 37/100 ? 34/100] [Spirit Energy: 40/40 ? 29/40] [Stamina: 90/90 ? 85/90] I deactivated the , and I waited for 15 minutes to recover my Stamina and Spirit Energy. Meanwhile, I changed my clothes, took out the Boxing wraps from my bag, and tied them around my knuckles and wrist to have a better grip while holding the Rusted Short Sword. When I get injured, I could even use boxing wraps like a bandage to stop bleeding. I prepared myself to forage the surrounding area in search of any alternatives for food and water sources. Before going out, I checked my tab. __________________________________ [STATUS] (Primary) Name - Jay Age - 23 Race - Lesser Human Life Energy - 175/300 Level - 1 (Low-Phase) Tier - 1 Strength - 16 (13+3^) Agility - 13 Vitality - 11 Endurance - 18 (13+5¡ã) Spirit - 8 Luck - 7 Health - 110/110 Stamina - 90/90 Spirit Energy - 40/40 Undistributed Stats - 0 INNATE TALENT[ - (Grade Unknown) INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILL - [SKILLS] Common Grade - Lv.3 , Lv.3 , Lv.4 , Lv.3 [RESISTANCE] Physical Pain Resistance - 3% [SPIRIT ITEMS] Common Grade - [WEAPON MASTERY] STAGE 1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - Lv.1 - Lv.1 (Locked) STAGE 2 (Lv.11 - Lv.20) - Lv.11 - Lv.11 - __________________________________ Chapter 7 - For the next 15 minutes, I cautiously travelled towards the west direction. After wandering for 500 meters, I finally found a tree that had fruits. But that tree was entirely different from the surrounding trees. It looked like a blooming peach tree, but its leaves were light red, and it stood only 3 meters tall. Whenpared to the surrounding trees, it looked like a small nt. As it was different from the other trees, I used [Inspect] on the fruits with a curious look to check if they were edible or not. [(Common Grade): An edible fruit which can recover 25 ''Stamina'' upon consumption.] I was ted to finally find some edible food and what''s even more beneficial was that these fruits could even increase stamina upon consumption. But the problem was that there was a strange cave situated closer to the red tree. When I went closer to the tree, noises in the form of clicks sounded from the cave and suddenly many spiders of different sizes starteding out of the cave. The height of the smallest spider was at my knee-length while the tallest one among them reached my waist-length. I used [Inspect] on thergest Spider right away. [Lv.10 Poisonous Spider] [Poisonous Spider: a lesser race among Arachnid Species] I didn''t get further information like its stats and abilities because [Inspect] Skill level was low but I could see that it was the ring leader of the colony of poisonous spiders. The Spider Matriach made a few low purring sounds and all the spiders in the colony started rushing towards me as I was their mortal enemy. Still, I didn''t back down from the fight since it was unknown when I could find food again, and by eating those fruits, I could even recover stamina instantly. The smaller spiders fearlessly leapt towards me at high speeds. Then, I coated the Cyan coloured Sword aura on the surface of the Rusty Short Sword and kept on slicing the spiders that jumped at me into 2 pieces before they could evennd on my body, and I used the Rusty Short Sword in the right hand and the kitchen knife in the left one. Since I couldn''t practice in Lv.1 Dagger training methods without the Dagger Spirit weapon, I couldn''t use Aura upon the Kitchen Knife. I even tried to use the Sword Aura on the Kitchen knife; it simply didn''t work. With my Lv.11 Sword Mastery, my Sword Skills were extraordinarily smooth, and It was as if I trained in the way of Sword for all my life. Except for the Lv.10 Poisonous Spider Matriach, all the other poisonous spiders that were attacking me were Lv.3 and below. Moreover, all the spiders seemed to have fewer stats than what an Lv.3 creature should have. Even though they were individually weak, I was still not in an advantageous position in the fight since their strength lied in high numbers. With that, I couldn''t go full-on offensive since I had to defend myself from the spiders from getting bitten. But as time passed, I was able to kill them steadily, and notifications kept on popping up. I wasn''t distracted from the sudden appearance of notifications as all the information contained within the notifications was directly transferred into my mind. [Lv.3 Poisonous Spider Killed] [75 Life Energy Obtained] [Lv.3 Poisonous Spider Killed] [75 Life Energy Obtained] [Congrattions! You have reached Lv.2] [5 Undistributed Stats are avable.] When I levelled up, I added Undistributed Stats into Spirit Attribute. Since I was using [Sword Aura], my Spirit Energy depleted by 11 Spirit Energy every minute. At the same time, I feared that if I were to add 5 Stats at once, I might not be in a fighting condition for a moment as that would leave an opening in my defence, and the Poisonous Spiders could bite me. So, I started increasing my Spirit Attribute by 1 Stat with a gap of 10 seconds each. Once the Stats in Spirit Attribute crossed 10, all my senses became even more precise, and even the speed at which my thoughts process increased. Above all these, there was an even more useful function, which was the increase in time perception. It felt like time around me slowed, and the movements of the poisonous spiders slowed down. [Undistributed Stats: 5 ? 0] [ Spirit: 8 ? 13] [Spirit Energy: 22/40 ? 47/65] After my senses improved, the rate at which I killed the spiders also increased. [Lv.2 Poisonous Spider Killed] [50 Life Energy Obtained] ... ... ... [Lv.3 Poisonous Spider Killed] [75 Life Energy Obtained] [Congrattions! You have reached Lv.3] [5 Undistributed Stats are avable] I added 3 Stats to Agility Attribute in the same way I did while adding Stats to Spirit Attribute. As my Agility Attribute increased slowly, I didn''t feel any surge that could improve my speed. Still, the control over my Body Muscle movement grew, and my body felt lighter. My overall body bnce and flexibility increased along with my reaction speed. [Undistributed Points: 5 ? 2] [Agility: 13 ? 16] When both my Strength Attribute and Agility Attribute had the same Stats, I felt a strange sense of harmony. Then I was able to use all the untapped potential within my strengthened muscles. The rate at which the Poisonous Spiders died under my sword also increased. Chapter 8 - When my Strength and Agility Attributes had the same Stats, I felt a strange sense of harmony. Then I could use all the untapped potential within my strengthened muscles. The rate at which I killed the Poisonous Spiders also increased. [Lv.2 Poisonous Spider Killed] [Lv.2 Poisonous Spider Killed] [LV.3 Poisonous Spider Killed] ¡­ ¡­ [LV.4 Poisonous Spider Killed] [LV.2 Poisonous Spider Killed] [LV.3 Poisonous Spider Killed] [Congrattions! You have reached Lv.4] [5 Undistributed Stats are avable] My Stamina and Spirit Energy was almost depleted from the prolonged battle. Moreover, a few of the lower levelled Poisonous Spiders bit me and my health continued to decrease. Right then, I noticed the Lv.10 Poisonous Spider, which was far from me, started approaching me. This caused me to realize that it wanted me to have a battle of attrition with the lower-level Spiders and waited for the right moment to attack me when I got tired. My eyes shed with an icy glint, and I thought, ''Since you havee out of hiding, don''t think about leaving.'' I didn''t care for pain and immediately used Undistributed Points and added 3 Stats to Spirit Attribute and 2 Stats to Endurance Attribute. [Undistributed Points: 5 ? 0] [Spirit: 13 ? 16] [Spirit Energy: 8/65 ? 23/80] [Endurance: 18 ? 20] [Stamina: 18/90 ? 28/100] [Congrattions! You obtained the Skill, Lv.1 (Umon) by reaching 20 Stats in Endurance Attribute.] [Lv.3 ? Lv.4 ] [Lv.4 : Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 4%.] During that instance, my body froze for a second, and some spiders bit me. Still, when I intended to add all Stats at once, I expected an opening in my defence to happen. I didn''t think the poison of the lower level Spiders could be lethal in the short term, unlike the Lv.10 Poisonous Spider from which I had to be wary. In the spots where I was bitten, the pain was piercing and of the elevated sort, as if someone had fired multiple staples on my skin at once. With the increase in Stats, I felt my Stamina and Spirit Energy recover by a bit and used the Stage-2 Sword Aura''s new perk, . The Cyan coloured Sword Aura extended for a meter on top of the and looked like an extremely sharp 1 and a half meter long Sword. I used the with all my Strength, and it got hit on the head and died instantly. When it died, its head was split apart into two pieces, and blood sshed over my sweatshirt''s right sleeve. I immediately tore the sleeve apart and threw it as I felt a burning sensation on my right shoulder. Even then, a portion of skin on my shoulder was burnt. I added some ground mud to the wound to cool down the burning sensation, removed my boxing wraps, and tied it around my shoulder to reduce the burning sensation. [Lv.5 ? Lv.6 .] [Lv.6 : Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 6%.] I was d that I decisively used the instead of merely coating Sword aura on the . If not, I would have been poisoned by the Lv.10 Poisonous Spider. [Lv.10 Poisonous Spider Killed] [250 Life Energy Obtained] [Congrattions! You have earned an Achievement Title, (Common) by killing many Spiders of Lesser Arachnid Species.] __________________________ [Lesser Arachnid Hunter] Effect 1: All the lesser Arachnid Race will fear you and Higher races of Arachnid Species will be aggressive towards you. Effect 2: Increases all Poison rted abilities by 10%. ___________________________ Once I activated the new Achievement Title, all the Poisonous Spiders around me started crawling away as if they were facing the nemesis of their race. But it was good that I got this title; even though it made the higher races of Arachnid Species aggressive towards me, I didn''t care much about it. Once I was able to use my Looted Stats, they had to rethink their aggressiveness towards me. After using the with full power, my Stamina and Spirit Energy were at their lowest that I had ever seen. [Stamina: 2/100] [Spirit Energy: 1/80] I felt so tired that I wanted to sleep there itself but tried to suppress my fatigue, and with exhausted breaths, I plucked a and ate it. My condition improved instantly, and I plucked another fruit. [Stamina: 27/100] While eating the other , I looked at my legs where it''s paining, and there were a few bite marks, and the poison was slowly spreading. I didn''t worry much about it since I already found that these Poisonous Spiders had Skill. With that, my Health Points stopped plumetting. [Health: 64/110] Unlike the Lv.10 Poisonous Spider, from which I couldn''t find what Skills it had, I was able to look at the Skills and Stats of Lv.2 Poisonous Spider since my Skill was Lv.2. I activated and looked at the Lv.10 Poisonous Spider. [Choose one of these to LOOT from the dead Lv.10 Poisonous Spider.] {1} [Lv.10 (Common): Ability to turn your blood into a Poisonous substance and its potency depend on Skill Level.] {2} [Lv.10 (Common): can leap 50 times of your body length by using blood fluids.] {3} [Lv.10 (Common): Resistance towards Poison increases by 10%.] ____________________________ The Skill was needed then, and the Skill looked pretty useful. Still, the Skill caught my attention. "I should have an escape card with me in case Ie across a monster that is stronger than me.", I mumbled to myself. Actually, In that instance, what I needed was the Skill. Still, I intended to Loot it from a lower levelled Poisonous Spider. Finally, I chose Lv.10 but did not merge it yet. [10 Stats Looted] [Lv.10(Common) Looted] I started looking through all the other Poisonous Spiders, and all of them had the same Skills, but they were lower-levelled ones. I tried to use ''LOOT'' on all the spiders simultaneously, and it worked. [114 Stats Looted] [Lv.5 (Common) Looted] [Lv.5 (Common): Ability to turn your blood into a Poisonous substance.] [Lv.5 (Common)] [Lv.5 : Resistance towards Poison increases by 5%.] When I looted all the Skills I could, only the ones with higher levels in each Skill remained. I hoped for the same levelled Skills to kind ofbine and level up but that was me being too greedy. While eating the fourth Lesser Stamina Fruit, I noticed a pair of ck boots beside the dead Lv.10 Poisonous Spider. I was sure that they were not there before, So I used on them, and a notification appeared. ___________________ (Common) - able to use an adhesive force to attach to any surfaces and can detach ording to the bonded user''s wishes. Effect: Agility+5^ Requirements: 15 Agility Condition: Perfect Durability: 100/100 ____________________ [Lv.2 (Common) ? Lv.3 (Common)] After using the Skill, , so many times did it finally levelled up. I wondered how long it would take to level it up again, and I was excited to find a Spirit Item. It even increased Agility Attribute by 5 Stats. I guessed the might be some reward from the System for killing the Lv.10 Poisonous Spider. I quickly held the , and a notification for forming a bond with Spirit Item appeared. [Do you wish to form a bond with (Common)?] I agreed to it, and a simr notification to when I activated the Achievement Title, appeared. [Warning: Sudden increase of 5 Stats in Agility causes severe pain.] [Do you wish to proceed in Safety mode?] [In Safety Mode, Stats will be added slowly in a periodic manner so that your body can easily adjust to its improvements.] I epted the Safety mode and wore the . After that, I plucked as many fruits as possible and carefully returned to my tree hideout. Chapter 9 - "No Pain, No Gain" After reaching the Tree hideout, I ced all the 10 that I brought into the mini trekking bag and changed my sweatshirt to a white T-shirt. Then, I removed the boxing wraps that I tied around my shoulder, cleaned the skin burn, and looked at my while drinking some water. ________________________________ [LOOTED STATUS] (Secondary) Name - Jay Age - 23 Race - Lesser Human Expected Level - N/A* Estimated Tier - N/A Strength - 0* Agility - 0* Vitality - 0* Endurance - 0* Spirit - 0* Luck - 7 Health - 0*/0* Stamina - 0*/0* Spirit Energy - 0*/0* Looted Stats - 15* ? 139* INNATE TALENT[ - (Grade Unknown) INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILL - [ACHIEVEMENT TITLES] Common Grade - , [SKILLS] Common Grade - Lv.3, Lv.3, Lv.4, Lv.5, Lv.5 , Lv.6 , Lv.10 UnCommon Grade - Lv.1 [RESISTANCE] Physical Pain Resistance - 6%, Poison Resistance - 5% [SPIRIT ITEMS] Common Grade - , [WEAPON MASTERY] STAGE 1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - Lv.1 - Lv.1 (Locked) STAGE 2 (Lv.11 - Lv.20) - Lv.11 - Lv.11 - ________________________________ I couldn''t use the Looted Stats since they were not more than double the amount of my overall Stats in . At the moment, my overall Stats were 84, and it meant that I needed over 168 Looted Stats to use them, but I only had 139 Looted Stats. Setting it aside, I looked at the newly looted Skills. First, I selected Lv.5 to merge, and a notification appeared. [Merging with will cause a permanent change within your blood and also gives immunity against the poison of lower levelled Tier-1 creatures.] [Do you wish to merge with ?] I epted it after thinking that it can be used to coat my weapon with the blood poison, and also, if a monster bites me, it would get poisoned. Just as I epted it, I felt my blood getting warmer, and it reached a point where my skin became red, and it was painful but bearable. With my enhanced senses from increased Spirit Attribute, I vaguely sense where the changes urred in my body. Once my blood temperature reached a certain point, I started to feel my blood marrow getting hot within my bones, and it was so painful that I almost yelled. Meanwhile, a string of notifications appeared. [Lv.6 ? Lv.7 .] [Lv.7 : Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 7%.] ¡­.. ¡­.. [Lv.14 ? Lv.15 .] [Lv.15 : Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 15%.] After nearly half a minute, the blood cooled down, and my skin slowly returned to its normal state. By the end of the painfully long 30 seconds, my reached Lv.15. It increased my physical pain resistance to 15%, which helped me reduce the pain that I received. I took a rest, and it just took me 10 minutes topletely recover. I became curious to find if my blood colour remained the same or not and tried to make a small cut on my palm with the Kitchen Knife I had. Due to my high Endurance Attribute, I found it harder to make a cut on my skin. I didn''t use the for an obvious reason of it being rusty. After exerting more strength with the Kitchen Knife, I made a small cut on my hand, and a small streak line of ck blood appeared. I quickly moved towards the tree burrow''s entrance and opened a gap in the bunch of bushes to get a clear look at the colour of blood. I sighed in relief after finding that my blood was still red, but it was so dark that it was almost ck in colour. Next, I looked at the Lv.10 within my Status, and a notification appeared. [Merging with will alter your Skeletal structure of both legs so that your blood fluids can be used to create Hydraulic force.] [Do you wish to merge with ?] After looking at the notification, I was sceptical but decided to ept it as the notification only said that my skeletal structure would be ''altered'' but not ''reced.'' Till then, none of the Skills I got merged didn''t change my appearance. After taking a deep breath, I epted it as I reminded myself of the saying, "No Pain, No Gain." I instantly felt an excruciating amount of pain, followed by the cracking sounds of my bones. I fell to the ground as I was not in a position to stand anymore. I dug my fingers into the ground with all my strength to control myself from shouting out loud, as I was a bit afraid that if I shout outwards, some monsters might hear and attack me in my vulnerable position. The pain was even more than the previous experience. I subconsciously let out some yells that can be heard within a 20-meter radius. Like thest time, another string of notifications appeared. [Lv.15 ? Lv.16 .] [Lv.16 : Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 16%.] ¡­.. ¡­.. [Lv.23 ? Lv.24 .] [Lv.24 : Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 24%.] With the amount of pain I experienced, my went up directly to Lv.24. The pain I received was reduced by 24%. It was still painful but not as painful as in the beginning, and it continued for another minute. By the time the pain ended, my forehead waspletely covered in sweat, and for a few minutes, I took rest byying on the ground. After another few minutes, I started to check if there were any changes in my legs. Only by closely examining did I found that the bones in my legs became thicker. The muscles within my thighs and calves became more prominent and more robust than before. I slowly stood up, and everything felt familiar as if nothing got altered in my legs. So, as a precaution, I went outside and vigntly scouted the nearby surroundings of 200 meters and found no monsters. With that, I prepared myself for the first Trial on Lv.10. Chapter 10 - Time - 23:28:52 ording to the Skill description, I should be able to leap to a distance of 50 times my length, 90 meters. I didn''t overdo it. By mentally activating , I exerted a little over one-fourth of my legs'' capacity by going into a slightly crouching position. I felt the flow of blood in my legs increase explosively, and the bent legs got straightened with a lot of force and in the next moment; I was already 25 meters in the air, nearly 10 meters above the tree level, and my mind couldn''t wholly perceive the speed at which I moved. For a second, I was floating in the air and because of gravity; I started to fall but when I reached the tree level of 15 meters; I caught onto a branch with my hands, and it broke along with two other branches, and I stopped at the fourth branch with me holding it in a hanging position. I climbed onto the branch and collected my thoughts of me leaping up to a height of 25 meters in a second. I was excited for such a helpful Skill that specialise in manoeuvring and escaping. I quickly wanted to learn how to control the Skill effectively. So, I jumped from tree to tree, but even after 30 minutes, I didn''t get a hold over how to use it without getting hit by the tree branches or even to the tree itself. While I was trying different ways to jump from tree to tree, I suddenly got an idea to use the ability of to get a proper grip whilending. The jumping part was simple as I only had to jump while using but aiming for where tond by positioning my legs and body at certain angles was challenging. However, I could leap to where I wanted, but the even more troublesome part was tond on the tree branch without slipping. After I used the adhesive function of , I could use the adhesive force to get a grip on wherever Inded on the tree. This made it possible for me to jump from trunks of one tree to another tree instead of only using tree branches. After another 30 minutes of leap trials, I became agile as a monkey since my Agility Attribute increased through Safety mode by 1 Stat. Every time I got adjusted to the improved Attribute. As my Agility Attribute increased, my body muscles'' control improved to an extreme amount, and my reflexes became lightning fast. The problem with using was that Stamina''s points decreased every time I used it, and that depended on the distance I leapt. So, whenever I leapt 10 meters, 1 Stamina point got consumed, and simrly, for 20 meters, it was 2 Stamina Points and so on. But thanks to the new Umon Grade Skill, that I received after reaching 20 Stats in Endurance Attribute, my Stamina could regenerate even while it was being exhausted. Even then, I had to eat 2 to recover Stamina, and I reminded myself to monitor Stamina while using . After that, I returned to my tree hideout and sat down to take some rest. I picked up the and looked at its durability. [Durability: 35/100 ? 20/100] As the Sword was in a Rusty condition, its Durability reduced while using against Poisonous Spiders. I didn''t know of any method to improve the durability of a Spirit Item but to improve my Weapon Mastery; I had to use it even at the expense of losing durability. So, I left it at that andprehended more about Lv.11 by practising Lv.11 Sword Training Methods while coating with . Since I had already used against Poisonous Spiders, my understanding and control towards it increased. Only after 5 minutes of practice, I could break through to Lv.12. [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.12 byprehending Lv.11.] I deactivated and practised the Lv.12 Sword Training methods. Since I had high Stats in Stamina Attribute and , I could practice without taking a break to recover Stamina. The intense practise continued for 40 minutes and a notification popped up. [Congrattions! You have advanced to Lv.12 byprehending Lv.12.] I continued my practice by using Lv.12 upon the Sword. After another 40 minutes, I could reach Lv.13. [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.13 byprehending Lv.12.] After a quick break, I continued practising, and after 50 minutes, a simr notification appeared. [Congrattions! You have advanced to Lv.13 byprehending Lv.13.] Once again, it took 50 minutes to reach Lv.14. [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.14 byprehending Lv.13.] [Lv.14: Lv.14 Sword Training methods will get transferred into your mind.] [Lv.13 advanced to Lv.14 byprehending Lv.14.] The time required to level up got higher as I reached higher Mastery levels. It took me 80 minutes to increase Lv.12 to Lv.13 and to increase Lv.13 to Lv.14. I had to practice for 100 minutes. I continued to practice, and after 1 hour, I could advance my . [Congrattions! You have advanced to Lv.14 byprehending Lv.14.] [Lv.14: Damage Output increases by 140% when used on Sword Spirit Item. Cost: 14 Spirit Energy per minute.] As the level of my increased, the Cyan coloured aura got brighter and brighter. Even though I was notpletely tired, I felt thirsty and took out thest water bottle and drank the final 3 sips of water. I had no more water and decided to set out to find some water source. I ced a within my track pant pocket and changed my white T-shirt with a ck T-shirt as it was less visible. I looked at the time within a small transparent notification that always stays in my vision corner. [ALPHA Program, Day - 1, Time - 23:28:52] It''s only been 23 hours and 28 minutes, not even a daypleted, and I already felt like I stayed for an entire week in the Trial zone. Chapter 11 - Lv.?? Bloodthirsty Earth Bear Before leaving to find a water source, I looked at my . ___________________ [STATUS] (Primary) Name - Jay Age - 23 Race - Lesser Human Life Energy - 1250/1500 Level - 4 Tier - 1(Mid-Phase) Strength - 16 (13+3^) Agility - 21 (16+5^) Vitality - 11 Endurance - 20 (15+5¡ã) Spirit - 16 Luck - 7 Health - 110/110 Stamina - 100/100 Spirit Energy - 80/80 Undistributed Stats - 0 INNATE TALENT - (Grade Unknown) INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILL - [ACHIEVEMENT TITLES] Common Grade - , [SKILLS] Common Grade - Lv.3, Lv.3, Lv.4, Lv.5, Lv.10 Umon Grade - Lv.1, Lv.1 [RESISTANCE] Lv.24 - Physical Pain Resistance - 24% Lv.5 - Poison Resistance - 5% [SPIRIT ITEMS] Common Grade - , [WEAPON MASTERY] STAGE 1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - Lv.1 - Lv.1 (Locked) STAGE 2 (Lv.11 - Lv.20) - Lv.14 - Lv.14 - __________________________ During the time I practised to reach Lv.14 , my Agility Attribute reached 21 Stats through Safety mode. When the Agility Attribute reached 20 Stats, I obtained a new Skill, . __________________________________ [ (Umon)] Increases Agility Attribute by 20% and the number of minutes it can be activated depends on the Skill Level. Duration: 1 minute. Cost: 10 Spirit Energy peruse. Cooldown: 10 minutes. _________________________ It meant that my Agility Attribute would be 25 Stats when gets activated, increasing my survivability even more. I tied the around my waist with the boxing wraps since it was harder to leap from tree to tree while holding the weapon. It sometimes required both of my hands to support and bnce my body while moving at faster speeds. I started to think about which direction I should be heading and decided to go towards the North direction since I had already been to the East, where I found Goblins, and to the West, where I found Poisonous Spiders. While moving towards North, I didn''t walk on the ground and instead walked to the top of the tree with the . When I reached the top, I started jumping from tree to tree and headed North. After crossing around 800 meters, I found a tree with golden leaves. That wasparatively small to the trees surrounding it as it was only 5 meters tall. 3 Golden coloured fruits were hanging from the tree. I immediately used on the golden fruits. [(Rare Grade): Increases 100 Health upon consumption.] [Special Effect: Permanently increases 10 Stats in Vitality Attribute when it was consumed for the first time.] Even before such a temptation, I didn''t try to pluck it at all. The reason behind it was pretty simple, there was a 4 meter long Brown furred Bear sleeping under the tree with blood sshes on its face, and it looked like it recently ate a creature. I wasn''t able to look at the level, but its name was visible. [Lv.?? Bloodthirsty Earth Bear] Just as I inspected the Brown Bear, my Skill directly levelled up 3 times, making me wonder about the Level and Tier of the Brown Bear. [Lv.3 ? Lv.6] With the increased Skill Level of , there was a small change in the notification. I could see the Tier of the Brown Bear. [Lv.?? Bloodthirsty Earth Bear (Tier-2)] The Bloodthirsty Earth Bear must have known the value of the tree and its fruits since it stayed near the golden leafed tree. I thought inwardly, ''It would be the same as seeking death if I even try to approach the Golden leafed tree with my current Level.'' I mentally marked it as a dangerous area and quietly backed away a few trees, and just then, I felt a cool breeze that came from the North West direction. I was delighted because a cool breeze generally originates from Waterbodies. With that, I started heading towards the North-West Direction. After crossing 300 meters, the line of trees ended, and I found a Clearwaterke, which was nearly half a kilometre wide and was too long to see its ending. There was a mountain range to the opposite side of theke. A mountain range was visible extending along theke. I got down from the tree and approached the Lake and inspected the almost transparent Water. [Crystal Lake Water - Natural and pure drinkable water.] Once I found that the water was safe, I cupped my hands together, scooped up some water, and drank until I had my fill. Surprisingly the taste of Crystal Lake Water was refreshing even though it did not have any taste or smell butpared to the consumable water on earth; the difference was like night and day. I wanted to cross theke to scout and explore more, but I was not strong enough to face different monsters existing in this ce yet. Back then, I was able to kill so many Poisonous Spiders because they were weaker than what their level actually showed. If the Lv.10 Poisonous Spider attacked me after waiting till the battle of attrition ended with the huge number of Poisonous Spiders ended, I would have been in an even more troublesome situation. I had to get stronger to survive in the Trial Zone since I didn''t know when a powerful monster would attack me. I started returning, and when I almost reached the tree, I heard a few low growls and felt goosebumps all over my body. I looked around me and found that arge pack of 15 Wolves surrounded me. Chapter 12 - Lv.?? Dire Wind Wolf (Tier-2) Among the Wolf Pack, 14 were 1.2 meters tall, and 2.5 meters long with a grey coloured fur. One particr wolf that stood out with its chalk-white fur was 1.8 meters tall and 3 meters long. It growled towards the other Wolves as if itmanded them. All the wolves started slowly moving towards me in all directions. I immediately used on the Pack''s Alpha, and simr to thest time, only its name was visible. [Lv.?? Dire Wind Wolf (Tier-2)] [Lv.6 ? Lv.8] Looking at the increase in Skill Level, I understood that it was simr to the Tier-2 Bloodthirsty Earth Bear that I came across previously. When it looked at me, I felt some suppression that was not caused by my fear but from that of a higher tier being. I snapped out of it and started thinking of ways to escape while using on the grey coloured wolves around me. The lowest among them was Lv.8, while the highest was Lv.10 except the Dire Wind Wolf. Since my Skill reached Lv.8, I was only able to look at the whole Status information of an Lv.8 Grey Wolf but not of any higher levelled Wolves. _______________________________________ [Lv.8 Grey Wolf (High-Phase) (Tier-1)] Grey Wolf: A lesser race among the Wolf Species. Strength: 22 Agility: 26 Vitality: 16 Endurance: 20 Spirit: 14 Luck: 6 Innate Skills: Lv.9 (Common), Lv.10 (Common), Lv.10 (Common), Lv.8 (Common). ___________________________________________________________ Its Stats were higher than me except for the Spirit and Endurance Attributes. I could imagine that all the wolves surrounding me must be with even higher Stats as most of them were Lv.9 and Lv.10 Grey Wolves. So, even if I activate and run at full speed, the Grey Wolves could catch up to me, and an even bigger problem was the Dire Wind Wolf. It didn''t directly attack me as I was not strong enough prey for it to step in and let the Grey wolves take care of me. During such a dangerous situation, a lot of thoughts exploded in my mind. Finally, I came up with an idea. I bent my legs and activated with enough power to reach the treetop in front of me and started to leap from tree to tree. The Wolves were taken back by such a revtion but quickly started to chase after me on the ground. I crossed 300 meters, and they were still chasing me. Some Grey Wolves even climbed the tree with their ws. Still, their manoeuvrability was very low upon the trees and returned to the ground. Once the Dire Wind Wolf understood that they couldn''t catch me, it started attacking me with some kind of transparent looking curvy des, and wherever theynded, branches got sliced. I used a zig-zag pattern to jump from tree to tree. So, I could escape from its deadly attacks, but at that rate, I would get hit if I didn''t speed up. After a few seconds, the transparent wind des were getting closer and closer to me. I exerted one-third of my full capacity in the , which was the max limit that I could manoeuvre without falling off or colliding with the trees. My speed increased explosively and with that my Stamina expenditure also increased as I crossed 30 meters with every single leap. What shocked me was that the Dire Wind Wolf could still keep up with my speed, and it started forming a ball of rapidly moving wind on the tip of its mouth while chasing me. When I saw that, I changed my direction while keeping an eye on the Dire Wind Wolf. Once I confirmed that it was about to shoot the attack in the right direction that I wanted, I took a steep turn and slowed down my movement. A slight smirk appeared on my face as the attack missed me and hit the tree that I actually intended to receive damage. Just as the attack damaged the tree, a loud enraged roar emerged, causing my ears to pain. I looked towards the damaged tree with golden leaves and the exact tree that the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear was sleeping. My idea all along was to bring them there and let them sh with the Tier-2 Bear, and it worked smoothly as it red at the Dire Wind Wolf that damaged the tree it treasured. The Bloodthirsty Earth Bear lifted its paw and hit the ground, the ground nearby shook, and earth spikes started emerging on the ground and headed towards the Dire Wind Wolf. It dodged the attack, and a fightmenced between them, and the Bloodthirst Earth Bear formed an armour made of the earth around its body, and that helped it to defend from the attacks of Dire Wind Wolf. With the Dire Wind Wolf being able to dodge its attacks, the Bloodthirst Earth Bear started making walls that were made of earth to restrict the movement of Dire Wind Wolf. In just a few short seconds, the Bloodthirst Earth Bear had the upper hand in the fight, and then the remaining 14 Grey Wolves reached the location. I didn''t wait to find the result of the fight and started heading towards my tree hideout direction. The Dire Wind Wolf noticed me escaping with its sharp senses andmanded some of the wolves during the fight itself to chase after me. 5 Grey Wolves separated from their pack and headed towards me, and I increased my leaping speed. After 100 meters, I was left with less than one-fourth of my Stamina. [Stamina: 22/100] With the 5 Wolves chasing me, I couldn''t be safe even after I reach the tree hideout and the rate at which my Stamina depleted causing me to rethink the course of my action. Among the 5 Grey Wolves, one was Lv.10, and the other four were Lv.9. I took my Rusty Short Sword tied around my waist with boxing wraps. I coated it with Lv.14 that causes 140% additional damage. I activated , and my Agility increased my 4 Stats. Maybe since they were temporary, I didn''t feel high pain or perhaps because of my Lv.24 . My movement speed increased as the control of my muscles yet increased along with my fluid movements. I leapt towards the Lv.10 wolf by exerting one-third of my capacity. Even though my Agility Attribute was lower than the wolves, my speed while leaping was non-negotiable. The sudden leap towards their direction startled the wolves, but it was toote as the Rusted Short Sword pierced the top of Lv.10 Grey Wolf head, and it died on the spot. [Lv.10 Grey Wolf Killed] [250 Life Energy Obtained] [Congrattions! You have reached Lv.5] [5 Undistributed Stats are avable.] Leaping from tree to tree at such speed doesn''t cause much damage because of my increased Endurance Attribute. But when I used the leap tond directly on the ground in front of the wolf, the impact I felt on my body was high and caused some internal damage. Blood started trickling down from the side of my lips. Chapter 13 - On The Verge Of Death! But when I used the leap tond directly on the ground in front of the wolf, the impact I felt on my body was high, and that caused me some internal damage. Blood started trickling from the side of my lips. I swiped away the blood and added 2 Stats to my Strength Attribute and 3 Stats to my Vitality. [Strength: 16 ? 18] [Vitality: 11 ? 14] [Health: 83/110 ? 113/140] [Undistributed Stats: 5 ? 0] I felt a surge of warmth in my body, along with an increase in my muscle power as my muscles squirmed. The wolves howled at the death of their kin, and all of them pounced towards me at the same time. I swung the Rusty Short Sword in an arc while adding on top of the Lv.14 and the Aura around the Sword extended by 2 meters and sliced two Lv.9 Grey Wolves and the 3rd Lv.9 Grey Wolf was sent flying as a deep cut formed on its back, but it didn''t die immediately. [Lv.9 Grey Wolf Killed] [225 Life Energy Obtained] [Lv.9 Grey Wolf Killed] [225 Life Energy Obtained] Even with my increased Strength Attribute, I wasn''t able to slice off the third Grey Wolf in a row, and my attack didn''t even reach the 4th Gray Wolf of the 5 Grey Wolves that chased me. The fourth Lv.9 Grey wolf aimed for my neck. Even with my temporarily boosted Agility Attribute, I couldn''t wholly dodge. I could only defend my neck by raising my left arm shoulder. The bite was so strong that I heard some cracks in my shoulder bone and some of my blood entered its mouth, and the blood burned its skin as if it was an acid, and the wolf howled painfully after letting go of my shoulder. If not for my bones that got denser and stronger with my high Endurance Attribute, my hand would have been bitten off by the Lv.9 Grey Wolf. But the pain I felt was lesspared to when I merged with Skill, and with the addition of 24% Physical pain Resistance, the pain was even less than what it should have been. My Skill didn''t level up as the amount of pain should be higher than what I have experienced to reach Lv.24. While the fourth Lv.9 Grey Wolf was still howling in pain, another thunderous howl sounded in the direction of the fight between Tier-2 monsters. I ignored the Tier-2 Wolf''s angry howl and attacked the Lv.9 Grey Wolf by activating the ; I killed it in a single strike. [Lv.9 Grey Wolf Killed] [225 Life Energy Obtained] [Congrattions! You have reached Lv.6] [5 Undistributed Stats avable] Every time I activated the , I only used it for a second to conserve my Spirit Energy. Once I levelled up, I immediately added 2 Stats to Strength Attribute and the remaining 3 Stats to Vitality Attribute. [Strength: 18 ? 20] [Congrattions! You obtained the Skill, (Umon) by reaching 20 Stats in Strength Attribute.] [Vitality: 14 ? 17] [Health: 43/140 ? 73/170] [Undistributed Stats: 5 ? 0] While I was getting used to the changes that urred from the increase of Strength and Vitality Attributes, the Lv.9 Grey Wolf that got wounded from my previous attack started to escape towards the Dire Wind Wolf. I quickly adjusted and rushed towards the wounded Lv.9 Grey Wolf. While moving, I looked towards the fight that was ongoing between the two Tier-2 monsters. Even while I added Stats to my attributes, I kept an eye on the fight that happened 100 meters away. With the addition of 10 Dire Wolves to the Dire Wind Wolf, they were able to hold out against the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear without any losses. Still, after they heard the howl from thest wolf I killed, the Tier-2 Wolf got aggressive and tried to rush towards me. But with the continuous attacks of the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear, it wasn''t able to approach me immediately. When it saw the wounded Lv.9 Dire Wolf running towards it, the Tier-2 Wolf rushed towards me as it ignored the attacks from the Tier-2 Bear. A few injuries appeared on its chalk wite fur from the attacks, but they were not anything major, as it didn''t slow down while dashing towards me. I intended to kill the wounded Lv.9 Grey Wolf before it reached the Dire Wind Wolf and readied myself for the deadliest attack that I could bring out. I exerted my full capacity of and leapt towards it at a speed of 90 meters per second while activating . A few cracks appeared on the ground from where I leapt. In that instant, the Dire Wind Wolf, the wounded Lv.9 Grey Wolf, and I were in a straight line. At the speed at which I moved, it almost looked like I was flying, and at such speed, the Grey Wolf wasn''t even able to resist and died by getting sliced into two pieces. But the momentum of my body didn''t slow down and moved towards the Tier-2 Wolf. It was shocked by my sudden burst of speed and instinctively defended itself with a transparent shield made of wind. My attack broke through the transparent barrier with the utmost difficulty. Still, I was only able to deal with a minor wound on its paw. I fell on the ground while spurting out a lot of blood because of moving at such high speeds. Thending impact took a lot of toll on my body and caused internal injuries. The Dire Wind Wolf got enraged even more for being wounded by a mere Tier-1 human and swung its w at my chest with a lot of strength. While getting myself up with difficulty, I defended with the that had over it and was able to stop the deadly ws from reaching me. Still, just from the raw power behind its attack, I was sent flying through a tree and crashed into the second tree. Many cracks appeared on the tree trunk, and my was sent flying far away. My body waspletely covered in blood and was on the verge of death. A lot of injuries and internal organs were heavily damaged, along with many broken ribs and fractures. I wasn''t able to move in that body condition. The Grey Wolves were able to catch up to the Dire Wind Wolf, and all the wolves howled in anger after looking at the dead bodies of their kin. All the Wolves and Dire Wind Wolf started to approach me while letting out angry growls as if they couldn''t wait to tear me apart from limb to limb. While coughing up my blood, I started tough coldly in a low voice and looked in the eyes of the Tier-2 Wolf and without even caring if it could understand my words, I said with difficulty, "You.....already....lost the chance.....to kill me." "!!!" Chapter 14 - Awakening The 2nd INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILL Of I activated while looking at the 5 dead Grey Wolves. I didn''t even select the Skills and let my Innate Ability to choose automatically. __________________ [51 Stats Looted] [Grade-2 Looted] [Grade-2: Increases the ability toprehend Wind Element by 2 fold.] [Lv.4 (Stage-1) Looted] [Lv.4 (Stage-1): Increases the Damage Output, Efficiency of using Wind Element and Wind-rted Skill by 40%.] [Lv.9 (Common) Looted] [Lv.9: Increases the ability to sense sounds by 9 fold.] [Lv.8 (Common) Looted] [Lv.8: Increases the ability to sense smell by 8 fold.] [Lv.9 (Common) Looted] [Lv.9: Ability to see clearly in the dark, within the range of 90 meters.] [Looted Stats: 139* ? 190*] [Congrattions! You have awakened your 2nd Innate Exclusive Skill, .] [: Inverts the from ''Secondary'' to ''Primary'', and all the Looted Stats can be used independently once entering the Mode.] [Duration: 6 Minutes (No. of minutes will depend on your Level)] __________________ Without further thought, I activated , and my tab appeared in front of me. The word ''Secondary'' got changed into ''Primary.'' The Looted Stats started automatically increasing my Attributes in . Within a split second, all the Attributes in were increased by 38* Stats each, and with that came a tsunami of pain that was beyond myprehension. [By adding 190 Stats at once, your body will implode.] [Due to your Unique Innate Ability, , you are invulnerable to all changes caused by Looted Stats. Still, the Pain caused by a sudden increase in Stats is inevitable.] The pain was so high that my mind got nk, and all there left was Pain, but the only exception was the notifications as they kept on appearing in my mind. [Lv.24 ? Lv.25 ] [Lv.25 : Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 25%.] ..... [Lv.49 ? Lv.50 ] [Lv.50 : Resistance towards Physical pain increases by 50%.] My kept on increasing till it reached Lv.50, and once it reached there, all my pain started to decrease, and it soon vanished. After the pain vanished, the first thing I noticed was my body that waspletely healed, along with the burnt mark on my right shoulder that I got in the fight against Lv.10 Poisonous Spider. The second thing was that my hair''s colour turned into Silver, and the third thing was the steam that kept on being emitted from my body from the sudden increase of my Attributes. The final one was that the addition of Stats such as 3^ in Strength, 5^ in Agility, and 5¡ã in Endurance from Spirit Items and Achievement Titles were not added in the Attributes and looked at the transparent congrattory notifications that appeared. [Congrattions! You are the 895th Tier-1 Existence in the entire Universe to stay alive after adding more than 100 Stats at once.] [Due to causing a Universe Level Achievement, You will receive a random grade reward that will be most useful to you at the present moment. The Grade of the reward depends on your Luck Attribute.] [Congrattions! You have received a Support type Skill, (Rare Grade).] [: As long as all the 5 main Attributes maintain an equilibrium in the number of Stats, you will be able to adjust to the increased stats instantly until the increased amount of Stats doesn''t exceed that of Tier-3.] All the information in notifications was transmitted to my mind within a split second. If it weren''t for ''s unique property that made me Invulnerable to all changes caused by Looted Stats, I would have been dead right then itself. I found a new transparent notification that indicated the time left for the mode to end to the top right corner of my vision. [ Duration: 00:05:59 (hr:min:sec)] Since my level was 6, the duration for me to maintain mode was 6 minutes. I looked around me. Except for Dire Wind Wolf, all other wolves slowly distanced themselves from me and looked at me warily. The Dire Wind Wolf shot a transparent wind de at me to test the waters, but those wind des felt rtively slow to me. I dodged to the side, and in the next instance, I got hit by a tree that was 10 meters beside me; a part of the tree trunk was crushed, and several cracks formed on it. I was shocked at such an increase in power, and due to that, theck of control over my body was clearly visible. With that, I immediately activated my first Rare Grade Skill . Just as I activated , a strange sense of calm appeared within me. The control over my increased Attributes in increased instantly and reached a point of perfect bnce. Only then was I able to properly understand the improvements in my body. With my increased Spirit Attribute, all of my 5 senses and memory retention, and thought processing power increased by 3.8 fold. Even my Time perception was increased by 3.8 fold. It caused an illusion of time flowing slowly, but what actually happened was that I experienced 3.8 seconds for every standard second. My body brimmed with newfound power and vitality. I looked at the Dire Wind Wolf and inwardly thought with a cold smile, ''Since you had almost hunted me to death, I will show you how it feels to be hunted!''. I knew that with my current stats and the extreme control over my body that I gained from , I could defeat the Tier-2 Wolf even without the . But that would be a narrow victory and what I wanted was not merely to defeat it but to crush it head-on. So, Instead of directly attacking the Tier-2 Wolf, I nned to kill the Tier-1 Wolves around it and then use on them to increase my Attributes in even more. I turned my attention towards the closest Grey Wolf and leapt towards it while exerting full capacity of . Chapter 15 - Entering A State Of No Emotions. I turned my attention towards the closest Grey Wolf that was 50 meters far from me and exerted full capacity of and leapt towards it, causing a 2-meter wide crater on the ground below me. I positioned my body so I would perfectly collide into the Grey Wolf that I targeted. With that high momentum, I moved at an extreme speed of 90 meters per second with very few side effects on my body because of the High Endurance Attribute of 38* Stats. Even though it consumes 10 Stamina for every with full capacity, my improved Stamina was more than enough to handle it. Unlike the previous times, when I used the maximum capacity of , my mind could faintly keep up with the speed at which I moved with my increased thought processing power and the acute body control from activating . Not even a second passed, and I was already beside the closest Lv.10 Grey Wolf and punched on top of Wolf''s head, and its entire body got sted apart. With the heavy momentum, I passed through the cloud of blood and organs, and I got covered in them. But strangely, I felt no such thing as nauseousness or disgust from all the sttered blood and pieces of its organs. When I first killed a Goblin, I didn''t feel guilty, but I felt a little nauseous and disgusted. As they were monsters that intended to kill me, I didn''t waste my emotions on them. However, I was a bit subconsciously affected. Every time I killed some monster, I had that feeling, even though it''s faint, it was still there, and from the moment I activated , I felt absolutely nothing as if I entered a mental state of no emotions. When I first noticed it, I didn''t think about it much. Still, only after did I truly understand the psychological change within me. I didn''t feel the sense of hate that I slowly developed from being attacked by every single monster that I encountered. In my mind, there were no such emotions anymore, and all that''s left was an unending determination to end anything that intends to kill me. As I got lost in my thought for a split second, the steam that kept on whistling out from my body removed some blood and other organ pieces from the top of my body. The major reason for the impact of the punch to be devastating was that it was due to my explosive speed and my body''s weight. Peculiarly, My weight changed with the increase in Endurance Attribute. Because of acute body control from and increased senses from Spirit Attribute, I could estimate that my current body weight was around 250 kgs (550 pounds). My explosive speed shocked the Dire Wind Wolf. Even though the movement speed at which the Dire Wind Wolf can move was faster than me, the speed at which I could move while using at full capacity was on another level. The Dire Wind Wolf rushed at me while shooting continuous Wind des at me. Still, I could dodge them by using in short bursts. I also noticed that because of , my manoeuvrability was even higher than the Dire Wind Wolf. While dodging, I kept killing each of the Grey wolves for every Leap I took by leaping from one wolf to another. As I killed each Grey Wolf, I activated on their dead bodies and looted their Stats and Skills. The obtained Looted Stats got automatically added to the Attributes in while maintaining equilibrium among the 5 main Attributes. Within a split second, I could adjust to the increasing Stats in my Attributes. Even while moving at high speeds, I changed directions more fluidly, making my movement hard for the Dire Wind Wolf to catch up with. It could only watch at me with Bloodshot eyes and chase after me as I killed the Tier-1 Grey Wolves with my bare hands. By the time I killed thest Grey Wolf, all of my 5 main Attributes in increased from 38 to 48. My raw movement speed reached 32 meters per second and exceeded the Dire Wind Wolf without using . I was not the only one to notice it as the Dire Wind Wolf observed the increase in power within me for every Grey Wolf that I killed. It understood killing me was not possible anymore and escaped towards Bloodthirsty Earth Bear. It used a Skill, and a transparent coloured windyer appeared around, and the speed at which it ran in a straight line increased even more and reached a speed of 40 meters per second. With the 48 Looted Stats in Agility Attribute, I could sprint at a speed of 32 meters per second. Even that was not enough to catch up to the Dire Wind Wolf before reaching the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear. I couldn''t directly make a full-powered onto the Dire Wind Wolf because of the trees in between us. So, I made long enough Leaps to go unobstructed by the trees, yet I couldn''t stop it from reaching the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear. When the Bloodthirsty Bear noticed the approaching Dire Wind Wolf, it got ready to attack it but soon stopped after hearing the growls from the Dire Wind Wolf. Instead of attacking Dire Wind Wolf, the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear looked cautiously and took an offensive stance against me. I immediately understood that both of them came to a mutual understanding. The Tier-2 Bear and Wolf didn''t fight against each other and attacked me together. Chapter 16 - Through my increased perception, I detected slight shifts in the ground below me and bolted to a side as a few spikes made of earth thrust out from the ground. After evading the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear''s first attack, I sped towards them while agilely evading all the skill attacks that both of the Tier-2 monsters fired at me. As I closed in, the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear promptly formed an armour made of Earth on top of its body. At first, I tried to kill the Dire Wind Wolf, but it hid behind the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear, and with the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear acting as a tank, I wasn''t able to reach the Dire Wind Wolf. So, I turned my focus to the Tier-2 Bear and started punching at it with all my strength while dodging its attacks, and a few fractures formed on its Earth Armour. Meanwhile, the Dire Wind Wolf sneakily attacked me with a transparent looking spear made of wind. I barely skirted it, but still, a 6-inch long cut appeared across my forehead and left cheek. If I had received a direct hit to my head, it would have been fatal. With both of them working hand in hand, I got pushed into an adverse position. Having no emotions, I didn''t make any rash decisions such as rushing towards the Dire Wind Wolf and quickly retreated a few meters back. They became vignt at my retreat and got into a defensive position. I had to fight with my bare hands as my fell somewhere when I got attacked just before I underwent . But with my mental connection with the , I detected its durability to be at rock bottom as only 1 point got left out of 100. So, I didn''t search for it since it might break if I even use Lv.14 . The cut on my face was visibly recovering with my high Vitality Attribute. Still, before it couldpletely heal, I stooped my legs into a takeoff posture and exerted full capacity of . The Dire Wind Wolf got alerted as it understood what I was about to do and tried to inform the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear. But before the Tier-2 Wolf could do that, my punch already collided with the Tier-2 Bear''s Earth Armour and a deafening sound followed. The impact sent the 4 meters tall Bloodthirsty Earth Bear flying, and it crashed through a few trees with a series of loud booms, and eventually stopped after 50 meters. The Tier-2 Bear didn''t take any vital damage because of the Earth Armour, which almost got shattered from my full-powered blow. Yet, I didn''t rush towards the Tier-2 Bear because I deliberately used my full-powered attack to iste both of them. After the punch, I dashed towards the Dire Wind Wolf with no dy. The Dire Wind wolf struck at me with its w. Still, I evaded it smoothly and punched it continuously on its face without even giving it a chance to retaliate anymore. Dire Wind Wolf''s head gotpletely covered in its blood with multiple fractures on its skull, and it was a breath away from dying. Looking at the unwillingness and hate in its eyes, I said inly with no emotion, "There are always consequences for actions. Before you acted, you should have prepared for them." After saying that, I killed it with onest blow to its head, and then a string of notifications popped up. [Lv.16 Dire Wind Wolf (Tier-2) Killed] [800 Life Energy Obtained] [Congrattions! You have reached Lv.10] [5 Undistributed Stats are avable] [Undisturbed Stats: 15 ? 20] [Congrattions! You have earned an Achievement Title, (Umon) by killing a Dire Wind Wolf of Greater Wolf Species.] [Greater Wolf Hunter] Effect 1: All the lesser and greater Wolf Races will fear you, and Higher races of Wolf Species will be aggressive towards you. Effect 2: Increases all Wind-rted abilities by 20%. [Congrattions! You have earned an Achievement Title, (Common) by reaching Lv.10 within the first day of your Trial Zone.] [Achievement Title]: (Common) Effect: Luck+5. [Congrattions! You have met 2 of the 3 requirements for Tier-2 Evolution.] [Tier-2 Evolution Requirements]: {1} Reach Stage-2 Sword Mastery ? {2} Obtain enough Life Energy that is required to reach Lv.11 ? {3} Obtain 1 Umon Achievement Title and 3 Common Achievement Titles ? [By reaching Lv.10, you have unlocked a new function for all the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, ] [Congrattions! You attained a Super-Cluster Level Achievement for killing a Monster that was two phases higher by yourself in a full-frontal battle.] [Due to causing a Super-Cluster Level Achievement, You will receive a random reward that is one grade higher than your Tier.] [With the current Looted stats in your mode, you are considered as a Tier-2 Lifeform and you will receive a random Rare Grade Reward.] [Congrattions! You have received (Rare Grade).] Even though I was curious, I didn''t open the new function, . I looked towards the ash-coloured 1-meter long One-handed sword that appeared beside the dead Dire Wind Wolf as a reward from the System for killing Tier-2 Wolf. I turned my attention towards the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear that started racing towards me. I quickly picked up the new Sword, and without even inspecting it, I tried to bond with it. [Do you wish to form a bond with ?] I epted it and immediately felt a mental connection with One-handed longsword. As the Tier-2 Bear got near, it used some unusual skill, and a few chains made of earth wrapped around my legs and anchored me to the ground. These earth chains were tough, and it would take me some time to break them. So, I stopped trying to breakout and coated the Lv.14 on the , and a cyan coloured Sharp Aura formed above it. I activated on top of it. With the extended Aura on top of the Sword, the 1 meter long looked like 3 meters long Sword. I didn''t want to take any chances and used the Inherent Skill of . ______________________________________ [ (Rare Grade)] - Forms an extremely sharp, pressurized wind around the de of . - Cost: 50 Spirit Energy per second. ______________________________________ A sharp pressurized transparent Wind formed on top of the . I swung it vertically towards the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear that almost closed in on me. The that got wrapped in , , and sliced the Bloodthirsty Earth Bear into 2 portions. Both of its body pieces moved at the same speed at which the Tier-2 Bear approached me, and one-piece passed from my left and the other from the right. I didn''t foresee my attack to be so powerful that it perfectly sliced the Tier-2 Bear in half. Still, it was justifiable after looking at half the amount of Spirit Energy that the single attack consumed. After it died, a few notifications appeared along with a Spirit Item that appeared beside the dead Bloodthirsty Earth Bear. If not for me having no emotions with the being activated, I would have got shocked by the new Spirit Item''s Grade. Chapter 17 - [Lv.21 Bloodthirsty Earth Bear (Tier-2) Killed] [1050 Life Energy Obtained] [Congrattions! You have earned an Achievement Title, (Umon) by killing a Bloodthirsty Earth Bear of Greater Bear Species.] ___________________ [Greater Bear Hunter] Effect 1: All the lesser and greater Bear Races will fear you, and Higher races of Bear Species will be aggressive towards you. Effect 2: Increases all Earth-rted abilities by 20%. ___________________ [Congrattions! You are the 457th Tier-1 Existence in the entire Universe to y a Monster that was three Phases higher by yourself in a full-frontal battle.] [Due to causing a Universe Level Achievement, You will receive a random grade reward that will be most useful to you at the present moment. The Grade of the reward depends on your Luck Attribute.] [Congrattions! You have received a Growth type Armour, .] Following that, a pitch-ck armour had appeared beside the dead Tier-2 Bear. At the centre of the armour, there was a Golden Imprint that appeared to be like the Sun as it kept on zing. With a watchful gaze, I edged towards the Growth type Armour, wondering whether the zing golden imprint on the Armour could produce heat that could harm me or not. After finding out that the armour was not emitting any heat, I picked up the armour and used [Inspect] to look at its information. ___________________________________________ (Growth type Armor) Current Grade: Common (Upgradable) A Bio integrable body armour that was created by a High-Phase Tier-9 cksmith using the essence of a Live Centauri Star. Growth type Spirit Items are unrivalled among the Spirit Items of the same grade. Growth Type Effect: Able to obtain a sole effect from every simr grade Armour type Spirit Item it absorbs. Effect: Vitality+10^, Endurance+10^ Requirements: 25 Vitality, 25 Endurance Durability: 100/100 1st Armour Form: Sealed 2nd Armour Form: Sealed 3rd Armour Form: Sealed Inherent Skill: (Common Grade) : Able to instantly recover your health as long as Spirit Energy meets the cost requirement. (Not yet applicable for regenerating body parts) (Inherent Skill Grade improves as the Armour increases in Grade) Cooldown: 1 Month ___________________________________________ [Due to the Unique property of Growth Type Items, they will fuse with the user''s body to form a Life bond and once it fuses, it will follow you for a lifetime ] [Do you wish to form a Life bond with ?] Even though it was a Common grade Spirit Item, I didn''t hesitate to ept it since it was a Growth type Spirit Armour, which can be upgraded to higher levels. Just the point that a powerful Tier-9 Being created it was alone more than enough for me to form a bond with my eyes closed. I epted the notification with a nod, and the armour expanded by itself and covered my upper body except for my head and arms. It fit me as though it was custom made to fit my body. Once it fit my body, it melted into my skin, and thanks to my Lv.50 , the pain I went through during the process became a lot less than what it should have been. Despite that, my did not level up even once, and that made me contemte the amount of pain that I need to experience to level it up. It held me a few seconds for the pain to die out, and so did the . All that remained was a palm-sized Golden tattoo that resembled the Sun at the centre of my chest. I tried to look around for the vanished armour but wasn''t able to find it. So, I turned my attention towards the Golden Sun tattoo. As I focused on it, lifelike Golden mes emerged from the tattoo and engulfed my upper body except for my head and arms. Soon those mes died out as the reappeared upon my body. I found that the was not like any typical armour that can be removable because the armour attached itself to my skin. When I ced my hand over the , I could even feel the sense of touch and even the temperature of my fingers as if touching my own skin. It wasfortable to a point where I didn''t feel the armour on my body. After a few seconds I got ustomed to it, and with a single thought, the turned back into its tattoo form. I looked at the Timer for mode. [Time left in mode: 7 min 32 sec] The pace of my fight with the monsters went on a full-throttle as it''s just been less than 3 minutes since I underwent . With my Spirit Attribute in [LOOTED STATUS] being at 48, my time perception was 4.8 times higher than average. Since my physical Attributes also match my Spirit Attribute, I was able to experience 4.8 seconds for every standard second. The Tier-2 Monster that I fought against should also have a little over 4 times normal time perception, so the fight reached its end within a few standard minutes. As I reached Lv.10, the duration also increased to 10 minutes from the initial 6 minutes. While looking at the timer, doubt slithered into my mind, ''What happens to when I revert from mode?'' Having no intention to find that out, I opened my and found that the Stats from were not added into any of my Status tabs. So, I added the Undistributed Stats that I got from reaching Lv.10 into Vitality and Endurance Attributes. [Undistributed Stats: 20 ? 7] [Vitality: 17 ? 25] [Congrattions! You gained the Skill, Lv.1 (Umon) by reaching 20 Stats in Vitality Attribute.] [Endurance: 20 ? 25] As soon as both of the Attributes reached 25 Stats each, the effect of took ce. [Vitality: 25 ? 35] [Endurance: 25 ? 35] Even when I added as much as 8 Stats to Vitality and 5 Stats to Endurance Attributes, there were no changes within my body nor any sensation of pain. This discovery showed me that when I was in mode, I could add more Undistributed Stats at once in my , without having to experience any pain. To strike the iron when it was hot, I added the remaining 7 Undistributed Stats into Strength, Agility and Spirit Attributes in . [Undistributed Stats: 7 ? 0] [Strength: 20 ? 22] [Agility: 21 ? 22] [Spirit: 16 ? 20] [Congrattions! You gained the Skill, Lv.1 (Umon) by reaching 20 Stats in Spirit Attribute.] With that, each of my Strength and Agility Attributes had 22 Stats, and both the Vitality and Endurance Attributes had 25 Stats each and Spirit Attribute had 20 Stats. In mode, I wasn''t able to use the skills like , and others that I got from reaching 20 Stats in each attribute. I should be happy that I was at least able to use Looted Skills in both of my Status tabs or else it would have been troublesome. Another noteworthy point I identified was the Stats that were added through Spirit Items or Achievements did not increase my Attributes in . That brought me to a conclusion, where the only Stats that can be present in were the Looted Stats. I didn''t know whether I could add the Looted Stats to my . While being In the mode, if I looted Stats from any dead monster, they automatically get added to the 5 main Attributes in my [LOOTED STATUS] in an equal amount. Since there were only 3* Looted Stats left in my , they didn''t get added. So, I tried to add them into my [STATUS], and it didn''t work out well for me as there were no changes in both of my Status tabs. Chapter 18 - Looting Abilities From Tier-2 Monsters I started to scavenge spoils of the fight, and the first thing I did was to use on both of the dead Tier-2 Monsters at the same time. ___________________________________________ [Choose one of these to LOOT from the dead Lv.16 Dire Wind Wolf (Tier-2).] [Innate Talent] - Grade -3: Increases the ability toprehend Wind Element by three-fold. [Elemental Mastery] - Lv.15 (Stage-2): Increases the Damage Output and efficiency of a Wind Element rted Skill by 150%. [Elemental Skills] - Lv.3 (Umon): Ability to form sharp des made of Wind Element. Cost - 10 Spirit Energy peruse. Lv.5 (Umon): Ability to shoot high-speed Spears made of Wind Element. Cost - 25 Spirit Energy peruse. Lv.5 (Umon): Ability to shoot a ball of highly condensed Wind element at high velocity. Cost - 50 Spirit Energy peruse. [Innate Skills] - Lv.5 (Umon): The Ability to sense sounds increases by 50 fold. Cost - None Lv.7 (Umon): The Ability to sense smell increases by 70 fold. Cost - None Lv.6 (Umon): Jaw strength and Teeth density increases by 60 fold. Cost - None Lv.4 (Umon): Ability to see clearly in the dark, within the range of 400 meters. Cost - None ___________________________________________ [Choose one of these to LOOT from the dead Lv.21 Bloodthirsty Earth Bear (Tier-2).] [Innate Talent] - Grade -3 : Increases the ability toprehend Earth Element by three-fold. [Elemental Mastery] - Lv.18 (Stage-2): Increases the Damage Output and efficiency of any Earth Element rted Skill by 180%. [Elemental Skills] - Lv.3 (Umon): Ability to form a condensed wall made of Earth element. Cost - 20 Spirit Energy peruse. Lv.5 (Umon): Ability to form a high defence armour made of Earth element. Cost - 50 Spirit Energy per minute. Lv.5 (Umon): Ability to form sharp spikes made of Earth element. Cost - 25 Spirit Energy peruse Lv.5 (Umon): Ability to form strengthened chains made of earth to bind the target. Cost - 50 Spirit Energy peruse. [Innate Skills] - Lv.5 (Umon): Ability to sense sounds increases by 50 fold. Cost - None Lv.6 (Umon): Ability to sense smell increases by 60 fold. Cost - None Lv.8 (Umon): Jaw strength and Teeth density increases by 80 fold. Cost - None Lv.7 (Umon): Ability to see clearly in the dark, within the range of 700 meters. Cost - None ___________________________________________ Both of the monsters had many Skills and Innate Skills, moreover all their grades were Umon without even a single Common grade Skill. What I observed was that when a Common grade Innate Skill was Lv. 4, it increases the respective ability aspect by 4 fold and simrly when it bes Lv.5; the respective ability increases by 5 fold. But for an Umon Grade, Innate Skill such as Lv.5 of the Tier-2 Wind Wolf, the sense of hearing increases by 50 fold. The difference was notable for Umon Grade Innate Skills as they increase the respective ability by 10 fold for each level increment. The name of the Innate Skill, looked like it got upgraded from the Common grade Innate Skill, . These Umon Grade Innate Skills, and would be pretty useful for scouting surroundings and sensing any nearby enemies. The Element rted Skills were also looking useful and especially the Elemental Masteries and the Grade-3 Innate Talents. The Grade-3 Element Innate Talent lets me learn Wind-rted Skills by myself. It would be useful in the long term. In contrast, Elemental Masteries and Elemental Skills increase my overall ability in a short time. I decided to loot Grade-3< Wind Innate Talent> from Dire Wind Wolf and Grade-3 from Bloodthirsty Earth Bear. I didn''t loot sensory Innate Skills because I already looted Common grade Innate Skills from the Tier-1 Grey Wolves and since I didn''t merge with them yet; I wasn''t able to use them. [22 Stats Looted] [Grade-3 Looted] [28 Stats Looted] [Grade-3 Looted] The Looted Stats automatically got added in my 5 main Attributes of and increased from 48 to 58 with a surge in my overall strength. Even though it was painful, it was nothingpared to the pain I experienced while undergoing . Moreover, I didn''t feel ufortable with increased Stats as I was able to adjust to them in an instant with the Rare Grade Skill . I didn''t feel any difference since I hadn''t merged with the Elemental Innate Talents yet; as I saved them forter to deal with. After that, I looked at the description in the Spirit Item section of my ___________________________________________ (Rare Grade) A one-handed Sword made from refined Spirit Iron ore to suit the usage of Wind Element. Effect: Strength+25^, Agility+25^ Requirements: 40 Strength, 40 Agility Durability: 100/100 Inherent Skill: (Rare), (Rare) : Forms an extremely sharp, pressurised wind around the de of . Cost: 50 Spirit Energy per second. : You can form a sheath made of wind to move or hold the Cost: None ___________________________________________ With the requirement of 40 Stats in Strength and Agility Attributes, I could only use while I was in mode because my Strength and Agility Attributes in met those requirements. Since my Attribute Stats in didn''t satisfy the requirements, I was not sure what would happen to my bond with when I revert from Mode. After that, I looked around myself and probably because of the high-profile fight that took ce between me and the Tier-2 Monsters; I didn''t find any monsters nearby. Then, I climbed the partly broken golden leafed tree with my as if I was taking a casual stroll and plucked the 3 . I left the area and moved towards the dead Grey Wolves to find if they dropped any Spirit Items that could upgrade the . Just then a colossal notification appeared in the bright Sky above me along with a shy announcement. Chapter 19 - [Milky Way Galaxy Trial Program] [# Trial World Announcement #] [# ''Regaz'', the Alpha Chosen of the ''Gharek,'' underwent Tier-2 Evolution and reached Tier-2 within the first day of the Milky Way Gxy Trial Program. #] [# Congratte Regaz for being the 1st Alpha Chosen among the Alpha Chosen from 1,000,000 Lifes that the System selected for the Milky Way Gxy''s Trial Program. #] [# Due to the appearance of a first Tier-2 Alpha Chosen, every Alpha Chosen of Milky Way Gxy Trial Program will receive Basic Tier-2 Information. #] Just as the enormous celebratory notifications vanished from the Sky, a few normal notifications appeared in front of me. [Basic Tier-2 Information] [Milky Way Gxy Trial Program - The System selected the top 1,000,000 Live that has Intelligent Life Civilizations to undergo the Trial Program to assimte with the Milky Way Gxy.] [All the Trial Programs ever urred in the Universe took ce in the Trial World] [The Trial World is a with 1 Million (1,000,000) Trial Zones, with each Zone being allocated for a Life.] [Each Trial Zone is 100 kilometers (62 Miles) long and 100 kilometers wide, with an area of 10,000 sq.km.(3844 sq.miles)] [1000 Trial Zones together form a Trial Region.] [100 Trial Regions together form a Trial Continent.] [10 Trial Continents together form the Trial World.] [The System allocated the Earth to ''Trial Zone No.1223,'' in ''Trial Region No.35,'' of ''Trial Continent No.7''.] [The Barriers around each Trial Zone of their respective Trial Region will disappear on the Day-30 of the Trial Program, and a Trial Zone Ranking Tournament will take ce between the 1000 Trial Zones of each Trial Region. All the Best] First of all, I didn''t expect the Trial Zone to be just a small part of the enormous Trial World. Since the Trial World has 1 million Trial Zones and the area of each Trial one was 10,000 sq.km (3844 sq.miles), that makes the total area of the Trial World to be 10 billion sq.km. As my Spirit Attribute in increased to 58* Stats, my memory retention reached a point where I could remember information hidden within my subconsciousness mind. I could even recall the area of Earth Surface to be 510 million sq.km, which I saw on a random Utube video. It was only because of that I could stay normal with no effects from the increase in my Spirit Attribute of , or I would have experienced some troublesome process of experiencing all the hidden and subconscious memories in my mind. The surface area of the Trial World was 20 times that of Earth, and that shows the vast size of the Trial World. The notifications that appeared when I first got teleported, didn''t mention anything about others or about Trial World, but with the recent Basic Tier-2 Information, I understood the true scale of the Trial Program. As the name, Milky Way Gxy Trial Program shows that the scale of Trial Program covers the entire Milky Way Gxy. ording to human estimation, there were over 100 Billions within our entire Milky Way Gxy and among them, there were nearly 5 millions that have life. But having life doesn''t mean that every Life has intelligent living species that live in civilizations and the number of Civilization Lifes were few within the estimated 5 million Lifes. But that was just an estimation and within our vast Gxy, there might still be as much as 100 million Lifes or more than that. Even among them, only the top 1,000,000 (1 Million) Lives with Intelligent Species got selected to the Trial Program of Milky Way Gxy. Another important piece of information was about the ''Trial Zone Ranking Tournament'' and it was going to happen once the Trial Program reaches Day-30. The ''Basic Tier-2 Information'' mentioned nothing about the details or the benefits of the ''Trial Zone Ranking Tournament''. Still, I knew that the benefits and rewards for winning it would be high as it was a tournament between the Alpha Chosen of 1000s. Thinking about the rewards, my attention towards the Alpha Chosen, ''Regaz'' of ''Gharek'' and the unknown rewards he got from being the first one to reach Tier-2. Then, with a nce, I looked at the transparent notification that shows the time and Day. [ALPHA Program, Day - 1, Time - 23:50:04] As there were 10 minutes left before the end of Day-1, I rushed towards the South direction while using my enhanced senses to the fullest extent, intending to find a monster to kill and meet thest requirement to undergo Tier-2 Evolution. It was to obtain enough Life Energy to reach Lv.11, and I was just 50 Life Energy away from fulfilling thest Tier-2 Evolution requirement. [Life Energy: 6550/6600] I searched the surrounding area while eating a and within 15 seconds; I crossed over 500 meters as my movement speed reached a mind-numbing speed of 38 meters per second with the Agility Attribute in being 58* Stats. Only then did I find three Tier-1 creatures, and out of my expectation, they started rushing towards me as if they had found a feeble prey, even though I was still in my mode. I used on them. [Lv.4 Mad Hound] [Lv.5 Mad Hound] [Lv.4 Mad Hound] After looking at their levels, I didn''t even bother to check their Attribute Stats and looked at their bloodshot eyes that got filled with madness as their name suggested. Instead of killing them directly, I tried the passive Skill, of , and since that was the first time I used that skill, the knowledge of the way of using got transmitted into my mind in a split second. Then ayer of wind covered the one-handed and with a single thought, the moved at an extreme speed and punched a hole in an Lv.4 Mad Hound''s head. I could even change the direction at which the moved, and at a breakneck speed, it pierced through the skulls of the remaining two Mad Dogs as they died before they could even reach me. [Lv.4 Mad Hound Killed] [100 Life Energy Obtained] [Lv.5 Mad Hound Killed] [125 Life Energy Obtained] [Lv.4 Mad Hound Killed] [100 Life Energy Obtained] [You have fulfilled all the requirements to undergo Tier-2 Evolution, Do you wish to proceed?] I didn''t agree to it on the spot since I was out in the open and in even a low-phase Tier-1 Monster could kill me, if I be vulnerable in such a ce. So, I moved towards my tree hideout to start my Tier-2 Evolution in a safe spot. Chapter 20 - Undergoing Tier-2 Evolution I looted the 3 dead Mad Hounds before heading towards my tree hideout. I obtained 20 Looted Stats from the 3 dead Mad Hounds. They hadmon grade skills such as , , but all of them were low levelled ones. I didn''t choose them as I had the same Skills and they were even high levelled ones. There was one Skill that I didn''t see before in any monster I encountered, and it was Lv.3 (Common). ording to the Skill description, it just causes the user to be mad to a point where they would attack any living being without even considering the opponent''s strength, and the pain received will be reduced. The immediate thought I had was, "It would be stupid even to choose such a Skill." The primary reason for that was those 3 Mad Hounds. If they didn''t have the Skill, they would have run away instead of attacking me when I was several times more powerful than them. If I have such a skill, I would have attacked any monster irrespective of their Tier, and when I met a Tier-3 or Tier-4, that would be my end if I fight them head-on. Not having the ability to distinguish the chances of winning in a fight was the first step to losing it. I had to fight with the Grey Wolves because then; I didn''t have much of a choice since my Stamina reached less than one one-quarter of my overall Stamina. Back then, the speed at which I moved was slow. I had to use not to get caught by the Grey wolves, and as they kept following me, I had to fight them before my Stamina went depleted. If I had enough stamina, I would have tried to escape. So, I didn''t choose . With that, the notification that shows me the options to select disappeared when I didn''t even pick a skill, but I still obtained 10% of their Stats. Then, I learned that if I didn''t want to loot any Skill, I could only loot its stats. It''s good to know that since I might even encounter a situation where I had to choose a Skill from my target, and the one I choose would even cause a negative effect in a simr way to the Skill, . The 20* Looted Stats got added uniformly to all the 5 main Attributes in my and 4* Stats added in each of the Attributes and with that, all the 5 main Attributes in reached 62* Stats. In an instant, my body adjusted to the improved stats with the help of , and after a few seconds, I reached my tree hideout. By then, I ate the whole that was the size of an apple. There was a change in my as the Vitality Attribute got a permanent increase of 10 Stats. [Vitality: 35 ? 45] Even with the increased Vitality Attribute, I didn''t feel any change. I was still in my mode, where my Vitality Attribute in has 62* Stats. And as there were only 9 minutes left, I entered the tree hideout and closed the entrance with some bushes. Then, I epted to proceed for Tier-2 Evolution and another notification popped up. [The Overall Stats of a standard Lv.10 Tier-1 life form is 100, without including Luck Attribute.] [The estimated time of Tier-2 Evolution for a standard Lv.10 Tier-1 life form is 12 hours] [But with your Overall Stats being at 310*, it equals the Overall stats of a standard Lv.25 Tier-2 life form. So, the duration of your Tier-2 Evolution process is reduced by 99%, and it was estimated to bepleted in 7 minutes, 12 seconds.] [Warning! Evolution is a painful process] [Tier-2 Evolution starts in 3...2...1...] Once the three-second countdown finished, a Shiny Crystal Orb formed around me, and I started to hover within it. My surroundings changed to that of a Pitch ck Space that was filled with innumerable stars of various colours. [Time left forpletion of Tier-2 Evolution: 00:07:12 (hr:min:sec)] As the timer for Tier-2 Evolution started, the stars within the pitch-ck space began to fuse with my body, and I felt major internal changes within my body. All my internal organs improved in quality, and the pain was intense, even with the 50% physical pain reduction. But still, it cannot bepared to the tremendous amount of pain that I experienced while entering mode. As the pain continued, the pores of my skin oozed out impurities in the form of a dark substance, and all the inadvertent scars that I got through the course of my life, began to fade away from my skin. During the evolution process, I opened my status to observe the changes, and there was no change in the tab, but the 5 main Attributes in the tab increased every few seconds. When I was halfway through the Tier-2 Evolution process, a notification resounded within my mind, and it was simr to the gigantic announcement notification that appeared in the sky a few minutes back. Even though I couldn''t see the notification that appeared in the sky, the information within it got transmitted to my mind. [# Trial World Announcement #] [# ''Drogor'', the Alpha Chosen of the ''Mogret,'' underwent Tier-2 Evolution and reached Tier-2 within the first day of the Milky Way Gxy Trial Program. #] [# Congratte Drogor for being the 2nd Alpha Chosen among the Alpha Chosen from 1,000,000 Lifes that the System selected for the Milky Way Gxy''s Trial Program. #] In just a few minutes, another Alpha Chosen reached Tier-2. When I thought about the estimated time that was required for a standard Lv.10 Tier-1 person toplete the Tier-2 Evolution process, it made me realize that both of the Alpha Chosen, Regaz and Drogor should have started their Tier-2 Evolution 12 hours ago for them to reach Tier-2 now. Since I was in mode, the System mistook my overall stats in with the overall stats in , and because of that, there was a substantial decrease in the time taken for my Tier-2 Evolution process. If not for that, it would have taken 12 hours like any other Alpha Chosen toplete Tier-2 Evolution. I turned my attention to the continuous changes that kept on urring in my body. My muscles which became bulkier from Strength Attribute that increased in mode began to shrink and my body size scaled-down and after a minute, the size of my muscles returned to when I first got teleported to the Trial Zone. The only difference was the appearance of the muscles, as they were shredded to a point where my body only had 5% body fat. After that, the minuscule irregrities in my skin started to fade away, and after another minute, my skin turned wless, and there was not even a single mole (birthmark) remaining on my body. Just like that, my Tier-2 Evolution ended as the Shiny Crystal Orb dissolved and Inded on the ground from the levitating position and looked at the time in the transparent notification. [Alpha Program, Day-1, 23:58:37 ] With still a minute before the end of Day-1, I heard a familiar sound resounded within my mind. Then, I stepped outside of the Tree hideout and looked at the new gigantic notification in the sky. [# Trial World Announcement #] [# ''Jay'', the Alpha Chosen of the ''Earth,'' underwent Tier-2 Evolution and reached Tier-2 within the first day of the Milky Way Gxy Trial Program. #] [# Congratte Jay for being the 3rd Alpha Chosen among the Alpha Chosen from 1,000,000 Lifes that the System selected for the Milky Way Gxy''s Trial Program. #] [# Due to the appearance of the top three Tier-2 Alpha Chosen, a new function was unlocked for all the Alpha Chosen in the Milky Way Trial Program. #] Chapter 21 - Epic Grade Skill Unlike the gigantic announcement in the sky, the notifications I received were different. [Congrattions! You attained a Gctic-Cluster Level Achievement by evolving to Tier-2 on the 1st day of your Trial Program.] [Due to causing a Gctic-Cluster Level Achievement, You will receive a random reward that is a grade higher than your Tier.] [Since you are now a Tier-2 Lifeform, You will receive a random Rare Grade Reward.] [Congrattions! You have received an Achievement Title, (Rare Grade).] [Congrattions! For being the 3rd Alpha Chosen In the entire Milky Way Gxy''s Trial Program, you have received an Attack type Skill, (Umon Grade).] [Congrattions! You are the 223rd Tier-1 Existence in the entire Universe toplete the Tier-2 Evolution process under 10 minutes.] [Due to causing a Universe Level Achievement, You will receive a random grade reward that will be most useful to you at the present moment. The Grade of the reward depends on your Luck Attribute.] [Congrattions! You have received a Support type Skill, (Epic Grade).] By undergoing TIer-2 Evolution, I received a Rare Grade Achievement Title and two Skills with one being an Umon Grade and the other one being an Epic Grade Skill. Before going through the new rewards, I returned to the tree hideout. I began to check the contents within my mini trekking bag. There were 3 left along with a pair of my clothes. I ced the remaining 2 within the bag since eating any more of them would not further increase my Vitality Attribute. So, I saved them for a future situation where my Health points fall low while fighting monsters. Next, I looked at my own clothes that got torn apart to a point it''s hard to identify them as proper clothes. Even though my clothes were in a miserable condition, my body was clean enough because In the first minute that I entered mode. The puffs of boiling Steam that emerged from my body removed most of the dirt and blood on my body. I picked up thest pair of my clothes. When I was about to change into them, a notification appeared along with a 1-minute timer, and the notification''s content was out of expectation. [Prepare yourself, You will teleport to the Earth in 1 minute as the Day-1 of the Milky Way Gxy Trial Program is about to bepleted.] [After 18 hrs of the rest period, You will teleport back to the Trial Zone to start Day-2 of the Alpha Program and this process continues until the end of the Alpha Program.] [Time left: 60 seconds] I initially presumed that it was going to take 18 months for the entire Trial Program toplete before the System could send me back to Earth. But that doesn''t appear to be the case. It''s for the best that I was about to be sent back to Earth since my family doesn''t need to worry about me and file a missing person report when they couldn''t contact me. As I was about to return to Earth soon, I zipped my mini trekking bag and carried it by cing a bag strap on my right shoulder and prepared myself. Since I had 62* Stats in my Spirit Attribute, I experience 6.2 seconds for every standard passing second. With that, I had 6 minutes and 12 seconds before I could get teleported. With the Rare Grade Skill , I had absolute control over my Attributes. So, if I wanted, I could use a trick to fast forward my brain processing power, and that in turn causes an illusion of perceiving time like an average person. But I didn''t do that and during those ''6 minutes 12 seconds,'' I thought of my family. A few memories that gave an overview of my life shed within my emotionless eyes. ***** On the 28th June of 1998, I was born along with my two siblings. We were born as triplets, and since I was the first one to be taken out of my mother''s womb. I became the eldest child, and the next one toe out was my younger sister and with the third and final one being my younger brother. There was an Ancestral tradition in my family, where a ceremony event will be conducted after 6 months of Baby''s birth. In this tradition, the baby will be ced in front of 26 alphabets, and the first alphabet that the baby touches will be the first alphabet of the baby''s name. But in our case, it was a bit different. Since the priest that attended our ''baby-naming Ceremony'' announced after some ''intense astronomical calctions'' that the alphabet that we first touch will outright be our only name that consists of one letter. In the ''baby-naming Ceremony'', Alphabet legos were ced in front of us. As I was the eldest, I was given a chance first. I flicked the lego that showed the alphabet ''J'', while my sister pped away the alphabet lego ''Q'' and my younger brother picked ''K'' alphabet lego and almost ate it. Whenever I thought about it, I used to smile. Still, with the Skill in effect, every memory was just a memory with no associated nostalgia whatsoever. But that doesn''t mean that I don''t love them, it''s just that I can''t express my feelings and emotions while I was in the state of . I even tried to deactivate it, but that didn''t work. The only way to not be in the state of was to have unequal stats in my 5 main Attributes. Since gets activated only when all the main Attributes have a simr amount of stats in them. I ought to exit mode and also had to be careful in adding Undistributed Stats to the Attributes in my so that the amount of Stats in the Attributes of my doesn''t be uniform. Memories of my life continued to sh, and in them, our Grandpa argued with the priest and made our names a bitrger in a way that they sound like alphabets. Considering that the single-letter names would be awkward and just like that, I was named ''Jay'', my Sister with ''Qew'', and my brother was given ''Kay.'' Chapter 22 - Savant Syndrome Memories of my life continued to sh, and in them, our Grandpa argued with the priest and made our names a bit longer in a way that they sound like alphabets. Considering that the single-letter names would be awkward and just like that, I was named ''Jay'', my Sister with ''Qew'', and my brother was given ''Kay.'' That was one of the reasons why I admired my grandfather and another reason was that he is a self-made man. He began a small startup in the 1980s with a creative business model called ''Buy One, Give One.'' It was named as ''Nav-Yuga'', which means a ''new age'' as my Grandfather envisioned an ''Age'' where people be kind and help each other. In the business model ''Buy One, Give One'', for every product a customer buys, another simr product such as clothes, footwear and other necessities will be donated to the poor. And our social enterprise was transparent with the donations, and this caused an impact on people since they can indirectly help people by just buying stuff from our Social Enterprise. With that, our customer base increased exponentially, and ''Nav-Yuga'' turned into one of the top ''Large-sized Social Enterprises'' in India by 2010. Since our Enterprise maximise profits while maximising benefits to society and the environment, it is called a Social Enterprise. Even though the profits would be rtively low with the ''Buy One, Give One'' business model, the sheer number of customers caused our Social Enterprise to be sessful. My Grandparents has two sons, the eldest son was my father, and my grandmother died after giving birth to my uncle. Both my father and my Uncle ran our Enterprise along with my Grandfather. At the momentum in which it grew, it was estimated to have a great potential to reach the level of a conglomerate in the next ten years. After that, manypanies tried to merge our enterprise into theirs, and somerge conglomerates even tried to buy our enterprise at high prices. Grandfather didn''t give in and rejected all of them as he knew that once our Social Enterprise was sold or merged with others, it would be a shell where the donations to help the poor would be just in name with some greedy individuals in conglomerates eating up the money that is intended for donations. Meanwhile, as we grew up, my siblings and I were identified to have Savant syndrome, and in this condition usuallyes with a ''Pro'' and a ''Con''. The ''Pro'' part of Savant syndrome was to have an extraordinary mental condition and while the ''Con'' part was to have a physical disorder. My younger brother ''Kay'' was able to have near-perfect memory power with some strange off the chart persuasion skills. He can catch microexpressions on a person''s face and bodynguage variations. With that, he could even tell what the person does and even his mental condition to the extent that it looks a bit like mind reading. At the age of 10, he even gave a ss on expressions, conduct and posture to all the staff personnel in our Social Enterprise. So that when the staff personnel approach in a way that the customers feel morefortable and to have a more remarkable customer experience. By teaching them various methods on dealing with different types of customers, our Enterprise poprity was increased even more. With his ability, he can be called a genius, but that came with a price in the name, ''Polymyositis''. ''Polymyositis'' was a physical condition where the body bes notably weak with massive muscle loss. Still, with proper medication, it can only be kept under wraps, and there was no permanent cure to it yet. Even with the medication, his body looks pale and thin and more susceptible to diseases with a weak immune system. As my siblings and I were at the same age, we were in the same ss since our childhood. Some tried to bully my brother for his weak looking body, and I don''t know how he does it, but he always manages to ''smooth talk'' his way through any situation. There were cases where some bullies even became friends with Kay by the end of their ''Bullying sessions''. As for my younger Sister ''Qew'', the ''Con'' part of Savant syndrome was ''Paraplegia''. In this physical condition, the legs will be paralysed. Since childhood, she wasn''t able to walk and needed to use Electric Wheelchair. As for the ''Pro'' part of Savant syndrome of Qew was her extraordinary thought processing power. Even though it looks like the simr ability of Kay, in actuality, it was different as she doesn''t have near-perfect memory power like Kay. But a lot higher than an average person and she can multitask at a whole other level. She can even do ''Speed Reading'' at a pace of 10,000 words per minute, and it might sound a lot but there was a Guinness record for ''Speed reading'' with a speed of 25,000 words per minute. Since she was able to process more information, her reaction speed was freaky high. With that, her abilityplements even more when she ys video games and in almost all the video games, she whoops our asses without much effort. As for me, the ''Con'' part of Savant Syndrome was different from my siblings as my physical condition was normal. But my cognitive capacity to memorise or learn anything subjective was way below than an average person. Since the earlier stages of my childhood, it was difficult for me even to get a D grade in my sses. Only with the help of my siblings was I able to barely pass my subjects. No matter how much I study, I wasn''t able to get at least a C-grade, but that was just my detrimental side of my Savant Syndrome. I was not disappointed about getting low grades as my real ability lies elsewhere. Chapter 23 - Conspiracy It doesn''t matter if it was dancing, swimming, boxing or any other sport. As long as it was a physical activity that needs muscle memory, I was able to grasp any technique within a day. But it was not as simple as learning them instantly by just watching someone performing a particr technique. I needed to be taught in person, and while teaching me, they had to share their experiences and l couldn''t learn something that even the person who teaches me doesn''t know. The extent to which I could learn depended entirely on the skill level of the person that teaches me. Still, I was only able to grasp the techniques at an extreme pace. I had to train my body like any other person. If I were not physically strong enough, I would be defeated by a person who has the same skill level. Since my childhood, I picked up a hobby where I request my parents to find a state level or a national level athlete in any sport to teach me for a week. Even though I was able to learn from them, I would lose If there was apetition between them and me. Because for every sport, there will be a different physical requirement and targeted pieces of training, and with that, the professionals could bring out their potential in their respective sport. As long as I learn high-end sports techniques, and if I physically full-fledged train my body to meet the particr requirements of any specific sport, I could even be an Olympic level athlete. But my goal never was to bepetitive because my dream has always been to learn every sport, martial art, ying musical instruments and many other special activities that exist out there. As I kept on learning these various physical activities, my rational thinking and capacity to keep calm increased without me even realising it. But still, it can''t bepared to the calmness that I experience from being in the full-on emotionless state of . Memories continued to sh, and the series of devastating events that happened because of the conspiracy against our Enterprise that took ce in 2015 appeared within my mind. It all began in the first week of July, as a car explosion took ce when Grandfather was about to get in his car. If not for the family''s Chief of Security, Uncle Aadrik noticing the bomb ced under the car through water reflection and saving my grandfather at the right moment, grandfather wouldn''t have made it alive. But that was not the same for Uncle Aadrik as he protected my grandfather with his own body and most of the shrapnel from the Explosion hit Uncle Aadrik. My grandfather survived, but he entered a ''Coma'' state from brain trauma that was caused by the impact of the explosion. Uncle Aadrik was our family''s Chief of Security for the past 15 years, and I knew him since I was two years old, and all of us treated him as a part of our family. Uncle Aadrik''s son, Rownak, is the same age as me and Rownak''s younger sister, Riya is a year younger than us, and we all grew up together since childhood. Uncle Aadrik''s death was heart-rending for all of us and especially for Rownak, Riya and their mother. In the next few weeks after the Explosion incident, all the minor shareholders in our Enterprise started to sell their shares back to our Enterprise. They took back their percentage of the invested money. Following the next week, a hacker attack took ce, and all the files and transactions of the donations made were erased in our Enterprise servers along with the donation bank transaction details. The same day of the hacker incident, many fake reports and evidence started to appear in social media. They began that our Enterprise ''Nav-Yuga'' feigned giving any donations to the poor, and it caused an uproar. With that, many of our Enterprise''s customers started to sue ''Nav-Yuga'' through a ss actionwsuit. Tens of thousands of people kept on joining the ss actionwsuit against our Enterprise. During the trial, none of the charities or the individuals who got donations from our Enterprise testified in Court. Moreover, few of them even testified against us saying that they never received any donations and that our Enterprise threatened them to lie in the court. With that, we lost the case, and the court-ordered our Enterprise to pay 1.65 Trillion rupees (22.4 Billion dors) immediately. After all the things that my Grandfather did to help those in need, charities and the poor, and all his good intentions were met with injustice. That was the beginning of the downfall as the stocks of our Enterprise went down a clean slope. After liquifying most of our assets and properties, we were able to pay 1.65 Trillion rupees (22.4 billion dors), and all that was left was our house and the main headquarters of Nav-Yuga. After the court incident, most of the customers treated Nav-Yuga as a fraud Enterprise, and sales of our Enterprise reached the bottom. The rate at which our Enterprise suffered losses, it would take another year to undergoplete bankruptcy. None of our rtives and family friends helped us when we drifted into dire situations and cut off their ties with us. That was when I understood the cruelty of the world, and it was also when my ability to trust others fell to rock bottom. After that, my brother Kay and I investigated, and after digging deeper into the reasons for all the incidents that happened, we found that the vast conspiracy against our Enterprise that was orchestrated by the 4thrgest conglomerate Quadnite Inc. The same conglomerate that was rejected by my grandfather when they tried to buy out our entire Enterprise several times in the past. But we didn''t have legal evidence of the conspiracy to reopen the case, and since our Enterprise businesses were plummeting, we focussed on stabilising the Enterprise. Chapter 24 - Returning To Earth After the Court incident, our Enterprise became infamous, and it was even named as ''Nav-Yuga Scandal''. With the conspiracy extending its hands to many news channels, they started exaggerating over the so-called ''Fraud'' our Enterprisemitted, and it looked like the news channels made it their sole purpose to bring down our Enterprise. As this continued for a few weeks and the public opinion of our Enterprise reached a point where it couldn''t be negative anymore. Most of our Enterprise employees quit, and only a few loyal ones that believed in my grandfather stayed behind. Meanwhile, Kay had other ns as he used hidden cameras to capture a few confession slipups from the ones that gave false testimonial evidence against our enterprise and a few other evidence which shows the Hacker attack that our Enterprise experienced. The evidence we had were not enough to open a re-trial and to speak legally; we cannot submit most of the collected evidence in the court. But Kay nned to change people''s opinion as it was the current major issue and he released the evidence and the video confessions in several Social media tforms. Soon, the evidence we posted became viral, and the public''s opinion changed to some extent and the Enterprise which was supposed to be bankrupt by the end of the year barely stabilised from the chaotic financial undercurrents. Even though the declining financial situation of our Enterprise stabilised, it was not the same,rge-sized Enterprise anymore as it was reduced to a small-sized Enterprise. Before it couldpletely stabilise, we were financially short. The medication expenses for my sibling''s physical conditions and the expenses for my grandfather, who was in aa were expensive. So, I wanted to help my family in whatever way possible, but running an enterprise was not something I was good at. Hell, I almost failed to graduate my high school with how dumb I was in academics. With my ability, not only was I able to learn any physical activity in just a short period but also those who I teach could grasp the technique in a quick and efficient manner. I identally found it when I taught Rownak, swimming techniques in my 9th standard. Then to me, who sucks at academics, the idea of training others in various techniques of sports and martial arts that I could quickly learn became a passion as I grew older. So, I started to work as a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) trainer in a nearby MMA training centre. Even though I was not physically as strong and resilient as the proficient MMA fighters, but as I learned from a top national level fighter, my techniques in boxing, wrestling, judo, jujitsu, karate, Muay Thai and other disciplines were at a high level. The fighters that train there used to look down on me in the beginning because I was young. But with a few bouts with the trainee MMA fighters there, those that looked down on me slowly acknowledged my expertise in advanced fighting techniques and began training under my guidance. Usually, it takes 2 - 3 years for an amateur fighter to get a good grip in Mixed Martial Arts and for aplete newbie in fighting it takes over 5 years to reach a high level in Mixed Martial Arts. But when I train them, it took 6 months for an amateur fighter to be an advanced fighter and a bit more than 1 year for aplete newbie, and the standards of their fighting techniques were higher than a typical advanced MMA fighter. A few years passed by and with my MMA training expertise, I became one of the top MMA trainers by 2021. Meanwhile, our Enterprise remained as a small-sized Enterprise, but it was a lot better than its previous unstable financial condition. Even as 6 years passed, my grandfather was still in aa with no symptoms of recovering. As for Kay, he officially became a Contractwyer in November 2021 as he enrolled in aw college just after the fall of our Enterprise and meanwhile with the help of a private detective, he collected all the pieces of evidence that were needed to re-open the ss action settlement case that we lost. My younger sister, Qew, became a critic for movies and novels, and with her higher thought processing power, she was excellent at it. She loves her job and who doesn''t love it since it literally was to watch movies and read novels all day. After experiencing the abilities from High Spirit Attribute in the Trial World, it made me realise that Qew''s time perception was higher than ordinary people. The abilities of both my siblings were a part of the cognitive functions that were gained from increasing Spirit Attribute. I wondered what would be their initial Stats in Spirit Attribute when the System assimtes with the Earth in another 18 months. Because when I first got teleported to Trial World, I only had 8 Stats in Spirit Attribute. Even though I was not near as intellectual as my younger brother or my younger sister. The court case starts on January 2nd, 2022, and just two days before that, I got teleported to Trial World. Since I was about to get teleported to Earth after thepletion of Day-1, it should be around the midnight of 2nd January when I return to Earth, but that is only if the time flows the same in both Trial World and Earth. While I was thinking about it, the 1-minute timer came to an end, and in the next instant, I was teleported back into my room. Chapter 25 - 18 Hours Left Till Day-2 Of Alpha Program I reappeared in the same spot from where I disappeared. I once again had the urge to vomit from the teleportation, but it was a lot less than thest time. In a few seconds, the nauseous feeling vanished, and I checked my mini trekking bag to find if the items from Trial World could be brought back to Earth or not. To my fortune, the 3 and 2 were still present in my bag. Talking about my Spirit Items, I still had the to my feet. The lifelike Golden tattoo was present on my chest, and with the floating so close behind me, it looked like I was carrying it on my back. As to why the kept on floating alongside my back was because of a useful function of the passive skill . Because of the bonds, I formed with the Spirit Items; I could feel all the mental connections I have with them. But the only exception was the Common Grade , as it was still in Trial World, and I could barely feel the mental connection I have with it. I thought little about it and moved towards the closest window and opened them as a gentle cool breeze poured through my window. Mist and fog covered the outside view. Even though it was hazy, I could clearly see farther distances with my heightened vision from increased Spirit Attribute. In the park across the street, I could see the couples walking briskly in tracksuits and sports shoes. There were also groups of elders gossiping andughing among themselves. I saw youngsters wearing earphones and jogging to their favourite songs. I could hear the leaf rustles of the trees in the park against the cold draught of wind and the chirping of the birds in great detail as they flew from one branch of a tree to another. Amidst the sheet of thin white fog, the colourful flowers in the park looked beautiful, and I could even smell the fresh fragrance of the flowers in the park just by looking through my window. I could tell it was the early morning from the surrounding scenery, but to check the exact time and date, I entered my bedroom and picked up my phone from the table beside my bed. It was sharp 6 a.m. on January 1st, 2022. That means only 6 hours passed on Earth, while I experienced 24 hours on Trial World, and it showed me that the time in the Trial World flows 4 times faster than on Earth. I looked at the top left of my vision. The mini transparent notification that always indicates the time and day in Trial World was frozen after the end of Day-1. [Alpha Program, Day-2, 00:00:00] I guessed that the time of Day-2 would resume when I get teleported to the Trial World. From that, I turned my attention towards the new transparent notification that appeared just below it, which showed the time left before I get teleported back to the Trial World. [Time left: 17:59:24 (hr:min:sec)] That meant I would get teleported at night at 12 o''clock like thest time. I didn''t know whether this on and off teleportation between Earth and Trial World would happen every day or a periodic event that happens once a few days. So, In these 18 hours, I had to prepare for the bad-case scenario where I only get teleported once in a week or a month or maybe even a year. While I was thinking about it, I looked at my reflection in the full-length mirror in front of me. The first thing that caught my attention was my pair of piercing silver eyes, which had tiny bolts of silver-coloured aura flowing on top of them. Then I looked at the silver-coloured hair that has a bit of dark shade in it. Simr to my eyes, the tiny bolts of silver aura were also flowing on the surface of my hair. Back when I first entered mode, I noticed that my hair colour turned to silver as I could see my hair as it was long enough to be visible in my vision. But I didn''t find the change in my eye''s iris colour since I didn''t have any mirror in Trial World. At first, it was quite unusual to look at my silver-coloured hair and eyes but as a few seconds passed; I grew ustomed to my fresh look in mode. The reason for me still being in the mode was because when I was undergoing Tier-2 Evolution in the unknown pitch-ck space, the timer for froze in its tracks and only resumed when the evolutionpleted. So, evening back to earth, I still had 5 minutes left in the duration of mode. I tried to exit from the mode, but that didn''t work, and the only way that remained was to wait it out for the remaining 5 minutes. But with the dirt and bloodstains that were all over my body, I didn''t wait and entered the restroom to take a shower, while I was still in the mode. When I was taking a shower, the tiny bolts of silver aura acted up. The water droplets that drizzled over my silver hair instantly evaporated with a hissing sound, and that was the same case when water passed over the eyelids of my silver eyes. I didn''t know why such a phenomenon urred, but when I touched my silver hair with fingers, nothing happened to me. So, I didn''t dwell on it any longer and left it to check outter. I positioned the showerhead in an angle so that the water droplets don''t fall over my head and continued my bath. For me, who can experience 5 standard minutes as 30 minutes, it was rather satisfying to bathe while watching the water drops fall in slow-motion. After my bath, I tried to put on a T-shirt, and once it touched my hair; It burnt to ashes in a fraction of a second. With that, I improvised and wore a buttoned shirt and reminded myself not to let any object touch my silver hair and wore a matching pant for the shirt I wore. I still had 2 more minutes before the duration of the mode ends. With me being in the state of my body adjusted to the increased time perception, but my mind wasn''t adequately ustomed with the flow of time that was 6.2 times slower. Even though I could use a trick that fast forwards my thought process, so it brings an illusion of a standard time flow, I didn''t use that since it takes quite a toll on my mind. So, the remaining 2 standard minutes were equal to 12.4 minutes for me. Instead of just idly waiting, I opened my tab and went through the skill section. Without going through any other skill that I obtained in the past hour; I concentrated on the Epic Grade Skill, to merge with it. Chapter 26 - [Merging with requires splitting a minor portion of your soul to create a personalised soul A.I and once that happens, you will not be able to use any of the Tamer type Skills.] [Upon merging, the personalized Soul A.I will follow you for a lifetime. Do you wish to merge with ?] I didn''t worry much about it when I found that once I merge with the , I wouldn''t be able to use Taming type Skills but what bugged me was the part about splitting a minor portion of my soul. I pondered over and weighed the pros and cons by thinking about the and that I received by causing Universe level Achievements, and each time, I was rewarded ording to what I needed the most in that exact situation. In the first case, I received the Rare Grade Skill, , because when I entered mode, I wasn''t able to adjust to the sudden Stat increase in the Attributes of my and plimented my weakness then. If not for I would have been in trouble during my sh with Dire Wind Wolf. Secondly, I received the Growth type armour, , because Icked in defence and once again itplimented my weakness then. Moreover, has incredible potential as it can be increased to higher grades, and that shows the usefulness of the rewards that were obtained from causing Universe level Achievements. Since I already experienced a hellish amount of pain while undergoing , I didn''t think much about the pain I had to experience during the process of merging with . With that, I epted it, and that was when I knew how wrong I was to look down on the pain from splitting a minor portion of my soul. The pain I began to experience was not physical, but a mental one and the sensation I felt resembled a headache except its scale was countless times higher. I fell onto my knees as I clutched my head from the soaring pain. With my Endurance Attribute in having 62 Stats, my body weighed near half a ton and a few cracks formed on the floor as my knees smashed into the floor with a heavy thud. Low growls started to escape my mouth, and the mental pain continued to soar, and meanwhile, notifications regarding a new type of Resistance kept on appearing. [Lv.1 (Common) obtained.] [Lv.1: Resistance towards Mental pain increases by 1%.] [Lv.1 ? Lv.2] ¡­ ¡­ [Lv.15 ? Lv.16] [Lv.16: Resistance towards Mental pain increases by 16%.] Once the reached Lv.16, the pain reached a saturation point where it stopped increasing and slowly faded away. From the process of splitting a minor portion from my soul, myplexion turned a little pale, and while breathing in ragged gasps, I got up from the kneeling position. Even with all the mental pain I experienced, the only reached Lv.16, and that made me wonder about just how high the physical pain did I experience for me to reach Lv.50 in . As I was thinking about that, all the light in the room started to converge into a yellowish ball of light in front of me and just in a short second; it reached the size of a basketball. Its size stopped growing anymore, and it burst with a bright sh and light in the room returned to normal. But in the ce of a yellowish ball of light, a 1-year-old chubby baby was floating in the air, and the chubby baby slowly opened its eyes, and when it saw me, its eyes opened wide with happiness and shouted in glee, "Master!!!". After looking at the floating cheerful baby, I was a bit taken back, not by the sudden baby''s appearance from the blob of light but because of how identical the baby was to me when I was 1 year old. Back when I was a year old, I was chubbier than most of the babies and overly cheerful as well. Whenever my family and I go through our family photo album, my younger sister, Qew used to burst out intoughter whenever the photo of me as a 1-year-old chubby babyes up, and she used to show that to me whenever she was about to lose an argument with me. So, I remember the appearance of my 1-year-old self clear as a day, and I understood that it was my personalised Soul A.I. I looked at the baby, and before I could ask anything, the baby understood my intentions and started to give a self-introduction. "Master, I am your Personalised Soul A.I. I was created by the System using a part of your soul. That is why my appearance looks like Master''s younger self." "With me being a part of Master''s soul, my emotional state and attitude also resemble Master''s younger self." My personalised Soul A.I introduced itself while cheering and jumping around me in the air. If I weren''t in the state of harmony, I would have facepalmed myself after looking at my 1-year-old look-alike. My personalised Soul A.I continued to bber in his baby voice, "As an Epic Grade Personalised Soul A.I, I have ess to Tier-4 System Information, and at this point in , information is the most useful aspect." "Master, prepare yourself, there are 3 seconds left before the duration of mode ends." With my personalised soul A.I giving a beforehand notice, I was mentally prepared for the sudden decrease of stats. Once the duration ended, I was assaulted by a wave of weakness and exhaustion as steam started to pour out of my body with whistling sounds, simr to when I first entered mode in Trial World. My silver-coloured eyes and hair returned to their original ck colour and my tab appeared in front of me. The word ''Primary'' reverted to ''Secondary''. With a mentalmand, the tab flipped as the tab appeared with it bing my ''Primary'' tab along with a few notifications. Chapter 27 - [Achievement Title]: As I looked at the notifications, the information within them got transmitted to my mind, and the floating notifications disappeared. [ Cooldown is 10 times the no. of minutes you stayed in mode.] [ Cooldown: 01:50:00 (hr:min:sec)] [All the Stats in the 5 main Attributes of will be temporarily reduced to half of their values for 11 minutes.] [Every time you exit mode, 1 Looted Stat from your will be added to each of the 5 main Attributes in .] [As your Stats of 5 main Attributes in are not in equilibrium, you will exit the state of .] [With your overall Looted Stats in being lower than double the overall Stats in , will be temporarily locked.] After a few seconds, the body stopped letting out steam, and it cleared out from the room through the windows and venttors. I ignored the notifications as I felt dizzy as my skin, lips and eyes dried up from the extreme dehydration. I entered the kitchen while hauling my tired body. I picked a 20 Litre Water Can and started forcibly gulping down water to satiate my thirst. In just a half a minute, I emptied more than half of the water in the 20 Litre Water Can without breaking the flow even once. Only then did my thirst satiate, and the mountain of tiredness slowly lifted. However, I was still in a weak state because of the aftereffects of undergoing . The dress I had on me got wet from the steam. So, I changed into another pair of clothes and my chubby A.I flew towards me and looked at me, and his eyes glowed as he scanned my clothes. Then, a mini version of the set of clothes which were simr to mine started to form on the chubby naked baby. He then flew towards the full-length mirror, and after looking at himself, he pumped his tiny fist above into air with a silly smile and looked back at me with his twinkling eyes, while anticipating for me to praise him in his new dress. As the stats of my 5 main Attributes in were no longer in equilibrium, the rare skill deactivated. As a result, I could feel all my emotions that were suppressed in the state of harmony. Since he was basically a part of my soul, I could sense his feelings as clear as day, and his cute antics brought a smile to my face. Instead of an A.I, his actions and behaviour were simr to a human child who seeks attention and love. I didn''t want the cheerful newborn A.I to get dispirited, so Iplimented him, "Well, that dress suited you more than me." Hearing the praise, his eyes brightened like a star and started to fly around me while pping his hands. I got to my bed and rested on it for a few minutes, and soon, the time in my weakened state ended as I could feel a surge in all of my 5 main Attributes. Whileying on the bed, I opened my tab to check it changes from the Tier-2 Evolution. ______________ [STATUS] (Primary) Name - Jay Age - 23 Race - Greater Human Life Energy - 6875/7800 Level - 11 (Low-Phase) Tier - 2 ~~~ * ? Looted Stats ^ ? Spirit Item Stats ¡ã ? Achievement Title Stats E ? Evolution Stats ~~~ Strength - 32 (18+1*+3^+10 E) Agility - 32 (16+1*+5^+10 E) Vitality - 56 (25+1*+20^+10 E) Endurance - 46 (20+1*+10^+5¡ã+10 E) Spirit - 32 (21+1*+10 E) Luck - 7 Health - 560/560 Stamina - 230/230 Spirit Energy - 160/160 Undistributed Stats - 10 INNATE TALENT - INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILL - , LOOTED INNATE TALENTS - Grade-3(not merged), Grade-3 (not merged). [ACHIEVEMENT TITLES] Common Grade - , , Umon Grade - , Rare Grade - [SKILLS] Common Grade - Lv.4, Lv.5, Lv.8 , Lv.10, Lv.10, Lv.10, Lv.10, Lv.10. Umon Grade - Lv.1, Lv.1, Lv.1, Lv.1 , Lv.1 , Lv.1 . Rare Grade - Lv.1 Epic Grade - Lv.1 [RESISTANCE] Lv.5 - Poison Resistance: 5% Lv.16 - Mental Pain Resistance: 16% Lv.50 - Physical Pain Resistance: 50% [SPIRIT ITEMS] Common Grade - , , (Upgradable) Umon Grade - None Rare Grade - [WEAPON MASTERY] STAGE-1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - Lv.1 - Lv.1 (Locked) STAGE-1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - Lv.1 [Long Sword Mastery] (Minor-2) - Lv.14 - STAGE-2 (Lv.11 - Lv.20) - Lv.14 [Short Sword Mastery] (Minor-1) - Lv.14 - _________________ The increment in stats was higher than I expected. From the Tier-2 Evolution itself, 10 stats were added to all of my Attributes, and of course, the ''never increasing'' Luck Attribute was an exception. Unlike the usual 5 Undistributed Stats per level, I received 10 Undistributed Stats for levelling up from Lv.10 to Lv.11. Then my personal soul A.I chimed in, "Master, for every increase in Tier, the Undistributed Stats obtained will increase." "Now that Master reached Tier-2, the Undistributed Stats will be 10 instead of 5, and when Master reaches Tier-3, the Undistributed Stats obtained will increase to 15 and so on." With my personal soul A.I exining me, I got a clear picture and mumbled to myself, "It was no wonder that the Dire Wind Wolf and Bloodthirsty Earth Bear were so powerful. If not for me awakening my Exclusive Innate Skill , I wouldn''t be able to defeat them at all." Then I looked at the chubby baby and thought, "Having a personal soul A.I is pretty useful as I could get information that could help me in Trial World." Calling him a personal soul A.I felt odd. So, I asked him his name and found that he doesn''t have a name. Then, he blinked his eyes and asked me with an expectant look, "Master, Will you name me?" I deliberated over a name and replied, "Alright! Since you are a mini version of me, your name will be ''MJ'' as in Mini Jay." [You have sessfully named your personal soul A.I as ''MJ''.] "Even though Master''s naming sense is bad, I still like the name, MJ," he said while giggling. After that, MJ continued, "Master, as a personal soul A.I; one of my abilities was to manage my host''s and guide them in the best direction possible. Just give me your permission and let me take care of your ." I gave the permission with a nod, and MJ turned into a streak of pale blue glow and flew into my screen as if it was a door entrance. [MJ entered his A.I form] Then a 2D version of MJ''s face, which was the size of an inch, appeared within the tab and the newly obtained skills were highlighted. MJ''s baby voice resounded within my mind, "Master, I will first activate those that don''t cause pain upon merging." Then the information of those that were about to be activated started to appear in my vision. ______________ [Achievement Title]: (Rare Grade) Effect: Able to obtain 2 Bonus Undistributed Stats for every increase in a level starting from this moment. ______________ [ activated] [Undistributed Points: 10 ? 12 (10+2¡ã)] I was amazed to find that an Achievement Title could even add Undistributed Stats. Then, MJ gave me a quick exnation that these types of Achievement Titles could only be obtained through Gxy level achievements like the one that I obtained by evolving to Tier-2 on your 1st day of the Milky Way Gxy Trial Program. After that, the information on my new Umon Grade Skill, Lv.1 appeared in a notification. ______________ Lv.1 (Umon Grade) - Able to shoot a ball made of fire within the radius of 11 meters. Cost: 11 Spirit Energy peruse. ______________ As I looked at the notification, a cool sensation seeped into my mind and some ancient characters, which were burning with an orange me, engraved in my mind. [Congrattions! You have sessfully merged with the skill ] When I was about to use the skill, MJ stopped me by saying that the skill works like a mechanism that converts an amount of your Spirit Energy into a fireball into a projectile attack. I was a little disappointed to find that I couldn''t manipte fire but only shoot a fireball. But at the same time, I was eager to test out the skill . Still, I saved it forter to experiment on, when I re-enter . The notifications continued to appear as MJ shuffled through my . Chapter 28 - Adjusting To Increased Stats & Torture "Master, I am adding useful pieces of information to the relevant notifications from now on. MJ highlighted the Race section in my and the notification that appeared was about the race that I evolved into, and it had additional information from MJ''s Tier-4 System ess. ________________ Greater Human - a Greater race of Human Species MJ Tier-4 ess Info: - Evolved from Lesser Human Race - LifeSpan expanded from 100 to 250 years. - Undistributed Stats per level increased from 5 to 10. Tier-2 Evolution: Lesser Human to Greater Human. Tier-3 Evolution: Greater Human to High Human. Tier-4 Evolution: High Human to Arch Human. ________________ Following that, another notification about my Level appeared with additional information. ________________ Level: 11 (Low-Phase) MJ Tier-4 ess Info: Tier-1: Lv.1 to Lv.10 Tier-2: Lv.11 to Lv.25 Tier-3: Lv.25 to Lv.50 Tier-4: Lv.50 to Lv.100 ________________ Simrly, lots of notifications appeared about most of the aspects of my . With this, my understanding of the system reached a higher degree. More notable points were the Umon Skills I gained from reaching 20 Stats in my Attributes, , , and . The regenerated 1 Stamina point per second, and the same goes for the other two passive skills as they regenerate at 1 value per second. Meanwhile, I learned that I didn''t activate the Achievement Title, . So, I activated it, and my Stats in Luck attribute increased from 7 to 12. It was no wonder that I didn''t receive any other Spirit Items from the Tier-1 Wolves that I killed. I wondered if I could really get more Spirit Items when I kill a monster with just a 5 stat increment in the Luck Attribute. Even MJ couldn''t give more information about the Luck Attribute, except for the standard ''extra rewards'' answer. I didn''t bother much about it and got off my bed to prepare breakfast as my stomach created rumbling sounds. But when I tried to approach the kitchen, I felt it was hard to maintain my bnce while walking and the control I had over my body was poor. The 10 Stats increment in all the 5 main Attributes in my that I gained in Tier-2 Evolution was the main cause for myck of proper control over my body. My Strength, Agility, and Spirit Attributes were the same at 32 Stats. Inparison, the Endurance Attribute has 46 Stats and the Vitality Attribute, which has the highest of all other Attributes, stood at 56 Stats. Through MJ, I gained a deep understanding of the 5 main Attributes. The most important finding was that, all the 5 main Attributes are interrted as the Agility Attribute was not the one that directly increases speed. Only by increasing the Strength Attribute, which enhances muscle strength, could one move at high speed. But there lies a problem, when just Strength Attribute was increased without enough Stats in Agility Attribute, not even a quarter of its potential could be disyed. What the Agility attribute does was that it increases control of overall muscles in the body and improves muscle movement whilst keeping bnce and fluid movement. It also increases reaction speed and muscle memory. So, ''Agility'' depends on ''Strength'' and in the same way ''Strength'' depends on ''Endurance.'' To contain the explosiveness of strengthened muscles from the increased Strength Attribute, the body constitution should be high. What happens when Endurance Attribute does not match the increased Strength Attribute was that the Body''s Constitution, which includes Bone Density, Tendons, ligaments, Skin, and other internal body factors, can''t contain the power of the strengthened muscles, which in turn causes pain and self-damage. In the case of Spirit Attribute, it was essential to increase it along with Agility Attribute. Since, without a high enough Spirit Attribute, which provides increased perception of time and brain processing power and muscle memory, the Agility Attribute cannot show its full potential. Finally, when ites to the Vitality Attribute, without it, all the increased attributes like Strength, Agility, Endurance, and Spirit cannot function correctly in a long-term perspective. For me, the Vitality and Endurance Attributes were higher than other Attributes, but that was not a good thing if it exceeds the Golden Stat Rule. As for the Golden Stat Rule, it was set by the System. ording to this rule, the Attribute with the highest Stats of the 5 main Attributes should not exceed the Attribute with the lowest Stats by the amount that equals the highest level of their respective Tier. In the case of a Tier-1 individual, his Attribute with highest Stats should not exceed the Attribute with lowest Stats by 10 Stats since the highest possible level in Tier-1 is Lv.10. When ites to a Tier-2 Individual like me, the Attribute with the highest Stats should not exceed the Attribute with the lowest Stats by 25 Stats since the highest possible level in Tier-2 is Lv.25. Suppose, if one couldn''t meet the requirements of the Golden Stat Rule for a prolonged period of time, it bes dangerous to any individual as their life force will be slowly consumed, affecting their Life Span since the Attribute with lowest Stats couldn''t keep up with the function of the Attribute with Highest Stats. As the difference between my Vitality Attribute and the Strength/Agility/Spirit Attribute was 24 Stats. I was in luck since if I had 2 more stats in my Vitality Attribute, I would have misfortunately broken the Golden Stat Rule. I didn''t merge with the Grade-3 Innate Talents that I looted from the Tier-2 Wolf and Bear since MJ informed me that merging with them was a time-consuming process. I wanted to add my remaining Undistributed Stats so that the difference between Attribute with highest Stats and the Attribute with lowest Stats. But before that, I had to adjust myself to the improved Stats. So, for the next half an hour, I worked on my body control. In the first 5 minutes, I was able to walk normally. In the next 10 minutes, I could move without making any loud thumping sounds and handle slightly advanced movements like jogging and slow runs. In thest 15 minutes of the half an hour, I was able to make quick and sharp movements. Still, there were also incidents where I smashed into walls and almost broke them, and by the end of the 30 minutes, my house was in a mess. But I got a quick hang of the control over my increased Stats. It would look unusual to any person who was already assimted with the System since adjusting to the sudden increase of 10 Stats in all of the 5 main Attributes under 30 minutes was way too quick. MJ concluded that the reason behind my quick adjustment to the increased Stats was because I experienced the state of harmony in mode, where I had 62* Stats in all of my 5 main Attributes of . With that, I was able to adjust to the increased Stats in just half an hour. After that, I started to prepare Breakfast for myself, and it reminded me of my food source in Trial World, which was the . The main reason for bringing those Spirit Fruits was to see if they could heal my sibling''s physical conditions and my Grandfather''sa condition. So, I brought out the three and the two from my bag and inquired with MJ. MJ asserted, not to let them consume the at once since the sudden increase in Vitality would be fatal for a person who was not assimted with the System. He then exined how the Spirit fruits affect their consumer and that the was a Grade-3 Spirit Fruit. The key takeaway was that the Spirit Fruit effect depends on the Tier of the person who consumes it. In my case, I ate a when I was in Tier-1, So, I gained 10 stats in Vitality Attribute. But if I consumed it in Tier-2, I would have only obtained 1 or 3 Stats in Vitality Attribute. Simrly, if I consume it in Tier-3, It would only recover my health without adding even a single stat in my Vitality Attribute. When Ites to a person who was not assimted with the System, It will increase their vitality by more than 25 Stats. Even if they miraculously survive it, they would soon lose their Life Force from breaking the Golden Stat Rule. But of course, there was a solution to that. It was to let my siblings consume just a few drops of the sap from since the fruit part has a higher vitality concentration. So, I extracted all the sap I could from the . The result was the near 100ml golden-coloured sap, which filled the entire kitchen with its invigorating aroma. Just by getting a whiff of it, I felt energised. Following that, I filled the sap into a 100-millilitre mini refreshing spray bottle that I normally use to spray my face with water to get rid of sleepiness. After storing it in the fridge, I prepared breakfast, and when I was about to eat, I got a phone call from my younger brother Kay. But when I picked up the call, the smile on my face froze as the voice I hear was not my brother''s but a crackling male voice, "You must be the punk, Kay''s elder brother Jay, right? " When I heard the voice''s tone, I had a bad premonition and signalled MJ as he turned in a streak of blue light and disappeared into my PC screen. Meanwhile, I replied, ".....Yes." With 32 Stats in my Spirit Attribute, my senses were 3.2 times higher than a normal person. So, I could grasp more details in the sounds from the phone call. "Keke¡­.Then this is for you¡­.." After that, I heard the footsteps of the unknown man who was carrying the phone, as he moved towards the source of the asional grunts and yells of pain. My eyes turned ice cold, and my body subconsciously quivered when I recognised my brother''s voice within the yells that were filled with pain. I heard the man who talked with me, suggesting another person in a sarcastic tone, "Where did your lose your sense of symmetry, pluck off hisst fingernail as well." Just then, I heard another bloodcurdling scream of my brother and when I was about to lose my rationality from the bubbling rage, MJ''s A.I form appeared in front of me as he exited my PC screen. MJ''s diligent voice resounded in my head, "Master, I tracked their phone signal and found their location. It''s 22.4 km (14 miles) from here!" Chapter 29 - Inverse Scale When I first received the call, MJ noticed my change in expression, and through our soul connection, he asked me for my permission to trace the call. Then it urred to me that MJ was not just an entity that helps me with my and provides High-Grade System information, but it was essentially an A.I. So, I gave a quick nod, and within a few seconds, MJ already found their location. With that, I suppressed my unstable emotions and collected my thoughts. I didn''t make any irrational moves, such as a warning to kill them if they even touch my brother. Since it will only aggravate them to inflict even more torture on my younger brother, I took a deep breath and questioned the unknown man on the phone, "What do you want?" The unknown man replied before cutting the call, "Bring the evidence that your brother gathered against ''Quadnite'' Corporation to the address, ''xxxxxxxx'' within 2 hours or the fingernails wouldn''t be the ones that he will be missing." Once the call ended, MJ spoke, "Master, the location to where they asked you to bring evidence and the location they were right now was entirely different. It looks like they never intended to let your brother live." I replied as a cold sneer emerged on my face, "None of them will live past today¡­." ****** When I first heard my elder brother Jay''s urgent voice message that he sent at midnight, I tried reaching out to him. Still, every single call I made, directly went into his voicemail. I was worried and headed to his ce, and with him being a high-end MMA trainer, his clients were top MMA fighters and his present client was a person who loves to live in the city''s outskirts. So, Jay lives on the edge of our city as it was close to the city''s outskirts since travelling every day would take a lot of time was long from our family house. Since it was an urgent matter, I didn''t call for my security guard and drove my car towards Jay''s house. It was when I was captured by an underground Syndicate and to find where the evidence against the Quadnite Corporation was stored. Within our city, this Syndicate is infamous for the qualifications to join this syndicate was to kill at least 10 people. It''s been 6 hours since they started to torture me by waterboarding, electrocuting. Several of them took turns as they punched me till I was covered in blood. It continued for a few hours, and when I still didn''t give any useful information about the evidence, they started to remove my fingernails one by one for every 15 minutes. Every time that I was about to lose my consciousness from the piercing pain, they would continue to electrocute me to keep me awake. When they realised that I wouldn''t tell them anything, the leader of the Syndicate called my brother using my phone. Since childhood, My brother and I greatly admired our grandfather''s vision of helping those in need and being kind to others. But when those who received our grandfather''s help and kindness didn''te forward in the court trial against our Social Enterprise, Jay''s view entirely changed as he lost hispassion for others. When our Enterprise had fallen to a small-sized enterprise with no future ahead, everyone that we considered friends and rtives forsaken us in our most troubled times. Even the girl that my brother loved back then broke up with him for a reason that we were not rich anymore. With that, Jay''s view on the world once again took a change for the worse as he stopped seeing others as humans. From the past 6 years since the conspiracy incident, he never made a new friend nor did he trust anyone except for our family members and our childhood friend Rownak. Even though I wanted to be saved from the Underground Syndicate, a part of me hoped that my brother wouldn''t pick the call because as he learned new techniques with his exceptional muscle memory ability, he grew calm and rational beyond our age. But the only exception was when ites to me and my sister, he is overprotective to a point where his conscious line between the good and bad blurs down. As I am thinking about that, the call connected and the leader of the Underground Syndicate and soon the conversation ended. Once the call ended, the leader sent three of his underground Syndicate members to a different location to collect the evidence and to kill my brother. I realised that they intended to kill me as soon as they got their hands on the evidence. But their first mistake was to send just three men to kill my brother, and the second one was to let my brother hear me being tortured. Our Family are his inverse scale, and since Jay came to know about my torture, he would not hesitate to kill those three syndicate members before finding the information from them about the underground syndicate''s hidden ce. But I am worried about Jay reaching here since there are a lot of the underground syndicate members here with tons of weapons. Even my brother, who was well versed in various Martial Arts, can not take them on at once. Time passed by, and after 30 minutes, I started to hear screams and sounds of gunshots along with asional grenade explosions. The leader picked up his radio and tried to contact those who were guarding their hidden headquarters and the only one that responded to the radio kept on screaming, "Mo¡­.Monster!¡­...Monster!....a Monster is att.....attacking us!" In the next two seconds, even radio transmission ended. Still, the screams of agony continued to soar as if they were being tortured beyond what I experienced. Soon, the echoes of screams went down by a bit, but they still didn''t end. Including the leader of the Underground Syndicate and the top members of the Underground Syndicate, there were six of them in the torture room along with me. Without exception, there was fear spread over each and every one of their faces. The man who was the second inmand of the Underground Syndicate steered himself out of the stupor and hurried towards the thick metallic door of the room that resembled a vault door and locked it. Just then, a deafening nk resounded from the other side of the vault door. After another four of those metallic nks, the dense metallic door was split open. All of the Syndicate members aimed their guns at the door entrance. Still, their trembling bodies gave away their fear of the unknown enemy. Then a person walked through that door, and he is wearing a ck chest armour with a zing golden sun in its centre, and the sword in his hand is dripping with blood. Through the blood that covered his entire face, I could recognise him as he is my blood brother, Jay. I was shocked, and then, the six of those Underground Syndicate members started to shoot. But none of the bullets reached my brother as the silver sword flew into the path of bullets and started spinning at an extreme speed. Even when they continued to shoot, my brother didn''t even take a look at them. When his eyes were fixed on my bloodied body, I could see his rage going over the roof and then something happened suddenly as if something was suppressing Jay''s emotions. Then, out of nowhere, silver bolts that resembled electricity coursed through his body and following that a cloud of steam spread out with a boom. With the speed at which the sword spun, the stream soon dispersed and I could see my brother''s changed appearance as his eyes and hair turned from ck to shiny silver colour and his muscles became bulkier as his overall body build increased along with his height. He now stood nearly 5 inches taller than his usual height of 6 feet. Then an oppressive aura started emanating from him as the source, and the Underground Syndicate members fell to their knees as if a heavyweight weighed on them and they weren''t able to move even an inch. But unlike them, I didn''t feel any such oppression and my brother walked towards me. With a signal, the silver longsword flew back to Jay''s hand, and a cyan coloured sma type material appeared on it. With that, Jay sliced the metallic locks of the electrocuting chair as easy as cutting a paper. He took out a small bottle that was filled with bright golden liquid that resembled honey and then a 1-year-old chubby baby that resembled my brother''s younger self popped out of nowhere and suggested my brother to only give a single drop and that my body constitution was weak to contain the vitality force of the something called ''Sap of High Vitality Fruit''. Then, he poured a single drop of that in my mouth and a surge of warmth spread through my body as a wave and all the pain all over my body diminished and the cuts and wounds on my body recovered by a bit as if I had a week of medical recovery. Within the emotionless eyes of my brother, I could feel his concern for me. The chubby baby that floated beside Jay called him master and said that Jay could give another drop of that golden liquid after another hour and that I would recoverpletely in 5 hours. As I was drifting into my sleep from the warmth of the ''Sap of High Vitality Fruit'', Jay walked towards the Underground Syndicate''s top brass members. At the same time, his voice resounded in the room. "Kay, rest well, I will make those who tortured you to regret their very existence itself." Following that, I slept peacefully within the agonising shrieks of those who tortured me. Chapter 30 - I reached their Base, and it was hidden underground in an isted area of the city''s outskirts. If not for MJ pointing the exact location, I couldn''t have found it out. I used the along with on top of the and the metallic entrance door was sliced apart with a single strike. Once I entered, I used the Stream Wind Sword''s inbuilt Skill, and controlled the longsword to pierce the head of everyone that pointed their gun at me. I used a dead Underground Syndicate criminal as a shield from the iing bullets. Whenever some of them tried to throw a grenade at me, I would shoot a fireball at them before they could. With my Hydraulic leap, closing the distance between them and me was done with ease. In the close melee, It didn''t take long before all the 34 Underground Syndicate criminals died. Except for those who died from the attack, none of the remaining ones died in a single piece. With the legs, hands and heads separated and spilt everywhere, the whole ce looked like carnage, and I was drenched in their blood. Once they died, I didn''t receive any Life Energy like how it was in Trial World. But the strange thing was that my Innate talent, reacted to my rage clouded mind and it mysteriously functioned by itself and looted stats from them. But with them being 2 stages lower than me, I only obtained 3* Looted Stats from each of them. I obtained 102* Looted Stats in total but didn''t receive any Skills from them. ording to MJ, the skills that a person learns in their life before assimting with the System were not recognised as a System Skill. I didn''t care about it and reached the vault door that was at the end of the pathway. The Metal Vault Door was so thick that it took me 5 strikes and on the fifth Strike, I even had to use the Skill, on top of Lv.14 and . Just as I entered the split opened vault door, I used to control the , and it spun so fast that it looked like a shield. I ignored those who were shooting at me and looked at my brother, who was strapped to a metallic chair with wires attached to electrocute him. Some spots of skin tissue on my brother''s face were torn, and some of the blood vessels under the skin were ruptured, causing swelling and that severe case urs when someone continuously punches on the face. His fingernails were missing and with dried blood in their ce, and his already weak body was covered in blood from the cuts and bruises that filled my brother''s body. His eyes were barely open, and in his eyes, I could see his pain. Upon looking at my brother in such a condition, my mind went nk for a second and for just a split second, the view in front of me changed into an unending pitch-ck space. Within the centre of the Vast Space was a golf ball-sized Orb and it continued to pulse from one colour to another. With the Orb as the centre, there were 10 circr milky white paths, like the''s orbits around the sun. As I looked at the golf ball-sized Orb, an intimate feeling rose within me, and I could instantly tell that it was my Innate Talent . Then a series of notifications popped up, and my consciousness returned to normal. [Congrattions! You attained a Super-Cluster Level Achievement by opening your own Spirit Space while just being in Tier-2.] [Due to causing a Super-Cluster Level Achievement, You will receive a random reward that is one grade higher than your Tier.] [Since you are a Tier-2 Lifeform, You will receive a random Rare Grade Reward.] [Congrattions! You have received an essory type Spirit Item, (Rare Grade).] By the time I regained my senses, the 102* Looted Stats that I recently obtained were automatically added uniformly to the 5 main attributes in my while leaving 2* Looted Stats behind. Then my overall stats in became more than double the amount of the overall stats in , and the previously locked Innate Exclusive Skill was unlocked. My Innate Talent, respond to my Rage, and it activated the mode by itself. Once I was hit by a tsunami of pain from the sudden increase in stats and even with the Lv.50 it was unbearable. I held onto my consciousness while thinking about the torture my brother was put through. When the levelled up 5 times, the pain sensation washed away. Even though it all happened in a second, it felt like a lifetime for me. By the time I realised, I was already in mode with 81* Stats in each of my 5 main Attributes of . Since all of the Attributes were in equilibrium, my Rare Skill was automatically activated, and I was able to adjust to the increased Looted Stats in an instant. My emotions were forcibly suppressed as I entered a state of Harmony and I was no longer feel any emotion. With the synergy effect from all the Stats of the being in equilibrium, my time perception increased to 8.1 times the norm. Everything around me was in slow-motion and with my overall stats in being at 405*, I was just 45 stats away from bing a Tier-3 Lifeform in mode. Unconsciously, an oppressive force that originated because of the Tier suppression was spread from me, and I controlled it to not affect my brother. But for the remaining Underground Syndicate criminals, it was not the case since they were not assimted with the System, they were considered even below Tier-1. Since I was on the verge of being a Tier-3 Lifeform, the Tier suppression was so high that they fell to their knees and couldn''t even move anymore. I shoved away all the thoughts about the notifications about Spirit Space, Rare Grade Spirit Item and other things to aside. As the steam drifted away, I walked towards my brother and gave him a drop of the ''sap of .'' His injuries closed up a bit, and he was not in a dangerous condition as before. It seemed to relieve his pain as he quickly slept. By the time I already reverted from mode, which was 11 standard minutes. I already found all the information I needed on who was behind my brother''s kidnapping and the remaining Underground Syndicate criminals were begging to kill them. But that didn''t stop me from continuing the torture for another hour before ending them. Following that, I erased all the traces of the Underground Syndicate criminal''s dead bodies with the skill, . When I exited their hidden headquarters, three criminals of the Underground Syndicate that were sent to procure the evidence and to kill me just got there. That saved me the trouble to go after them, and before they realised how unlucky they were, they became my Looted Stats. After that, I had MJ to remove any digital evidence of that incident and brought Kay to my house instead of a hospital, and for every passing hour, I gave a drop of the High Vitality Fruit''s Sap to Kay for the past five hours. All the injuries on my brother healed, and even his missing fingernails grew back. There was not even a single mark left from the injuries, and he doesn''t look like he was tortured. He was still sleeping, and I didn''t wake him up. Moreover, his usual weak body frame, which was the result of ''Polymyositis'' was improved, and hisplexion wasn''t pale anymore. I used the Skill on Kay to find whether my brother''s physical condition improved or not. It only showed his species name as Lesser Human'' that was simr to me, when I was in Tier-1. But that was it, other than that I couldn''t find any information. Then MJ''s voice resounded in my head, "Master, it is because your brother is not yet connected to the system." Then he flew up to me and puffed up his chest and said proudly, "But, with me here, Master needn''t have to worry, I could simte anyone''s Status even when they are not assimted with the System, but the only condition was that they have to be lower levelled than Master". When I was in Anger and Rage, MJ felt the changes in me through our soul connection, and he didn''t act childish and spoiled even though that was the instinct of his baby soul, which was a portion of mine. Even though I didn''t regret killing all of the Underground Syndicate criminals, It still affected me subconsciously as my rage and adrenaline died down. Once we got back to my house, MJ subtly started to cheer me up and with his cute antics, even my mood turned better. That made me take quite a liking to MJ. I reached out to his little head and ruffled MJ''s hair, and he giggledfortably. Then I asked him to show me Kay''s simted Stats and also to exin the types of Achievements as I already encountered three different levels of Achievements (Universe level, Supercluster level and Gxy level). MJ waved his palms, and a square notification tab appeared floating above Kay, which looked simr to the System''s tab except for the letters MJ that was big enough to fill the background of the simted Status tab. Chapter 31 - ________________________ [SIMULATED STATUS] Name: Kay Age: 23 Race: Inferior Human (Male) Level: N/A Life Energy: 0/100 Tier: N/A Strength: 6 Agility: 7 Vitality: 8 (5+3^) [^ - for Spirit Items {includes Spirit Fruits}] Endurance: 6 Spirit: 20 Health (20% disease debuff): 64/80 Stamina: 30/30 Spirit Energy: 100/100 (Locked until System Assimtion) Luck: 11 Undistributed Stats: 0 Pseudo Skill: Eidetic Memory INNATE TALENT: None (Not avable until System Assimtion) Disease: Polymyositis (50% cured) ________________________ I was d to find that half of his ''Polymyositis'' was cured, and it took 6 drops of High Vitality Fruit''s Sap. At that rate, Kay would bepletely cured with another 6 drops. Moreover, his Spirit Attribute had 20 Stats without even assimting with the System. But his Stats in the other 4 Attributes were below average. MJ analysed loads of earth poption''s personal information from all over the inte and created statistics on Stats. From him, I came to know that the Stats of each Attribute for an average human was 8. For those who work out and asionally train to maintain fitness, their average Stats for each Attribute was 10. But to exceed even a point beyond 10 Stats, it was hard, and only a minuscule percentage of the poption like highly trained professionals, athletes and few others could have Stats above 10. As for my initial Stats before levelling up, I had 12 Stats in Strength Attribute, 10 in Agility, 11 in Vitality, 12 in Endurance and 8 in Spirit. I was terrible when ites to memory retention, but since muscle memory was also a part of Spirit Attribute, I was at least able to get 8 Stats in Spirit Attribute. If not for my exceptional Muscle memory, my Spirit Attribute would have been around 3 or 4 Stats. My remaining 4 main Attributes had at least 10 Stats and above since I incessantly trained in numerous martial arts and other physical skills from a young age. From the data that MJ analysed from the inte, each Attribute limit seemed to be at 15 Stats. But there were extremely rare cases where some humans cross that limit. Since I mostly focussed on learning the techniques rather than training my body to limits, my Stats were not as high as the world-ss professionals of various physical activity-rted fields. In the case of the ''World''s strongest man'', who can deadlift 500 kgs (1102 lbs), his Strength Attribute exceeds the 15 Stats limit, but his other 4 main Attributes were low. Simrly, when ites to ''U.Bolt'', his Agility Attribute has 19 Stats. There were few other cases where some exceeded the human limits. One of them was my brother with 20 Stats in Spirit Attribute. Another new point I learned was that humans who were not assimted with the System were ssified as ''Inferior Human'' species. By assimting with the System, one could evolve to ''Lesser Species''. The evolution process from ''Inferior Species'' to ''Lesser Species'' was not the same as the Tier-2 evolution process. Since it usually takes a lot of time and even adds Evolution Stats. When I was just assimted with the System, I didn''t experience any such evolution process when I evolved to ''Lesser Human''. Once I had a proper understanding of Species Grades, MJ began to exin the different levels in Achievements. In the beginning, he stressed that Achievements and Achievement Titles were different. While exining, he continued to nce towards the fridge and gulp asionally. I understood what he wanted and smiled wryly, "Alright, take just two ice cream cups and no more, you already ate more than half of the ice creams that my sister Qew stored for herself." Since the past year, I moved out of our family residence. My siblings visit me every weekend, and all three of us chill by watching movies and hanging out together so that I wouldn''t be a full-time loner. To escape from our mom, who wouldn''t let Qew eat junk food like ice creams, Qew stores a stack of her favourite ice creams every month in my ce so she could eat them whenever she visits me. Even Kay and I wouldn''t even dare to eat them without her permission. But the chubby baby, MJ, had the guts to sneakily wolf down more than half of Qew'' ice creams. If she finds that out, even I couldn''t save him. I let him have the Icecream because I could buy more of them before Qewes to my ce. MJ''s eyes twinkled as he did an ''Oh yes'' pose and flew towards the fridge and brought out ice cream cups. He then proceeded to exin as he enjoyed the ice cream with a blissful expression. He then continued to babble a lot of information, and after 10 minutes, I had a clear understanding. From lowest to Highest, the 4 types of Achievement Levels in the Universe are Gctic-Cluster Level, Super-Cluster Level, Mega-Cluster Level and the Universe Level Achievements. To attain an Achievement, one had to aplish a challenging feat such as defeating a higher Tier monster or a simr standard feat. The difficulty standards to earn Achievements is greater for higher Achievement Levels. The Rewards for the Achievements depends on the rarity of the Achievement Level. I reminded myself of the notifications that MJ showed me to exin the grades of rewards for different Achievement Levels. [Gctic-Cluster Level Achievement (among Local Gxies): Random Reward (+0 Grade of Achievement receiver''s Tier)] [Super-Cluster Level Achievement (among Local Gctic-Clusters): Random Reward (+1 Grade of Achievement receiver''s Tier)] [Mega-Cluster Level Achievement (among Local Super-Clusters): Random Reward (+2 Grade of Achievement receiver''s Tier)] [Universe Level Achievement (entire Universe): a random Grade Reward that the Achievement receiver needed the most at that moment.] For a Gctic-Cluster Level Achievement, the grade of the reward received will be the same as the Tier of the person that aplished the achievement. If a Tier-1 person aplishes a Gctic-Cluster Level Achievement, he gets a reward that corresponds to his Tier. In this case, he will get a random Common grade Reward since he is in Tier-1. Simrly, if a Tier-2 person aplishes a Gxy Level Achievement, they will get a random Umon grade reward and so on. Except for the Universe Level Achievement, the rewards for the remaining four Achievement Levels are random. The grade of the rewards depends on the Achievement receiver''s Tier but it is not the same for Universe Level Achievement since the grade of their rewards is entirely based on their Luck Attribute. My Luck Attribute was so low that all the rewards I received from attaining three Universe Level Achievements didn''t exceed more than Epic Grade. After that, I opened the in my and looked at the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen''s names and levels, including mine. _____________ {1} Jay (Lv.11) [3rd on ] {2} Sergei (Lv.9) {3} Brandon (Lv.9) {4} Kensei (Lv.8) {5} Henry (Lv.8) {6} Olivia (Lv.7) {7} Kasim (Lv.6) {8} Gabriel (Lv.6) {9} Min-soo (Lv. 3) {10} Dante (Lv. 3) {11} Andrea (Lv.2) _____________ All the Alpha Chosen had to adjust themselves to the unknown surroundings when they were first teleported. So, I was impressed to find that most of them were Lv.6 and above. If not for the mode, I would have been around Lv.5 or maybe Lv.6 by the end of Day-1 since I spent most of my time increasing my Sword Mastery. When I looked at the levels of ''Sergei'' and ''Brandon'', who were ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively in the , I wondered about their professions since they were able to reach Lv.9 within the first Day of Trial program. Just as I thought about that, MJ''s voice resounded in the room as he swept off the trinkets of ice cream that was smeared around his mouth. "Master, with my Grade-4 System ess, It is as easy as eating ice cream for me to dig up the information regarding the Trial Program and it''s Alpha Chosen." He then turned into his A.I form and entered my tab. In the next second, MJ projected a sizeable, transparent screen in front of me. It contained all the information of the other 10 Earth''s Alpha Chosen. It showed me their Innate Talent''s Category and their grades as well as the information about their personal identities and professions on Earth. When MJ prepared information on every Alpha Chosen''s identities, he didn''t just gather the information avable about them on the Inte, but he also went through every existing record of them. It didn''t matter even if it was encrypted in Military-Grade or any higher defence firewalls. MJ could ess any information as long as it was stored in aputer or any other electronic device. It took me some time to even vaguely go through all the information that MJ gathered. One thing that all the Alpha Chosen had inmon was that everyone''s age ranged between 20 and 30. As for the professions, everyone was a prodigy in their respective fields. Even though my muscle memory was exceptional, it was not at the level of a true prodigy. ording to MJ, it was rare to find one in a trillion with Unique Category Innate Talent in the entire Universe. Nevertheless, other than myself there was one other Earth''s Alpha Chosen who has a Unique Category Innate Talent. That Alpha Chosen was 10th in the Earth''s Alpha Chosen Leaderboard, Dante. The name of his Innate Talent was not shown in the information that MJ disyed. When I asked MJ about it, I found an interesting fact that any Unique Category Innate Talent''s information was not visible to others except their Host. Even though his Innate Talent''s information was not avable, I was still able to go through every other information about his life. After going through it, my face was filled with disbelief as the only word to describe his life was ''Unlucky!''. Chapter 32 - Lucky Yet Unlucky! ording to the records that MJ collected, he had been through many idents throughout his life as a victim. Even though he was injured in most of them, he managed to survive every time. To be precise, Dante was the luckiest person I have ever heard since he could somehow live even from a deadly life-threatening situation. But the reason for me using the word ''Unlucky'' was because he went through a lot of discrimination his entire life as everyone around him treated him as a harbinger of bad fortune. I had MJ show me all the CCTV footage that recorded the idents around Dante. At first, it looked like he brings bad luck wherever he goes. But when I went through all of them, I found a pattern that contradicted everyone''s view. To confirm it, I asked MJ to pull out all the footage recordings that had Dante before a few moments of every ident. Just then, MJ notified me that my brother woke up. So, I entered the bedroom and looked at my brother, who didn''t have his usual calm and collected expression as he rubbed his eyes that were wide open from the shock after realising that there was not a single injury on his body. When he saw me standing at the room entrance, he didn''t say a word, but his confused eyes peered at me for answers. But soon, the silence in the room was reced with Kay''s stomach rumbles. That was his lean body craving for food due to the quick improvement in Vitality Attribute. Against all the odds, my brother saved our enterprise from bankruptcy. He even brought it to the verge of bing a medium-sized enterprise. If not for the ''Quadnite'' Conglomerate and its associatedrge-sizedpanies suppressing our Enterprise, it would have at least be arge-sized enterprise again. With how calm and calctive my brother usually was, I had confidence that he could handle the information about the System rationally. Since I intend to use the sap of to cure my sibling''s disabilities, I will eventually have to tell them the truth. So, I said that I would exin everything to him and asked my brother to join me for lunch after taking a shower to clean himself from all the leftover bloodstains on his body. He nodded without any further queries and went for a shower. Meanwhile, I went to the kitchen and unpacked the food items that I ordered from online food service for our lunch. Soon Kay arrived, and together we sat in the chairs beside the dining table, and before I could say something, he began to eat food as fast as he could. Then, the main entrance door opened. Our sister Qew entered the house as she controlled her electric wheelchair with ''Esha'' escorting by the side. ''Esha'' was her female security guard. She was 29 years old with wavy ck hair, emerald eyes, tan skin and a cold demeanour that didn''t match her friendly appearance. She has been a part of our family''s security for the past 7 years. Her mentor was our family''s Chief of security Uncle Aadrik, who died while saving my grandfather. When we went near bankruptcy, most of the security personnel left us, but only a few stayed behind like ''Esha.'' Qew then moved towards the dining table and red at Kay as she impatiently tapped her finger on the wheelchair for a few seconds and huffed, "Little brat! You didn''t even say a word to me beforeing to our big brother''s house, and why are you ignoring me and eating food like you are starving for days?" She continued to scold Kay left, and right and Kay responded, "Qew, let me eat peacefully. I haven''t eaten since yesterday." Then Qew squinched her eyes at Kay as if she was expecting something from him. Kay sighed, "Big Sister, Please let me eat in peace." Only when Kay called her ''Big Sister'' did she finally stop her nagging, and a broad smile formed on her face. I shook my head as it was a usual sight for me. She then turned towards me and asked, "Big Brother, After you guys have lunch, let''s binge-watch movies; I prepared a collection of recent movies that received higher ratings from me." I promptly rejected her idea, "That''s for another day. Today I already have a different n for all of us. But before I mention any of that, both of you need to listen to a story." Qew only acts spoiled when she was with us or infront of our parents. But to others she was cold. In a way her mentality was close to mine. I decided to tell her about the System and Trial World and my brother as I trust both of them with my life. Before that, I asked Qew''s personal security guard ''Esha'' to wait outside in the car for a while. Even though she was trustworthy, I didn''t include her in the conversation about the System. Soon Esha left the house, and since Qew loves to read fantasy novels, I began to tell them about what happened to me in the Trial World in the form of a story. If I said that it really happened to me, Qew would be asking many questions in between. Most probably, she wouldn''t believe me until I show her my abilities. In the story, I didn''t mention the details of my Innate Talent and my near-death experience. Unlike Kay, who listened to the story with a stern expression, Qew enjoyed the story. Once the story ended, she said excitedly, "Brother, I didn''t know you are interested in reading fantasy novels. Anyway, quickly tell me the name of this novel; I will read it myself." I asked Qew, "Well if I tell you that this is not just a story but something real, would you believe me?" She replied with a proud smile, "If such a thing were real, all fantasy novel readers like me would be the first to mentally adjust to the new reality in the story you just said." "Then adjust to this," then I had MJ to appear out of thin air. He floated in front of Qew and greeted her, fluently, "Nice to meet you, Miss Qew." "Kyaah! Who is this baby genie and...and why does he look like your childhood self? Ah! Don''t tell me¡­." With her abnormal thought processing power, it didn''t take long for her to figure out as she reminded herself of the story where MC''s personal soul A.I looked exactly like his younger self. When she looked at me for confirmation, I nodded and brought out the small bottle sap of from my pocket. "Qew, with this, your paraplegia can be healed, and you don''t need an electric wheelchair anymore." The room turned silent, and a few tears rolled down Qew''s cheek from the possibility that she can be healed. I patted her head and smiled, "Why is my Little Sister crying?" Qew retaliated while wiping her tears, "Uuu...uuu, why are you calling me little, when I was born just 5 minutes after you." With her quirky reply, Iughed heartily. Meanwhile, Kay contemted the various applications and possibilities of the uing new reality. While I had my lunch, I gave both of them time to process the information, and for all their queries about Trial World and the System, I had MJ to rify them. To my surprise, when my sister asked MJ if she could join the Trial Program, I learned that MJ could ess the System''s information about the list of potential candidates chosen for the uing Beta Program and Gamma Program. My siblings were not among those potential candidates in either of the beta and Gamma Programs, from what MJ said. The primary reason for that was their weak physical conditions. Even though MJ couldn''t change the already selected candidates, he could estimate that as long as my siblings get cured of their physical conditions, their names would be added to the list of potential candidates for the Beta Program. MJ mentioned that it wouldn''t be hard for me to find various Spirit fruits that increase their Attribute Stats. When my siblings heard MJ say that, both of them insisted that they wanted to join the Beta Program. After giving it a thought, I agreed to help them by procuring more Spirit Fruits to raise their Attribute Stats since I want them to be strong enough to handle themselves when the Earth changes after the Trial Program. After that, I had them ingest a drop of the sap from every hour. Meanwhile, I trained my second Minor Mastery, as it was only in Lv.1. Chapter 33 - Arc Spirit Fruit 10 hours passed since then, and with my continuous training, the increased from Lv.1 to Lv.13 and in just a few hours. With that, my proficiency at using Longsword became higher than a Sword fighting professional who trained for tens of years. In the beginning, I thought that the reason for me learning the Minor Weapon Masteries at such a fast was because of my exceptional Muscle memory, but I then realised how wrong that was from MJ. It seems that anyone who assimtes with the System will learn Weapon Masteries at the same rate as me. That made me wonder about my exceptional Muscle memory since I couldn''t find it as a Pseudo Skill in my like my brother, who has Eidetic Memory as his Pseudo Skill. Then MJ gave me an exnation of Pseudo Skills. After that, I even came to know some sensitive information about Innate Talents that can only be obtained with Tier-4 System ess and above. Initially, from the name ''Innate Talent,'' I thought it was something that a person awakens when he gets connected to the System, but I was shocked when I learned that Innate Talents have their own consciousness and choose their host based on their affinity with them. I wondered why the System even named them ''Innate Talents''. After that, I learned from MJ that an hour before the start of the Trial Program there took a process where the countless Innate Talents began to pre-select a Host, based on their affinity with them. Just like that, even without our knowledge, each one of the intelligent beings in the Earth was pre-selected by an Innate Talent each as their host. Among the earthlings, the top 11 candidates who were pre-chosen by the Innate Talents with the highest potential were selected for the Alpha Program. Simrly, the subsequent 100 candidates whose Innate Talent potential was just below the Alpha Chosen were listed for Beta Program. The following 1000 candidates with Innate Talent Potential a bit lower than the 100 Beta Program candidates were listed for Gamma Program. This pre-selection process supposedly happened to every life in the MilkyWay Gxy just before the Trial Program. That was also how the Chosen were selected from 1 million lifes for the Trail Program. Only those chosen for the Alpha Program were assimted with the System when the Trial Program started. Other than us Alpha Chosen of the MilkyWay Trial Program, no one knew anything about the System or the Innate Talent pre-selection process that happened. Coming to the Categories of Innate Talents, all of them were separated into 5 Categories. Elemental Category, Weapon Category, Martial Category, Variant Category and Unique Category. Elemental Category Innate Talents consists of Elements such as Fire, Water, Wind, Earth etc. If a person were chosen by a as its host, he wouldprehend the essence behind the fire element. Simr to my , those with will be able to achieve something called and it increases as theyprehend the essence of the Fire element. But the speed at which the person with couldprehend the essence of Fire element depends on the grade of his . If he has a Grade-2 , he couldprehend Fire element''s essence two times faster than a person with Grade-1 . If he has a Grade-3 , then he couldprehend three times faster than a person with Grade-1 and so on. As for those with Weapon Category Innate Talents, they can learn their respective Weapon Aura such as Sword Aura, Spear Aura, Bow Aura and so on at a higherprehension speed than a person without Weapon Category Innate Talent. When ites to those with Martial Category Innate Talents, they can learn Martial Combat Skills. They are said to be unbeatable in closebat within the same level among the other Category Innate Talents. Any Innate Talent that doesn''te under Elemental Category, Weapon Category and Martial Categorye under Variant Category Innate Talents. It was when the topic of the Pseudo Skills was raised. A few people that possess special abilities like my siblings and I were named Pseudo skills by the System. When the various Innate Talents choose their Host before starting a Trail Program, those with Pseudo Skill will have a high probability of being selected by a Variant Category Innate Talent. ording to the System information, Those with Variant Innate Talent were rarer, and one can only be found in a Billion. As for Unique Category Innate Talents, MJ said that it was even unpredictable by the System as they have unique properties that were never recorded before in the System''s existence. But when a person with Pseudo Skill assimtes with the System, he will merge with his Innate Talent, and during that merging process, the Pseudo Skill will be reced by the Innate Talent and the person will lose Pseudo Skill forever. It was also how I lost my exceptional muscle memory ability after I merged with my Unique Category Innate Talent, . Next, I learned that with MJ''s Tier-4 System ess, he could go through a vast amount of information in the System. He could tell the type of Innate Talent Category information that every person on the was pre-selected for. But only when a person assimtes with the System could he obtain the Innate Talent that pre-selected him as its host. Until then, even MJ could not find out about their Innate Talent''s Grade and its detailing. I also found that both of my siblings were pre-selected by Variant Category Innate Talents, but they were not among Beta Program or Gamma Program candidates. The reason for that was because the System only considers healthy individuals for the Trial Program since the survival ability will be low for a person with a critical disease or any disabled person. That was why both my siblings were not included in the list of candidates for Beta Program and Gamma Program even when both of them had a Variant Category Innate Talent. But to my surprise, once my brother''s ''Polymyositis'' wholly healed from consuming another 6 drops of the High Vitality Fruit''s sap, his name entered the list of the 100 potential candidates that will soon be chosen for the Beta Program. Like MJ estimated, Kay entered the list of potential candidates for the Beta Program. I determined myself to find him various Spirit Fruits before the Beta Program began to improve the Stats in his physical Attributes, which were even below an average person at the moment. As for my sister, her condition ''Paraplegia'', where both of her legs were paralysed, was 50% cured after consuming 10 drops of High Vitality Fruit''s sap for the past 10 hours. She needs 10 more drops of High Vitality Fruit''s sap, and since only one drop of that should be consumed per hour, she needs to continue the process for another 10 hours to bepletely cured of her disability. With a highly advanced A.I like MJ; any digital information was not off the charts anymore. Kay didn''t just stay idle while he was being cured as he collected more concrete and detailed evidence that proved the Quadnite Corporation''s conspiracy against our Enterprise. With how productive Kay was, he didn''t just stop at that and had MJ create detailed blueprints on the upgraded versions of the various existing electronic products like Smartphones, Television, Computers, Smartwatches etc. But Kay specifically emphasised MJ not to improve the current technologies by more than 5 years away in future. Because that will bring unwanted attention to us and since our Enterprise was not yet at a stage to handle pressure fromrgerpanies that will try to pry on us for those new technologies. He was also careful about not introducing or improving any new technology rted to weapons since we humans have consistently proven ourselves incapable of handling it throughout history. Kay wanted to indulge me in further details about our enterprise''s future path, but I left everything to Kay and MJ. When I found MJ, his cheeks were bloated with a red shade on them, and he appeared quite fearful of Qew and from Kay I found that Qew caught MJ red-handed when he was eating Qew''s favourite Ice creams. I shook my head as I prayed for MJ''s cheeks because even I couldn''t save him from my sister. But since she was in a good mood from her gradual recovery, she showed MJ leniency. Still, Qew pulled MJ''s chubby cheeks until he promised not to eat her Ice creams without her permission, and she even made MJ to call her ''Grand Aunt.'' After that, I took MJ and went to the hospital that was treating my Grandfather, who was in aa for the past 6 years. Before reaching there, I asked MJ to turn into his A.I form since he would be invisible to others in that form. But his childish instinct took the better of him as he wanted to experience going outside in his baby form. I didn''t forget to instruct MJ to not fly in public. On the way to the hospital, I took him to a clothes store and among all the dresses for a baby, MJ chose the baby-sized Santa dress, especially he loved the red Santa cap. Before I could buy them, MJ''s eyes glowed as he scanned them and his dress changed into that of a Santa. I was d that the shop didn''t have a matching white beard for that baby Santa costume or MJ might be having a mini white beard on his chubby face. Within the Hospital, MJ walked beside me while holding my hand, and soon we reached the Intensive Care Unit in which my grandfather was being treated. Two middle-aged bulky security guards were standing at the ICU room entrance that my grandfather was in. Actually, they are brothers, and 10 years ago, they were goons among the gang that tried to kill my grandfather under an opposingpany''s orders. Only the gang leader and a few others in that gang knew that they were about to kill my grandfather. Still, in thest moment, those two goon brothers came to know that their task was not to warn but to kill a person, they defended my grandfather with their lives until my grandfather''s security team arrived. When the situation settled, my grandfather didn''t let the police arrest those two goon brothers, and he even gave them jobs in my grandfather''s personal security team. Then no one understood why he ced those goons in the security team, but the same ex-goons were among the few that stayed loyal to our family even when we were in trouble. As soon as they saw me, both of them greeted me in unison, "Young Master!" No matter how many times I asked them not to call me ''Young Master'', they continued to do that. I was tired of correcting them every single time, so I just sighed and nodded at them. I entered the ICU, and when my gazended on my grandfather''s weak body, a tinge of sadness appeared within me. Then, I had MJ emte my grandfather''s Status and found that all of his main Attribute Stats were below four and what''s worse was that his Spirit Attribute was blinking between ''0'' and ''1''. After a quick analysis, MJ said that my grandfather couldn''t live longer than two months. I learned that the could not heal a person in aa since the person who enters aa state his Spirit Attribute was affected and bes unstable. To heal a person in aa state, a Spirit Fruit that increases Spirit Attribute Stats was needed. But the longer one stays in aa, the higher the Spirit Fruit''s grade is required to heal. MJ concluded that my grandfather needs an Arc Spirit Fruit (Grade-4 Spirit Fruit) within the next 2 months for him to live. Chapter 34 - With a stern expression, I sat beside my grandfather''s bed in silence as I listened to MJ talk about the rarity of finding a Grade-4 Spirit Fruit. He said that I might not even find a Grade-4 Spirit Fruit within the ''Trial Zone No.1223'' that was allocated for the Earth''s Chosen. Even if I manage to find it within the Trial Zone''s vast area of 10,000 sq.km (6214 sq.miles), the Grade-4 Spirit Fruit will most probably be guarded by at least a powerful Tier-3 Monster that was on the verge of bing a Tier-4 Monster. The difference between each Tier is significant. If not for the mode, I wouldn''t have been able to kill a High-Phase Tier-2 Monster like Lv.25 Bloodthirsty Earth Bear. Not to mention the high amount of Evolution Stats obtained after Evolution, the amount of Undistributed Stats avable per level also increases for higher Tiers. When I evolved to Tier-2, I gained 10 Evolution Stats for each of my 5 main Attributes. The avable Undistributed Stats per level increased from ''5'' to ''10''. Just the difference in Attribute Stats showed the power gap between Tier-1 and Tier-2. But from MJ, I learned that the power gap was even wider between a Tier-2 and Tier-3. Because when someone evolves to Tier-3, they gain 30 Evolution Stats for each of their 5 main Attributes. The avable Undistributed Stats per level increases from ''10'' to ''15''. If a Monster in the peak of Tier-3 really guards the Grade-4 Spirit Fruit like what MJ said, I couldn''t obtain it with my current strength. Soon my mood turned worse as I thought about the possibility of not even finding an Arc Spirit Fruit at all in the Trial Zone. Even with how rational I was, subconsciously, a sense of fear mixed with sadness seeped into my mind as I thought about my grandfather dying within thea. As I was falling into my own negative thoughts, MJ''s voice woke me up from my stupor, "Master! Your emotions are obstructing your thoughts, Use the trick that you identally learned from going through ." Then I took a deep breath and looked at the on my finger as I recalled its description. _______________ (Rare Grade) A 10 x 10 x 10 meters Space storage ring that was imbued with Luck. Effect: Luck+25 Requirements: 10 Luck Durability: 100/100 Inherent Skill: (Rare) : Able to set a debuff timer to temporarily limit target''s Stats and Skill Levels. (not applicable if the Target is Tier-4 and above) Cost: Varies depending on the amount of Stats or Skill Levels. _______________ When I first saw its description, I was amazed to find a ring that allows me to magically store any inanimate object within an invisible space. Moreover, it even increased my Stats in Luck Attribute from ''12'' to ''37''. Even MJ doubted his knowledge of ''rather hard to obtain Luck Stat'' since I already gained 30 Stats in Luck Attribute since my assimtion with the System. As for the Inherent Skill , I tested it on myself a few times instead of others during the short breaks that I took while training in . Then, I identally found an unexpected usage with the skill when I tried to debuff my own Stats in Vitality, and Endurance Attributes to match the Stats in Strength, Agility and Spirit Attributes. With MJ''s suggestion, I activated and set a debuff timer of 15 min on myself while specifying the amount of Stats to get temporarily limited. [Limiting 20 Vitality Stats and 10 Endurance Stats for 15 mins] [45 Spirit Energy expended] [Time left till Debuff ends - 00:14:59] Then MJ opened just the Attribute section within the and I could see the changes on them. _____________ ~~~ * ? Looted Stats ^ ? Spirit Item Stats ¡ã ? Achievement Title Stats E ? Evolution Stats Lt ? Temporarily Limited Stats ~~~ Strength: 37 (22+2*+3^+10E) Agility: 37 (25+2*+10 E) Vitality: 57-20 Lt ? 37 (25+2*+20^+10 E-20 Lt) Endurance: 47-10 Lt ? 37 (20+2*+10^+5¡ã+10 E-10 Lt) Spirit: 37 (25+2*+10 E) Luck: 37 (7+25^+5¡ã) Undistributed Stats: 0 _____________ As for the 12 Undistributed Stats, I gradually added 4 of them in Strength, Agility and Spirit Attribute while training the . As a result of the limiter debuff, all the 5 main Attributes were temporarily in equilibrium. The Skill automatically activated as I entered the state of Harmony. A cool sensation spread every corner of my mind and the worry, fear, sadness vanished along with all of my emotions. When I used for the first time, I was afraid of myself for not feeling any emotion such as affection and love for my family members. My fear was mostly because the humane part of me was disabled when I was in the state of Harmony. Because I was able to sense that I couldn''t feel anything even if my loved ones were to die. But on the positive side, that gave me unparalleled rationality and even under emotional circumstances, I could make rational decisions. Once the activated, my thoughts cleared. With a calm expression, I took a nce at my grandfather and walked towards the window. Then I stared at the slender crescent moon for 10 minutes as I stood there without even moving an inch. Meanwhile, I contemted my entire life with a whole new mindset that originated from my state of Harmony. While standing there, I spoke without turning back, intending for my unconscious grandfather. "Grandpa, you taught me to be kind to others and help those who were in need, but this world doesn''t deserve your overflowing kindness." "None of those you helped, returned their gratitude when our Enterprise was deemed as fraud." "I know, if you were conscious, you would say that they didn''t have a choice and they were ckmailed or even brought out by the Quadnite Conglomerate to not be a supporting witness in the Court." "But as I see it, all those people easily gave in because we were kind and not powerful and cruel like Quadnite Conglomerate." "In this world being kind is not enough in front of power and what I want is not the false power like money and status but the true and irrefutable power that I found through the System." "I want to be powerful...¡­..powerful to the point where no one would dare to betray me." Right then, I noticed a dim silver-coloured sh in my eyes within the hazy reflection of the window ss, and a few notifications popped up. [ sensed your resolve and thirst for True Power.] [Congrattions! You have satisfied one of the two requirements to obtain the 3rd Innate Exclusive Skill of .] [Gain 1000 Undistributed Looted Stats to satisfy the remaining requirement.] With my determination to pursue true power, I identally satisfied one of the two requirements for obtaining an Innate Exclusive Skill. With how useful my 1st and 2nd Innate Exclusive Skills were, I prioritised gaining 1000 Looted Stats andpleting thest remaining requirement to obtain the 3rd Innate Exclusive Skill. I decided to actively hunt monsters once the Day-2 of the trial program starts while searching for the Grade-4 Spirit Fruit. After that, I consulted with MJ and injected a drop of the High Vitality Fruit''s sap into the saline bottle that provides nutrients to my grandfather. I added a drop each to another 9 saline bottles that will be usedter. I knew that it was not what''s required to save my grandfather''s life, but at least his physical health can be improved. Following that, I returned to my house. With only an hour remaining before I teleported back to the Trial World, I stored food items, water supplies, and many clothes within the storage space of . As for the main people behind my brother''s kidnapping, I had MJmunicate with them using the Underground syndicate leader''s voice. I didn''t want to alert them by finding that someone took care of the Underground Syndicate. Even though I don''t have any stealth rted skills, If I wanted, I could kill them, and with MJ, all kinds of digital evidence can be erased. But with them being hotshots, the investigation conducted on their death will be handled by the top brass. There can be crime scene witnesses or forensic reports that prove that the culprit has a superhuman capability. Even though they can''t find me, I don''t want to be in the police''s radar. Moreover, when we win the ss action case, the Quadnitepany should be the one paying for their conspiracy against our Enterprise. So, I let them live a little longer, and with MJ, I hadplete surveince over their every action. Chapter 35 - Secret Agent Blue 11:50 am (UTC-5). Washington, DC. Within the Oval office of the Whitehouse, the President was in a meeting, and a bodyguard approached and whispered that the CIA director requested an urgent meeting saying that it was a matter regarding ''Code-5 Event.'' Then the President bolted from his seat. His face turned serious as he cancelled the ongoing meeting and other scheduled appointments. The Code-5 Event is only used when something catastrophic was about to happen like a meteor heading towards earth or an extreme natural cmity that could cause massive life loss. He took a deep breath and pressed a button on his desk. Then the CIA Director, who was in his fifties, entered the office. After a short exchange of greetings, the CIA Director proceeded, "Mr President, the matter I am about to discuss is unbelievable to put in words. So, before exining in detail, I would like to show you something first." Then he took out a Laptop. While opening it, the CIA Director asked, "Mr President, do you remember the CIA''s Secret Agent Blue?" At the mention of that, the President''s mood brightened, "You mean Brandon? Of course, why would I forget the man who saved me in the assassination that took ce 5 months ago? After that, I read his file and was tempted to snatch him from the CIA to be my personal security head, but our country needs such a highly talented young agent more than me." "But why are you mentioning Brandon? Is he involved in this Code-5 Event?" The CIA Director nodded and started a video on theptop, "Mr President, Take a look at this and let me remind you, everything in the video is as real as you and me." Within the video, there was a blond-haired young CIA agent in a ck suit. He took strength, speed and endurance tests and his performance exceeded the human limits. At the end of the video, he aimed his palm at dummy targets and blue-coloured sparkling lightning formed in front of him. Then it turned into the shape of an arrow, and it was shot towards a dummy target. Upon contact, a hole of 3 inches wide diameter was punched through. After that, the blonde-haired man proceeded to shoot projectiles while altering the shapes to sword, dagger, spear. In a few seconds, all the 5 dummy targets were sted apart. Then the video ended and the President stared at theptop with a dumbfounded look and asked the CIA Director, "What kind of ability is that?! How..how did he do that? " "Mr President, I know you have a lot of doubts, but it would be better to listen to it from Brandon himself. He is waiting outside the White House and before inviting him in, inform the White Hall security about his arrival, or they would mistake him for an attacker." President collected hisposure and informed the security. Then the CIA Director queried, "Mr President if you don''t mind me asking, do you have any breathing difficulty?" "Uh, Yes, I do have asthma problems, but could I know the relevance?" The CIA Director replied with an awkward expression, "This is rather hard to exin without personally experiencing it, but I highly rmend you to be ready with your asthma breather by the time Agent Blue arrives." In a few minutes, the president''s office door opened. The security head entered the president''s Oval office with a frightened look and asked while stuttering, "Mr President, are you, are you sure about inviting the person, person you just asked for?" President was a bit sceptical about why the head of security was acting in such a way but just replied, "Yes, Quickly, let him in." Then a blonde-haired young man walked in, and when he entered the room, the president started to sweat as an oppressive feeling washed over him. When the president looked at the piercing blue eyes of the young man, he suffocated to breathe. Then the CIA Director helped him to use his Asthma breather and only then did the president recover. Brandon apologised, "Sorry for that, Mr President, I couldn''t yet control this strange suppressive force from Tier difference. Please don''t look at my eyes to reduce the suppression effect and bear with it while I clearly exin the details of the Code-5 Event." After that, Brandon briefed the President about teleporting to a ce called Trial World, where there were powerful monsters. He was one of the 11 Alpha Chosen for the System''s Alpha Program. He continued to exin the levels, the usage of Undistributed Stats, and that he obtained a Grade-8 Lightning Innate Talent after the System''s assimtion. Brandon also exined that the scale of the so-called ''Trial Program'' was on a Gxy level. There were 1 million lifes with intelligent species selected for the Trial Program with an overall Alpha Chosen of 11 million. By the end of Brandon''s briefing, the President was dumbstruck. It took him a while to digest all the mind-boggling information he just learned. President asked Brandon, "Couldn''t we use our weapon arsenal to defeat the monsters that spawn once that ''System'' assimtes with our Earth?" Brandon replied, "Mr President, I am afraid that might not be possible. Just before I was first teleported to the Trial World, I was doing a dangerous mission, and I had several guns, grenades and other tactical devices with me when I was abruptly teleported." "But among them, the devices that were used formunication were not teleported along with me to the Trial World." "Other than them, the guns and other tactical equipment on me were brought along with me to the Trial World but what''s strange was that none of the modern weapons worked." "In the beginning, I thought there was a malfunction within the gun, but after disassembling it, I found no problem with that. So, I took out a bullet and extracted gunpowder and tried to light it, but it didn''t work." "I even used frag grenades, stun grenades and other tactical equipment but none of them functioned. It''s as if thews of matter were different in the Trial World." "I think the chances of all the electronic devices and modern weapons stop functioning after the System''s assimtion are high." The President eximed in shock, "Good God!! If that happens, the world will fall into chaos." He then looked towards Brandon and asked tensely, "Within the next 18 months of the Trial Program, Earth''s Chosen of Alpha, Beta and Gamma Programs that you mentioned, could, could they be strong enough to defend against the monsters that spawn after the System assimtion with Earth?" Brandon replied with a faint smile, "Mr President, I don''t know about Chosen from Beta and Gamma Programs since they are not even started yet. But among us 11 Alpha Chosen, there is one who is even ranked third within the 11 million Alpha Chosen of the entire Milky Way Trial Program." "As for me, I am just a level away from satisfying all the three requirements for Tier-2 Evolution. With my Grade-8 Lightning Innate Talent, I should be able to evolve to Tier-2 within Day-2, and that might bring me at least in the top 1000 of the 11 million Alpha Chosen." "There is another person who is in the same Lv.9 as me, but he is ranked higher than me among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen Leaderboard." "So, Mr President, I think we are doing pretty well among the million lifes that were chosen for the Trial Program." Only after hearing what Brandon said did the president sigh in relief and happily eximed, "Thank God!! Finally, some good news! Use our intelligenceworks to find the other Alpha Chosen and offer them the best privileges and attractive money payments or anything they require to pull them to our side before other countries get the wind of it." The CIA Director interjected, "Through our intelligencework within Russia, we already found someone that matches the superhuman level abilities of Alpha Chosen." The President''s eyes brightened, and in the next half an hour, he made several calls. After that, he said to Brandon with a tone filled with authority, "Within a few days, I will get the permissions and paperwork needed to create a new secret force and Brandon, the famed Agent Blue, you will be the head of this new secret force." "You will have every resource of our country at your expense. Except for me, You have to follow no one''s orders. As for the name of this secret force, I will leave it up to you." "All the hopes are on you and the other Chosen to be stronger by the time that Trial Program ends. Good luck to you. God bless the United States of America and God bless the World." Brandon saluted and said with a smile, "It''s my honour, Mr President. As for the name, I already have something in mind." Chapter 36 - Day-2 Begins! Within thest hour of the 18-hour rest period, Kay and MJ got themselves busy handling the matters regarding the technology advancements and our Enterprise. Meanwhile, I rxed as I watched movies with Qew in my home theatre. Even though it was the first time for me, I adjusted my enhanced time perception to match the yback speed. Within the 10 hour-long training, I learned from MJ that the time perception was generalised into two types, namely True-time perception and False time perception. By increasing stats in Spirit Attribute, one can increase their perception of time. But it can only be called True-time perception when the Stats in the other 4 main Attributes were at least the same or more than the Stats in the Spirit Attribute. If not, it was categorised as False time perception since Strength, Agility, Vitality and Endurance Attributes couldn''t keep up with the time perception of the Sprit Attribute. Soon an hour passed and I was teleported back into the tree burrow that I was in before teleporting to Earth. Since it was dark within the tree burrow, my Lv.10 was automatically activated. Even though all the colours were dimmer, I was still able to see in the dark clearly. Just then, a series of 12 notifications resounded in my mind, simr to the ones that appeared in the sky after my Tier-1 Evolution. I exited the tree burrow as I removed the bushes at its entrance and looked at the enormous notifications shining in the sky. But they were less than a quarter the size of the gigantic notifications that congratted the other two Alpha Chosen that evolved to Tier-2 before me and I included. Those were congrattory notifications for the 12 Alpha Chosen that evolved to Tier-2 during the 18 hours of the rest period. 12 more names were added in the below my name. Imitted their names to my memory and turned my attention to the time notification that indicated the start of Day-2 on my vision''s top left corner. [Day-2, Alpha Program, 00:00:10 (hr:min:sec)] I stood there as I let myself bathe in the warm sunlight for a while and soon returned into my tree hideout after not finding any presence of monsters nearby. The first thing I did was merging with themon grade skills, Lv.10 and Lv.10 that could increase my hearing and smell senses. Simr to when I merged with the skill , the merging process caused a burning sensation in my nose and ears. Still, with my high Physical Pain resistance, I hardly felt any pain. Once the merging process waspleted, my hearing and smell senses which were already 3.7 higher than a human was further increased by 10 fold. As a result, those two senses became 37 times higher than the average human. With that, my hearing and smell senses were heightened to a point where I started to sense every small sound and all kinds of fragrances within a radius of 900 meters around me. Even with 37 Stats in my Spirit Attribute, my brain couldn''t process all the information that I received through my senses. A soaring headache hit me. I quickly used the on myself and limited the skill levels of and from Lv.10 to Lv.2 at the expense of some Spirit Energy points. Only then was I able to adjust to my senses, but still I could sense every smell and sound in detail within the radius of 180 meters. It took me a minute to properly adjust to the increased senses. I knew that even with my , my Spirit Energy expenditure couldn''t maintain the cost set by for more than a few hours. So, I intended to quickly increase my level to improve my Spirit Attribute to adjust myself to higher skill levels of the and . Then, I left my tree hideout and moved towards the North direction where I fought against the Tier-2 monsters, Bloodthirsty Earth Bear and Dire Wind Wolf in the hopes of finding monsters. It didn''t take long before reaching that location, and all there remained where the bones and dried blood of the two Tier-2 Monsters that I killed. It seemed that other monsters scavenged their carcasses. MJ''s voice resounded within my mind, "Master, the Tier-2 monsters were not scavenged just because of food but of their Spirit Crystal." "Every monster has a Spirit Crystal in its heart and within that, exists a monster''s pure Spirit Energy. These Spirit Crystals were extremely useful as they can be absorbed to quickly replenish one''s Spirit Energy and during a battle, thates handy." "Moreover, once a life assimtes with the System, any device that doesn''t have Spirit Energy as a source will cease working." "Since the Spirit Crystals act as the main power source, they are even used as currency in the worlds that finished their assimtion with the System." "As to why monsters eat other monster''s Spirit Crystal was because those Spirit Crystals are one of the requirements for evolution to a higher Tier." Till then, I didn''t even know that a Spirit Crystal even exists but thanks to MJ, I even learned about its importance. "So, is it the same advanced technology that you discussed with Kay?" I asked. "No, Master, That was just an advancement in earth''s current technology in various fields. The purpose for that was to make Nav-Yuga Enterprise into a global conglomerate so that other powerful corporations cannot pressure it." "But to incorporate Spirit Crystal as the power source for any device, someone with a variant Innate Talent rted to ''Spirit Energy Engineering'' is required." "Another option was to obtain a Skill that''s rted to ''Spirit Energy Engineering'' which was extremely hard to obtain." "But, Master! You need not worry about that. As long as I enter my Battle Form, I can open my A.I space, and in there, no Tier-4 being and below can match me in ''Spirit Energy Engineering''." From MJ''s tone, I could already imagine a smug smile on his little chubby face. After I merged with the skill , I left everything regarding the for MJ to manage and didn''t even go through the new description after that. So, I opened my for the detailed information of MJ in the section. ______________ An A.I entity formed from the System and a part of the host''s soul. Name: MJ System ess level: Grade-4 (Epic) (not awakened) With MJ being a Grade-4 Soul A.I, awakening ''Battle Form'' requires maintaining a constant transfer link of at least 40% of the owner''s overall stats. Battle Form Perks: , MJ''s personal . ______________ "Master, my true prowess can be shown only by awakening my Battle Form." "If it''s others, they wouldn''t dare to awaken ''Battle Form'' because they had to offer at least 40% of their overall Stats permanently. Moreover, they had to keep on offering their Attribute Stats as they level up to maintain the with 40% of their overall Stats." "But in the case of Master, Looted Stats can be used instead of normal Stats. Not just that, Master could even offer the maximum of 100% of your overall stats in , and then my stats will be the same as Master." I was surprised that MJ has a ''Battle Form'' and that I could sacrifice Looted Stats to awaken it. With my overall stats in my being at 215 Stats, I just need 86 Looted Stats (40% of overall stats) to awaken the ''Battle Form.'' But I was not in a hurry since my overall Stats in were 400 and that was less than double the amount of my overall Stats in . With that, my mode was temporarily locked. I felt vulnerable without my hidden trump card. So, I prioritised on gaining more Looted Stats to unlock mode again. After that, I followed the connection I had with the and soon found it in the location where I was just before undergoing for the very first time. The was barely hanging with a single point in Durability. It reminded me of the fight with the Dire Wind Wolf that before I awakened , where I nearly lost my life. I picked it up the and ced it in the storage space of my . Instead of a weapon, I wanted it as a memento that reminds me of how weak I was in front of a higher tier creature, and to grow powerful to a point where I would not be in such a situation anymore. Chapter 37 - Lizardnoid Race Looking at the surrounding carcasses of the Tier-1 Wolves that were hardly recognisable, it got me thinking about the time flow in the Trial World for the past 18 hours that I spent on Earth. Since the time ratio was 1:4, 72 hours must have passed in the Trial World while every Alpha Chosen was in their 18 hour rest period. Then, MJ chirped within my mind, "Master, in Trial World, it takes 96 hours for a single day toplete and Alpha Chosen were only present for the first 24 hours of it." I was amazed by how long the day was on the Trial World and also understood that the reason why there was Sunlight all day long on Day-1 was that it was just one-fourth portion of the day. Day-1 was just early morning to mid-noon of the entire day in Trial World to put it clearly. After that, I intended to head in the south direction in search of monsters but just then, I heard the sound of an explosion. So, I trailed in the direction of the explosion sound and travelled further north. Then, I reached Crystal Lake, the sameke that I drank water before I was surrounded by the Dire Wind Wolf and other Tier-1 Wolves. The Crystalke was flowing downstream towards my right. On the opposite bank of the 500 meters wide Crystal Lake, a battle was happening between two groups of monsters. With my enhanced eyesight, I had a better view of the battle. I instantly recognised one of the monster groups as they were the first monsters race that I came across on Day-1, Goblins. That group of Goblins were fighting against the other monster race that resembled lizards, but they were in humanoid form with light-grey scales as skin and a long tail. I used on them and found that their race is called the ''Lizardnoid''. Since the could level up using it on new monsters, and I used it on every Lizardnoid in the battle. Among the 10 Lizardnoids, 8 were Lesser Lizardnoids, and I could see every detail of their Statuses. But for the remaining two Lizardnoids, I could only peek at their Tier and level simr to when I used on the Dire Wind Wolf and Bloodthirsty Earth Bear. [Lv.23 Fiendish Aquarine Lizardnoid (High-Phase Tier-2)] [Lv.18 Fiendish Lizardnoid Spearmen (Mid-Phase Tier-2)] [Lv.8 ? Lv.10] As I expected, those two turned out to be Tier-2 monsters, and their appearance was more muscr and taller than the 5 foot tall Lesser Lizardnoids. Their dark-grey scales were even thick enough to act as armour. Then MJ hinted to me, "Master, reached its maximum level in Common Grade, now use it on the Goblins to improve it to a higher grade." Without dy, I used Lv.10 on every Goblin in the fight. Simr to Lizardnoids, there were Tier-2 beings within the goblins. Within the 16 Goblins, 13 were Tier-1, and 3 were of Tier-2. They were easy to identify since they stood 2 feet taller than the other 4 foot tall goblins and even their body frame looked stronger than them. [Lv.24 Hobgoblin Shaman (High-Phase Tier-2)] [Lv.14 Variant Hobgoblin Archer (Low-Phase Tier-2)] [Lv.15 Hobgoblin Swordsmen (Low-Phase Tier-2)] [Lv.10 (Common) ? Lv.1 (Umon)] After using Lv.10 on the three Hobgoblins, it improved to Umon Grade. Even the name of the Skill changed to ''Analyse''. Then, I used Lv.1 and even though I could not take a look at their Skills or Innate Talents, I was able to look at their Attribute Stats. Except for the Lv.24 Hobgoblin Shaman and Lv.23 Fiendish Aquarine Lizardnoid, my overall Stats in were higher than all the other monsters since I had extra Stats from Achievements, Spirit Items, Vitality Fruit and Looted Stats. The High-Phase Tier-2 monsters, Lv.24 Hobgoblin Shaman and Lv.23 Fiendish Aquarine Lizardnoid fought against each other with their elemental abilities. From the way, the Lv.23 Fiendish Aquarine Lizardnoid manipted the water element to fight, MJ pointed out that the Tier-2 monster has a Water Innate Talent. He then exined that elements could not be manipted at will to such a degree without possessing that respective element Innate Talent. As for the Lv.24 Hobgoblin Shaman, it manipted Fire Element to attack in various ways. Even though the fire attacks were overwhelming, the Tier-2 Lizardnoid defended against them without trouble since the fight was taking ce just beside a water source. While the Lv.24 Hobgoblin Shaman was conjuring fire out of thin air and using it for attacks, the Lv.23 Fiendish Aquarine Lizardnoid just manipted the water from theke to defend and attack back. Since the Lv.23 Fiendish Aquarine Lizardnoid doesn''t have to conjure water out of the moisture, it was not at a disadvantage against the overbearing fire element attacks of the Lv.24 Hobgoblin Shaman. As for other Tier-2 monsters, both the Lv.14 Variant Hobgoblin Archer and Lv.15 Hobgoblin Swordsmen fought against the Lv.18 Fiendish Lizardnoid Spearmen and even then those Hobgoblins weren''t able to take down the Lv.18 Fiendish Lizardnoid Spearmen. The Lv.18 Fiendish Lizardnoid Spearmen also seemed to have water Innate Talent as it manipted water to defend against the arrows of the Lv.14 Variant Hobgoblin Archer while fighting against the Lv.15 Hobgoblin Swordsmen with a spear in hand. The Goblins and Lesser Lizardnoids were fighting in a full-frontal sh. With the Goblin race''s Innate Skill , their weapons usage was smooth and dexterous. However, they couldn''t gain the upper hand as the Lesser Lizardnoids used their Water elemental skills that were good at defending. I could see them using water to form defence walls and often shoot water projectiles from the tridents in their hands. The intense fight continued between two those two sides and six Tier-1 monsters died. Among those five, four were Goblins, and the other two were Lesser Lizardnoids. When I tried to use on those dead Tier-1 monsters, I got a notification saying that I should be at least within 100 meters for the to work. While I was thinking of swimming my way through theke, MJ advised, "Master, why do you need to swim when you could just run on water? Master could simply use the Umon Skill to increase Agility Attribute Stats temporarily." Then MJ projected the details of the in front of me. _________________________ [Lv.1 (Umon)] Increases Agility Attribute by 20% and the number of minutes it can be activated depends on the Skill Level. Duration: 1 minute. Cost: 10 Spirit Energy peruse. Cooldown: 10 minutes. _________________________ "Master, once you activate, your sprint speed will reach 30 meters per second, and that was the minimum velocity requirement to run on water." I activated and felt my muscles squirm and flexibility increase as my Stats in Agility Attribute increase from 37 to 44. It seemed that after evolving to Tier-2, my body adapted to adding more Stats at once with less amount of pain. On top of that, the pain I experienced was near negligible with my high pain resistance. With MJ being so sure about it, I took a leap of faith and started sprinting at my maximum speed without looking downwards. A few seconds passed, and I was still sprinting without submerging in theke water. Without me knowing, I had an excited smile etched on my face. Within 14 seconds, I crossed more than 400 meters, and when I was 150 meters away from the battle, the Tier-2 monsters realised that someone was approaching them. Both the Lv.24 Hobgoblin Shaman and Lv.23 Fiendish Aquarine Lizardnoid halted the fighting. Both of them let out strange sounds, and all the goblins race monsters and Lizardnoid race monsters stopped fighting as if they were issued amand. They didn''t fight against each other anymore and faced towards my direction and all of them aimed their attacks at me. Many elemental projectiles and arrows were shot at me in unison. I was taken aback by such a revtion. But with the attacks approaching me, I put everything in the back of my mind and used at my full capacity, causing a st on the water surface. In the next second, I was high in the air as I moved at an angle of 60 degrees and passed over the top of their projectile attacks. With that, I officially crossed theke, and the dead monsters were within 100 meters of me. I used on them while I was falling to the Lake Bank and with the additional 55 Looted Stats from the dead monsters, the was unlocked. By the time Inded on the ground, a 3-meter wide crater formed and 10 meters around me was covered in the foams of steam as I entered my mode. Chapter 38 - Dante’s Fate [(Part-1) Out Of 4] All my life, I have been through many idents and misfortunate incidents. For that, I was discriminated against by everyone around me. Everyone was afraid to be pulled into the misfortune that I bring around with me. I med myself for bringing bad luck and cmities to everyone around me. The only thing I was good at in my life was cooking. Even though I was not at a Master Chef level, I am a pretty decent chef myself. With my culinary skills, I could get handsome pay, but I would be fired within weeks of my joining with my notoriety to bring bad luck. After getting fired from God knows how many times, I was about to give up on my passion for cooking. Then, I received a job opportunity as a chef in a nearby small restaurant even after knowing that I brought bad luck. It''s been 4 years since I started working in that restaurant. Many co-workers and other staffin to the restaurant owner and ask to fire me for bringing bad luck and misfortune. But never once did the restaurant owner me me for my misfortune. He was the first person to ever show me kindness in my entire life. He treated me as his own son since I reminded him of his only son that died in the army service. I slowly grew up to see him as a father figure. But my bad luck struck once again, and the restaurant owner nearly died from a car ident. Everyone med me for that. I began to ept my misfortune and left my job in the restaurant and lived away from everyone. A week passed since then, and I got a call from the restaurant owner on the day he regained consciousness after the ident. He wanted me to visit him, and with how stubborn the old man was, he even ckmailed me that if I don''t visit him, it was the same as him dying. I gave in and was on my way to the hospital that he was admitted to. I was on my way to the hospital. When I was in a cab, I received notifications saying that I was chosen for the Alpha Program and prepared myself to be teleported. A 1-minute time appeared. I didn''t believe any of that and neglected it, but once the 1-minute timer ended, I was teleported and found myself in a cave with the urge to vomit. I tried to suppress it but failed to do so. Only after looking around myself did I take the contents in the notifications seriously. After that, I found a blinking ''S'' in the top right of my vision. A simr blue screen window opened by concentrating on it, and it had statistics of my Attributes. ______________________ [STATUS] Name: Dante Age: 28 Race: Lesser Human (Male) Level: N/A Life Energy: 0/100 Tier: N/A Strength: 8 Agility: 9 Vitality: 8 Endurance: 8 Spirit: 10 Health: 80/80 Stamina: 40/40 Spirit Energy: 50/50 Luck: ???? Undistributed Stats: 0 Innate Talent: (Grade Unknown) (Locked) ______________________ By concentrating on the terms like Spirit, Life Energy and other things, I was given descriptions of them in the form of notifications. I didn''t know why my luck was not measured like other Attributes. Thinking about how unlucky I was, I assumed that my Luck would be in negative points for it to be like that. As for Innate Talent, I couldn''t find any details even when I tried to concentrate on it. But I learned that it was a Unique category Innate Talent which was supposedly rare. It took me a while for me to ept the new reality. After that, I steeled myself and cautiously explored the cave in search for a way out. Even though it was not clear, I could still look around myself with the dim light illuminating from the ceiling. But the problem was that I couldn''t tell where the light source was for the light to illuminate. After walking for some time, I realised that it''s more of a maze than a cave. Time continued to flow as I tried to find the exit. ording to the time shown on the top left of my vision, 8 hours passed since I was teleported. Without any food and water, I was tired, but I pushed myself to find the maze exit or any viable food source. In the next turn of the maze, I came across 3 rats feasting on another dead rat. What freaked me out was those rat''s size. They were even a bitrger than a typical cat. They sensed my presence and turned their heads towards me in unison. Then those three oversized Rats rushed towards me with blood dripping from their two sharp front teeth. Fear took over my body as I ran without looking back. But after a few meters, I tripped over a rock and fell to the ground. Both of the oversized rats neared, and I got hold of a brick-sized rock near me and swung it at my full force at the closest rat that lunged at me. The rock''s edge directly pierced the rat''s head from the side, and its blood sprayed over my face. Just then, a few notifications popped up. [Lv.1 Cannibal Rat killed] [25 Life Energy Obtained] [ is unlocked] [ converted all Luck Stats into Fate Stats.] [1 Fate Stat = 100 Luck Stats] [Fate: 83.55] ____________ [ (Unique Category) (Grade Unknown): - Able to absorb the Luck stats of the Beings that the host kills and convert them into Fate Stats, - Randomly uses Fate Stats to get a suitable reward for killing monsters of different races. ____________ [Congrattions! You have awakened your 1st Innate Exclusive Skill, .] ____________ Able to perceive Fate Halos and Fate Sequences of any existence within a limited duration and range around the Host. (Fate Sequence duration and Fate Sequence Range depends on the host''s Tier.) Cost: 0.01 Fate Stat per minute. (Constant) - Perception Range of Fate Sequences & Fate Halos (Host''s Tier-N/A): 100 meters. - Duration of Fate Sequences & Fate Halos (Host''s Tier-N/A): 1 second. - Automatically activates when Host is in danger. ____________ Once my Innate Talent unlocked, all the information of its description got transmitted into my mind. The second oversized Rat let out a sharp squeal and rushed at me with a speed that rivalled a dog. Then, I perceived a virtual trajectory of that Rat''s shape like some kind of sixth sense. I could sense the imaginary path trajectory of that oversized Rat. It originated from the second Cannibal Rat, and the end of the Rat shaped virtual trajectory was my stomach. When I was in the way of the virtual trajectory, I had a bad premonition. So, I rolled sideways from the trajectory while I was on the ground and in the next instant, the Cannibal Rat''s every movement exactly passed through the virtual trajectory. If I waste by even half a second, I would have been bitten in my stomach by the Cannibal Rats attack. I quickly got myself up, and then the third Cannibal Rat bolted towards me. Once again, a virtual trajectory in the shape of the third Cannibal Rat pointed to my right foot. This time, I lifted my foot without moving from my position, and the rat passed from under my right foot. I realised that the Fate Sequence is a virtual trajectory that indicated the target''s path in the next second. I was amazed by my new ability. When I saw the second Cannibal Rat heading towards me, I readied myself. Then I sensed its Fate Sequence. Instead of moving aside, I waited for half a second and swung the rock in my hand at the end of the path trajectory. My heavy blunt attack with rock directly hit it on its stomach. Even though it didn''t die, it took a fatal blow. Instead of going for the kill, I waited for another Cannibal Rat to attack me and repeated the same process of using its Fate Sequence to strike the spot it would reach in half a second. Unlike the second Cannibal Rat, the third one died with a single hit. [Lv.1 Cannibal Rat killed] [25 Life Energy Obtained] [Absorbed 5 Luck Stats were converted into 0.05 Fate Stats.] Fate Stat was the only Stat that was shown in decimals. After that, It didn''t take long to kill the injured second Cannibal Rat. [Lv.2 Cannibal Rat Killed] [50 Life Energy Obtained] [Absorbed 7 Luck Stats were converted into 0.07 Fate Stats.] [Congrattions! You have reached Lv.1] [5 Undistributed Stats avable] [Congrattions! You have reached Tier-1] Chapter 39 - Dante’s Fate [(Part-2) Out Of 4] [1 Fate Stat was used up to receive a suitable Common Grade reward for killing a Tier-1 Rat race monster for the first time.] Then, a dagger appeared beside the dead Lv.2 Cannibal Rat. I went over and picked up the dagger. Its de was chalk ck, and the holding handle looked like it was made of ruby ss. After picking it up, the dagger''s information appeared in front of me along with another notification that asked me if I wanted to form a bond with the dagger. _________ Cannibal Blood Dagger (Common Grade) A sharp dagger with the ability to absorb the blood of a monster to provide necessary nutrients for the owner''s body. Effect: Agility+3^, Strength+2^ Requirements: 10 Agility, 8 Strength Condition: Perfect Durability: 100/100 _________ After finding that Stats can be added in my Strength and Agility Attributes, I immediately epted to form a bond with it. Then, I got another notification asking me if I wanted to add Stats one by one periodically in a Safety Mode to avoid unnecessary pain. I rejected it and instantly regretted my decision. That was also when I realised to not add more stats at once because of the pain I experienced during the enhancement process. After that, I used the Cannibal Blood Dagger to stab a dead Cannibal Rat and used its ability. Then the chalk-ck de of the Dagger absorbed all the Cannibal Rat''s blood, and through the ruby red handle, some kind of energy flowed into my body. Within a few seconds, the Cannibal Rat dried up and the hunger and tiredness I had till then was reduced in a matter of seconds. Even my Stamina recovered by 10 points. I used the dagger''s ability on another two dead Cannibal Rats and my hunger and thirst vanishedpletely. I even felt like I just had a full meal. With the ability of the Cannibal Blood Dagger, I didn''t worry about food sources anymore. I moved further away from the three dead Cannibal Rats'' dried-up carcasses and concentrated on the words, ''Undistributed Stats'' and found their detailed description. After learning how to use the Undistributed Stats, I gradually added them to my Strength, Agility and Endurance Attributes. I brought all three of them to 10 Stats. Following that, I did an introspection on the abilities that I gained from my Unique Category Innate Talent, . I went through my and the most visible change was the appearance of Fate Attribute in ce of Luck Attribute. When I had a Luck Attribute, there were question marks instead of a specific number of Luck Stats. But when it was reced by Fate Attribute, I could see a particr number of Stats. I learned that one Fate Stat is equivalent to 100 Luck Stats. Which meant that I had 8355 Luck Stats before even assimting with the System. But I was confused about why I was so misfortunate when I had such a vast number of Luck Stats. After failing to find anything about my misfortune from the System notifications, I set it aside and moved on and looked at my Fate Attribute. After that, I recalled how the helped me defeat the Cannibal Rats. Along with the ''Fate Sequence'' which shows a monster''s movement path trajectory for the next second, there was another thing called ''Fate Halo.'' A white coloured illusory hoop of light appeared on top of each Cannibal Rat''s head. When Lv.2 Cannibal Rat was about to be hit by the rock in my hand, the Fate Halo on top of its head turned from white to red. Then it only got injured but didn''t die. The Lv.1 Cannibal Rat''s Fate Halo turned from white to violet when it was about to take a fatal hit from my attack. Then the Lv.1 Cannibal Rat died, and the Fate Halo that was the size of its head disappeared. The same process repeated when I killed the injured Lv.2 Cannibal Rat. I learned that the colour of one''s Fate Halo indicates their immediate fate in the next second. Red colour means that they would be in danger in the next second, but not enough to die. If the Fate Halo was violet, it indicates that they would face a danger that was enough to kill them in the next second. As for the white colour, that means they are not in any danger for the next second. I looked at my 1st Innate Exclusive Skill and found some changes. Because when I reached Lv.1, it meant that I also reached Tier-1. ____________ Able to perceive Fate Halos and Fate Sequences of any existence within a limited duration and range around the Host. (Fate Sequence duration and Fate Sequence Range depends on the host''s Tier.) Cost: 0.01 Fate Stat per minute. (Constant) - Perception Range of Fate Sequences & Fate Halos (Host''s Tier - 1): 1000 meters. - Duration of Fate Sequences & Fate Halos (Host''s Tier - 1): 10 seconds. - Automatically activates when Host is in danger. ____________ Fate Sequence Perception range increased from 100 meters to 1000 meters, and along with that, Fate Sequence Duration also increased. The duration of Fate Sequence increased from 1 second to 10 seconds. It meant that I could perceive anyone''s movement path trajectory for the 10 seconds. Even the range that I could see Fate Halos also increased to 1000 meters. But the cost to use didn''t change even when I reached Tier-1. When I looked in a direction, I perceived every Fate Halo within the 1000 meters of that direction, disregarding the surrounding maze walls'' obstruction. I was able to perceive many Fate Halos within different parts of the Maze. All of them were of the same size as the heads of the Cannibal Rats that I killed. From that, I understood that those were Cannibal Rats. I didn''t try to actively hunt them since they always stayed in groups of 30. Since I could perceive the Fate Halos of any Being near me, I was able to move through the Maze without encountering many Cannibal Rats. Just like that, I searched the Maze for its entrance for 15 hours since I unlocked my Innate Talent. During those 15 hours, I killed many Cannibal Rats that wandered in small groups of two or three while searching for a way to leave the maze. Being in Tier-1, I could perceive a Fate Sequence that shows the desired target''s virtual trajectory for the next 10 seconds. But those Fate Sequences keep on changing. I learned that when I was facing an Lv.3 Cannibal Rat. I could sense it''s Fate Sequence. Since I know where it will be for the next 10 seconds, If I get away from that Fate Sequence of the Cannibal Rat, it wouldn''t be going in that direction since I moved away from there. The best way to use Fate Sequences was to know the enemy''s move beforehand and to be ready to attack and dodge in thest moment. After killing many Cannibal rats, I got a hang on utilising the Fate Sequences efficiently. But I was still in Lv.3. It was because none of the Cannibal Rats that I encountered was above Lv.3. I also identally gained a skill named and it helped look at the levels of the Cannibal Rats. When I killed the first Cannibal Rat with the Cannibal Blood Dagger, I gained . Along with that, Information on some Dagger training methods and how to handle a dagger proficiently was transmitted into my mind. After that, I practised the Dagger training methods and unlocked something called . By willing it, a grey coloured Aura formed on the de of the Cannibal Blood Dagger. I tried my best to improve the Minor Dagger Mastery, and it was mentally exhausting to train for longer durations. Most of the time, I couldn''t train my Dagger Mastery continuously since I had to deal with the Cannibal Rats that attack me. But still, I managed to increase my and to Lv.8. Whenever I was hungry or tired, I used Cannibal Blood Dagger''s ability on the dead Cannibal Rats to replenish Stamina and nutrients required for my body. Another half an hour passed, and I was finally able to find an exit to the maze that I was stuck till then. I was excited to finally feel the daylight. I looked around myself, and behind me was a mountain range that extended alongside theke. The maze that I just exited was at the bottom of one a mountain''s slope of the unending mountain range. The terrain was scarcely filled with trees that were at an average height of 10 meters. In front of me, I saw the line of trees end after around 150 meters. I crossed those trees and found a meadow field spread beside ake with clear water. Theke was half a kilometre wide (500 meters), and it extended along with the unending mountain range. The other side of theke was densely packed with trees that were as tall as 20 meters and 4 meters wide. Just then, I could see a Fate Halo approaching theke from the other side as it moved from tree to tree at high speed. The way I perceive Fate Halo was entirely different since it doesn''t depend on my 5 senses. I could detect the Fate Halo''s movement clearly along with the details of its colour as long as it was within 1000 meters of me. I was on a lookout on the opposite bank of theke as I hid behind a tree to not be seen by whatever monster in the Trial Zone. Soon, I saw the owner of that Fate halo. Since I added 5 Undistributed stats to my Spirit Attribute, my senses have gotten sharper and more precise. To my surprise, the one that approached theke was not a monster but a human. That person stood on the oppositeke bank and looked at theke water for a few seconds and then started gulping down theke water. I used my Lv.4 on that person. Chapter 40 - Dante’s Fate [(Part-3) Out Of 4] ___________ Jay (Lesser Human - Male) Lv.4 (Mid-Phase, Tier-1) Strength - 16 Agility - 21 Vitality - 11 Endurance - 20 Spirit - 16 Luck - 7 INNATE TALENT: ???? ___________ Through , I learned many details about his but nothing about his Innate Talent. I couldn''t find other information in such as Weapon Mastery, Spirit Items and Skills. Maybe it was due to the low level of my Skill. I also noticed that his Stats were higher than what an Lv.4 person should have. Just then, I sensed another 15 Halos approaching the from the left side of the other side of theke. Suddenly, those 15 Fate Halos changed their direction as they moved towards that person. As those 15 halos got closer, they separated and surrounded that person from different directions. Only when those 15 Fate Halos appeared out of the dense line of trees could I tell that they were monsters, more precisely Wolves. Among them, one was double the size of other wolves, and it even had two Fate Halos above its head. Then, I used on it, and the skill levelled up thrice in an instant. Even though its level and Stats were not visible, I could still see that it was a Tier-2 monster. That was when I learned that a Tier-2 monster will have two Fate Halos. I saw Jay''s Fate Halo turn from white to red, indicating that he was in danger for the next 10 seconds. He was still drinking water and didn''t even realise that he was surrounded by monsters. I wanted to alert him by shouting, but right then I saw his Fate sequence as his virtual trajectory headed towards the nearby treetop and then moved from tree to tree. With that, I understood that he would be able to escape them. Just as shown in the Fate Sequence, he escaped as he jumped to the nearest treetop and started leaping from tree to tree. Soon, those wolves chased him as they disappeared into the dense trees. Even though I couldn''t see them, I perceived their Fate Halos as the back of my hand since they were within my 1000 meter range. What puzzled me was that after crossing 300 meters, his movement speed at which he leapt from tree to tree explosively increased as I could sense his Fate Halo moving 30 meters with each leap. Even though the other 14 single Fate Halos couldn''t keep up with Jay''s Fate Halo, the Tier-2 monster''s Halo continued to chase him closely. Soon, Jay''s Fate halo and all the monster''s Fate Halos exited my 1000 meter range, and I couldn''t perceive them anymore. I wanted to cross the 500-meter vastke to see if Jay escaped the monsters. But, right then, 200 meters to my left, I found five humanoid creatures that had lizard features, walking out of theke to the same side of theke bank that I was at. Four of them carried a shark-sized fish, and they had a single Fate Halo above their heads, but the bigger one leading them had two Fate Halos stacked together on top of its head. I instantly understood that it was a powerful Tier-2 monster. I freaked out thinking that they might find me and hid in a bush beside the tree that I hid behind till then. I didn''t try to peek at them and instead activated my . I was relieved when I perceived that their Fate Sequences weren''t heading towards me. Together, they walked into some kind of underground entrance that''s hidden within the meadow field. I didn''t even know that there was a hidden entrance there. Then, by keeping my activated, I sensed another 8 Fate Halos a few meters beneath the meadow field. Among them, another one had two Fate Halos stacked together, indicating that there was another Tier-2 monster there. Finding that there were two Tier-2 monsters just a few hundred meters, I didn''t dare to stay there anymore and carefully moved away from the direction the lizard monsters were at. With extreme caution, I travelled for a few hundreds of meters and looked towards the top left of my vision that showed the time. It has been 23 hours and 48 minutes since I was teleported. Right then, a notification popped up in front of me. [One of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen reached Lv.10 and unlocked a new function, .] When I found that someone already reached Lv.10, I was shocked since I knew that Life Energy required to Level up gets higher per each level. I opened the and looked at the list of the 11 Earth''s Alpha Chosen names and their respective levels. I found that I was second from the bottom, and when I saw Jay''s name, I was mind blown since he is the first one in the leaderboard with Lv.10. Only a few minutes passed since I saw him being in Lv.4 and he already reached Lv.10. That got me thinking just how powerful his Innate Talent was. As I was in my thoughts, a few gigantic notifications appeared in the sky as it resounded within my mind. It was about an Alpha chosen that was the first one to reach Tier-2 in the Trial Program. Then I obtained something called Basic Tier-2 Information'' and only then did I learn the true scale at which the Trial Program was taking ce. The Trial Zone that I was in was nothing but a small part of the vast Trial World. Another few minutes passed and a simr situation repeated as another set of gigantic notifications appeared in the Vast sky. Another Alpha Chosen reached Tier-2. For them to reach Tier-2 within a day, it got me thinking about how they could reach Tier-2 just within 24 hours of the start of the Trial Program. As I thought about it, I suddenly remembered Jay as he was able to level up from Lv.4 to Lv.10 within a matter of a few minutes. Then, another set of gigantic notifications appeared in the Sky. When I was about to get numb of those notifications, I jumped in shock as a familiar name resounded in my mind. I was sure that it was the same person that saw before since the notifications mentioned that he was from Earth. Anyhow, out of curiosity, I opened the to find that he reached Tier-2. With how fast Jay levelled up, I would have mistaken him for a monster in human form If not for me personally looking at his species being a human in his . To my glee, a minute after that, I received a notification saying that I will be teleported back to Earth for an 18 hour rest period. Just like that, I was back on the same road that I was on before I abruptly got teleported from a cab. But, with me popping out of nowhere in the middle of the road, I was almost hit by a car. I suppressed my urge to vomit in the middle of the road and sessfully managed to save myself from the embarrassment. Except for thedy who almost hit me with her car, almost no one seemed to notice me suddenly appearing on the road. At least that was what I thought until she scolded me for trying tomit suicide. Without correcting her, I excused myself to the roadside and waited for a cab. In no time, I found a cab, and to my surprise, it was the same cab driver in whose cab I teleported from. When he realised that it was me who got in the cab, I once again received a proper scolding. Since I couldn''t tell him that I was teleported to a mystical world filled with monsters, I paid him twice the fare for my previous disappearance. He took me to the hospital that the Restaurant owner, Uncle Roberto, was admitted in. With that, the cab driver''s mood brightened and took me to the hospital. He also handed me my phone that remained in his cab when I was teleported to the Trial World. When I looked at the date and time on my phone, I was shocked to find that only 6 hours passed. After that, I also noticed the 18 hour-long countdown timer on the top left of my vision. Soon, I reached the hospital and soon entered Uncle Roberto''s Ward. Unlike what he told me, he wasn''t recovered and instead was on his deathbed, on the verge of dying. When I learned that, my mind nk for a few seconds, and I experienced a pain that I have never felt before. It originated from the thought of losing the only person you love as a family. He wanted to talk to me onest time, and hot tears rolled down my cheeks when he even prepared his will that contains the restaurant''s ownership, for when he dies. I rejected his offer several times but was met with his stubbornness. He said that after his wife and son died; he lost his hope to live until he met me, whom he treated as his own son. He also said that God seemed to end his time in the world and that he would be reunited with his family soon. His every word sent me bitter chills of pain. Then, I remembered the existence of the Trial World that I momentarily forgot, and it got me thinking about the mystical trial world and that it might have medicine that could help Uncle Roberto improve his health. After that, I ckmailed him the same way he did and made him promise that he will not give up on his life. I stayed with him, and we talked for a long time, and like that 17 hours in the timer passed. In thest hour, I prepared food and other necessaries just in case and waited for the timer to end. ...¡­. I reappeared in the exact location before I was teleported back to Earth. Then some notifications appeared in the sky, showing that more Alpha Chosen reached Tier-2. But they were smaller than those that appeared at the end of Day-1. As I looked at the notifications in the sky, my activated by itself. I could see a virtual trajectory in the shape of an arrow pointing towards my head. I traced back the arrow''s virtual trajectory to the top of a tree branch that was 150 meters away from me, and there I saw a green-skinned creature with a bow and arrow and a vicious smile on its face. I could tell that it was a Tier-2 creature from the two Fate Halos stacked together on top of its head. Along with that, I could see several other Fate Halos spread on the ground that was not so far away from the green-skinned creature with a bow. Once they found that I noticed them, the Fate Sequence changed into a different one. I could perceive virtual trajectories of more than 15 monsters rushing towards me. Other than the green-skinned monster with a bow, two more monsters had two stacked Fate Halos each. I was scared out of my wits and started to run for my life. Against three Tier-2 monsters and tens of Tier-1 monsters, my ability to perceive their fate sequences for the next 10 seconds wasn''t much help. All I could do was to dodge the arrows and fire projectile attacks, but that didn''t matter as the monsters got closer and closer to me. I even left my backpack that I brought food with, as it hinders myparatively slow sprint speed. I did my best to run away from them, but even with my ability, it didn''t take long before a ball of fire exploded just two meters behind me. The impact sent me crashing into a tree, which broke a few of my ribs along with other bone fractures. On top of that, the fire burned most of my skin on the back. My body screamed in pain to even barely move as Iid on the ground. The first ones to arrive near me were the three Tier-2 monsters. The one in the middle, stepped forward and pointed the staff in its hand and mes started to form out of nowhere, and when the ball of fire reached 2 meters tall, it began to condense into a smaller size. A crazy look appeared on its face as if it wanted to see how I would die from its attack. Even though I lost all hope, I was unwilling to die like that. Thinking about what would happen to Uncle Roberto, hatred towards those monsters burned within me. Just then, a notification popped up in front of me. [Congrattions! You have awakened your 2nd Innate Exclusive Skill, .] Chapter 41 - Dante’s Fate [(Part-4) Out Of 4] _________________ : Expends Fate Stats to make a slight alteration in any Existence''s Fate Sequence. Cost: The number of Fate Stats required depends on Target''s Tier and Level. _________________ With renewed hope, I instantly activated it with a mentalmand. Another notification appeared indicating the reduction of my Fate Stats. [10 Fate Stats expended] Then I could see the change in the Fate Sequence of the Tier-2 monster in front of me, and a slight smile formed on my face. Upon looking at my smile, the Tier-2 monster''s face turned even ugly as its prey was smiling in front of it. By then, the fire was condensed into the size of a basketball on the staff''s tip. When it was about to shoot the condensed fireball at me, a gust of strong winds passed by and an already half-broken tree branch on the tree in front of me broke. It then fell on the hand of the Tier-2 monster, and the trajectory of the condensed fireball attack changed as it passed to my side and flew several meters beforending on the meadow field with a big explosion. In the next second, enraged sounds echoed from the spot where the explosion took ce, and all the green-skinned monsters were alerted by that. Many lizard-like monsters appeared from the explosion charred spot and started to attack the group of green-skinned monsters. It turned into an all-out battle between two monster species. With all of my strength, I slid my body with the help of hand and leaned by the tree that was just beside me. Since I couldn''t do anything with my severely damaged body, I waited for Fate to take care of me as I spectated the ongoing sh and used the skill on every single monster. With that, my skill even increased from Lv.7 to Lv.10. I learned that the Tier-1 green-skinned monsters were Goblins and the Tier-2 ones were Hobgoblins. Simrly, the Tier-1 Lizard like monsters was Lesser Lizardnoids, and the Tier-2 ones were Fiendish Lizardnoids. There were 19 of the Goblin Species and among them, three were Tier-2 monsters. Whereas there were only 12 of the Lizardnoid Species and among them, two were Tier-2 monsters. But the Lizardnoids were not at all at a disadvantage as the Lake waterplimented their Water abilities. The battle continued, and there was a loss of two Tier-1 monsters of Lizardnoid Species and four Tier-1 monsters of Goblin Species. At the rate at which the battle continued, the winning side would only have a pyrrhic victory. If the winning side was the Goblin species, I would surely die. Instead, if the Lizardnoid Species wins, there is a chance that I won''t die considering that they didn''t find me. Even if they don''t bother to kill me, I would still die if even a low levelled Tier-1 monsteres across me. But again, even if Fate favours me and no monster finds me, I would still die from the fatal injuries before I get teleported to Earth. Every possibility that I think always ended with me dying miserably. As I was in a dilemma, a two stacked Fate Halo entered my 1000 meter perception range since I forgot to turn off my . My expression brightened as I could recognise the two stacked Fate Halo''s owner since I could sense the familiarity with the one that I already perceived on Day-1. It was none other than Jay, the third Alpha Chosen that entered Tier-2 within the entire 11 million Alpha Chosen. I suddenly felt that 10 Fate Points were well spent as they even brought him into my Fate. I just wondered how he would handle the situation. The pain coursed through my body didn''t hinder my eagerness to know how Jay went from Lv.4 to Lv.11 in less than 20 minutes. A minute passed by, and when I thought that he was waiting for the right moment by letting both species fight it out, he suddenly started approaching the battle. What dumbfounded was that he ran on the water as if it was ground. It might not be a monumental aplishment in this magical world, but it was a romance to almost every human on earth to run on water. It didn''t take long before he got as close as 100 meters from the Lake bank and the monsters abruptly halted fighting against each other and together started using long-range attacks at Jay. That got me worried, but in the next second, all of those attacks were dodged as he leapt towards theke bank causing the water in theke to form a mini-wave. He was already 15 meters high in the air and started falling towards the ground rapidly. But when he was just 5 meters away from falling to the ground, a burst of hot steam appeared with Jay as the centre and covered all those monsters. Then, a loud crash resounded off the ground. Within that steam, I could see silver-coloured bolts of lightning and instead of a two stacked Fate Halo, I sensed a three stacked one over Jay''s head. That was also when I saw something unbelievable as the silver bolts of energy disintegrated the three stacked Fate Halo above Jay''s head. As I kept on perceiving the process, I felt a surge of sharp pain within my mind. Then, I gained something called , and it levelled up several times before the mental pain vanished. Following that, I could not perceive his Fate Halo anymore, and it was the same with his Fate Sequence. There was nothing. The only case of Fate Halo disappearing that I noticed was when a life form dies, and never did I receive any pain when that happened. Then my hopes reached their peak, not because of his Fate halo''s disappearance but due to the Fate Halos of every single monster turned into violet colour indicating that they were gonna die in the next 10 seconds. Following that, the steam cloud was cut in half as a horizontal streak of cyan colour shed and 6 Violet Fate Halos disappeared at once. In the next three seconds, the cloud of steam dispersed into the atmosphere. Within it stood a man with silver hair and eyes, and they were covered in bolts of silver-coloured energy. He was 6 and a half feet tall with bulky muscles that filled with explosive power. Surrounding him were more than two-thirds of the monster''s carcasses, and they were sliced into two identical parts. The only ones that remained were the 5 Tier-2 monsters. All of them attacked together, and my eyes couldn''t keep up with their movement speed. But I could tell that they couldn''t get the upper hand even when all the 5 Tier-2 monsters joined hands. With heavy attacks, Jay sent all of them flying and instead of concentrating on the fight, he quickly nced at the dead monsters. Then, something strange happened as he grew even taller and muscr proportional to his height. The Silver bolts of energy over him also intensified. The oppressive aura emanating from him increased by another level, and the other Tier-2 monsters'' movements slowed down. From then, every time he moved, all I could see were his afterimages. In the next instant, he was already beside the Lv.15 Hobgoblin Swordsmen, and it was sliced apart along with the sword that it tried to defend with. The Lv.18 Fiendish Lizardnoid Spearmen and Lv.14 Variant Hobgoblin Archer had their heads missing in the next second. Then, both the Lv.23 Fiendish Aquarine Lizardnoid and Lv.24 Hobgoblin Shaman seemed to realise that they couldn''t live if they tried to fight. So, they started to escape in different directions. The Lv.23 Fiendish Aquarine Lizardnoid fled towards theke but it died even before it reached the Lake. Whereas the bastard Hobgoblin Shaman ran towards me. I didn''t know if it was trying to escape or aiming to kill me before it dies. When it was 40 meters from me, I could clearly look at its delirious expression and was sure that it has suicide tendencies and intended to take me down with it, before it dies. I cussed at the crazy Hobgoblin with all my leftover might. But I didn''t fear it since I already sensed its Fate Sequence. When it was just 5 meters away from me, an ash-coloured long sword with a sharp wind on its de, stabbed the Hobgoblin Shaman and impaled it to the tree trunk that I was leaning against. All this one-sided massacre ended in just 10 seconds. With a gust of wind, Jay appeared beside me and pulled the long sword out of the tree. By the end of the fight, he was a little taller than 7 feet with dense muscles that could just tear his track shirt anytime. Then he looked at me with his piercing silver eyes that contained no emotions in it. During the fight, I noticed the monster''s movements slowing down from some kind of oppressive force. Only when he was near me, can I feel his genuine power since I couldn''t even move a muscle, much less talk to him. When I was about to pass out from the Tier suppression, a chubby baby in a little Santa outfit popped out of nowhere as it floated in the air and cried out, "Master, use to control the Tier suppression or at this rate, he might even die." Then, the invisible pressure on me lifted, and I felt even tired and mustered out a few words that I could before losing my consciousness, "Please, He...Help me." Sounds around me gradually dimmed down and thest thing I heard was the voice of Chubby Santa Baby''s exmation, "Master! Quick, Quick look at his , This man''s existence is a miracle itself, he has Fate Attribute while he was just in Tier-1!" Chapter 42 - Awakening MJ’s Battle Form. ***** A minute ago, I only had 400 overall Stats in my , but after looting 10% Stats of all the monsters I killed, I gained 324* Looted Stats. Usually, when I gained Looted Stats while I was in mode, they were automatically added to all the 5 main Attributes while maintaining equilibrium between them in my . But among those 324* Looted Stats, only 190* of them were automatically added. As for the other 134* Looted Stats, they remained in the Undistributed Looted Stats. When that happened, I even received a notification saying that in mode, the overall Stats of the 5 main Attributes in can''t exceed three times the amount of overall Stats in . Since my overall Stats in my were 215, the maximum overall Stats I can have in my was three times 215, 645* Looted Stats. The only way to increase the Looted Stats I could use in mode was to improve my level and to increase my overall Stats in my . With 645* Looted Stats, each of my 5 main Attributes in has 129* Looted Stats. Since all my Stats were equal with 129* Looted Stats, I experienced True Time Perception, which allows me to experience 12.9 seconds for every standard passing second. With MJ insisting me to look at Dante''s Status, I used my Lv.1 and found that he had Fate instead of Luck Attribute. ___________ Dante (Lesser Human - Male) Lv.3 (Low-Phase, Tier-1) Strength - 14 Agility - 13 Vitality - 8 Endurance - 10 Spirit - 15 Health - 6/80 Stamina - 40/50 Spirit Energy - 75/75 Fate - 81.67 INNATE TALENT: ???? ___________ MJ went full-on ''professor mode'' and gave me a lecture. The necessary details were that the Universe is made up of Laws and what the System does was to quantify those Laws in the form of Attributes, Masteries and Skills. All these Laws are categorised ording to their rarity. As for the details of rarity, even MJ couldn''t learn about them without a higher Tier System ess." In short, Fate is one of the top rarest Laws of the Universe. To obtain even a single Fate Stat, the requirement is equally high. It was to increase one''s Stats in the Luck Attribute to 1000 and be recognised by the Fate Law itself. But obtaining Luck Stats was easier said than done since the Spirit Items and Achievement Titles that increase one''s Luck Stats are hard to get. Even if someone manages to obtain 1000 Luck Stats, they still have to get Fate Law''s recognition, which was even harder. He said that even Higher Tier Beings desperately search for Luck imbued Spirit items just so that they could satisfy one of the two requirements to convert their Luck Stats into Fate Stats. Because Fate has the power to change the course of a life and death situation in thest moment. Just from this fact alone, I could tell how hard it was to obtain Fate Stats. But the one in front of me has more than 80 Fate Stats when he was just in Tier-1. MJ spected that Dante must have had over 8000 Luck Stats even before assimtion with the System. With his Luck Attribute exceeding 1000 Stats, it was considered as Fate Attribute. In turn, this meant that he doesn''t have luck at all, and every Life form that manages to gain Fate Attribute experience amon problem. It was theck of Luck as all of their Luck Stats were converted into Fate Stats. At their Tier level, it won''t be much of a problem with having no luck. When he was not even assimted with the System, Dante experienced a lot of discrimination because everyone mistook hisck of luck that he brought misfortune to those around him. Back when I went through the CCTV footage recordings that showed Dante before every ident he has ever been in. The pattern I found was that he doesn''t cause any of the idents or bring any misfortunes. Instead, he walks into every ident or a misfortunate situation near him without him even knowing that. Every decision he makes leads him to be in the wrong ce at the wrong time. It was the effect of having no luck when everyone around has some amount of Luck stats. By looking at his injuries, I could tell, if he wasn''t treated for an extended period of time, there were chances that he might die. With my Spirit Attribute being at 129* Stats, my critical thinking and thought-processing speed reached unprecedented heights. In just a few seconds, I went over many scenarios about dealing with Dante, along with the repercussions of every single scenario. One of them was me even killing him to Loot his unknown Unique Category Innate Talent. With the Harmony state that I was in, I wouldn''t bat an eye even if I were to do that. But the repercussions of that scenario were the same as losing myself to the allure of power but what I wanted was for the true power to be within my control. On top of that, once Ie out of the state of Harmony, all my suppressed emotions would rush at me along with the guilt of taking the life of a good human just for my personal gain. It would then lead me towards a darker path. Another scenario was to save Dante using the sap of the that I have with me. Since I know about Dante''s life from the information MJ gathered on all the Alpha Chosen, I am sure that once he recovers, he will request me, if not beg me to save the restaurant owner Roberto that he considers as a father figure. Then, if I were to help him, he would be greatly indebted to me. So, I chose to save him, and with MJ''s suggestion, I gave him no more than 3 drops at once. He needs 9 more in the next 3 hours for full recovery since Dante only has 8 Stats in his Vitality Attribute. His burnt skin slowly started to heal at a visible rate as his Health increased in his . As for my mode duration, it extended to 17 minutes since my level increased from Lv.11 to Lv.17 after killing all those monsters. Less than a minute passed since I entered mode, and everything was settled down. So, I intended to awaken MJ''s Battle mode. With the 134* Undistributed Looted Stats in , I met the requirement of offering at least 40% of my overall Stats in (86 Stats). But MJ stopped me before I could do that and asked me to wait until I gathered more Looted Stats to gain more Looted Stats directly offer 100% of my overall Stats in (215 Stats). Supposedly, a hidden perk would be added to Battle Form when 100% of a Soul A.I''s owner is offered right from the beginning. I searched for any monsters nearby before the mode Duration ends to gain more Looted Stats. Meanwhile, I also stored all the Spirit Items used by those monsters in my along with the few other Spirit Items that were rewarded by the system for killing the monsters. Among them most were Common Grade Spirit Items with few Umon Grade ones. But, I didn''t form a bond with any of them and left that process forter. I found a cave entrance from which I heard squeaks with my enhanced auditory senses in the next minute. The cave turned out to be a maze, and within that were monsters called Cannibal Rats. It didn''t take long for me to clear every single Cannibal Rat, including the Tier-2 Cannibal Blood Rat that stayed within the Underground Maze centre. With killing such many Rat monsters, my level increased by 3 Levels and reached Lv.20. Moreover, I received another Achievement Title with Hunter in its name. __________________________ [Lesser Rodent Hunter] (Common) Effect 1: All the lesser Rodent Race will fear you and Higher races of Rodent Species will be aggressive towards you. Effect 2: Damage towards Rodent Species increases by 10%. ___________________________ From MJ, I learned that to receive an Achievement Title, one had to kill a Monster that was at least a Phase higher or another way was to kill many monsters that were in the lower Tier. That was the reason why I gained Achievement Titles, and when I killed the Lv.24 Hobgoblin Shaman and Lv.23 Fiendish Aquarine Lizardnoid. Because, by the time I killed other Mid-Phase Tier-2 Monsters, my Level increased from killing many Tier-1 monsters, which resulted in me reaching Mid-Phase of Tier-2. As for my Undistributed Looted Stats, they increased from 134* to 342*. Among them, I offered 215* Looted Stats and awakened MJ''s Battle Form. ______________ An A.I entity formed from the System and a part of the host''s soul. Name: MJ System ess level: Grade-4 (Epic) (Awakened) A new Perk ''Corpse Integration'' was added for awakening ''Battle Form'' due to Soul A.I Owner''s extra Stats. Upon integrating, a constant transfer link of 100% of the owner''s overall stats. Battle Form Perks: , MJ''s personal , . ______________ I took a quick peek at the information of the new Perk of MJ''s Battle Form. __________ Ability to integrate with any Species Corpse and turn it into the Soul A.I''s physical body. Requirements: The corpse shouldn''t be older than 24 hours. Corpse Integration Slots: 5 Cost: Sacrifice Undistributed Looted Stats equal to the Owner''s overall Stats in for each Integration. __________ Even to use the once, it needs a permanent sacrifice of MJ''s 1% Stats that were transferred from me. That might be a problem for anyone else but not for me since I could use Looted Stats instead of normal Stats. I intended to merge with the loot that I obtained from the monsters I killed in thest 10 minutes. But I didn''t feel secure as I will be left vulnerable during the merging process. Even though I intended to save Dante, I didn''t strike out the possibility of him trying to kill me when I would be left vulnerable during the merging process for the sap of . So, as an insurance, I went back to the location where the corpses of the monsters were spread around and let MJ choose one of them to use the . MJ turned into a green streak of light and integrated with a monster''s corpse. In a few seconds, all its fatal wounds healed, and MJ in the body of a monster stood in front of me as he greeted me. With MJ guarding me, I didn''t worry about Dante, who was just Lv.3. But if he really tries to kill me, I will end him, regardless of how high his Fate was Chapter 43 - Merging With Looted Skills And Innate Talents. The monster corpse that MJ integrated was the Lv.24 Hobgoblin Shaman, and the Stats of its 5 main Attributes were sealed so that they could match my Stats in . Other than that, MJ was able to use all the Skills and Fire Mastery of the Hobgoblin Shaman except for the Grade-3 Fire Innate Talent that I looted from the dead Hobgoblin Shaman. As a Soul A.I, MJ adjusted to his new body in less than a minute. We returned to the Maze centre, and I had MJ show me all the new Loot in my separately. Being in a monster''s body didn''t hinder his abilities as a Soul A.I even the least bit as several screens projected in front of me. The first set of notifications was about the Spirit Items that I gained from those monsters. After a quick nce, I turned my attention towards the Umon Grade Weapons of the Tier-2 Monsters. __________ (Umon Grade) A Spirit Staff that was made of Spirit Iron ore to suit the usage of Fire Element. Effect: Spirit+18^ Requirements: 28 Spirit Durability: 81/100 Inherent Skill: (Umon) (Passive): Enhances the Fire Damage by 20% for every fire element rted attack by the user of . __________ (Umon Grade) A Spirit Sword that was made of Spirit Iron ore to suit heavy attacks. Effect: Strength+15^ Requirements: 25 Strength Durability: 77/100 Inherent Skill: (Umon) : Uses a wall of the user''s Aura to bash a target within the range of 20 meters. Cost: 25 Spirit Energy per use. __________ (Umon Grade) A strong Bow that''s designed for hunting purposes. Effect: Agility+15^ Requirements: 25 Agility Durability: 86/100 Inherent Skill: (Umon) : By activating it, the Arrows used by the locks on to the target within the range of 300 meters. Cost: 30 Spirit Energy per use. __________ (Umon Grade) A Trident that was made of Spirit Aquadime ore to suit the usage of Water Element. Effect: Spirit+16^ Requirements: 26 Spirit Durability: 81/100 Inherent Skill: (Umon) (Passive): Increases the Water-Element conjuring speed by 20%. __________ (Umon Grade) A Spear that was made of Spirit Aquadime ore to suit the usage of Water Element. Effect: Strength+12^, Agility+12^ Requirements: 25 Strength, 25 Agility Durability: 79/100 Inherent Skill: (Umon) : Shoots a high pressured Water Spear from the tip of to pierce the target. Cost: 30 Spirit Energy per use. __________ Most of them were the weapons they had on them, and only a few were obtained through the System rewards for killing monsters. Even with my increased Luck Attribute, I didn''t get any Umon Spirit Items as rewards from the System other than some Common Grade ones. Maybe it was because I already obtained 5 Umon Weapons of the Tier-2 Monsters. Among the Common Grade Spirit Items that were used by the Goblins and the Lesser Lizardnoids, there were Maces, One-handed Swords, Bows, Daggers and in Tridents and in Harpoons and other Armour rted Spirit Items. I didn''t pay much attention towards those Common Grade ones except for the two Spirit Items, and . It was not that they stood out in Stats or abilities but because they were one of the 6 Armour type Spirit Items needed to upgrade the to Umon Grade. Those 6 types were Helmet, Shoulder Guards, Gauntlets, Tassets, Greaves and Boots. Among them, I got hands-on three types, including my and had to wait until I obtained the other three to upgrade the to Umon Grade. After that, I bonded with and and when I tried to bond with another Spirit Item; I learned that any life form could only bond with 7 Spirit Items at once. So, I unbonded the and formed a bond with . The Stats from the newly bonded Spirit items were added to my at once as I rejected the Safety Mode that was suggested by the System. When I entered the mode, my body experienced the changes from the increase of Stats in my 5 main Attributes. Because of that, I couldn''t even feel any changes when I added those Stats at once. With that, my overall Stats in increased from 215 to 239 and that In turn caused my overall stats in to increase from 645* to 717*. Most of the Undistributed Looted Stats I had with me were used up and only 9* of them remained. After that, I turned my attention towards the notifications of Looted Skills that I haven''t merged with yet. [Lv.10(Common): Reduces the pressure under Water by ten-fold and gains the ability to breathe underwater through Skin.] [Lv.10(Common): Ability to see clearly deep underwater, within the range of 100 meters. [Lv.10(Common): Dexterity of Fingers increased by ten-fold. [Lv.10(Common)]: Jaw Strength and Teeth Density increases by ten-fold. and were the Innate Skills of the Lizardnoids. Whereas, was the Innate Skills of Goblins. As for the Skill , I looted it from the Tier-1 Wolves but didn''t merge with it back then. I epted all of them at once, and with my high Physical Pain Resistance, I didn''t worry about pain. [Lv.4 ? Lv.10] During the merging process, along with a burning sensation, I felt the changes in my skin, fingers, Eyes and Jaw. But I barely sensed any pain and In less than a minute, the merging process with Looted Skills ended. My Jaw shape became more defined and chiselled. When I bit at empty air, a thud sound resounded within the centre of the maze. With my enhanced Jaw Strength, I felt like I could even bite a Tier-1 monster to its death. Other than my jaw, there weren''t any external changes in my physical appearance from merging with those Looted Skills. As for my skin, it got tougher and was able to suck the moisture in the air within the Maze Centre with a single breath. The sensation of breathing through skin felt refreshing, like never before. Once I merged with all of my loot, I decided to check out the in the Crystal Lake Water. Then I looked at the Innate Talents that I looted from the five Tier-2 Monsters. [Grade-3 (Elemental Category): Gives Host the ability toprehend Fire Element and increases theprehension speed by three-fold.] [Grade-3 (Elemental Category): Gives Host the ability toprehend Water Element and increases theprehension speed by three-fold.] [Grade-4 (Weapon Category): Increases the Host''sprehension speed of all Spear rted Weapons by four-fold.] [Grade-4 (Weapon Category): Increases the Host''sprehension speed of all Sword rted Weapons by four-fold.] [Grade-2 (Variant Category): Host''s every action will be precise to a higher degree.] Among them, ''Precision'' was the Innate Talent I looted from the Lv.14 Variant Hobgoblin Archer and the remaining four were self-exnatory. I started merging with all of them at once, including the Grade-3 and Grade-3 that I Looted before. Then, my vision started to blur and the view in front of me changed into a familiar unending pitch-ck space. I looked at myself and couldn''t find my body. Almost as if I became the unending pitch-ck space itself. Then, I heard MJ''s voice, "Master, once again you entered your Spirit Space." "ording to the information records from my Tier-4 System A.I ess, every being that assimtes with the System has a Spirit Space and it is hidden deep in one''s inner consciousness. Only by evolving to Tier-4 could anyone find and enter their Spirit Space." "But the exceptions were those who have Multiple Innate Talents, as they could enter their Spirit Space after reaching Tier-3." "With the Unique Grade Innate Talent , Master can even loot and merge with others Innate Talents and this merging process with Looted Innate Talents allowed Master to once again enter Spirit Space." "Master, ording to the records of the System, when someone first enters their Spirit Space they would appear in its periphery. So, try moving towards the centre of Spirit Space." With that, I got an idea of my situation and as I willed it, I started to move towards the centre and after a minute, I could find something at the centre of the vast pitch-ck Spirit Space. It was the same golf ball-sized Orb that I saw previously, and with every passing second, the Orb continued to pulse from one colour to another. With the Orb as the centre, there were 10 circr milky white paths, like the''s orbits around the Sun. I could tell that the golf ball-sized Orb was my Innate Talent . Then the merging process started and my attention turned towards the innermost circr orbit, where 6 spheres with each having a different colour formed with the size of a thumb. They started to expand themselves while revolving around the golf ball-sized pulsing Orb. I spectated as they continued to increase in size and once their diameter crossed 10 meters, each of those 6 spheres started to drift farther from the first circr orbit to the second one. By the time they reached the second circr orbit, the diameter of every sphere reached 100 meters. Except for the turquoise coloured sphere, which was the Grade-2 , the other 5 spheres didn''t stop in the second circr orbit and drifted to the third one as a notification appeared within my Spirit Space. [Congrattions! You have sessfully merged with the Grade-2 ] Following that, the Fire, Water, Wind and Earth Grade-3 Innate Talents stopped drifting any further as they reached the third circr orbit and their size got fixed at a diameter of 1000 meters. [Congrattions! You have sessfully merged with the Grade-3] [Congrattions! You have sessfully merged with the Grade-3] [Congrattions! You have sessfully merged with the Grade-3] [Congrattions! You have sessfully merged with the Grade-3] The process continued as the Sword and Spear Innate Talents increased in size as they drifted to a fourth circr object and they finally halted at a diameter of 10,000 meters (10 km). [Congrattions! You have sessfully merged with the Grade-4] [Congrattions! You have sessfully merged with the Grade-4] Once I merged with all the 6 Looted Innate Talents, the four Elemental Innate Talents stopped revolving in their orbit and started to shake as if they became unstable. Then MJ continued, "Master, this instability is amon urrence for the individuals with multiple Elemental Innate talents and to deal with that instability, those individuals have to wait until they reach Tier-4." "Under normal circumstances, Master has to wait until you reach Tier-4 before forming a stability between the newly merged Innate¡­.." Before MJ could evenplete his sentence, the golf ball-sized Orb in the centre released an ominous hum and a silver shockwave emerged from it as a centre and collided with the unstable Innate Talents. Then, they halted being unstable and contrary to theirrge sizes, those Innate Talents became docile and started to revolve around the golf ball-sized Orb. The silver shockwave from my Innate Talent contained the same silver-coloured energy that flows on top of me, every time I enter mode. That made me wonder about the mysterious silver-coloured energy and my original Innate Talent that made the Elemental Innate Talents to be obedient. Then, I was sent out of my Spirit Space and as I opened eyes in reality, a set of notifications greeted me. [Your Unique Category Innate Talent formed a synergy between Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth Elements.] [Congrattions! You are the 19th Existence in the Entire Universe to form Synergy between four Elements while just being in Tier-2.] [Due to causing a Universe Level Achievement, You will receive a random grade reward that will be most useful to you at the present moment. The Grade of the reward depends on your Luck Attribute.] Chapter 44 - Obtaining A Legend Grade Skill! [Congrattions! You have received a Concealment type Skill, (Legend Grade).] [ (Passive): No Life Form of Tier-5 and below could remember any details of the User''s existence without the Skill user''s permission.] [Do you wish to merge with ?] Just when the notification appeared about the Universe Level Achievement, I tested out a theory that I had in mind as I kept on thinking about needing a Concealment rted Reward. I did that to find if the Reward for a Universe Level Achievement could be obtained ording to the Achievement Attainer''s wishes, and it turned out to be true. Then I understood the real value of a Universe Level Achievement as the other four Achievement Levels couldn''t give out rewards that match the Achievement Attainer''s requirements since they were entirely random. Without further dy, I merged with the as a translucentyer formed around me and entered my body. There wasn''t any change in my physical appearance or any mask on my face like the Skill''s name indicated. The information about the Skill usage was transmitted to my mind. Contrary to a typical concealment skill that hides a person''s presence, the was different. In front of any being that was Tier-5 and below, I would not be invisible but be unrecognisable. Even if I talk to anyone, they can''t remember what I said to them. Those of Tier-5 and below couldn''t remember my appearance even when they looked at me. That applies to my as well. As long as any lifeform that was not higher than Tier-5 uses a skill simr to on me, they couldn''t remember any information of my even if they were able to look at it. Then they will be like kindergarten kids trying to remember a 3000 words essay, which was written in anguage those kids didn''t even learn yet. With that, I didn''t have to mind about others learning my high amount of skills and Innate Talents. If the skill showed its full effect, my existence would be forgotten in everyone''s view. That would mean, even my siblings and parents couldn''t recognise me, even if I were to stand in front of them. But that wasn''t a problem since I learned from the transmitted knowledge of the skill that I could change the settings on the effect of . With the help of that, I could allow my family members and close ones to remember everything they know about me and they wouldn''t find anything different from usual. So, in the next few seconds, I mentally set these few people not to be affected by the . Along with that, I also toned down the overall effect of the concealment type skill. I adjusted it in a way that when anyone other than the people, whom I gave permission, looks at me, they will be under an illusion that they could see me without a problem. But, in reality, when they try to recall my appearance, voice, or any information about me, they couldn''t remember anything. With my first Legend Grade Skill, , I needn''t have to be cautious about others finding my ability. Just then, the 20-minute duration of mode ended, and my body shrunk from a seven-foot-tall heavily packed muscr body to that of a six-foot-tall, considerably lean, ripped body. Just like thest time, I was hit by a wave of dehydration and exhaustion. Iid on the ground within the steam that oozed out from my body. I took out water supplies from the storage space, and before I could even drink them, the water floated out of the container, as I unconsciously used the Grade-3 and when it was got closer to me, the water was absorbed through my skin pores due to the effect of . That process was way faster than drinking water, and my thirst satiated. Since I was Lv.20, the five main Attributes in my will be halved for 20 minutes, and the mode was under cooldown for 200 minutes (3 hours 20 minutes). Since I was hidden in the maze and with the ''Hobgoblin MJ'' protecting me, I wasn''t bothered by the temporary weakened state and looked around myself. The way I perceive my surroundings changed as I could feel a mental connection with the air around me. I could even see the air as it had a tinge of emerald green colour in it. I could also sense the Azure blue moisture in the surroundings, and the dark brown glow radiated from the ground. That was not the end as I could sense the heat signatures around me in the form of a bright red hue. Like that, I was able to sense the four elements Fire, Water, Wind and Earth. Then, I received notifications about Elemental Masteries. [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.1 (Stage-1)] [Lv.1: Lv.1 Fire-element maniption methods will be transmitted into your mind.] [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.1 (Stage-1)] [Lv.1: Lv.1 Water-element maniption methods will be transmitted into your mind.] [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.1 (Stage-1)] [Lv.1: Lv.1 Wind-element maniption methods will be transmitted into your mind.] [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.1 (Stage-1)] [Lv.1: Lv.1 Earth-element maniption methods will be transmitted into your mind.] It was simr to when I first obtained , but instead of sword training methods, I gained the basic knowledge on how to manipte those four elements. But still, that basic knowledge was purely theoretical, and I had toprehend it to reach higher levels of mastery. ording to the knowledge I gained, the first step to manipte any element was to conjure it properly. Among the four elements, the Fire and Water were hard to conjure, unlike the Wind and Earth since there was air all around me and the earth soil was just beneath my feet. So, there wasn''t any need to conjure Wind and Earth elements as I could just manipte the already avable wind and earth. But in the case of Fire and Water, I had to conjure them from the heat and moisture respectively from the surroundings. But if I were beside some water source like the Crystalke, that would change as I could just manipte theke water like the Lizardnoids, that fought against the Goblins. First, I tried to manipte the wind, and the air marvellously swirled around me in the direction I willed it. I soon found out that the most I could do were, forming small gusts of wind that weren''t even powerful to harm an Lv.1 monster. It was the same in the case of the Earth element as all I was able to move was the uppermost sand. The best I could do with that sand was to throw it at a monster''s eyes shamelessly. I sighed with disappointment, but that changed after I trained in and for a few minutes. [Congrattions! You have unlocked Lv.1] [Lv.1: Resistance towards Wind-element increases by 1%.] [Congrattions! You have unlocked Lv.1] [Lv.1: Resistance towards Earth-element increases by 1%.] Like the that unlocked from training in , the elemental resistances were unlocked fromprehending a certain level of their respective element maniption methods. Even though it was just a 1% increase in Wind and Earth Resistances, I was excited to think about the increment in the Elemental Resistances when I reach higher Elemental Mastery levels. In that excitement, I conjured Fire and Water from the surroundings. I continued to train in Fire and Water elemental maniption methods. Another few minutes passed, and I unlocked Lv.1 and Lv.1 as well. I didn''t stop until I raised those four Elemental Masteries to Lv.2 and 20 minutes passed since I exited mode. With that, I recovered from the weakened state, and the Attribute Stats in my returned to normal. Chapter 45 - Reaching Tier-3 By The End Of Day-2? My Strength and Agility Attributes that had 37 Stats each were nearly doubled after gaining the Stats from Umon Spirit Items, , and . But that was not the end as I received a notification asking me if I wanted to proceed in Safety mode for adding the Stats from the . The Stat requirement to bond with the was to have at least 40 Stats in Strength and Agility Attributes. Back when I bonded with it, I was fighting against the Bloodthirsty Earth bear. Then, I was in mode and the Stats in satisfied the Stats requirement for . But when I reverted from mode, my Strength and Agility Attributes didn''t meet Rare Grade Spirit Item''s stat requirement. I initially thought that the would unbind itself from me, but instead of that, I didn''t obtain the Spirit Item Stats. Other than that, I was able to freely use it. Since my Strength and Agility Attributes met the requirements, I received a notification suggesting to proceed in Safety mode. When I was about to ept it, MJ changed the Safety Mode notification''s content. It showed that the 112 Undistributed Stats I obtained from levelling up 9 times were added to the other three Attributes so that they wouldn''t fall behind. Thanks to the Achievement Title, , I gained 12 Undistributed Stats per each level, instead of 10. I epted it and rested on the ground that I turned into a squishy sand bed. Then, MJ brought out the , and among the 11 million Alpha Chosen, I wasn''t in the third position anymore but the first. It wasn''t much of a shock since I managed to go from Lv.11 to Lv.20 within the first half an hour of Day-2. As for ''Regaz'' and ''Drogor'', who were previously in first and second positions of were at Lv.14 and Lv.13 respectively. Its good to be on the top since any Earth''s Alpha Chosen had to think thrice about going against me. Actually, during the 18-hour rest period after Day-1, I even thought about wearing some kind of mask in the Trial World. So that when Ie across other Earth''s Alpha Chosen, they couldn''t look at my face and thus couldn''t find my identity when they return for another 18 hour-long rest period on Earth. At least, until I was powerful enough to even take on a country''s military power on Earth. ording to MJ, as long as Nuclear power was excluded, one needs to be at least a Tier-4 LifeForm to hold power capable of achieving such a feat. But it was easier said than done since the Life Energy required to level up increases substantially. Moreover, anyone needs to gain a certain Mastery level in their respective category. These two requirements could bepleted over time, but the third andst requirement was to gain a certain level of Achievement Titles. The Achievement Title requirement for my Tier-3 evolution was to obtain 3 Umon Grade and 1 Rare Grade Achievement Titles, and for uing Tier Evolutions that will go up by a notch. The reason for fulfilling the Achievement Title Requirement for Tier evolution being the hardest for everyone throughout the Universe was because one had to solo-defeat a monster that was a Tier above them. I already had 4 Umon Grade Achievement Titles among which, I obtained and from solo killing the High-Phase monsters, Lv.24 Hobgoblin Shaman and Lv.23 Fiendish Aquarine Lizardnoid respectively when I was in Mid-Phase Tier-2. At least, it was counted as such since the System only considers the Tier in my but not the . Then, MJ brought out the Evolution Requirement notification that appeared after the fight with the monsters. ______________________ [Tier-3 Evolution Requirements]: {1} Reach Stage-3 in two Minor Sword Masteries, two Minor Spear Masteries, four Minor Elemental Masteries and Precision Mastery. ? {2} Obtain enough Life Energy that is required to reach Lv.26 ? {3} Obtain 1 Rare Achievement Title and 3 Umon Achievement Titles ? ______________________ Actually, as a Tier-2 individual like me, to obtain a Rare Grade Achievement Title, I had to kill a Tier-3 Monster. The power gap between Tier-1 and Tier-2 was a lot lesspared to the difference between Tier-2 and Tier-3. Simrly, In Higher Tiers, the power gap increases further. From MJ, I learned that there was a tactic usedmonly to meet the Achievement Title requirement by the rest of the Universe that was assimted by the System. In the case of a typical Tier-2 individual, they had to reach Lv.25, the peak of Tier-2 and then choose a Low-Phase Tier-3 monster whose abilities can be countered by that Tier-2 individual. But obtaining a Rare Grade Achievement Title by killing a Low-phase Tier-3 monster wasn''t a problem for me since I was as powerful as a Mid-Phase Tier-3 life form in mode. Still, there wasn''t any need for me to do that because I already had a Rare Grade Achievement Title, that I obtained from evolving to Tier-2 on the first day of the Trial Program. An idea sprouted in my mind as I looked at the Tier-3 Evolution Requirements'' notification. It was the possibility of me reaching Tier-3 by the end of Day-2. But that idea remained as an idea without any chance for implementation when MJ exined the ''Mastery Requirement'' in detail. If I hadn''t merged with the Looted Innate Talents except for the Grade-4, I would have satisfied my Mastery Requirement for Tier-3 Evolution by reaching Stage-3 in just two Minor Masteries. It would have taken 36 hours of training for a Minor Weapon Mastery to reach Stage-3 from scratch. But, with the Grade-4 Sword Innate Talent that I looted from Lv.15 Hobgoblin Swordsmen, myprehension speed was increased by four times. It would only take 9 hours of training for my to increase from Lv.1 to Lv.21 (Stage-3 Longsword Mastery = Lv.21 to Lv.30). There was a little more than 23 hours left before the Day-2 ends and I need 18 hours to bring both and to reach Stage-3. Leaving me 5 hours to fulfil the Level requirement of obtaining enough Life Energy to reach Lv.26. Unlike others whose Evolution duration was 12 hours, mine only required a few minutes. That would mean that I could reach Tier-3 by the end of Day-2. But from what MJ exined, I understood that it was not possible, and it was because I merged with the Innate Talents I looted from the monsters. I also learned that it was amon problem for all those with multiple Innate Talents, as they had to reach the Mastery requirement for their multiple Innate Talents. As I merged with those Looted Innate Talents, I will also be considered as an individual with Multiple Innate Talents. Due to that, I had to reach Stage-3 Mastery in all those Innate Talents to satisfy the ''Mastery Requirement'' for Tier-3 Evolution. To reach Stage -3 in two Minor Sword Masteries, two Minor Spear Masteries, four Minor Elemental Masteries and Precision Mastery, it would take quite a long time. Even though I didn''t show it, MJ understood that I was dissatisfied that he didn''t remind me of such a crucial thing before I merged with the Looted Talents. So, he quickly rified his reason for that, "Master, I didn''t remind you because it didn''t line in with your goals." "If Master only merged with the Sword Innate Talent, you could have reached Tier-3 by the end of Day-3, and as a reward, you would get an Achievement Title simr to that you obtained from reaching Tier-2 on Day-1." "With such Achievement, you would gain additional Undistributed Stats per each level." "For others, it might be precious, but with Master gaining 5* Looted Stats in every time you exit mode, the Additional Undistributed Stats from that Achievement Title were practically not much of an use to Master." "Instead, if Master focusses on reaching higher Stages in Elemental Mastery, it would help in longterm to grow powerful." After listening to MJ, I threw away the idea of reaching Tier-3 as quickly as possible and intended to increase my Masteries. MJ rmended me to start with Weapon Masteries because the Elemental Masteries take longer to gain. I was at Lv.14 in , but without a Short Sword Spirit Weapon, I couldn''t increase its level. Even though I have in the storage, there was only one point left in its Durability, and it would get destroyed if I try to use for training. Instead, I decided to focus on training with the to gain and to increase it to Stage-3 after increasing my . As for the Spear Mastery, I intended to train in it with after reaching Stage-3 in both and . Before I started training with , I asked ''Hobgoblin MJ'' to scout the surrounding 5 kilometres. He said that he could make a virtual map of the ces I have been to in the Trial World. Then MJ brought out a 3D projection of the Trial Zone that allotted for the Earth''s Chosen, spanning 3 meters long, and floated at my waist level in front of me. It was the miniature virtual map of the Trial Zone area (100 km x 100 km). Most of it was nk except for a small part of the map, and upon zooming it, there were the locations I have been through since the start of Day-1. After that, I asked MJ to scout the surrounding 10 kilometres to get a more detailed map. I didn''t worry about MJ''s safety since he would only lose the Hobgoblin Shaman''s body. Since he could use another monster''s corpse as his ''Battle Form'' with , it wasn''t much of a problem since that process only needs some of my Undistributed Looted Stats. Meanwhile, I moved further away from the unconscious Dante and began training my . Chapter 46 - Lv.3 (Uncommon Grade). Chapter 45: Lv.3 (Umon Grade). Half an hour passed since then and I continued to adjust myself to the Stats that kept on adding periodically to my Attributes in . Then, I was greeted with notifications that brought a broad smile on my face. [MJ killed Lv.11 Rotten Frenzy Dog] [550 Life Energy obtained] [With MJ being a part of your soul, you will receive all the Life Energy of the monsters that MJ kills.] But that wasn''t the end of the notifications, and what came after caused me to almost jump with excitement. [16 Stats Looted] ___________________ [Choose one of these to loot from the Dead Lv.11 Rotten Frenzy Dog.] {1.} Lv.2 (Umon): Ability to see clearly in the dark, within the range of 200 meters. {2.} Lv.2 (Umon): Jaw Strength and Teeth Density increases by 20-fold. {3.} Lv.3 (Umon): To activate this skill, the user needs to choose a lifeform as a target to unleash their inner frenziness. Within that frenzied state, the user''s 5 main Attributes get a 13% increment in Stats. Duration: 1 minute. Cost: 13% Stamina ___________________ The cause of my excitement was because I discovered that my Innate Talent was automatically activated every time MJ killed a monster. After that, Imunicated with MJ. He was able to function as my personal Soul A.I even when he was in his Battle Form. It was like MJ was multitasking since he was within the Hobgoblin Shaman''s Corpse and in my mind at the same time. It seemed that while he was scouting the surrounding area; he was attacked by an Lv.11 Rotten Frenzy Dog (Low-Phase Tier-2). Since MJ''s stats were the same as mine, he was as powerful as a Mid-Phase Tier-2 life Form. Moreover, I gave the to ''Hobgoblin MJ'' and through our soul connection, he was able to use the Grade-3 that I looted from the Hobgoblin Shaman. ''Hobgoblin MJ'' was able to use the various fire elemental attacks because when MJ integrated with Hobgoblin Shaman''s corpse, he also gained its Fire Mastery along with all of its Skills. So, ''Hobgoblin MJ'' killed the Lv.11 Rotten Frenzy Dog with ease even when that monster used its rather powerful Innate Skill, . When I read the description of the Skills in the notification, I chose the Lv.3 right away and merged with it. It was the first Skill I came across that needed a percentage of Stamina instead of a particr amount. I wanted to know what would happen when I used it when I was in mode. But there was still a little less than 3 hours left for Cooldown duration to end. So, I didn''t think much about it and continued training in after instructing MJ to actively kill any monster hees across while scouting the surroundings. 9 hours passed since I started training in and half of the time, I had a smile stered on my face. It was due to the asional notification pop-ups I received from ''Hobgoblin MJ'' killing monsters. Without me even killing any monster, my level increased four levels and reached Lv.24. I even used up the Undistributed Stats I obtained from those 4 level ups. I added them so that all the Stats in my 5 main Attributes stay in equilibrium. With that, the Skill automatically activated, and the problem with adjustment to the increased Stats in a short time was no more. Of course, that would also mean I couldn''t feel emotions since I was in the State of Harmony. There was 3 Undistributed Stats left, and if I wanted to exit the State of Harmony, I could just add it to any of the 5 main Attributes and disrupt their bnce. Then I looked at the congrattory notifications that floated in front of me as the Sword Aura''s colour on the turned from cyan to dark blue. [Congrattions! You have advanced to Lv.21 byprehending Lv.21.] [Congrattions! Your and upgraded from Stage-2 to Stage-3.] [Congrattions! You have gained the Stage-3 Mastery Perk, by reaching Stage-3 .] [Congrattions! Your Achievement Title, upgraded to .] Only when the notifications of Stage-3 appeared did I finally halt the non-stop training thatsted for the past 9 hours. With my increased Endurance Attribute, I had 475 points in Stamina. So, I was able tost long under such intense training. But, I was only left with one-eighth of the total Stamina and to recover them; I rested on the sand bed and took out the three I had in the storage space. While eating them, I opened the , and within it, there were 167 names ranked ording to their level, indicating that 152 more Alpha Chosen evolved to Tier-2 in thest 9 hours. After the top 100 rankings were filled, no more congrattory notifications appeared in the sky that appear whenever someone reached Tier-2. Just like 9 hours ago, I was still ranked first as I stood at Lv.24. The second and third ranks also didn''t change, with both ''Regaz'' and ''Drogor'' in Lv.19. Coming down to the fourth-ranked and below, the levels difference increased once more as they were below Lv.15. Just as I took a bite at the third , ''Hobgoblin MJ'' entered the Maze centre with a little more than 20 of those fruits. 15 minutes before gaining Stage-3 , I mentallymunicated with MJ through our soul connection and asked him to bring all the from the that I found beside the Poisonous Spider''s cave. Even when I ate four more of those , only half of my Stamina was recovered. As for the remaining half, I let my recently upgraded Skill, from crossing 50 Stats in my Endurance Attribute. With that, my Stamina Regeneration increased even more, and I just had to rest for half an hour before my Staminapletely recovers. During the 9 hours long intense training, I entered mode, two more times so that 5* Looted Stats get added to my every time I exit that mode. Even though I had to go through the pain that was enough to kill me several times over every time I underwent , I still did it. Since I was in the state of harmony, my mind was clearer than ever, and any trivial emotion of pride from being ranked first among the 11 million Alpha Chosen was thoroughly suppressed. As a result, my determination to gain absolute power didn''t waver in the least. From the 5 times that I underwent , my reached Lv.62. After it reached Lv.50, gaining higher levels in it got harder. I wondered whether I would be immune to pain if I were to reach Lv.100 in . But it was a question for another time as MJ couldn''t find anything about it even with his Tier-4 System ess. I let it aside and opened my and went through everything in it. __________ [STATUS] (Primary) Name - Jay Age - 23 Race - Greater Human Life Energy - 30475/32500 Level - 24 (High-Phase, Tier-2) Estimated Level - 28 (Low-Phase, Tier-3) ~~~ * ? Looted Stats ^ ? Spirit Item Stats ¡ã ? Achievement Title Stats E ? Evolution Stats ~~~ Strength - 97 (30+5*+52^+10 E) Agility - 97 (30+5*+52^+10 E) Vitality - 97 (62+5*+20^+10 E) Endurance - 97 (67+5*+10^+5¡ã+10 E) Spirit - 97 (82+5*+10 E) Luck - 37 (7+25^+5¡ã) Health - 970/970 Stamina - 67/485 Spirit Energy - 212/485 Undistributed Stats - 3 INNATE TALENT - INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILL - , LOOTED INNATE TALENTS - Elemental Category: Grade-3, Grade-3, Grade-3, Grade-3. Weapon Category: Grade-4, Grade-4. Martial Category: None Variant Category: Grade-2 . Unique Category: None [ACHIEVEMENT TITLES] Common Grade - , Umon Grade - , , , , . Rare Grade - [SKILLS] Common Grade - Lv.10, Lv.10, Lv.10, Lv.10, Lv.10, Lv.10, Lv.10, Lv.10, Lv.10. Umon Grade - Lv.1, Lv.1, Lv.3 Rare Grade - Lv.1, Lv.1, Lv.1, Lv.1 , Lv.1 , Lv.1 . Epic Grade - Lv.1 Legend Grade - Lv.1 [RESISTANCES] Lv.1 - Fire Resistance: 1% Lv.1 - Water Resistance: 1% Lv.1 - Wind Resistance: 1% Lv.1 - Earth Resistance: 1% Lv.10 - Poison Resistance: 10% Lv.16 - Mental Pain Resistance: 16% Lv.62 - Physical Pain Resistance: 62% [SPIRIT ITEMS] Common Grade - , (Upgradable) Umon Grade - , , . Rare Grade - , [ELEMENTAL MASTERY] STAGE-1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - Lv.2 STAGE-1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - Lv.2 STAGE-1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - Lv.2 STAGE-1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - Lv.2 [WEAPON MASTERY] STAGE-1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - Lv.1 - Lv.1 (Locked) STAGE-1 (Lv.1 - Lv.10) - Lv.1 [Great Sword Mastery] (Minor-3) - Lv.21 STAGE-2 (Lv.11 - Lv.20) - Lv.14 [Short Sword Mastery] (Minor-1) - Lv.21 STAGE-3 (Lv.21 - Lv.30) - Lv.21 [Long Sword Mastery] (Minor-2) - Lv.21 Mastery Perks: STAGE-1 Mastery Perk - STAGE-2 Mastery Perk - STAGE-3 Mastery Perk - __________ Chapter 47 - & Stage-3! A new aspect called ''Estimated Level'' was added in my , simr to the one in my . MJ said that it would happen when a person''s overall Stats exceed more than what it should be for his Level. As I was in Lv.24, I should be having 290 overall Stats, excluding the Luck Attribute. Instead, I had 485 Stats. But still, my estimated level was only Lv.28. That means, any Lv.28 Life form would have 485 overall Stats. At first nce, it might look odd because of the considerable difference in overall stats between Lv.24 and Lv.28. But the answer for that was the Evolution Stats that one receives when they undergo Tier-3 Evolution after reaching Lv.25. Back when I went through the Tier-2 Evolution process after reaching Lv.10, I gained 10 Evolution Stats in each of my 5 main Attributes. In the case of Tier-3 Evolution, the Evolution Stats received for each of the 5 main Attributes will be 30. Which means that any life form thatpletes their Tier-3 Evolution will gain 150 Evolution Stats, giving a huge boost in their power. That was one of the main reasons as to why there was a massive power gap between Tiers. Coming to my Stats, they were significantly higher than the beginning of Day-2. If not for the Skill, it would have taken quite some time to adjust to my Stats'' quick increment. The remaining were mostly self-exnatory and in the end, I looked at the description of Stage-3 and the new Weapon Mastery Perk, . ____________ Lv.21: When used on a Sword type Spirit Weapon, the damage output increases by 210%. Cost: 21 Spirit Energy per minute. ____________ : The extended part of the can be shot as projectiles with a specific range. Current Range: 210 meters. (Depends on the level of user''s ) ____________ I wanted to go out to test it due to the closed space within the underground Maze centre. So, I told MJ to stay behind and protect Dante if some monster enters the maze and attacks him. I travelled through many twists and turns of the underground maze, and when I was about to leave the maze entrance, I heard a shriek with my enhanced hearing sense from the depths of the maze. Following that, I returned to the maze''s centre to find the source of the sounds. When I got there, what weed me was Dante shaking in fear while holding a chalk-ck dagger pointing towards ''Hobgoblin MJ''. Dante shouted at him, "Stai pando di Hobgoblin Ba ... Bastardo! Allontanati da me. Come stai ... sei ancora vivo? Non sei morto prima rimanendo impto nel petto? " I didn''t understand what he said, but through our mental connection, MJ sensed that, and in the next instant, the tranted conversation appeared in my vision as if I was watching a movie with subtitles. It showed, {"You talking Hobgoblin Ba...Bastard! Get..get away from me. How are..are you even alive? Didn''t you die earlier by getting impaled in your chest?"} It seemed like Dante mistook MJ''s Battle Form as the monster that tried to kill him. MJ tried to exin, but with him being in Hobgoblin Shaman''s body, his voice sounded croaky, and few more goblinnguage words such as ''grek'' and ''kwichik'' were added for every two or three words, which made it even hard to understand. On top of that, Dante was too scared to listen and understand what the monster in front of him was trying to say. So, I mentallymanded MJ to exit his and then the Hobgoblin Shaman''s body eyes lost their light and fell to the ground. Then a green streak of light exited from its heart and turned into the chubby baby MJ. Dante''s fear was reced with shock as his eyes widened when he looked at the chubby baby who was speaking in fluent Italian. As the direction I entered the Maze centre was in Dante''s blind spot, he didn''t notice me standing 10 meters away from them. Then the baby MJ pointed towards me and exined that it was me who saved him and that we guarded him when he was unconscious. After hearing that, he threw away his hostility and expressed his gratitude, "I cannot thank you enough for saving my life and taking care of me. You might not know me, but I saw you at the end of Day-1." He then exined that he saw me when I drank water in Crystal Lake before I was surrounded by the Wolves. I was taken aback upon hearing that he was just across the Crystalke, but there was no change on my emotionless face. He also said that he saw my name through the Skill, . But for the next few seconds, he racked his brain, and I asked him about what was troubling him. Dante replied with a puzzlement, "For some unbelievable reason I couldn''t recall your name, no matter how much I tried to. As for why he couldn''t remember, I know the reason, but I didn''t reveal anything about my Legend Grade Skill, . Instead, I had MJ to slightly tweak the skill effect so that he could remember my name. Then his face lit up as he eximed, "That''s it!! I remember it now, your name''s Jay. It seems I got forgetfulness as the one Uncle Roberto has." Just as he said ''Uncle Roberto'', his expression turned solemn as he went silent for a couple of seconds. He suddenly seemed to remember something, and he looked at his body, and when he found there was not even a mark, he anxiously asked me, "Can I know how I recovered from such heavy injuries?" He finally realised that his wounds werepletely healed, and I could also tell why he was anxious. I replied, "To save you, I had to use a few drops of a Grade-3 Vitality Fruit''s sap, which I obtained on Day-1 of the Trial Program. It can magically heal wounds, and I even used it to cure my family member''s illness." I could have just said that I used the sap of Grade-3 Vitality Fruit to heal his wounds. But, by mentioning the details of a few drops and treating illness, I indirectly suggested that I had more of the magical medicine and that he could use it to save his Uncle Roberto. From the change in his expression, I could confirm that he caught onto my indirect suggestion. Then he pleaded with me, "Jay, please give me some of that Vitality Fruit medicine to save someone who is like a father to me." When he saw me staying silent, he got desperate and started to beg me that As long as that Vitality Fruit medicine saves Uncle Roberto''s life, he would sell his soul to me. Hearing him say that, my lips twitched, "What? Did you watch too many movies on Devil to say that you would sell your soul to me? No need for all that. As long as you ept three conditions, I will help you." Only after reassuring him once more did Dante''s mood brighten. I intentionally waited for him to be desperate because back when I found Dante lying with several injuries, MJ told me that his Innate Talent might most likely be rted to Fate since he has Fate Stats. MJ estimated that if Dante''s Innate Talent really was rted to Fate, then there is a way to use those Fate Stats to find the with his help. Then, I stated my first condition, "Alright then, for the first one, I would like to know every single detail of your Innate Talent." I thought he might hesitate to reveal information about his Innate Talent, but out of my expectations, he happily exined every detail of his Innate Talent . To put it simply, he could predict the future for a certain period and range. I was taken back when I heard about his 2nd Innate Exclusive Skill, . After hearing the extent of his Innate Talent abilities, I asked MJ if every Unique Category Innate Talent were as powerful as Dante''s and mine. But even with Tier-4 System ess, MJ couldn''t find much about the Unique Innate Talents. Moreover, the way he looked at me was like I was his long lost brother. But still, It would have cringed me out If not for my suppressed emotions. I shook my head as I ignored Dante''s over-friendly behaviour since it might be due to the fact that I saved him from near-death or that I agreed to give him the medicine that could save his Uncle Roberto. Chapter 48 - Purpose Of The Trial Programs. In the next few seconds, MJ and I mentally had a quick discussion about his Innate Talent and decided on the future course of action. Then, I said to Dante, "I am currently looking for something called , and since it''s a Grade-4 Spirit Fruit, it''s scarce. There is a low possibility that it might be present within our Trial Zone." "The surface area of a Trial Zone is 10,000 sq.km and unless luck showers over me, it would take a long time for me to find the by myself." "But the Fate Stats that you have can also be used to find almost anything by expanding enough of them, and this is where the second conditiones into ce." "You have to use your Fate Stats to find me that but since you are only Tier-1, the range of your is only 1000 meters around you." "That is why I will help you in levelling up and to quickly reach Tier-2 so that the range of your ability will increase, thus making it easier to search for the Grade-4 Spirit Fruit. Meanwhile, you will be under my protection." "Of course, meanwhile, you will be under my protection, and you might think how can you be safe in a world filled with unknown monsters." "So, let me share some hidden information about the Trial Program. But before that, tell me what you think about the System''s purpose for creating this Alpha Trial Program." Upon hearing my query, Dante seriously pondered for a bit before replying that the only thing he knows about it was from the notifications that appeared when we were first teleported here. The ones chosen for the Trial Program were those with the highest potential Innate Talents to record data for the system to assimte with our efficiently. After that, he proceeded to tell me that the ALPHA Program was not just for Earth, but it also includes several others, the same information that I received when an Alpha Chosen was first evolved to Tier-2. Then, I revealed to him that it all was just a part of a bigger truth and shared the knowledge I received from MJ. Other Alpha Chosen might me the System for dragging them into a monster-filled world where the only choice was to kill or die, but what they didn''t know was that if not for the System, there wouldn''t be any Trial Program, which was the hope for survival against the future monster invasion. Instead of that, there would be a full frontal monster invasion on the lifes in the whole gxy. All this will be general knowledge when the System assimtes with the Milky Way Gxy. Then everyone wille to know that the system doesn''t cause the monster invasion, and instead, it increases the chance of survival for the life''s inhabitants. One of those benefits was what the System calls ''efficient assimtion'' as it creates something called dungeons on Earth to prevent a direct, full-frontal monster invasion. Another benefit that the System provided for the Gxy''s inhabitants was introducing the Trial Program before the inevitable monster invasion. Within that Trial Program, the Chosen individuals would grow stronger by increasing their Tiers to deal with the unavoidable monster invasion on their respective lifes. Through MJ, I learned that the gxies in the rest of the Universe have also gone through the monster invasion in the past millions of years. But with the System preparing a Trial Program for the highest potential candidates, the chances to defend against the extinction-level invasion increases. As to why the monsters are invadings, even MJ doesn''t have information about it. Coming back to the Trial Program, the Chosen for the Alpha Program were the ones who had to face life-threatening dangers in the Trial World, even more than those who would be chosen for Beta and Gamma programs. Still, the System set some restrictions on the monsters in the Trial World to increase the survival chances of Alpha Chosen. That was the reason why I didn''te across even a single monster that was Tier-3 or above since they were basically confined up within their habitat area. But those restrictions were there for a limited time. On Day-7, the restrictions on Low-phase Tier-3 monsters will disappear. On Day-14, it was the Mid-Phase Tier-3 monsters, and on Day-21, the restrictions will loosen on High-Phase Tier-3 monsters. ording to MJ, this information will only be announced to every Alpha Chosen on Day-4. With my current Stats, I was as powerful as a Low-Phase Tier-3 life form without even having to enter mode. So, till Day-7, I don''t have to worry about monsters. If I were to use mode, even those Tier-3 monsters wouldn''t be a problem but since I reached Lv.24, that mode''s cooldown duration extended to 240 minutes(4 hours) along with a 24 minute weakened period. During that duration, I would be left vulnerable and to prevent that; I shouldn''t depend entirely on mode. Since it would take me around 10 days to bring every mastery in the Tier-3 requirement to Stage-3. Till then, I would be stuck in Lv.25 without any chance to level up, and as a result, I couldn''t gain Undistributed Stats to raise my power. With that, my overall stats in couldn''t increase anymore, and thus, the overall Looted Stats that could be used in mode wouldn''t increase further. If any typical person were in my situation, the only way to gain Stats was through stats from Spirit Items and Spirit Fruits or attaining Achievement Titles. But, in my case, I had another option. It was to gain 5* Looted Stats from the into my by exiting the mode every time. That was one of the reasons as to why I relentlessly entered mode twice, during the past 9 hours by disregarding the unending pain that I had to experience. Coming out of my thoughts, I looked to my side where MJ entered his ''Professor mode''. He continued to exin the System''s purpose and the restrictions on higher-tier monsters and some other advanced knowledge on masteries, requirements for Tier evolutions. I call that ''professor mode'' because whenever he tries to exin something in detail, he creates a virtual ckboard and a virtual piece of white chalk to write and draw on it like he was giving a lecture. I just shook my head and sighed. I couldn''t me MJ since he got that annoying habit from me. When I was a child, I was so dumb that I forget everything that I read in a short period of time. To ovee that, I used an ingenious idea to write down whatever I had to remember, thrice and then memorize it using my exceptional muscle memory. As long as I write or draw something 3 times, my muscle memory could capture my hand movements, and I was able to write in my examinations, without even an understanding of what I was writing. That was how I was also how I was able to graduate high school. Looking at Dante, who stood in front of the floating baby MJ, as he folded his hands and listened with utmost seriousness with a few asional nods. It was a rather peculiar experience to see an adult behaving like a student in front of a 1-year-old baby. MJ went full-on professor mode for half an hour before finally stopping. Meanwhile, I rested on the Sandbed and made a full stamina recovery. Chapter 49 - The Great Venerable. After that, I took out several weapons and armour parts that I scavenged from the monsters from the storage space of , ced them in front of Dante, and told him to pick the suitable ones. Dante was awestruck when he saw them appearing out of nowhere but didn''t pry about how I was able to do that. He hesitated for a second before curtly rejecting my offer, "Please, I couldn''t ept these. I am already indebted to you." Then MJ who floated beside me chuckled and said, "It seems like you misunderstood Master, the reason for offering you Spirit Items is because Master requires three particr armour type Spirit Items, a helmet, a pair of Gauntlets and a pair of Greaves." "Thanks to your Innate Talent, you could get a random Spirit Item that you need the most at that moment whenever you kill a new race monster, at the expense of a few Fate Stats. But what you didn''t know was that you could select any Spirit Item type you want, instead of letting the system do it for you." Upon hearing what MJ said, Dante was enlightened to find that there was also such a way, and politely bowed as he called him, the ''Great Venerable''. I rolled my eyes at the chubby baby, who had a pleased expression on his face. Back when MJ taught Dante about the Trial Program''s purpose and other necessary things, Dante got curious about MJ''s identity and asked him. I nodded at MJ, suggesting he reveal himself as a Soul A.I since Dante will be together with us until he finds the Grade-4 Spirit Fruit that I need. I didn''t worry about him leaking it to others since he couldn''t do that, even if he wanted to. Because, I adjusted the ''s ability so that if Dante wanted to say anything rted to me, except for my name, every other detail about me or MJ would be like a dream that he couldn''t remember even when he had it on the tip of his tongue. MJ didn''t exactly reveal to Dante that he is Soul A.I, and instead, he imed that he was a 10,000-year-old soul that was once a Tier-8 lifeform. If not for myck of emotions in the state of Harmony, I would have regretted leaving MJ with Qew during most of the 18-hour rest period after Day-1. It seemed that she spoiled MJ with web novels. I couldn''t me MJ since I even had to read a few of her favourite web novels back when she continuously insisted. I listened as MJ made up a story, where his friends backstabbed him, and that he used some life-saving technique to separate his soul from the body on the verge of death. MJ continued with his fabricated story that he then drifted in space for an unknown amount of time before getting sucked into a wormhole and ended up in the Trial World, where he found me. Also as time passed MJ''s soul grew weaker, and when he was about to dissipate, the Day-1 of the Trial Program led me into finding MJ and forming a contract with me in exchange for MJ''s help for revenge on those that backstabbed him. The chubby baby even portrayed several emotions that matched the character description in his made-up story. With that, Dante didn''t even question the loopholes in the story and even scolded those imaginary backstabbing friends. From MJ''s poker face, I could tell that he was trying to control himself from bursting intoughter. After hearing the entire story, I was sure that MJ also went through the same web novel that Qew once made me read. Since Dante bought MJ''s story, I didn''t correct it. After that, I mentioned my ''Third Condition''. It was to provide me with the specific armour type Spirit Items required for upgrading the . Since ''1 Fate Stat'' will be consumed every time he kills a new race monster to reward a suitable Spirit Item, I asked him to choose anything from my Spirit Item collection to cover the losses. Like the previous time, he epted my third condition without any hesitation. After I mentioned that it was a part of the third condition, Dante chose a few of the Spirit Items I brought out from my ring''s storage space. He selected four Common grade Spirit Items including a chest armour, a pair of wrist guards, a belt, and a Bow. Under MJ''s suggestion, Dante epted the Safety Mode notification when he bonded with them. With those Spirit Items Stats added periodically, it would take three hours before it ends. The best way to get adjusted to those improvement stats was to train in some Weapon Mastery. Unlike me, Dante didn''t have any martial arts training or any considerable fighting experience beforehand. Just in case of emergencies, where Dante has to defend himself against monsters, I told him to first train his instead of . Since the space within the underground maze centre was not suitable for training with Bow and arrows. Everyone has to gain some kind of mastery to satisfy the Tier Evolution requirements. It can be either Elemental Mastery or Weapon Mastery or Martial Mastery. That''s usually the case for those Elemental, Weapon, and Martial Category Innate Talents. As for Variant and Unique Category ones, the Mastery depends on their Innate Talents. But, unlike the other four, the Unique Category Innate Talents doesn''t give knowledge on how to reach higher levels of Mastery. The best example for that was Dante since he gained ''Fate Mastery'' once he got some understanding of how to use Fate. When he gained Lv.1, he didn''t receive any knowledge to help him reach higher levels in . Dante has to learn how to level up his by himself. But with having many Fate Stats to expend along with MJ helping Dante on the various uses of Fate Stats, increasing his wouldn''t be much of an issue. ording to that logic, I should be having something like , but for some reason, I didn''t have that. After that, I had MJ project the virtual map that he scouted in the past 9 hours. Within that map, an area of 30 sq.km was shown in great detail. But my goal was to create aplete map of the 10,000 sq.km area of the Trial Zone we were in. I had MJ re-enter the Hobgoblin Shaman''s Corpse and sent him to scout the terrain and expand the virtual map. Following that, I started training in with the two-handed Greatsword as my stamina made aplete recovery. 4 hours passed since then, and my reached Stage-2 as it increased from Lv.1 to Lv.11. Other than me, Dante also managed to reach Stage-2 in his . Unlike me, Dante didn''t have high Stamina to keep up with the non-stop training. He wanted to rest, but instead of that, I had him eat the to see if he could gain Achievement Title like me it worked. These kinds of information on how to gain Achievement Titles wouldter be beneficial to my family and even the entire humanity once the system assimtes with the Earth. Just then, Hobgoblin MJ''s voice reverberated in my mind, "Master, right now I am 23 kilometres from your location, and nearby me there is a battle ongoing between a group of Alpha Chosen and a few monsters. Master, look at the real-time projection I am sending you now." I knew that eventually Hobgoblin MJ'' mighte across the other Alpha Chosen, but I didn''t think that would be so soon. Then, my vision changed into Hobgoblin MJ''s point of view. From the angle of the view, I could tell that ''Hobgoblin MJ'' observed their sh from a treetop that was 100 meters away. From MJ, I learned that the race of the monsters in the sh was ''Shadow Leopards''. There were 6 of them with four being High-Phase Tier-1 monsters. Each of those Lesser Shadow Leopard''s skin was so dark that they resembled a shadow. If it was dark, it''s hard to notice them even if they were close. Except for their bright yellow irises, the remaining portion of the eyes was dark like their skin. It''s hard for those who don''t have Night Vision Skill to notice them in darkness even if they are close. Unlike the leopards on earth, they were asrge as an adult horse. But they were considered smallpared to the other two Tier-2 Greater Shadow Leopards. One of them was in the Low-phase (Lv.11 to Lv.15) of Tier-2, and It was a bitrger than the Dire Wind Wolf which stood 1.8 meters tall and 3 meters long. The other Greater Shadow Leopard was in the High-Phase (Lv.21 to Lv.25) of Tier-2. It stood at 2.2 meters in height and 3.5 meters long. A characteristic that all of them had inmon was their long and sharp canines protruding from their jaws. Even under thebined attack of those monsters, those three Alpha Chosen were able to hold their ground against them. There were four in total, but the other three were protecting someone in a shiny crystal Orb. I could tell that the person in it was undergoing evolution since I have been through one myself. But it was clear that they cannot hold on much longer. I recognised all of them with one look since I went through the information MJ gathered on the other 10 Earth''s Alpha Chosen, during the 18-hour rest period. What caught my interest was the battle prowess of that male Alpha Chosen. When I thought back to what he used to do for a living and his identity, I was not at all ashamed to admit losing to him if ourbat instincts and experience were taken into consideration. -------------------------------- Sorry for dying this chapter for a day. To make up for that, I am giving one advanced chapter (Chapter 50: A group of Alpha Chosen vs monsters.) for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s discord server. ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 50 - A Group Of Alpha Chosen Vs Monsters. Back when I was halfway through the 4 hours long training in , MJ notified me that an Earth''s Alpha Chosen named ''Sergei'' entered the and ranked 579th. When Ist checked, there were only 167 Alpha Chosen that reached Tier-2. But, within just 12 hours, another 412 Alpha Chosen entered the rankings in the . Not long after that, Brandon entered the rankings and stood at 592nd on that Leaderboard. It was no wonder since they were already Lv.9 by the end of Day-1 and when Day-2 began, it wouldn''t take more than an hour for them to satisfy the level criteria in the Evolution requirements. The Evolution process would take no more than 12 hours, and as a result, it was right about the time they reached Tier-2 within the first 13 hours of Day-2. If I were to point out those with the high chances of survival based on just the identity and upation of all the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, that would be Sergei and Brandon. Through the information MJ gathered, I learned that Brandon was the best agent that the CIA had ever seen. His aptitudes for an agent andbat skills were above top-notch. As for Sergei, he was trained by an assassin organization that trains orphaned children into assassins. By the time Sergei was 24 years old, he was acknowledged as one of the best among the assassins worldwide. Just his assassin code name, ''Death Shadow'' brings terror to anyone who knows his capabilities. But that was also when the cold-hearted killer slowly fell in love and married a woman. He then left the secret Russian organisation along with his profession. Later, the organisation didn''t take his ''resignation'' properly and sent assassins after Sergei. It didn''t take long for the secret assassin organisation to realise that Sergei only left behind his profession, but not his capabilities as all those assassins that went after him disappeared one by one. Even when Sergei turned his life around, fate hasn''t been kind to him as his wife died from aplication while giving birth to their daughter. Four years passed since then, and one day an assassin from the secret organisation identally found Sergei in a small town. Attracted by the fame he might get from killing the ''Death Shadow'', that assassin tried to kill Sergei, but instead of a direct attack, he went after Sergei''s 4-year-old daughter. That only ended with that assassin''s horrible death and in turn enraged Sergei to the point he started hunting the secret organisation members. That was also when he was chosen as one of the 11 Alpha Chosen, and by the time Day-1 ended, Sergei was Lv.9. With the System''s additional abilities on top of his assassination expertise, he went on a killing spree that raised waves within the top brass of major countries along with the CIA where Brandon works as a secret agent. With MJ keeping track of every Earth''s Alpha Chosen through digitalworks, none of them even had an idea that someone was watching their every move. I even knew everything about the conversation between the U.S President, C.I.A Director and Brandon, including their n to gather the remaining Earth''s Alpha Chosen to their side. But what they didn''t know was that ''Olivia'', who was ranked 6th among the 11 Earth''s Alpha Chosen, already managed to recruit two Alpha Chosen to her side. She was once in a lifetime genius entrepreneur. At just 26 years old, she became the world''s 5th richest person, and as she started herpany in the U.K from practically nothing, she was considered an inspiration for the younger generation. It would have been a wonder if she wasn''t chosen for Alpha Program. But what puzzled me was how she was able to find two Alpha Chosen on the Day-1 itself. With MJ spying on Olivia during the 18-hour rest period, I learned that shemunicated with two other alpha Chosen and through their conversation, it seemed that she managed to find them within the Day-1 itself. Upon learning that, I was puzzled at it, and then MJ concluded that Olivia''s Variant Category Innate Talent must have had a way to find others. Back then, MJ used his Tier-4 System ess to find information about the Innate Talent Categories of other Alpha Chosen, and all he could only tell the information about the category of their Innate Talent. But with MJ''s awakening, that wasn''t the case anymore since he could find anyone''s information as long as they were within MJ''s vicinity and not above Tier-4. As I was looking at the ongoing sh through the eyes of ''Hobgoblin MJ'', I turned my attention towards the two Alpha Chosen other than Sergei. Among those two, one was Kasim, who was ranked 7th among 11 of us. He won the Mr Olympia title at a young age of 21 years and broke Arnold Schwarzenegger''s record by 2 years. Since then, he continued to be the world''s top bodybuilder as he won the Mr Olympia title for thest three years. True to his 6''2 tall, brawny body, he went head-on against the four Lesser Shadow Leopards and the Lv.12 Greater Shadow Leopard. Since each of them was within the vicinity, MJ could tell the grades of their Innate Talents. Just by looking at Kasim conjuring dark-brown earth armour that matched his skin tone, I could tell that his control and mastery over the Earth element was a lot more advanced than mine. It was no wonder since he has Grade-8. Even MJ was taken aback by how high Kasim''s Innate Talent''s grade was and checked the other''s Innate Talents as shocked to find that all four Alpha Chosen in Hobgoblin MJ''s view had Grade-8 Innate Talents. Through our soul connection, I sensed MJ''s change in emotions and enquired him about Innate Talent Grades'' standard in the previous Trial Programs that happened till then. Then he exined that ording to the system''s statistics, the Alpha Chosen in 78.73% of the overall Trial programs that took ce in the entire Universe, had Grade-5 Innate Talents or less. The Trial Programs that had Alpha Chosen with Grade-8 Innate Talents were just 1.43%. That showed me the rarity of having a Grade-8 Innate Talent. MJ was eager to find the Innate Talent Grades of the remaining Earth''s Alpha Chosen to determine the Grade that Earth would get after assimtion with the System. It seemed that every Life that was assimted with the System was ssified based on the Innate Talents Grade average of that particr Life''s Alpha Chosen. Since the Unique Category Innate Talents doesn''t have Grades, they weren''t included in the Grade that a life gets after the System assimtion. After MJ''s quick exnation, I looked at the female Alpha Chosen who stood in front of Olivia''s evolution crystal orb as she supported Sergei and Kasim by asionally healing their injuries with her Light element. She was the other one that Olivia recruited on Day-1. I thought back to Andrea''s identity on Earth. Even though she was just 25 years old, her medical expertise would put even world-ss Surgeons to shame. Within the medical field, she was among the top few medical professionals. As she was born and raised in the Philippines, she was patriotic towards the Philippines and rejected any high privilege citizenship offers that some other countries made to have her on their side. After her assimtion with the System, she was chosen by a Grade-8 as its host. Since she doesn''t have anybat experience, she was only Lv.2 by the end of Day-1. As 14 hours passed on Day-2, she reached Lv.6 and if not for her assistance from behind, Sergei who was just Lv.12, wouldn''t have managed tost so long fighting against the Lv.22 Greater Shadow Leopard even with his Grade-8. Even then, I thought highly of him since, if I were also in Lv.12 like him, I wouldn''t be able to hold on much longer without using mode. Then I realised how dependent I was on it. The major ws of mode were the short weakened period and long cooldown period after exiting that mode. Since I couldn''t exceed Lv.25 without bing Tier-3, the cooldown duration was also stuck at 250 minutes. With that, I could enter mode every 4 hours and 10 minutes to gain 5* Looted Stats upon exiting it every time. That was also one reason why MJ said it was beneficial to stay in Tier-2 for a while. Back when I learned that a was needed to save my grandfather, MJ also told me that another way was to have someone who reached the peak of Stage-4 Mastery in either Wood or Light Element to heal my grandfather. That was also why I sent MJ to scout the Trial Zone in the hopes to find if any of the other Alpha Chosen had the Innate Talent I was searching for. When I learned that Andrea has and moreover a Grade-8 one at that, I saw another possibility of saving my grandfather. I could just let her die to loot her Innate Talentter, but I told Hobgoblin MJ to save her on second thought. Because if I were to loot her Grade-8, I only had to focus on reaching the peak of Stage-4 and even though myprehension of Light element would increase by 8 times, it would still take a long time. So, I intended to take her under my protection and have herplete focus on levelling up her without any disturbance and meanwhile, I could walk my own path for power. Even when the Lesser Shadow Leopard was just a second away from reaching Andrea, I didn''t worry about her safety since that was more than enough time for Hobgoblin MJ, who has the same Stats as me. From sharing his vision, I could see him making a move. With all the 5 main Attributes in equilibrium, just like me, he experienced 9.7 times True Time perception that literally makes every passing standard feels like 9.7 seconds. --------------------- Starting from this chapter, with the Discordmunity voting for it, I decided to set a rule where the ''1st FIVE PERSONS'' toment in ''AllNovelFull'' for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s discord server. I will message those 5 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within a day... ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 51 - Andreas Decision [(Part-1) Out Of 4] When I was resting after performing surgery, I was teleported to this Trial world and attacked by a bunch of horned rabbits with dark red eyes. I was terrified by their thirst to kill me and ran away from them, but I identally slipped and fell into the nearby small ravine during my escape. If the ravine weren''t shallow, I wouldn''t have survived the fall, but still, I was heavily injured. Even though it was not fatal, it would take at least 3 weeks of rest for me to recover. But that was also when a bright milky-white light enveloped my injuries, and they began to heal at a visible rate magically. It continued for a minute, and when I almost had aplete recovery, I was hit by mental exhaustion and soon fell unconscious at a corner of the ravine I fell into. When I regained my consciousness, the first thing that greeted me was a humanoid dog-faced monster that was just a second away from shing me with the butcher knife in its hand. Looking at its blood-red eyes, fear overtook me as I closed my eyes and shrivelled backwards instinctively. When nothing happened in the next second, I opened my eyes only to find the dog-faced humanoid monster was stabbed in the back by another monster of its own race. The only difference in the other monster was that its eyes were clear with golden pupils. Unlike the first monster, the second one didn''t try to kill me and instead attacked the other three dog-faced humanoid monsters that were not far away from me. Even though it was able to kill one of those three monsters, the other two killed the monster that saved me. Among the two dog-faced humanoid monsters, one had it''s eye pupils colour change to golden colour, and then it stabbed the other monster in its neck. But that was not the end of my shock since the dog-faced humanoid monster with golden eyes killed itself by plunging a dagger in its heart. Just like that, all the 5 monsters died and then I heard a female voice asking me if I was alright. I quickly looked around myself to find where the voice originated from and found no one. Once again, I heard the female voice, and only when I heard it the second time did I realise that the voice only sounded within my mind, "Excuse me for intruding into your mind, to see me, turn to your right and look up across the ravine." Then I looked in the direction in which the voice pointed out, and 30 meters from me, I found a brte haired woman in an ivory power suit standing at the edge of the slope above the ravine. When I looked at her face, I recognised her right away since I saw her in many magazines rted to the top 10 richest people in the world and the top 10 most sessful entrepreneurs of the generation. The name ''Olivia Morris'' and her biography, where she beats all the odds to be the 5th richest person, inspire every aspiring youth. I was excited to see her not only because of her identity but mostly because of me finding another human in the monster-infested area. What stood out from her appearance were her eye pupils that had the same golden colour as the monsters. But I clearly remember her having natural emerald eyes since my eyes were the same. Then, her voice sounded in my mind, "Oh, my eyes? They turned golden because of my Innate Talent, and also, thanks to them, I was able to save you andmunicate to you through my mind." I didn''t understand what she meant by ''Innate Talent'', but I was shocked by the fact that she could read my thoughts, and it was also her who saved me by making the monsters kill each other. I initially thought everything was a part of my dream. At Least until I felt the pain from falling into the ravine. Then I thought back to the information in the blue notifications that appeared just before I was teleported. With that, I began to question myself about the so-called ''Trial Program'' and why I was selected as one of the 11 Alpha Chosen. Then I once again heard Olivia''s voice in my mind, "In an unprecedented situation like this, only by epting the new reality could we have higher chances of survival. It seems like you didn''t open your Status. Alright, first we have to leave here; more monsters will being here from the smell of those dead monsters." Hearing her, I stopped questioning myself and cleared my mind. Later, I found an easy route to climb up the slope with her instructing me and met up with Olivia. After that, both of us travelled nearly a kilometre, and from time to time, her golden eyes glowed and then she changed the route as if she could see the monsters within a certain range, despite the trees and bushes obstructing the vision. Without asking her any questions, I followed her, and after some time, she stopped before a dense bush, and after ncing around for a few seconds, she moved the bushes aside, and a hole of 1-meter diameter was visible. I looked into the hole, and alongside the hole weredder steps that seemed to be made of earth. Beyond the depth of five meters, everything was dark. Then, she told me to climb down the hole. I hesitated but eventually did what she told me to do, and soon she followed through thedder steps after closing the hole opening with those bushes. Everything went dark, and I could see nothing at all. Suppressing my fear, I got down more than 10 meters and reached the end of the hole. Following that, her golden eyes glowed within the dark, and she held my hand and walked in a direction. After crossing another 10 meters, she knocked on a wall in a pattern and then, the wall separated into two halves as they retraced to opposite sides like elevator doors. Upon crossing it, I found myself in an underground room with dimensions 5 x 5 x 5 meters. Unlike the darkness in the hidden passage, the underground room was well lit since there were meter tall pirs at the four corners of the room with a fire burning on top of each pir. At the centre of the room was a man with massive toned muscles in a white tank top and loose track pants. He sat on the ground in a meditating position as clumps of ground revolved around him as they varied in shapes. After we entered the hidden room, the doors closed just like how they opened. Then the man in white tank top opened his eyes, and unlike his intimidating appearance, he smiled brightly at me. "Hello there, I am Kasim, and just like you, I was saved by Big Sister as well. As for this underground hideout, I made this thanks to my Innate Talent." When Olivia heard Kasim call her ''Big Sister'', her lips twitched, and she hit on the back of his head. "Aren''t you just 2 years younger than me? Why are you calling me ''Big Sister''? It makes me look like I am too old." Kasim smiled wryly as he rubbed the back of his head. After that, I asked them what Innate Talents were, and they were puzzled that I didn''t know my Innate Talent. Olivia asked me about the incidents I have been through since I was teleported to the Trial Zone, and I told her everything I knew. Upon hearing me, Kasim gasped and said that it had been 20 hours since we were teleported to this world. Only then did I realise that I was unconscious for more than 19 hours. Then, Olivia told me to look for a letter ''S'' on the top right corner of my vision and concentrate on it. Only then I realise that it was there in the first ce. I did as she told me to, and a blue screen floated in front of me. _______________ Name: Andrea Age: 25 Race: Lesser Human (Female) Level: N/A Life Energy: 0/100 Tier: N/A Strength: 9 Agility: 8 Vitality: 13 Endurance: 8 Spirit: 14 Health: 130/130 Stamina: 34/40 Spirit Energy: 75/75 Luck: 15 Undistributed Stats: 0 INNATE TALENT: (Grade-8) (Unlocked) ELEMENTAL MASTERY: Lv.1. ________________ Through that, I learned about my Innate Talent, and with Olivia exining to me about everything, I learned about everything in my . After going through my Innate Talent description, it was clear as to why I was magically healed from severe injuries. ------------------ (Note: Recently, I reached my first ******* goal and TBH, I didn''t expect it to be so soon so it would take a few days for me to keep up my end of the deal (i.e. The Chapters avable to Alpha-Chosen will increase from ''7'' to ''10''). (The Chapters avable to Beta-Chosen (=2 Euros) will increase from ''4'' to ''6''). (The Chapters avable to Gamma-Chosen (=1 Euro) will increase from ''2'' to ''3''.) As of now, there were 8 advanced chapters and I am trying my best to provide you with more advanced chapters as soon as possible without damaging the quality. ------------------ And as usual, the ''1st FIVE PERSONS'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s discord server. I will message those 5 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within a day... ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 52 - Andreas Decision [(Part-2) Out Of 4] After that, I introduced myself to both of them, and the three of us conversed for some time. Most of it was them sharing their experiences in the past 20 hours, and I also learned about their Innate Talents. Kasim has a Grade-8, and with that, he could manipte the Earth element. That was also how he made an underground tunnel and a hidden room. Unlike Kasim and me, who have Elemental Category Innate Talents, Olivia''s Innate Talent belongs to the Variant Category. It was Grade-8, and when she obtained it, her eye pupils changed to golden colour. One of the abilities of her eyes was to see souls within a certain range. That was also how she found Kasim in the first 2 hours of Day-1 since she could differentiate between a monster''s soul and the soul of a human. Other than asionallying out to kill weaker monsters, they focussed on training their Innate Talent Masteries. With both of them having Grade-8 Innate Talents, Kasim''s and Olivia''s reached Stage-3 Mastery (Lv.21-Lv.30) in less amount of time. Once she reached Stage-3, the range in which she could see Souls increased to 10 km, and that was also how she knew I was there. Another ability of her eyes was that she could momentarily control the monster''s soul to kill each other. Other than the , Kasim also trained in with a rusted mace he got from killing a monster. From him, I learned that raising Mastery in it was 8 times slower than training in . But still, it only took a little less than 4 hours to reach Stage-2 in . Simr to Kasim, Olivia also trained using a Weapon Mastery and reached Stage-2 in but the way she uses it was entirely different. With her reaching Stage-3, she gained a new ability to control objects with her mind. But the objects were limited to things that weigh less than 10 kgs. At least, that was the case with her Lv.21. She uses that to control the 2 Spirit Daggers she gained as a reward from killing monsters. After sharing their experiences and knowledge, they knew about the Trial Zone, They began training their Masteries, and I followed them as I began toprehend the Light element. Since my Innate Talent was a Grade-8 one, I reached Stage-2 in in 90 minutes. It was almost as if my helped me teach the uses of Light Element. After that, Olivia gave me a short sword and had me form a bond with it. I trained in until it reached Lv.5, and next, both of them took me out with them in search of monsters. With Olivia''s ability to see the souls, she led us so that we didn''te across any Tier-2 monsters. Kasim would attack the Tier-1 monsters head-on, and from behind, Olivia controls the monster crowd so that they don''t surround Kasim. Instead of killing the monsters, they would weaken the monster and let me kill them. As a surgeon, I was ustomed to looking at blood. It didn''t take long for me to get used to killing monsters. Since my contribution was less in the fight, the system only allotted me 10% of the monster''s Life Energy. Because of that, it took me quite some time to reach Lv.2. After that, we returned to our underground hideout, and I distributed the Stats I obtained from reaching Lv.2. I used my Undistributed Stats so that my physical Attributes had 10 Stats and added the remaining ones in Spirit Attribute. It took me some time to add them through Safety mode, and when the time was 23 hours and 45 minutes, a notification appeared in front of me. It stated that one of the 11 Alpha Chosen reached Lv.10 and unlocked a new function called ''Trial Zone Alpha Leaderboard''. Then, all three of us looked at each other and confirmed that we got the same notification. Soon, each of us manually opened our respective and opened the new function. I was shocked to learn that someone already managed to reach Lv.10 because I learned from Olivia that the Life Energy required to reach each higher level increases exponentially. Olivia and Kasim, whom I hold in high regard, were only in Lv.7 and Lv.6, respectively, even after killing so many Tier-1 monsters. But, there were still 5 more people above them. As for me, I was thest one with Lv.2. In the next few minutes, all three of us discussed Alpha Chosen as we memorised their names, and we were motivated by the Leaderboard rankings and went outside to kill monsters and increase our levels. But, before any of that, we were dumbstruck when gigantic notifications appeared in the sky about someone named ''Regaz'' reached Tier-2. That was also when we learned that it was not just Earth, but a million Lifes were selected for the Trial Program. With the new revtion, we didn''t search for any monsters and returned to the underground Hideout to discuss the possible scenarios the new development would lead to. We also checked the in which there was only the name ''Regaz'', his native ''Garek'' and his level mentioned in a row. Since Olivia and Kasim Mastery satisfied a requirement for Tier-2 Evolution, I learned from them that Lv.10 is the end of Tier-1 and to reach beyond that, one needs to undergo Tier-2 Evolution. After that, most of our conversation revolved around the Trial Region Tournament that takes ce among the 1000 Trial Zones of the Trial Region.35. Kasim and I agreed on Olivia''s decision to actively search for the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen and work with them as a team to fight against the Alpha Chosen from other Zones in the Tournament. Just like Kasim, my respect for Olivia grew. It didn''t just stem from me being indebted to her for saving my life but also due to her decision-making skills and ability to maintainposure even in a world filled with monsters. Then, Olivia used her ability to perceive souls and her golden eyes glowed as every soul within the 10 km radius was visible to her. Her eyes fixated on the North Direction as she said that, 8.5 km (5.3 miles) away, there was an Lv.9 Alpha Chosen. Since we went through the , we knew that the one that Olivia perceived must have been either Sergei or Brandon. Then, simr to the previous time, the information within some notifications surged into our minds that another Alpha Chosen evolved to Tier-2. Not long after that, another set of gigantic notifications popped up in the sky. But unlike the previous ones, it was about an Alpha Chosen from Earth bing the 3rd one among the entire 11 million Alpha Chosen to reach Tier-2. For us, who were worried about the dangers that we had to face in the Region Tournament among 1000 Zones of other Lifes, the sky''s notifications brought hope. We set our priority to find ''Jay'' for his help in the Tournament after meeting up with the Lv.9 Alpha Chosen. Then, something unexpected happened as we got notifications saying that we will be sent to Earth for an 18-hour rest period before teleporting back to the Trial World. Olivia said she would contact us on earth and search for the other Alpha Chosen using her resources. She reminded us not to use our abilities in front of others on Earth. Just as the 1-minute timer ended, we were teleported to earth. I first took care of my personal business by applying for leave to the Hospital I worked at and spent some time with my family. Other than that, most of the time, Iprehended the essence of Light Element. Initially, I was doubtful whether I could increase the on earth butter found that my worries were for nothing since the Light element was within nature all along, and with me having a , I was able to conjure it andprehend it to gain higher levels of mastery. By the time the rest period ended, I had reached Stage-3 in my . Once again, I was teleported to the Trial World, and Day-2 started as all three of us appeared in the same location where we were before the end of Day-1. Kasim had a 1-inch thick dark-brown armour made of earth covering his entire body, except for the joints. Just like me, he also didn''t stay ideal and increased his elemental mastery. As his mastery increased, so did his control over the Earth element. With that, he made armour out of earth clumps, but unlike how it looks, it was nearly as strong as a metal since he increased the density of the earth element used in it by several-fold. He bragged about his hand made armour for a while before getting shut down by Olivia. After that, both of us followed Olivia as we travelled towards the nearby Alpha Chosen. ------------------ (Note: Recently, I reached my first ******* goal, and TBH, I didn''t expect it to be so soon so it would take a few days for me to keep up my end of the deal (i.e. The Chapters avable to Alpha-Chosen will increase from ''7'' to ''10''). (The Chapters avable to Beta-Chosen (=2 Euros) will increase from ''4'' to ''6''). (The Chapters avable to Gamma-Chosen (=1 Euro) will increase from ''2'' to ''3''.) As of now, there were 8 advanced chapters and I am trying my best to provide you with more advanced chapters as soon as possible without damaging the quality. ------------------ And as usual, the ''1st FIVE PERSONS'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s discord server. I will message those 5 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within a day... ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 53 - Andreas Decision [(Part-3) Out Of 4] During our journey, Olivia told us that in thest 2 hours of the 18-hour rest period, she received information about an incident caused by the Assassin renowned as ''Death Shadow'' through her sources from Russia. Within those 2 hours, she used her influence and gathered as much intel as possible on that Assassin and found that his real name is ''Sergei''. She also briefed the intel she gathered on him. Just hearing Sergei''s kill count when he was an assassin, I felt chills down my spine. Kasim expressed his opinion on that secret Assassin organization''s stupidity to provoke an Assassin with such a track record by going after his daughter. I asked Olivia what would happen if the Lv.9 Alpha Chosen we were about to meet was Sergei instead of Brandon. She told me not to worry and that not to judge Sergei by his former upation. With me still being worried, she assured me that she had a n in mind. I nodded as I subconsciously developed a sense of trust towards her. With Olivia leading us, we didn''te across any Tier-2 monster, and we soon reached the location where there were several dead bodies of green ugly midgets. Among them stood a man in a ck coat that was drenched with those monsters'' blood. Just then, he killed thest three Tier-1 monsters by slitting their throats in a single swing of a 5-meter long chain that had a ck gaseous substance on it. Then, he turned his head to the left with a sharp turn and looked at us with cold eyes. The next instant, the area of 10 sq.m that he stood at was covered in a ck cloud of gas, hindering our vision. Then, Olivia threw her weapon to the ground before lifting her hands in the air and told us to do the same. Soon, the dark gaseous substance dissipated, and Sergei was nowhere. But unlike Kasim and me, she looked in different directions, every few seconds with her golden eyes as if she could see him. Olivia then spoke in a loud voice that we were not here with hostile intentions and that she would like him to join their group. Later, she mentioned that, in return, she would provide intel on the remaining members of the Russian Assassin organisation that went into hiding. Then, Olivia turned her head and looked at me. At least, that was what I thought until I heard a t voice originating from just behind my ear. I tried to turn around, but then I felt a de on my throat, causing me to shiver in fear. Sergei demanded Olivia to give him the intel she gathered or that I would die. Then, I heard Olivia''s voice in my head as she told me to trust her and that nothing would happen to me. In that situation, other than leaving everything to Olivia, all I could do was to me myself for being weak. Olivia said, "There isn''t any need to take her as a hostage since I would provide the intel you needed regardless of you joining our group." Before Sergei could say something, Olivia continued, "I know that you don''t trust me. So, let me prove it to you." She then took out a set of documents from her backpack, and with an ability of her golden eyes, she made it move in the air before stopping as it floated beside my face so that the contents were clearly visible to Sergei. "On the first 3 pages were the hidden locations of the remaining members of the Assassin Organization that you were looking for. You could check if it were true since you must have had some idea on where some of them might be hidden." Even though the silence stayed for just 10 seconds, it felt like an hour for me, with Sergei still holding a knife to my throat. Then, Olivia waved her finger to a side, causing the top three pages to flip by themselves and Sergei to read through the new content. After going through the documents, he removed the knife and let me leave, to which I responded by rushing back to Olivia and Kasim. I didn''t know what was on the documents to remove his hostility towards us. Sergei then asked with a puzzled look, "I know that you are one of the richest people on Earth. But, why would you go as far as giving me a contract to pay me 100 million pounds per month (139 million dors) for having me as your chief of security?" Hearing the amount that Olivia was willing to pay without as much as batting her eye, Kasim and I gasped at the same time. Ignoring both of our awed gazes, Olivia replied to Sergei, "The reason why I was able to be sessful as an entrepreneur was because of my ability to make right investments for the future and with the dangers we have to face from the System assimtion, I am investing in you." "One of the main reasons for me to do what I did right now was because you turned your life around, and you were not the same cold-hearted assassin you were 5 years ago. Another reason was to have the 2nd powerful Alpha Chosen as you in our group." After that, Olivia and Sergei conversed on some other details regarding the contract before he agreed to it. Later, Olivia introduced Kasim and me to him. At first, it felt awkward for me to be with the same person that tried to kill me but beneath his cold appearance was a warm personality as he sincerely apologised for his previous actions. From Olivia, I also learned that Sergei agreed to her deal mainly because he wanted to give his daughter a life where they don''t need to keep on hiding. That changed my opinion of him and after that, all of us started to hunt monsters, and with Olivia leading us, we only came across Tier-1 monsters. After killing a few monsters, Olivia came up with an effective strategy to fight as a group based on our abilities. From then on, Kasim was the one to tank the monster''s attacks, and Sergei was the main damage dealer. Olivia would control the number of monsters that each had to face at a time. After increasing my , I learned that I could also attack using the light element, but my healing capabilities were needed more in our group. So, I would heal when needed and hinder the regeneration of the wounded monsters. Sergei would often teach Kasim how to attack efficiently while expending less amount of stamina. Because of Sergei''sbat abilities, Kasim admired him a lot, and our monster hunt continued. A bit more than an hour passed and when we were in the middle of fighting against a bunch of Lesser Sonic Bats, a crystal orb formed around Sergei as he began to float within it. Even though it was a bit harder without Sergei, we still defeated the Tier-1 monsters. Using the skill on him, we learned that he was in the midst of Evolution and that it would take 12 hours for the Tier-2 evolution to end. After that, 2 hours passed and meanwhile, we protected Sergei from the monsters that tried to attack him. Luckily, we didn''te across any Tier-2 monsters. But, when Olivia obtained enough Life Energy to reach Lv.11, all of her evolution requirements were satisfied and simr to Sergei, her Tier-2 Evolution started without any warning beforehand. With just Kasim and me fighting against the Tier-1 monsters that asionally show up, 10 hours passed by. Then, Sergei''s Evolution came to an end as he exited, and we felt the change in the pressure thates from pure Tier difference. His pale skin turned even paler but in an aesthetically pleasing way. From him, we learned about the Evolution Stats and that the number of Undisturbed Stats increased from 5 to 10. With Sergei reaching Tier-2, no Tier-1 monstersted longer under his attacks, and for the next hour, everything went in a smooth ride. Sergei reached Lv.12, Kasim reached Lv.10, whereas I was in Lv.6. But our luck didn''tst long as we were found by two Tier-2 monsters and four Tier-1 monsters. Olivia still had more than half an hour left before her evolution reaches an end. All three of us defended her as we didn''t allow the monsters to disrupt Olivia''s Evolution. Sergei fought against the Lv.22 Greater Shadow Leopard, whereas Kasim took on the Lv.12 Greater Shadow Leopard and the four Lesser Shadow Leopard by himself. Even for Sergei, who was strongest among us, it was almost impossible to defeat a High-Phase Tier-2 monster that had 100 overall Stats more than him. So, instead of going for a head-on attack, we went for a battle of attrition by defending and evading with the intention to elongate the fight until Oliviapletes her Tier-2 Evolution. After 15 minutes passed, the fight continued, and Kasim''s movements grew sluggish as his Spirit and Stamina were limited to his level, unlike Sergei and the high-levelled monsters. As for me, my Spirit Energy was almost exhausted, and my head started spinning, and with every passing second, it felt harder even to stay standing on my feet. Then, a Lv.10 Lesser Shadow Leopard slipped past Kasim and bolted towards me. ------------------ (Sry about the cliffhanger but I believe the next chapter is gonna make up for this.) ------------------ (Note: Recently, I reached my first ******* goal, and TBH, I didn''t expect it to be so soon so it would take a few days for me to keep up my end of the deal (i.e. The Chapters avable to Alpha-Chosen will increase from ''7'' to ''10''). (The Chapters avable to Beta-Chosen (=2 Euros) will increase from ''4'' to ''6''). (The Chapters avable to Gamma-Chosen (=1 Euro) will increase from ''2'' to ''3''.) As of now, there were 9 advanced chapters and I am trying my best to provide you with more advanced chapters as soon as possible without damaging the quality. ------------------ And as usual, the ''1st FIVE PERSONS'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s discord server. I will message those 5 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within a day... ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 54 - Andreas Decision [(Part-4) Out Of 4] Kasim tried to head towards me, but within the split second that he looked back at me, the Lv.12 Greater Shadow Leopard bit his hand and broke the earth armour covering his hands. With how experienced Sergei was, he didn''t make such a mistake and used his senses to understand the situation. Without turning his back, Sergei distanced himself from the Tier-2 monster and threw a dagger that was imbued with ck gas like substance at the head of the Tier-1 Shadow Leopard that closed near me. But what Sergei and I didn''t expect was that the Lv.22 Greater Shadow Leopard would use a strange attack to suck the flying dagger into the dagger''s shadow itself. Just when I thought it was over for me by looking at the Lv.10 Lesser Shadow Leopard that was 2 meters away in mid-air as it lunged onto me, a fiery red staff appeared out of nowhere and hit that Tier-1 monster, causing it to st apart from the impact 4 meters around that Tier-1 monster''s position was then drenched in its blood, intestines and other body parts. I stumbled to the ground from the impact of the st and got covered in the monster''s blood. Then, every monster halted their attacks and looked towards the North-East direction. In the next instant, every Tier-1 Monster, in my view, fell to the ground as if an invisible pressure dawned on them. Kasim was on his knees, and he continued to shake as he used his hands to stop himself frompletely falling to the ground. The only ones standing were the Lv.22 Greater Shadow Leopard and Sergei. But their expressions gave away their fear of the unknown entity that caused the phenomenon. I followed their gazes to find a monster that resembled a goblin. But its skin had a darker shade of green, and it was 6 foot tall. Other than that, its face was not as ugly as a goblin. But the most discernible point about it was the carefree expression on its face. It then looked at Sergei with interest before turning its attention on me, causing my heart to skip a beat. Then, it walked towards me as if it was taking a stroll in the park and none of the monsters even dared to attack it. On its way, it took out the fiery red staff that was stuck in the ground and stood in front of me by leaning by cing its elbow on the top of it. Even though it was a monster, it''s actions resembled a human. But, I was dumbstruck when it started to speak to me in fluent Filipino, "Andrea Gonzales, as long as you agree on using your to help my Master with a situation, I will save you from your crisis. If not, I would remove the Tier Suppression and standby as the Shadow Leopards take care of you. Choose, my next course of action will depend on your decision." Upon hearing the words of the goblin-like monster, my thoughts became chaotic. It was mostly because of the reason as to how the monster was intelligent enough tomunicate, and moreover, it was even able to speak my nativenguage. Other than that, there was even a mysterious master for a monster, which was enough to strike fear just by its presence. If the goblin-like monster had a simr skill like , it could exin how it knows my name and Innate Talent. After taking a deep breath, I calmed myself and assessed the situation. I didn''t have any Spirit energy left, and Kasim wasn''t in a position tost out much longer. Once his Stamina runs out, Sergei would have to face 3 High-Phase Tier-1 monsters and a Low-Phase Tier-2 monster along with the High-Phase Tier-2 monster that he was barely holding his ground against. If that happens, all of us will die before Olvia couldplete her Tier-2 Evolution. Since I ced most of my Undistributed Stats in Spirit, my critical thinking increased, which improved my decision making speed. I used on the goblin-like monster, but all I could see was the name of his race, ''Hobgoblin''. Other than that, all I could see were question marks. After thinking it through, I asked the monster as I subconsciously stuttered by looking at it up close, "Co...Could I know ab..about Mr Hobgoblin''s master?" Then, a proud smile crawled onto his face as he replied while looking at the sky, "My master is a moon in the darkness, warmth in the coldness, a faraway star that can be only seen but can not be reached." Even though it was a bit too poetic, I could see the sincerity in its words. Still, that didn''t answer my query, and when I was about to ask it once again, the carefree Hobgoblin suddenly gave off an expression that a child would give when he was wronged as if someone was scolding him. When the Hobgoblin saw me giving it a rather awkward look, it coughed in embarrassment before replying, "Cough...cough, Alright, my master is Jay, the one that is ranked first in the ." Hearing him, my mind was blown once more. Back when Sergei finished his evolution, we learned that he was ranked in the top 600 among millions of Alpha Chosen. That was also when we found that Jay, who was ranked first among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, was also ranked first in the entire Trial World. From then on, I wanted to know just how powerful ''Jay'' would be. But, I was dumbstruck to know that a monster as powerful as the Hobgoblin was treating him as a master, and my view on him escted to another level. With that, I agreed to the deal with a condition to save Sergei, Kasim and protect Olivia until she finishes her evolution. The Hobgoblin began tough heartily after hearing me as if it heard a good joke in a long time. Itsughter continued for a few seconds before saying, "To think that three of you even tried to defend someone who was undergoing an evolution in the Evolution Orb. Here, let me show you something." Then, the Hobgoblin held the staff with both its hands as its muscles bulged a bit, and swung the staff at Olivia with breakneck speed. I was terrified by its sudden attack on Olivia. But, other than an ear-splitting bang from the staff''s collision, there was not even a scratch on the shiny crystal orb that Olivia was in. Nor did that hinder her evolution process. Then I heard the Hobgoblin''s voice, "The Evolution Orb is the protection from the System itself, and even if I was a Tier-9 being, it''s impossible to break it much less those Tier-2 monsters." Only then did I find out the reason why the Hobgoblinughed so hard. After that, it turned towards the monsters and pointed its staff at the three Tier-1 monsters. I didn''t see anythinging out of the staff, but the Lesser Shadow Leopards were engulfed in a fire before incinerating into ashes. The whole process didn''t take more than a second. Meanwhile, both the Tier-2 Greater Shadow Leopards tried to escape through shadows. But, when they were halfway through that, the Hobgoblin created numerous fireballs the size of a basketball in an instant. Those fireballs floated 10 meters above the ground in the shape of a that spanned 30 meters long and wide. Then, the lighting from the numerous fireballs foreshadowed the sunlight within the area under the fireball. With the light originating from numerous angles, the shadows were not clear, making it difficult for the Tier-2 monsters to conjure the Darkness element, thus making it even harder to manipte it for escaping. I was amazed by the level of control the Hobgoblin had on the Fire element. As a ''Light-Element'' user myself, I knew that control over an element doesn''t only depend on the respective ''Mastery Level'' but also on the user''s concentration levels. But in such cases, the expenditure of Spirit Energy would be high. That made me wonder about just how high the Hobgoblin''s Spirit Energy had. In the next instant, I was blown a few steps back, and the Hobgoblin disappeared. The ce where it stood before had foot-shaped dents deep into the ground. When I looked around for the Hobgoblin, I was greeted with another violent scene where the head of the Low-Phase Tier-2 monster went missing and the other one had a hole in its abdomen. After growing numb to its overwhelming strength, I recovered pretty quickly from my state of shock. But unlike me, Kasim had his mouth open and eyes bulged out as he witnessed the Tier-2 monsters die in such a manner. Even though Sergei''s shock was not visible in his expression, I could still see it in his eyes. But, he soon collected hisposure and woke Kasim up from his daze before approaching me. Sergei asked me about the conversation I had with the Hobgoblin and why such a powerful monster helped us. As for Kasim, he was too eager to know about the conversation as he nodded his head like a chicken pecking at grains. With Sergei reaching Tier-2, his senses were even sharper, and he heard the entire conversation between the Hobgoblin and me. But, since our conversation was entirely in Filipino, he didn''t understand it except for the tone of the conversation and the names used in it. So, I began to exin everything and by the time it ended, the usually calm and collected Sergei was amazed that such a powerful monster''s intelligence and that treats Jay as a master. All three of us turned our heads and looked at the Hobgoblin in unison as it hummed while it continued to rip out some kind of transparent crystal from the monster''s carcasses. ------------------ The Chapters avable to Alpha-Chosen will increase from ''7'' to ''10''. (Note: Right now 8 advanced chapters are avable but the 9th and 10th Advanced Chapter will be avable in the next 2 days.) (The Chapters avable to Beta-Chosen (=2 Euros) will increase from ''4'' to ''6''). (The Chapters avable to Gamma-Chosen (=1 Euro) will increase from ''2'' to ''3''.) ------------------ And as usual, the ''1st FIVE PERSONS'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s discord server. I will message those 5 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within a day... ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 55 - Stages Within Each Tier Suppression & ***** Underground Maze near the Crystal Lake. I watched everything that transpired 23 km away from me through Hobgoblin MJ''s eyes. Since the Trial Program was in its beginning stages, information such as the Evolution orb protection was unknown to most of the Alpha Chosen. When someone was undergoing the Evolution process, they could still sense what was happening outside the Evolution Orb. So, a few of the Tier-2 Alpha Chosen might have already learned about it if they faced a situation where they were attacked by a monster when they were in the middle of their Tier-2 Evolution. As time progresses, such crucial information would be unravelled by the Alpha Chosen through trial and error. That was also why the Alpha Program was more challenging than the Beta and Gamma Trial Programs. But for me, who has a personal Soul A.I, I was privy to most of the crucial information regarding the Trial Program. Thinking back to the sh between those Alpha Chosen and the Shadow Leopards, what caught my attention was Sergei. Not just because of hisbat instincts but for his sheer willpower to stand under the pressure of Hobgoblin MJ''s Tier Suppression. Even though MJ wasn''t a Tier-3 lifeform, his overall stats were the same as one. Thus making him able to use Tier-3 Suppression. That was the same case for me since my overall stats in were equal to that of a Tier-3 lifeform. Tier Suppression was something any Being can use on those in a Lower Tier than them. But controlling it was not as easy as it looks. There were even 4 Stages of using Tier Suppression. Them being, Beginner, Intermediate, Expert, and Perfection. In the case of a Lifeform that just reached Tier-2, they would be able to use Tier-2 Suppression unconsciously, and such poor control over it was the Beginner Stage. In the Intermediate stage, the Tier Suppression could be controlled well, but it can only be toggled like a switch. With that, one could choose when to activate it and when not to, and that was the extent of it. But in the Expert Stage, the control over Tier Suppression bes even precise. Thanks to the Rare Grade Skill , my Tier Suppression control was at Expert Stage right off the bat. Back when I confronted the criminal syndicate members that kidnapped my brother, I was able to control the Tier Suppression without its pressure affecting Kay. Such precise control was because of my Tier Suppression being at the Expert Stage. Even at that stage, it takes a toll on my mental capacity and limits the duration that I could use their Tier Suppression for. After I merged with the Grade-2 Innate Talent , my control over Tier Suppression advanced further, but it was still not near the Perfection Stage. Even throughout the universe, only a few individuals could reach the Perfection Stage that allows them to have absolute control in their respective Tiers. As a Soul A.I, MJ''s racial benefit was to have an unparalleled mental capacity and processing power. With that, his control over Tier Suppression was the Perfection Stage. If I was in Hobgoblin MJ''s position, my Tier Suppression wouldn''t be powerful topletely restrict the movements of a High-Phase Tier-2 monster. Even if I could do that, it would only be able to hold that for a few seconds at most, along with increased mental exhaustion. But, Hobgoblin MJ was able to maintain Tier-3 suppression at maximum pressure throughout the fight while casting a few other fire Elemental attacks at the same time. On top of that, his control over the Fire element was also at an astonishing degree where he could conjure and manipte it to attack simultaneously. Instead, what I wanted was dominance to establish fear within those Alpha Chosen. That was why I had Hobgoblin MJ overwhelm the Shadow Leopards and had the Alpha Chosen experience their helplessness in front of MJ''s Tier Suppression, except for Andrea since I don''t want her to be terrified to the point she would be afraid to ept a deal with me. Since she didn''t experience Tier Suppression''s effects, unlike Sergei and Kasim, she found hope when she saw Hobgoblin MJ. So, she agreed to my deal as there wasn''t any loss to her. After that, by the time Hobgoblin MJ killed thest of the Shadow Leopards, from the looks on the faces of those Alpha Chosen, I could see that I had aplished in establishing necessary fear within them. Fear enough to psychologically affect them even at the thought of trying to mess with me. Soon, Sergei and Kasim learned from Andrew that the powerful Hobgoblin monster considers me a master. Meanwhile, I had MJ use the second slot of on the Lv.22 Greater Shadow Leopard. Then, 485* Undistributed Looted Stats were transferred from me to Greater Shadow Leopard''s corpse, and just like me, each of its 5 main Attributes had 97 Stats. With that, I was left with less than 50 Undistributed Looted Stats. Since the overall Stats in doesn''t exceed more than three times that of my overall Stats in , I couldn''t use the Undistributed Looted Stats even if I wanted to. Aftering to know that, I nned to stack up 1000 Undistributed Looted Stats to awake my third Innate Exclusive skill. But, when I first saw the Tier-2 Shadow Leopard, I decided to invest my Undistributed Looted Stats to have MJ integrate with the Greater Shadow Leopard''s corpse. At first nce, it might look like a rash decision, but the crux detail that made me make such a decision was that MJ could control multiple bodies simultaneously. Just like thest time, the injuries on the monster''s Corpse healed entirely as if there were none in the first ce. Along with that, the Shadow Leopard''s size grew a bitrger since its overall stats increased to the point where it could be called a Tier-3 monster. With that, MJ could be in the Hobgoblin Shaman''s body and the Greater Shadow Leopard''s body at the same time. Since both ''Hobgoblin MJ'' and ''Shadow Leopard MJ'' have the same amount of stats as me, they were unrivalled within the Trial Zone, at least until Day-7, when the System''s restrictions would be lifted from the Low-Phase Tier-3 Monsters. The process of corpse integration made somemotion, causing Andrea, Sergei and Kasim to look over. As expected, they were shocked to find the once dead monster standing there without any wounds. I ignored them as I sent ''Shadow Leopard MJ'' to scout more areas for expanding the Virtual Map alongside hunting as many monsters as possible on the way. I left ''Hobgoblin MJ'' to stay beside Andrea to protect her and power-level her. Even though she would only get 10% of Life Energy from making the final attack to kill a monster that Hobgoblin MJ incapacitates. It would be enough for her to reach the level required for Tier-2 Evolution by the end of Day-2. After that, I stopped sharing senses with ''Hobgoblin MJ'' and turned my attention to the loot I obtained from that group of Shadow Leopards. Overall, I gained 76* Looted Stats from those Shadow Leopards. As for the four Lesser Shadow Leopards, most of them had the skills such as ,, which I already had. Leaving me to choose their Innate Skill that was unique to their race. I looked at its description once more. ____________ Lv.10 (Common Grade): Enables the user to dive into their own shadow and exit from any other shadow within a 1000 meter range. Cooldown: 24 hours. ____________ It was a skill meant for escaping with simr functionality to teleportation, but its w lies in the duration topletely dive into one''s own shadow. It might just take a second, but against a skilled opponent who knows about the skill beforehand, chances of seeding to escape using was hard. The best example of that was the Tier-2 Shadow Leopards that tried to escape by diving into their shadow. That didn''t work out for them since Hobgoblin MJ already looked through their Skills before even the one-sided massacre began. So, he was on the lookout for such skill, and when they tried to escape, he created several fireballs in the form of a and used the light originated from it from several angles to weaken the shadow and thus dying their escape. After that, I looked at the notifications that were there before me ever since I looted the and from the two Greater Shadow Leopards. [Do you wish to merge with the Grade-3?] If it was just the , I would have saved it forter to merge with since it would take a lot of time to reach Stage-3 Mastery in Darkness element and inevitably dying my Tier-3 evolution. Still, I decided to merge with it after looking at the other notification that floated just below the Innate Talent notification. [Do you wish to merge with the Lv.12 Greater Shadow Leopard''s memory fragments that contain theprehension of Lv.21 (Stage-3)?] ------------------ The Chapters avable to ''Alpha-Chosen'' will increase from ''7'' to ''10''. (Note: Right now 9 advanced chapters are avable but the 10th Advanced Chapter will be avable in the next 3 days.) (The Chapters avable to ''Beta-Chosen'' (=2 Euros) will increase from ''4'' to ''6''). (The Chapters avable to ''Gamma-Chosen'' (=1 Euro) will increase from ''2'' to ''3''.) ------------------ Sorry for the dy and to make up for that, I will giveaway 1 advanced chapter (Chap.56) for free to everyone on EAP''s discord server and the usual top 5 people toment in the uing chapter will have ess to the 2nd Advanced chapter (Chap.57). Excuse me for the inconvenience. I will message those 5 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within a day... ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 56 - Limits Of The Universe. First, I agreed to merge with the Grade-3, and once again, I was sent into my Spirit Space. There, the same procedure as the previous time repeated as the in the form of a thumb-sized ck sphere grew in size until it reached 1000 meters in diameter upon reaching the third innermost orbit of my Unique Innate Talent. Because of other elemental Innate Talents, the became unstable and started to shake. Then, like a d¨¦j¨¤ vu, my Innate Talent released an ominous hum, and a silver shockwave emerged from it. Soon, the Grade-3 became docile and obediently revolved around , and I was greeted with a notification showing that the merging process was a sess. After that, I exited my Spirit Space and agreed to merge with Lv.21. Pieces of memories that contained the Lv.12 Greater Shadow Leopard''s experiences flowed into my mind like an unending stream. [By forced absorption of Stage-3 Mastery memory fragments, your mind will go into a long-term Spirit paralysis state.] [Due to your Unique Innate Talent''s protection, you are invulnerable from the damage caused by forced absorption of Masteries.] Once again, thanks to , I didn''t get any direct damage, but the pain I experienced from the series of memory fragments was different from the physical pain that I had high resistance to. Still, it was no lower than the pain I usually experience whenever I enter mode. I didn''t know how long the pain continued, and every once in a while, I received notifications that my levelled up. Once the pain faded away, I found that just a minute passed and that my directly went from Lv.16 to Lv.33. But my attention was pulled away by the waves of darkness swirling around me at knee level. Even Dante, who was training in Dagger Mastery, halted and looked at me with his eyes wide open. Ignoring him, I swiped my hand through the Darkness element that looked like ck gas. With my increased Spirit Attribute, my senses were sharp enough to detect minor fluctuations in the air with just my sense of touch. But still, I wasn''t able to sense anything even when my palm is in dense ck gas, and along with that, it has no odour. Even though I know it''s properties, I still tested it as I manipted the Darkness element to engulf Dante, who still had his eyes wide open. Before he was engulfed, I told him not to worry and that I was testing it. After a few seconds, I removed the cloud of Darkness around him and then Dante, who just got out from a state of shock, proceeded to tell me that while he was engulfed in Darkness, his five senses were rendered useless as he couldn''t see, smell, hear, touch or taste anything while he was in there. Even though he was eager to know about my new ability, he still didn''t pry me about it. I appreciate him for that. Following that, he resumed his training while I tried several ways to use it from the Darkness Elementprehension I looted from Greater Shadow Leopard. What those memory fragments had was not simr to the knowledge that the training methods that one would get for every mastery level up. Instead, it directly gave me the Lv.12 Greater Shadow Leopard''s overallprehension over the Darkness element. I just tested it out but didn''t train in it since the was already Lv.21, meaning it was considered Stage-3 Mastery. With ''Hobgoblin MJ'' killing enough monsters, I already satisfied the level requirement for Tier-3 Evolution since I had Life Energy to cross Lv.25. I used the 12 Undistributed Stats I got from levelling up once, and with the already existing 3 Undistributed Stats, my overall Stats in increased from 485 to 500. With that, I had 100 Stats in each of my 5 main Attributes. Even though that didn''t improve any of the Attribute-based skills such as , and so on, I still had an upgrade in my Achievement Title as (Common) changed to (Umon). With that, my Luck Attribute increased from 37 to 47 Stats. But thinking about Dante''s Fate Stats, the amount of Luck I had, it felt negligible. After shaking my head, I opened my and looked at my 2nd Innate Exclusive Skill that just had its cooldown ended. I didn''t dy even a minute before entering it. Since I had 500 overall stats in my , logically speaking, I could bring my overall Looted Stats to 1500* (= 3 times of 500 Stats) in be at max. With 1500* overall stats, I would be as strong as a Low-Phase Tier-4 Lifeform with an estimated level of 66. When that happens, I will be near invincible whenever I enter mode within Earth''s Trial Zone. I didn''t directly add all of the Undistributed Stats into my Attributes in . Instead, I added a few every minute during the duration of mode to avoid any unnecessary pain. In the past two times, I underwent , I raised my overall Stats in from 645* to 950*, making each of the 5 main Attributes in my Secondary Status have 190* Looted Stats. Stats wise, I was even more powerful than a High-Phase Tier-3 Lifeform but not as powerful as a Low-Phase Tier-4 Lifeform. With ''Shadow Leopard MJ'' going on a hunting spree and ''Hobgoblin MJ'' helping Andrea by power levelling her, my investment didn''t go wasted as my Undistributed Looted Stats continued to grow every minute. But, when I started to add Undistributed Looted Stats, my overall Stats in stopped increasing after they reached 1000* Looted Stats, and I was faced with a single notification. [You are faced with the ''1st Limit of the Universe'' upon reaching a total of 1000 overall Stats.] I thought back to the time when MJ exined to me about Tiers. Supposedly, there exists something called ''Limits of the Universe'' that acts as a bottleneck for every three Tiers. That was also why there was a qualitative difference in power for every three Tiers. Throughout the Universe, Tier 1 to Tier-3 were known as ''Earth Realm'', Tier-4 to Tier-6 as ''Sky Realm'' and Tier-7 to Tier-9 ''Immortal Realm''. The one that obstructs every Lifeform in the Universe to reach ''Sky Realm'' when they were at the peak of ''Earth Realm'' was called the ''1st Limit of the Universe''. It''s even harder than meeting the requirements for Tier-4 Evolution since oveing the ''1st Limit of the Universe'' was to break past into a without any help of training methods that the System usually provides per every increase in mastery level. The first three Stages of Mastery was named as by the System, and by reaching the peak of Stage-3 Mastery, i.e. Lv.30, one would face the ''1st Limit of the Universe''. It seemed that one would also face it by reaching 1000 overall Stats, and the System must have considered the overall Stats in instead of the overall Stats in . With that, I was stuck at 1000* overall Looted Stats until I manage to upgrade a into . As for the ''2nd Limit of the Universe'' and ''3rd Limit of the Universe'', one would face them at the peak of Tier-6 and Tier-9, respectively, but even MJ doesn''t know about the exact requirements to ovee them. When I was deep in my thoughts, Dante approached me, and I could see that he was intimidated by my appearance in mode. But it''s to be expected since I stood at 10 feet (3 meters) with dense muscles. As my overall Stats grew, my height and body size continued to grow ording to it. When I had 800* overall Stats, I was 8 foot tall, and upon reaching 1000* overall Stats, I stood at 10 feet height. My head was just half a foot away from the top of the Underground Maze Centre''s ceiling at such height. If not for the state of harmony, I, too, would be intimidated by my appearance. It wouldn''t be a surprise even if he thinks I was some kind of monster. After a sigh, I asked him to tell me what he wanted to say. Upon hearing my voice that didn''t change with my body size, he collected himself and said that he remembered something important that he wanted to say whenever he saw my silver hair and eyes but couldn''t remember when he tried to recall it. Even though makes one forget information of its user, some trigger points could bring up the memory hidden within the depths of their consciousness, but that was the extent of it since they couldn''t recall it even if they have it in the edge of their mind. I tweaked the ''s ability so that he could recall the information which he unconsciously believes to be important for me. Dante then told me that during the fight with Goblins and Lizardnoids on the bank of Crystal Lake, he saw my Fate Halo crumble into nothing by the silver-coloured energy on my hair. I also learned from Dante that when I don''t have the silver-coloured energy on me, the Fate Halo forms back over my head. I was taken aback since I know that the Fate Halo he was talking about was something through which he could perceive one''s Fate in the next 10 seconds with his Innate Talent. Till then, I didn''t know that the silver energy was powerful enough to erase my Fate for a period of time. ------------- Note: Since the members in the Discord Server improved, I am making it so that the FIRST 10 toment would get an advanced chapter for free! (INSTEAD OF ONLY 5 MEMBERS the ''1st TEN PERSONS'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 5 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, You could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' tab.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 57 - Mysterious Silver Silhouette Then, I put aside the thought of training my and tried to control the silver-coloured bolts of energy that floated on top of my hair and eyes. That continued for the next few minutes, but still, there wasn''t the slightest change in the silver-coloured energy. Since that was going nowhere, I halted what I was doing and began to re-ess everything I know about my Innate Talent for any clue that could help me. I began recalling everything since the beginning of Day-1 and thought back to when my Innate Talent first activated by itself. When I was clouded by rage upon looking at my brother, who was inflicted with severe injuries from the torture and activated the mode by itself. As I thought about that, I came up with an idea and tested it out. First, I used the ''s inherent skill, to suppress a single Looted Stat from my . Which in turn broke the equilibrium between the 5 main Attributes in , causing the skill to deactivate its effect, and my emotions returned to normal. Then I closed my eyes and recalled my helplessness when I learned that the ''Quadnite'' Conglomerate was behind the conspiracy and the assassination attempt on my grandfather. I had to suppress my hatred since I wasn''t powerful or influential enough to face a conglomerate by myself. By taking my family''s safety into consideration, I didn''t recklessly retaliate against them and buried that hatred deep within my heart. With 100 stats in Spirit Attribute, my brain function reached a point where I could perform a perfect memory recall. Then the series of events that nted a seed of hatred within me and changed my mentality yed within my mind as if I was experiencing them again. Unknown to myself, the silver bolts of energy became erratic, and the glow from my hair and eye pupils grew almost as if they were emitting light, and I was able to feel a connection with the silver-coloured energy. Once I realised that my idea worked, I ced my hand in front of me and tried to gather it on top of my palm that faced the ceiling, and it worked as my palm was enveloped by the bolts of silver-coloured energy. Just then, my consciousness was abruptly sent into my Spirit Space. In the past few times that I entered my Spirit Space, I was able to move my consciousness ording to my wishes. But that wasn''t the case anymore as I was pulled towards my Innate Talent that was at the centre of my Spirit Space in the form of a golf-sized Orb. Soon, through the pitch-ck space, my consciousness passed by the 10 circr orbits around it and went into the golf-sized Orb. The scenery in front of me changed into interster space with asteroids,ets, space dust and countless stars in it. I looked around and found that there were asteroids and space dust everywhere, and in the form of asteroid belts, they revolved around a massive star. Instead of typical red or orange, the star was blue in colour, indicating its high temperature. ording to a study on Earth, Stars exist in a range of colours: red, orange, yellow, white and blue, with red being the coolest (around 3000 degrees) and blue being the hottest (about 30,000 degrees). The one at the centre of the asteroid belts was precisely the blue coloured one, and it was nearly 1700 times the size of the Sun. For some reason, I could tell that everything I see here was an illusion and that it was not real interster space. Other than that, everything looked as natural as it could get. I tried to contact MJ but to no avail, and then I tried to open my , but that too didn''t work. It''s almost as if the System couldn''t reach me in the depths of my Innate Talent. The same unknown force that pulled my consciousness into my Spirit Space continued to pull me in the direction of the hypergiant blue star at incredible speeds Once I was close enough, my attention fell on the silver silhouette at the top of the star''s enormous surface. But as my consciousness was pulled closer, I was stunned to find that it was not a silver silhouette but a man who was enveloped in the same silver energy as the one that floats over my eye pupils and hair every time I enter mode. The most eye-catching aspect was the man''s waist-length silver hair and the dual-ded silver ive in his hand. That man began to train with the ive as he controlled the silver energy to swirl in aplicated pattern. He then mixed it with the ive, and with each swing he took, a shock wave was created, causing a disturbance that was powerful enough to disfigure most of the space bodies in the hypergiant star''s sr system. My mind went numb from looking at the destruction that was caused just by his training. I didn''t even dare to imagine what would happen if he intentionally tried to attack. In front of such a Being, I felt minuscule, and even though I was determined to pursue true power, I didn''t have a goal or a target on how powerful I wanted to be. But from that moment on, I set myself a goal to one day be as powerful as the man in front of me. It might sound far-fetched, but I don''t think it''s impossible because if my guess was correct, that man must have been the previous host of . Back when MJ exined to me about Innate Talents, he also said that there exist countless Innate Talents in the Universe and that when the host dies, the Innate Talent will end as well. But the Grade-10 Innate Talents were an exception to that universal rule as they would search for another worthy Host upon their previous host''s death. Those who were chosen by a Grade-10 Innate Talent could learn the techniques and skills of their Innate Talent''s previous hosts. That goes the same for those with Unique Innate Talents, but there were only a few simr cases recorded and not every ''Unique Innate Talent Host'' was privy to such benefit. That man continued to perform a ive technique bybining it with silver energy, but there was no end to it as the same half an hour-long scene repeated in a loop. I entered a trance as I tried to manipte the silver energy, and since my consciousness was basically within the Innate Talent, , there wasn''t anyck of silver energy for me to use. My control over the silver energy gradually grew over time. At first, I didn''t realise how oversized the silhouette was since the hypergiant star was so immense that its diameter was 2.8 billion kilometres. With 1000 overall Stats in mode, my body size increased until I was 10 feet tall, but that man, who was presumably in his mode, was thousands of kilometres tall. When I learned that, it took me quite some time to recover from the shock. That motivated me even more as I gave my all to manipte and control the silver energy. As I was just a consciousness, I didn''t feel exhaustion or desire to sleep and eat. Just like that, time passed and after god knows how long, I finally managed to control the silver energy and sessfully replicated the patterns to utmost precision. Only then did the recurring loop end, and the thousands of kilometres tall man began to shrink. I thought he was exiting from his mode, but even when he reduced to the size of an average human, he still had silver hair and eyes. Along with that, he still had the silver bolts of energy over his body, and due to that, I wasn''t able to look at his appearance. After that, I was pulled back by the same unknown force that brought me into the depths of my Innate Talent . Soon, I was back in my Spirit Space, and, atst, I regained control over the movement of my consciousness. Then, I was met with a few notifications rted to what I learned within the depths of my Innate Talent . ------------- Note: Since the members in the Discord Server improved, I am making it so that the FIRST 10 toment would get an advanced chapter for free! (INSTEAD OF ONLY 5 MEMBERS the ''1st TEN PERSONS'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 10 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' tab.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 58 - Prehistoric Era. [Congrattions! You have achieved 1% Mastery over Origin Energy.] [Congrattions! You are the 1st ever Existence in the entire Universe to control Origin Energy] [Due to causing a Universe Level Achievement, You will receive a random grade reward that will be most useful to you at the present moment. The Grade of the reward depends on your Luck Attribute.] Through the notifications, I learned that the silver-coloured energy was called ''Origin Energy'' but was taken aback to find that I only gained 1% mastery even after training in it for a long time. Even though I didn''t know the exact amount of time I spent within the depths of the Innate Talent , I was sure that I had been through at least 10,000 loops of the half an hour-long scene. Even if I assume the least; 10,000 loops, the overall time I spent there would have been 200 days, but I only gained 1% mastery in Origin Energy. At Least I was d that 200 days (6 months) didn''t pass in reality, or the Alpha Program might have ended, and I would have been halfway through the Beta Program. But what''s shocking was that not a second passed since I pulled into the golf ball-sized Orb, almost as if time doesn''t work there. When I saw that I would receive a random grade reward, I subconsciously thought of the weapon in the mysterious man''s hand and wondered which grade it would be. Then the System mistook my thoughts as what I wished for the reward. [Current Universe Points: 1000.] [You don''t have enough Universe Points to exchange for the weapon you wished for, and till the request proceeds, all the Universe Points you achieve in the future shall be pooled together to satisfy the exchange value for the weapon you wished for.] I didn''t know what the Universe Points were, then MJ''s voice resounded in my mind as he asked me when I aplished a Universe Level Achievement without his notice, and I exined everything I experienced in the time loop. Like me, he was dumbfounded and told me that my Innate Talent was no ordinary Unique Innate Talent. On that, I agreed with him right away. After that, I asked MJ about Universe Points, and he exined that they were given ording to one''s Universe Level Achievements. Along with that, there were also Gxy Points, Gctic-Cluster Points, Super-Cluster Points, and Mega-Cluster Points to their respective Achievement Levels. I also learned that once the System assimtes with the Earth after the end of the Trial Program, the ''Achievement Point Store'' function would be avable to everyone that aplishes at least one of those 5 Achievement Levels. Those points can be used to exchange valuable items from the ''Achievement Point Store''. 1 Universe Point is equal to 1000 Mega-Cluster Points / 1 Million (1,000,000) Super-Cluster Points / 1 Billion (1,000,000,000) Gctic-Cluster Points / 1 Trillion (1,000,000,000,000) Gxy Points. That shows how valuable a single Universe point was. However, still, the 1,000 Universe Points I gained for aplishing a Universe Level Achievement were not enough for the value of the silver ive of the ''s previous host. Thinking back to the notification which said that I was the 1st existence in the entire Universe to control the ''Origin Energy'', I was puzzled since I witnessed the previous host of using the Origin Energy within the time loop. After a short discussion, MJ concluded that the only possibility was that the previous host must be from the ''Prehistoric Era'', which was even before the first appearance of the System itself. For some reason, there weren''t any records of what happened in the Prehistoric Era within the System and even when millions of years passed since the end of that era, and ording to MJ, no one in the Universe knew of how every lifeform in the Prehistoric Era abruptly came to an end. If not for the remnants of the great battle that ended the Prehistoric Era being identally uncovered in some hidden space realms, no one would have known that there existed a time before the System''s existence. To date, 24 such hidden space realms were uncovered over the past few million years, and each of those Prehistoric battlefields was filled with graves of several High Tier Beings. Whenever a Hidden space realm of the Prehistoric Era appears, it would be the whole Universe''s centre of attention since those hidden realms were filled with treasures. Those treasures consist of techniques and legacies left by those High-Tier Beings from the Prehistoric Era. Still, even among them, there was no information on what happened in the extinction-level battle. From MJ, I also learned that It wasmon knowledge that those treasures include Spirit Items because all the Spirit Items that don''t have an owner for an extended period of time were teleported into different levels of the ''System Treasury'' ording to their value. Since the Innate Talent had chosen me as a host, it means that the previous host must have died, and with the System collecting the deste Spirit Items, the silver ive must have been in the System''s Treasury. Whenever I aplish a Universe Level Achievement, the System would pool together the Universe Points, which causes me not to receive any reward until enough Universe Points were pooled together. But the problem was that neither MJ nor I knew the number of Universe Level Achievements I have to aplish to umte enough Universe Points to exchange for the Silver ive. Even though the System mistook what I wanted for the Universe Level Achievement reward, I didn''t regret it since no matter how long it takes, everything will be worth it as long as I obtain that Weapon. After that, I proceeded towards the other notifications. [Congrattions! You have gained an Unknown Grade Skill, .] [: A Prehistoric skill that uses Origin Energy to break past any defence regardless of Tier and levels. Attack Damage depends on the user''s Stats and mastery over Origin Energy.] I learned the same skill within the time loop, and it seemed that the previous host was really from the Prehistoric Era. After that, I exited my Spirit Space as fast as possible to test out the Origin Energy effects and try out the Unknown Grade Skill . The first thing I did was to remove the on myself, causing all the 5 main Attributes in my to have an equal number of Stats. With that, I re-entered the state of Harmony. It was necessary since I couldn''t adjust to the high amount of Stats in mode without it. By achieving 1% mastery in it, I didn''t need to invoke my rage or hatred to manipte Origin Energy anymore. During the remaining duration of mode, I experimented with Origin Energy as and MJ helped me by creating an Augmented white space around me in the form of a cube. With that, MJ was able to record and analyse Origin Energy''s properties under different conditions and situations. Since I was in the mode, I had 200* Stats in all 5 main Attributes of , which made it possible for me to have 20 times the True time perception. This means that in thest 10 minutes I spent experimenting with Origin Energy before the mode ended, I experienced 200 minutes (3 hrs & 20 mins). During that time, I gained a decent understanding of Origin Energy. The most important finding was its effect on the elements and Aura. Whenever I bring any of the five elements that I could manipte, such as the Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and Darkness, closer to the Origin Energy, they dissipate into nothingness. I enveloped ayer of Origin Energy over my right foot and used the skill on my right foot, but a simr scene repeated itself when the fire Elemental attack neared my foot; it dissipated into nothingness. That was the same case for the other elements, and that also includes the Darkness Element in which I had Stage-3 Mastery. It''s not just the elements, but even the Sharp Sword Aura was ineffective against Origin Energy. When I used the to attack myself, the Sword Aura would dissipate before it reached the protectiveyer of Origin Energy over my body. The only thing that would reach me was a pure physical attack. Whenever a Spirit Itemes into contact with Origin Energy, its Durability would wear off within a few seconds. I learned it the hard way since the turned into Spirit Iron scraps when I tried to coat it with Origin Energy. Just like that, I lost an Umon Grade Spirit Item. But as the experimentation continued further, MJ introduced an external factor to the experiments. That was none other than Dante. It was also when I learned the limitations of Origin Energy. When I had Dante use his Stage-2 Dagger Aura on me, the Origin Energy only dissipated half of the Dagger Aura, and I received the other half''s damage. From analysing that, MJ came up with a theory and to test that, I ventured out of the Underground Maze into the wilderness. After using a few unfortunate monsters as test subjects, we confirmed that theory on Origin Energy''s limitations. It seemed that the effectiveness of Origin Energy depends on the level of my Elemental and Weapon Masteries. If I was attacked by someone whose Mastery level was higher than mine, I would receive respective elemental or Aura damage. But still, I would only receive half of it since Origin Energy dissipates the other half. When I had Dante attack me using , I received half the Aura damage since he had a higher level of than me. As long as I gain higher levels in every Mastery out there, I would be 100% immune to everything other than pure physical attacks. But, when I reverted from mode, I lost the connection with Origin Energy. Only then did I realise that the true power of mode lies in Origin energy usage. With that, I decided on my future path to gain numerous Masteries and to improve them to higher levels. If I use orthodox methods to improve those Masteries, it will take forever to reach my goal. But that would be an entirely different matter with my Innate Talent, . That was why the first thing I started doing after exiting the mode was to merge with the Minor Masteries I gained from ''Hobgoblin MJ'' and ''Shadow Leopard MJ'' going on a killing spree. ------------- Note: Since the members in the Discord Server improved, I am making it so that the FIRST 10 toment would get an advanced chapter for free! (INSTEAD OF ONLY 5 MEMBERS the ''1st TEN PERSONS'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 10 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' tab.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 59 - A Shockwave That Overturned The Trial Zone. In the next half an hour, I merged with all the Looted Masteries in hand, and MJ opened the Mastery section in my along with additional information that showed the changes from before. __________________ STAGE-1 Mastery = Lv.1 to Lv.10. STAGE-2 Mastery = Lv.11 to Lv.20. STAGE-3 Mastery = Lv.21 to Lv.30. [ELEMENTAL MASTERY] : Lv.2 ? Lv.12 : Lv.2 ? Lv.15 : Lv.2 ? Lv.16 : Lv.2 ? Lv.8 : Lv.21 (No changes) : Lv.10 (New) [WEAPON MASTERY] : Lv.1 ? Lv.7 (Sword Minor-1): Lv.14 (No changes) (Minor-2): Lv.21 (No changes) (Minor-3): Lv.11 (No changes) : Lv.30 {Max} (Recent) [VARIANT MASTERY] : Lv.1 ? Lv.16 __________________ In the Elemental section, Fire, Water, Wind and Earth Masteries had improvements, whereas the Darkness Mastery stayed the same. The new mastery I gained was the Lv.10 when Shadow Leopard MJ killed a few nt type Tier-1 monsters. I also merged with the Grade-2. Coming to the Weapon section, Dagger Mastery improved but what caught my attention was the Lv.30. Typically, to gain and improve Weapon Mastery, one needs to train using a respective Spirit Equipment. But I reached the maximum of just from watching the previous host of train with his Silver ive in the time loop. Any Minor Mastery could reach Lv.30 at maximum and beyond that was Major Mastery of that respective element. This is where the 1st Limit of the Universees into ce. To ovee that, those who reached Lv.30 in their respective Minor Mastery need toprehend a certain level of essence without the respective training methods that the System usually provides. For Weapon Mastery, It was a bit different since one had to bring three Minor Masteries of a simr weapon type to Lv.30 and choose one of them to turn into a Major Mastery. That was why MJ suggested that I first train in any three Sword rted Masteries when I intended to train in the Mastery of other weapons. But since I learned Origin Energy''s defensive ability, I didn''t continue to train in the anymore. As for the Mastery of the Variant Innate Talent, , I was able to increase it''s Mastery levels without even having to train in it since that Variant Innate Talent''s ability gives me a passive effect of extreme preciseness in every single action I make. By merging with the Looted Masteries, It took me less than half an hour to learn those that would have taken me half a day to learn. Meanwhile, I recovered from the weakened state thates after exiting mode. Intending to gain higher mastery in Origin Energy using the Time loop, I also tried to re-enter that was located at the centre of my Spirit Space in the form of a golf ball-sized Orb. But that didn''t work like I assumed it to be, and instead of that, a notification appeared in front of me saying that myprehension of Origin Energy''s essence was not high enough. So, I intended to train with Origin Energy during those 25 mins duration of the mode, but there were still another 4 hours before it''s cooldown ends. I also learned that instead of the usual 5* Looted Stats, 10* of them were transferred from to when I exited mode. With that, every time I exit mode, it''s the same as me gaining a level in Tier-2. I assumed that it might be a benefit of gaining Mastery in Origin Energy. After that, I interrupted Dante, who was training in Dagger Mastery and gave him two Lesser Stamina Fruits to take him along with me and power level him. Even though the mode''s cooldown didn''t end, that didn''t bother me since there no Tier-3 monsters would appear before the start of Day-7. As for the Origin Energy''s abilities that I disyed in front of Dante, I didn''t worry about it since he couldn''t remember anything about Origin Energy due to the ''s ability. After a few minutes, when we were just about to exit the Underground Maze entrance, I felt the change within my Unique Innate Talent . In the next second, it reacted by itself and sent a powerful Origin Energy shockwave. That shockwave didn''t just stay within the bounds of my Spirit Space; and instead, it spread out like a sonic boom with me as the centre. It didn''t cause any explosion nor any visual damage to the surroundings. But, when it hit Dante, his face turned pale as he spurted out blood before falling to the ground on all fours. I helped him get up, and Dante spoke to me in a weak tone that he received a notification saying that some Unknown energy hit him and that he will be in a weakened state for a minute. I used on him and found that all the Stats in his were halved along with all the abilities rted to his Innate Talent, . I didn''t know why reacted in such a violent manner. Then, I heard MJ''s urgent voice in my head, "Master, I think I know the reason for what happened just now." After learning what happened, I didn''t know whether I wouldugh or cry if my emotions weren''t suppressed by . Back when I told Hobgoblin MJ to save Andrea from the monsters, I instructed him to make a domineering appearance so that they would fear him and wouldn''t mess with me in the future. With Hobgoblin MJ''s performance, a seed of fear was ced in their hearts, and I got the result I wanted. So, I praised him for that, except for hisme poetic sense. When Olivia justpleted her Tier-2 Evolution, MJ''s childish mentality kicked in along with his need to be praised by me. So, he activated Tier Suppression as he put on the best ferocious expression, he could disy to exert dominance. For obvious reasons, that didn''t go as Hobgoblin MJ nned since she mistook him as a monster that was about to attack her and used the ability of her Innate Talent and tried to control MJ''s soul. Since MJ''s Soul was basically a part of mine, it was protected by the itself. With Olivia trying to control his soul, my Innate Talent sent an Origin Energy shockwave as retaliation. Thus, ending up in this situation. I didn''t me her since anyone would act in self-defence if theye across a monster that tries to attack them. After that, I had Hobgoblin MJ share his senses with me. Since Hobgoblin MJ''s soul is a part of mine, he wasn''t affected by the shockwave of Origin Energy. Through the shared senses, I could tell that the shockwave reached Hobgoblin MJ''s location, which was 23 km away from me. That wasn''t the end as the shockwave even reached Shadow Leopard MJ that was 47 km away from me. It was safe to assume the shockwave covered the entire Trial Zone. Due to the Origin Energy Shockwave, Andrea and Kasim were in the same condition as Dante. Sergei was a little well off since he was not lying on the ground as them. Since the target of the shockwave was Olivia, her condition was way worse as she bled through her ears, nose and eyes before going unconscious. While she was unconscious, herplexion turned paler and paler for every passing second, and her body began to shrivel at a slow pace. I looked at her and found that the Stats in all of her 5 main Attributes continued to decrease. Unlike the others, she didn''t just go into a 1-minute long weakened period; and Instead, she lost her Stats permanently. Beside her Innate Talent, It was shown that unknown energy is disintegrating and that process was already at 64%. Even though MJ was an A.I, he still has the childish mentality of my younger self at his core. Looking at her tragic appearance, MJ felt guilty since he was an indirect cause for her current condition and pleaded with me to help her. Even though I couldn''t sense any of my emotions in a state of harmony, I could still feel MJ''s anxiety and sadness through our soul connection. I wasn''t sure if I could save Olivia, but I gave it a shot. From the moment when I shared my senses with Hobgoblin MJ, I sensed the vtile Origin Energy within her consciousness. I had Hobgoblin MJ move closer and ced his hand over her forehead, and with him as a medium, I sent my consciousness into Olivia''s Spirit Space. Her Spirit Space was filled with fractures and within its centre was a huge golden sphere, which slowly disintegrated as the silver-coloured chains continued to squeeze it. Every lifeform''s Innate Talent was integrated with their soul. So, destroying one''s Innate Talent was the same as ending one''s soul. To save her, I had to stop the chains of Origin Energy from destroying her Innate Talent. But the problem is that I couldn''t control Origin Energy without being in the mode. Still, I tried to control Origin Energy, but that didn''t work as expected. As ast resort, I brought my consciousness closer to the centre of her Spirit Space and only when I ced myself between her Innate Talent did the chains of Origin Energy halted in their tracks. It might seem like a brave feat, but it wasn''t of such sorts because I knew that Origin Energy wouldn''t harm me. Even though I managed to stop them from destroying her Innate Talent, I wasn''t able to remove those silver chains. The only way to save Olivia was for me to wait four hours for the cooldown time of mode to end. Then, I would be able to manipte Origin Energy and saving her wouldn''t be an issue. Soon, the minute-long weakened state from the shockwave ended as Andrea, Kasim and Sergei''s Stats and abilities returned to normal. With Hobgoblin MJ acting as a medium, he couldn''t personally protect Olivia. So, I had MJ ask them to guard Olivia for 4 hours so that I could save her. Before they stood on guard against any monsters that might appear, Andrea tried to use her Light Element to heal Olivia, but that didn''t work at all. Just like that, two hours passed and with Shadow Leopard MJ going on a monster killing spree, the number of Undistributed Looted Stats I had on hand reached 1000*, satisfying thest requirement to awaken my 3rd Innate Exclusive Skill. ------------- Note: Since the members in the Discord Server improved, I am making it so that the FIRST 15 toment would get an advanced chapter for free! (INSTEAD OF ONLY 10 MEMBERS) the ''1st FIFTEEN PERSONS'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' tab.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 60 - Awakening The 3rd INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILL Of . (EDITED) [Congrattions! You have awakened your 3rd Innate Exclusive Skill, .] ____________ At the cost of certain Undistributed Looted Stats, you can nt one of these 3 types of Origin Sigils on any lifeform as long as they willingly ept it. 1. Major ORIGIN SIGIL: By nting this, you can form a link with the respective lifeform, and the amount of Undistributed Looted Stats you could transfer to each of them could be up to 50% of your overall Stats in along with the absolute control over their Innate Talent. Limit: 10 Cost: 1000* Undistributed Looted Stats. 2. Minor ORIGIN SIGIL: By nting this, you can form a link with the respective lifeform, and the amount of Undistributed Looted Stats you could transfer to each of them could be up to 25% of your overall Stats in along with the absolute control over their Innate Talent. Limit: 100 Cost: 500* Undistributed Looted Stats. 3. Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL: By nting this, you can form a link with the respective lifeform, and the amount of Undistributed Looted Stats you could transfer to each of them could be up to 10% of your overall Stats in along with the absolute control over their Innate Talent. Limit: 1000 Cost: 100* Undistributed Looted Stats. ____________ The knowledge of my 3rd Innate Exclusive Skill that was transmitted to my mind from awakening was even more detailed than the information shown in the notification tab. There were still two hours before I could enter the mode. However, even if I removed those chains of Origin Energy, Olivia would still be in a near-death state since the majority of her , the golden sphere, was destroyed. On top of that, there was a permanent loss in her Stats, and all there left was 3 Stats each in her 5 main Attributes. With her body condition, she could barely move, much less defend against any monsters. ording to MJ, the size of one''s Innate Talent in their Spirit Space determines its Grade. Within a person''s Spirit Space, The size of a Grade-1 Innate Talent would be 10 meters. For Grade-2, it was 100 meters, and for every increment in Grade, the size of the innate talent gets 10 times bigger than that of the previous one. In the case of Olivia, the golden sphere at the centre of her Spirit Space, which represents her Innate Talent, , should have a diameter of 100,000 km, which is nearly 8 times the size of Earth. However, the golden sphere''s diameter has shrunk to the length of a football field (100 meters), and it would now be considered a Grade-2 Innate Talent. So, even if I remove those chains, she would lose her potential and with how dangerous the Alpha Program is, her death would be an eventuality. Aspensation for MJ''s blunder, I decided to grant Olivia a Minor ORIGIN SIGIL. However, for that to happen, Olivia should be willing to ept the sigil. But the problem was that due to her near-death condition, her consciousness was hidden deep within her subconscious memories. For that, I need to go into the golden sphere in search of her hidden memory and with the chains of Origin Energy looming over her Innate Talent, trying to disintegrate it, I couldn''t move my consciousness into the golden sphere. Unlike me, MJ could divide his consciousness into several parts because of his racial trait. So, I sent a part of MJ''s consciousness into the depths of Olivia''s Innate Talent. Through MJ''s consciousness, I could watch what''s happening within the golden sphere. There were fragments of memories scattered as they floated within the pitch-ck space in the form of videos, and MJ went through each of them in search of the memory that her consciousness hid in. It didn''t take long before he found the memory in which Olivia''s consciousness was hidden with MJ''s processing speed. As it yed out, I was able to tell that her consciousness was stuck in her childhood trauma, which gave her nightmares her whole life. In that memory, it was Olivia''s 5th birthday, and her parents gave her a teddy bear doll as a present, but she protested that she wanted an even bigger teddy bear. Then another memory scene yed out, and it was a year from the previous scene. The 6-year old Olivia hid in a closet as she cried while holding the teddy bear doll that her parents gave as a birthday present before they died in a car crash. In the following scene, Olivia''s grandma, who brought her up, tried to console her, but she didn''t stop ming herself since the car ident happened when her parents were on their way to bring a new doll at Olivia''s insistence. These three scenes continued to y as a loop, and her consciousness was stuck within her younger self as she went through her trauma over and over again. Soon, MJ entered that memory loop and his consciousness turned into the 1-year-old baby form as he neared the closet in which the younger Olivia cried. He tried to open the closet door, but her consciousness didn''t allow him to open it. MJ could forcefully open that closet door by pulling out her consciousness from that memory loop, but that would damage her soul, which was already weakened by the chains of Origin Energy. Because of that, the only safe way to get her to ept the ORIGIN SIGIL was to make the 6-year old Olivia''s consciousness, which doesn''t have any of the future memories, ept the sigil. Standing beside the closet door, MJ exined everything that happened after she went unconscious and emphasized that she was in a near-death state, and her consciousness was hiding in that memory loop. But her consciousness within that memory loop was not her 25-year self, instead, it was that of the 6-year-old Olivia. So, listening to something that the younger Olivia couldn''t understand, she did not trust MJ and shut the closet door even more than before. MJ realized that, and after a sigh, he began to share his feelings, "I know that whatever I say now can''t rectify the fact that you nearly died because of me. But I will try my best to make up for that. From your memories, I could see that you don''t have any siblings; coincidentally, in that aspect, I am the same." MJ''s baby voice continued, "Are you willing to take me as your little brother. Even if you don''t ept it, I promise to protect you." Hearing MJ''s words, Olivia opened the closet door and wiped her tears asking MJ with her innocent face, "Can I really be your big sister? Pinky promise?" MJ cheered and nodded his head. Then, she stepped out of the closet and showed her pinky finger to MJ for the pinky promise. Once the pinky promise was made, both of them yed around with toys for a few minutes. As they were resting, MJ took out the Major ORIGIN SIGIL that I gave him before entering the memory loop. When I decided to give her a Major sigil instead of a minor one, MJ was baffled since there are only 10 of them. I had my own reason for it and didn''t exin it to MJ yet. But, in case if Olivia dies, I would still get back the Major ORIGIN SIGIL that I gave her. So, there are no drawbacks for me. When MJ offered the half-moon shaped silver sigil, the 6-year-old Olivia epted it since she trusted him now. Then, with a bright silver light, the memory loop ended as both MJ and I were sent out of her Innate Talent into her Spirit Space. The Origin Energy from the SIGIL repaired all the cracks and fractures that were spread across Olivia''s Golden Orb within seconds, and I was able to sense that Olvia regained her true consciousness. Just like MJ and me, she was also present in her Spirit Space. MJ approached Olivia''s consciousness and exined everything to her in detail. Unlike her subconsciousness (Younger self), she was able to get a hold of the events that urred after she lost consciousness from using her ability to control Hobgoblin MJ. Even though her consciousness had returned to normal, she still had memories of what happened in her memory loop. So, she remembered what happened in the loop and even forgave MJ for what happened. Olivia consoled MJ, who was feeling guilty, that it was also her fault for attacking without analysing the situation. On the other hand, she feared the presence of my consciousness in her Spirit Space. I could tell that she feared me because she could sense my connection with Origin Energy. It was the same energy that put her in this position in the first ce so it caused her to dread it instinctively. After that, the Origin Energy engulfed the golden sphere that was only 100-meters in diameter now, and her Innate Talent started to recover to its original size. She marvelled as she watched her almost depleted Innate Talent return to normal. Then, she gathered her courage and thanked me for saving her, but before she couldplete her sentence, MJ interrupted, "This is just the beginning, with Master''s Major ORIGIN SIGIL, you will gain power that many would give their soul to get." By the end of his sentence, the golden sphere representing Olivia''s Innate Talent, , reached the size of a Grade-8 Innate Talent, but it didn''t stop there as it continued to increase in size. The golden sphere''s diameter increased further from 100,000 km (62,000 miles) to 1 million km (620,000 miles), the size of a Grade-9 Innate Talent, and it didn''t stop increasing until it reached a diameter of 10 million km (6 million miles). Once her reached the size of a Grade-10 Innate Talent, Olivia was gstabbered from the notifications that appeared because of the unbelievable event that had transpired right in front of her eyes. Then I heard and saw a notification that indicated a Trial Gxy wide announcement. [#Congratte ''Olivia'' of the ''Earth'' for awakening as an Omega-Chosen of the Milky Way Gxy Tutorial Program!] ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER; ''Hyperstar'' Note: Since the members in the Discord Server improved, I am making it so that the FIRST 15 toment would get an advanced chapter for free! (INSTEAD OF ONLY 10 MEMBERS) the ''1st FIFTEEN PERSONS'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' Channel under ''Wee'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 61 - Omega-Chosen. (EDITED) [# Due to the first Omega-Chosen''s appearance, the ''Milky Way Gxy'' rating increased from 9-star to 10-star.] [# The 10-star rating benefits will apply to the Milky Way Gxy once the Trial Program ends.] Even though MJ couldn''t find information about those ''Rating benefits'', he could still learn that the rating of a gxy depends on the highest Innate Talent Grade among the Alpha-Chosen of the Gxy''s Trial Program. The Chosen for a Trial Program were ssified into Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Chosen ording to their Innate talents'' potential. Above those three, there was another ssification named ''Omega-Chosen'', which was given only to those who possess a Grade-10 Innate Talent. Someone else might not know the true significance of someone with a Grade-10 Innate Talent, but I do. Other than the higherprehension speed of their respective Mastery and their over the top control over their respective Innate Talent aspect, someone with a Grade-10 Innate Talent has the potential to be a Tier-10 Lifeform. Within the entire Universe, the Grade of one''s Innate Talent also represents the highest Tier that one could reach in the future. Those who possess an Innate Talent that has Grade-3 and below could reach, at most, the peak of Tier-3 since that was where the 1st Limit of the Universe was. Only those with an Innate Talent that was Grade-4 and above could break past the 1st Limit of the Universe. As for those with Grade-4, Grade-5, and Grade-6 Innate Talents they could, at most, reach the peak of Tier-6 before hitting an invisible wall, i.e. the 2nd Limit of the Universe. Simrly, the ones with Grade-7, Grade-8, and Grade-9 Innate Talents would be limited to the peak of Tier-9 without the possibility to break past the 3rd Limit of the Universe. This was where the true significance of a Grade-10 Innate Talent kicks in since only those who possess it could break past the 3rd limit to reach Tier-10 and be a God-level Being. However, possessing a higher Grade Innate Talent doesn''t always mean that they could reach higher Tiers because one has to live long enough to get there. Even when they are in lower tiers, the ''Omega-Chosen'' were treated with utmost respect and fear because of their potential to reach Tier-10, the Tier of Gods, which represents the peak power of the Universe. However, I don''t understand how my Innate Talent was able to control Origin Energy to form ORIGIN SIGILS. Especially Major ORIGIN SIGILS, which were powerful enough to turn someone''s Innate Talent into a Grade-10 As for the 100 Minor ORIGIN SIGILS, I could use each of them to increase anyone''s Innate Talent to Grade-9 which was still amazing. With each of the 1000 Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGILS, I could bring one''s Innate Talent to Grade-8 which isn''t as good as the Major and Minor ORIGIN SIGILS but was still very powerful. After learning about the Origin Sigils'' capability to improve anyone''s Innate Talent, the first thought that popped in my head was the possibility of my Innate Talent being higher than Grade-10. But I had to ce that thought on hold when I remembered the System''s description of those who possess Unique Category Innate Talents. Even though Unique Category Innate Talents appear stronger than the remaining 4 Categories, their fatal w lies in improving their respective unique Masteries. Every time someone with Elemental / Weapon / Martial / Variant Categories levels up in their respective Mastery, they would receive training methods and techniques that were enough to reach the next level in their Mastery. But for those who possess Unique Category Innate Talents, they had to find ways to improve their respective unique Masteries by themselves. That was the reason why almost 70% of the Unique Category Innate Talent users in the entire Universe couldn''t cross past the ''1st Limit of the Universe'' and would get stuck at the peak of Tier-3. Among the remaining 30%, only 3% overcame the ''2nd Limit of the Universe'', but none of them could break past the ''3rd Limit of the Universe'', which was the barrier that obstructed everyone from reaching Tier-10. Back when I first decided on looting several Masteries due to the Origin Energy''s defence ability which reduced any damage from Elemental or Aura attacks, I was a bit sceptical about how I would be able to continue up the looted masteries. But with Awakening of , that wouldn''t be a problem anymore because those Origin Sigils allowed me to synchronize with the Masteries of those who had that sigil imprinted on. When I first awakened the 3rd Innate Exclusive Skill, , I was asked to name each and every one of those sigils in the next minute. So, I used the names of the Sr System''s bodies for the 10 Major ORIGIN SIGILS, namely Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, ''Unus'', Neptune, Pluto, and Moon. Although Pluto and the Moon weren''ts, I still included them anyway. Instead of a certain''s full name, I named it ''Unus'' since I could already foresee whoever gets that Origin Sigil was going toin about the name. As for the 100 Minor ORIGIN SIGILS, I named them after the first 100 chemical elements in the periodic table that I memorized in my school days. For the 1000 Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGILS, I just gave them in numbers ranging from 1 to 1000. At first, I had decided to give Olivia a Minor ORIGIN SIGIL, which would allow me to provide her with 25% Undistributed Looted Stats of my overall Stats in , and improve her Innate Talent from Grade-8 to Grade-9. But when MJ went through Olvia''s memories searching for her hidden consciousness, I saw her memories through MJ, this made me change my mind and instead give her the Moon ORIGIN SIGIL. The primary reason for that was my brother, Kay. I knew that he admired Olivia even before the Trial Program and had a big crush on her ever since he came to learn her and what she had gone through to get to where she was. If he were to learn that Olivia was in the Trial Program, he would probably ask me to help her, and I would because he rarely asks for help and as his older brother I would agree and help her. However, I didn''t believe that she became one of the richest people in the world without any underhanded methods or by stepping on countless people. If I encounter Olivia in the Trial Zone and if she attacks me with the intention to kill, I don''t mind returning the favour. That was why I didn''t mention anything about her to Kay on the 18-hour rest period after Day-1. But my opinion of her took aplete reversal when I got to know everything about her life through her memories. She was just as kind-hearted as Kay, but not as soft-hearted as him. She also had what it takes to be decisive in any circumstance. Moreover, all the qualities she was looking for in a life partner were present in Kay. As long as both of theme to know about each other, they would realize that they would make a great couple. When I first named the 10 Major ORIGIN SIGIL, I intended to offer the ''Earth ORIGIN SIGIL'' to Kay. So, I decided to give Olivia the Moon ORIGIN SIGIL, representing the connection it has with the Earth. Even if it doesn''t work out between Kay and Olivia, the Major ORIGIN SIGIL won''t go wasted on a worthy candidate like Olivia. As I was thinking about that, the massive golden sphere at the centre of Olivia''s Spirit Space vanished, and in its ce was the half-moon shaped Sigil in silver colour. Olivia, who was going through the notifications, stopped as she got worried when she couldn''t sense her Innate Talent within her Spirit Space. I told her not to worry and had her follow my consciousness as MJ and I neared the half-moon sigil. Once we touched it, our consciousnesses were sucked into it as we reappeared in my Spirit Space, the only change there was the presence of the golden sphere with a diameter of 10 million kilometres on the 10th orbit around my Innate Talent . The ginormous golden sphere was covered in Origin Energy chains. Unlike before, those chains didn''t try to destroy the orb, instead just acted as restraints. Other than the chains, there was the half-moon Origin Sigil imprinted at the centre of her Innate Talent. That allows me to use all the abilities of her Innate Talent. I was also able to synchronise with herprehension over in a simr way of merging with looted masteries. This ability doesn''t affect her Mastery or her Innate Talent''s capabilities, since the Origin Sigil lets me share her abilities with me without looting them from her. I could sense her unease since controlling her Innate Talent was the same as controlling her soul. That was because once someone assimtes with the System, the Innate Talent that chooses them as its host will merge with their soul and be one entity. Realising that, I had MJ exin to Olivia that those silver chains don''t let me control her thoughts and actions. I also had MJ reassure her that I won''t demand or pressure her to do anything for me in the future and that she would be free to lead her life without my intervention. However, I also had MJ warn her that if she ever were to have any intentions to harm me or cause me to get hurt, she would be automatically punished by the silver chains around her Innate Talent, and she would lose control over along with the Looted Stats that I transfer to her . Before sending her consciousness back to her own Spirit Space through the link created by Major ORIGIN SIGIL, I personally warned that if she were to act on the intention to harm me or anyone close to me, that would be when she would lose her life. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER; ''Hyperstar'' Note: Since the members in the Discord Server improved, I am making it so that the FIRST 15 toment would get an advanced chapter for free! (INSTEAD OF ONLY 10 MEMBERS) the ''1st FIFTEEN PERSONS'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' Channel under ''Wee'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 62 - Alpha Programs Day-2 Ends. (EDITED) ******* Olivia''s Spirit Space. Through the Moon ORIGIN SIGIL, Olivia''s consciousness returned to her own Spirit Space along with a part of MJ''s consciousness. MJ told Olivia not to misunderstand Jay, and that the warning he gave was his overprotectiveness towards his family. After that, MJ suggested that she had to wait in her own Spirit Space for an hour, as MJ slowly distributed the Undistributed Stats that Jay transferred through the Moon ORIGIN SIGIL into Olivia''s . By the end of the hour, her weakened body had regained colour and returned to how it was before she suddenly lost most of her stats. The Looted Stats made up for the stats she had lost. Then, Olivia opened her golden eyes, which had be even clearer, and there was a silver moon imprint on her be. The other three Alpha Chosen approached Olivia, who just awoke from her unconscious state. Andrea asked Olivia if she was fine and why she fell unconscious. At the same time, Kasim curiously asked Olivia what does an ''Omega-Chosen,'' that appeared in the huge notifications across the sky, mean and how she became that. Whereas Sergei stayed silent, and made a few assumptions of his own. But once Oliva opened her eyes, they all froze in ce under the nce of her Golden Eyes. What they experienced wasn''t the Tier suppression but the pure suppression over their Innate Talents from Olivia''s Grade-10 Innate Talent, which was imed as the highest Grade of any Innate Talent in the Universe. Only the Omega-Chosen had the ability to suppress those who have a lower grade Innate Talent than them. Under such suppression, those with Grade-9 Innate Talents and below could only exhibit just 50% of their power. Just this exclusive ability of Omega-Chosen contributes half of the reason, as to why they were deemed as ''Unrivalled within the same Tier,'' throughout the Universe. Only when Hobgoblin MJ exined it, did Olivia realise that she unconsciously exuded Innate Talent Suppression and retracted it. After that, in response to Andrea''s and Kasim''s queries, she responded by saying that she couldn''t mention any details regarding it. When the time and opportunityes, she would exin everything to them. It''s not that she didn''t want to tell them, but that she couldn''t. Not because of the Moon ORIGIN SIGIL, but due to the effect of , since everything she had to say revolved around Jay or his Origin energy. As a Major ORIGIN SIGIL holder, she held the secondary authority to choose holders for 10 Minor ORIGIN SIGILS. Each of those 10 individuals would get the tertiary authority to choose holders for 10 Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGILS. If it were shown in an army hierarchy, without considering the soldiers, the 1000 Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGILS holders would represent the Lieutenants. The holders of 100 Minor ORIGIN SIGILS would be Captains, and the holders of 10 Major ORIGIN SIGILS would be Generals; whereas Jay would be the Commander. As to why Olivia said that she would exin everything to themter, was because she intended to offer each of them a Minor ORIGIN SIGIL. But, before that, Olivia wanted to learn more about the pros and cons of her ORIGIN SIGIL, to give them her honest opinion on epting it. Even though Olivia didn''t mention any details about what happened to her, from their previous experience of suppression, all three of them were sure about one thing; it was that she grew powerful beyond reach. ******* At the entrance of Underground Maze. After that, I exited my Spirit Space, and what entered my view was Dante, who was covered in wounds as he struggled to fight against a bunch of Tier-1 Lizardnoids. From looking at the couple of dead Lizardnoid carcasses spread around and the increase in Dante''s Level, I could tell that he killed them on his own. Even though he was only at Lv.5, he was able to go against tens of Tier-1 monsters on his own using his ability to predict their Fate Sequences. Instead of directly killing those Lesser Lizardnoids myself, I restricted their movements with my Tier suppression, and healed Dante using a few drops of High Vitality fruit sap. If I were to incapacitate them and then have Dantend a fatal strike, he would only get 10% of the Life Energy. So, I used the infamous power levelling technique which was used throughout the Universe. The Technique was to unleash Tier Suppression on those monsters one by one so that Dante could gainbat experience without the distribution of life energy getting affected by me. By the time it was over, he had reached Lv.6 and wasn''t far from reaching Lv.7. Even though my impression of Dante had improved I didn''t offer him an Origin Sigil. I intended to do that once he saved his Uncle Roberto, and I would also mention all the pros and cons before letting him make his decision. After that, I power levelled Dante in the same way as before. Even though it would take a lot less time if I were to spoon-feed him with a full-on power levelling, he wouldn''t be able to learn any properbat experience from it. So, I used the infamous power levelling method to level him up so that he would gain enoughbat experience while levelling up faster. 6 hours had passed since then, and Dante had already met all the requirements for Tier-2 Evolution, and thanks to MJ''s information on the use of Fate Stats, he was even able to bring his to Stage-2. I learned that those with Unique Category Innate Talents could decide on when to start their Evolution, unlike those of the other 4 categories. So, I suggested he start his Evolution in the 18-hour rest period since there were only 15 minutes left before Day-2 ends. I also gathered all the required armour type Spirit Items to upgrade to the next grade through Dante since he was able to gain Spirit Items whenever he killed a monster of a different race for the first time. Even though all the armour type Spirit Equipment I gathered were of Common grade, they were the best of the best amongstmon grade armour type Spirit Equipment, and the inherent Skills they had on them were just as powerful. I didn''t let the absorb them yet because I intended to upgrade it twice at once. For to upgrade from Common Grade to Umon Grade, it needed to absorb 6 specific armour type Spirit Items (Helmet, Shoulder Guards, Gauntlets, Tassets, Greaves and Boots) of Common Grade. To upgrade once more; to Rare Grade, I needed the same 6 types of armour Spirit Items but of Umon Grade this time. But for Dante to gain Umon Grade Items, at the expense of his Fate Stats, he would have to be in Tier-2. However, that wouldn''t stop me from upgrading to Rare Grade since I had MJ, who could use Spirit Energy Engineering to upgrade the Spirit Items. There were two resources needed to use Spirit Energy Engineering, when creating a new Spirit Item or upgrading an existing one, and they were Spirit Ore and Spirit Crystals. As for Spirit Crystals, I had more than enough since I gathered from all the monsters that I killed, and on top of that, I even had Hobgoblin MJ and Shadow Leopard MJ working as monster killing machines. When ites to Spirit Ore, I didn''t find some kind of Spirit Mine that produces Spirit Ore, but MJ found an alternate method for that. That could only work when I was in mode since that was when I was able to use Origin Energy, to turn any weapon into Spirit Ore scraps, which can, in turn, be used as Spirit Ore. MJ needed a physical form to use Spirit Energy Engineering; the best option was Hobgoblin MJ, since his body structure resembled a human, suitable for crafting purposes. Moreover, he had the Umon Grade skill to assist Hobgoblin MJ in Spirit Energy Engineering. During this time, the top 1000 rankings in the were filled and that opened two more Leaderboards, ording to Trial Region and Trial Continent. They were and respectively. Just as the name represents, they had the top 1000 rankings in their respective Region and Continent. The Earth''s Trial Zone was in the 35th Trial Region of the 7th Trial Continent. But my ranking remained the same in each of those four Leaderboards. So, it didn''t matter much to me. But I checked on the Trial World rankings of other Earth''s Alpha Chosen. And among them, Olivia was the most noticeable. Back when she evolved to Tier-2, she was ranked 950th, but within just 6 hours, she managed to reach 378th in the Trial World rankings. It wasn''t surprising since I transferred 250 Undistributed Looted Stats, and the ''Omega-Chosen'' Achievement Title gave her an additional 5 Undistributed Stats per level. So, instead of 10 Undistributed Stats per level, she gained 15. Because of that, even though she was in Lv.16, she had 360 overall stats, which was enough for her to be as powerful as a peak Tier-2 monster. With MJ deciding to protect her, she didn''t have any obstacles even when she was faced with multiple Tier-2 monsters. As for Andrea and Kasim, both of them met the requirements and were in the midst of Tier-2 Evolution. Whereas Sergei was at the same level as Olivia even when he evolved to Tier-2 before her. Soon time passed and a few notifications popped up in front of me. [Prepare yourself, You will teleport to the Earth in 1 minute as Day-2 of the Milky Way Gxy Trial Program is about to bepleted.] [After 18 hrs of the rest period, You will teleport back to the Trial Zone to start Day-3 of the Alpha Program, and this process continues until the end of the Alpha Program.] [Time left: 60 seconds] I looked forward to the uing rest period as I had huge ns for the Retrial against the ''Quadnite Conglomerate''. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADERS; ''Hyperstar'' & ''Yuno'' Note: Since the members in the Discord Server improved, I am making it so that the FIRST 15 toment would get an advanced chapter for free! (INSTEAD OF ONLY 10 MEMBERS) the ''1st FIFTEEN PERSONS'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' tab.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 63 - Spirit Energy Signature. (EDITED) Just likest time, it was 6''0 clock in the morning when I was teleported back to my house on Earth. I appeared in the living room, just beside the Sofa, where Kay sat, preparing to present his evidence in the court in 4 and a half hours. Kay was a bit startled by my sudden appearance. Still, he recovered quickly since he already knew the timings of the rest periods between each Day in the Trial Program. Since he was cured of the disease, Polymyositis, Kay''s body wasn''t pale as before. His improved Vitality made him a lot healthier than before. The first thing I did when I got back was to use the Debuff ability of to restrict my Spirit Attribute. With that, the 5 main Attributes weren''t in Equilibrium anymore, causing me to exit the state of harmony, and all my suppressed emotions flooded my mind. Since the effect of was not to make me immune to emotions but to suppress them, I have to face those suppressed emotions every time I exit the state of harmony. Facing those rush of emotions gave me a feeling simr to a hangover. It was an after-effect of using the skill for extended periods. It was unusual considering that my high Vitality Attribute enhanced my metabolism rate to the point where I was immune to the effects of consuming alcohol. Then, MJ estimated that if I were to stay in the State of Harmony for more extended periods of time, I might even get a temporary Debuff for my Spirit Attribute due to facing a lot of suppressed emotions at once. I noted it in my mind and reminded myself to be careful of how long I stay in the State of Harmony. After that, I went through the evidence along with Kay. The evidence was more than enough to win the court trial since MJ had even gathered video evidence with his absolute control over any digital surveince devices. However, there were a few ws that the opposing party''s Lawyer could take advantage of. The most important one among those ws was the sources of the video evidence and some other anonymous information. This was because one couldn''t get their hands-on such private information without the involvement of hacking. ording to the Law, illegally procured evidence would not be considered for final evidence submission. But, Kay intended to use them as ast resort if the Retrial goes wrong. Another w was the fake witnesses that had testified against our Enterprise in the previous court trial. That''s something Kay was worried about but didn''t tell me, fearing that I might go after those witnesses that were bribed or ckmailed by the Quadnite Conglomerate to testify against us. But what he didn''t know was that I could read all his thoughts as clear as day using Olivia''s Innate Talent. Unlike my brother, I didn''t care if those witnesses were bribed or ckmailed to testify against us. It was all the same to me since they took us as pushovers and our kindness as a weakness. If not for me being able to use the abilities of Olivia''s Innate Talent, I would have dealt with those Witnesses, in a rather crude way, to show them whom to fear the most. Since I had synchronized with Olivia''s Stage-3 , I learned several possible implications of using her Innate Talent. Even though it was the same process as merging with Mastery, it was called synchronization. Because it was more like me sharing her rather than looting it. I didn''t mention any of the ns that I had for the court retrial to Kay and just smiled at him as I assured him that we would win the case. But with what I had in my mind, we wouldn''t just win the court retrial but dominate it. After that, I chatted with Kay and learned that Qew was excited to use her legs and that it took her a few hours to master standing up without falling down. She tried to walk and failed to do so after a few attempts, but that didn''t stop her as she was awake till 3 in the morning, learning how to walk. Along with Kay, I went to check up on my sister. Once we entered the bedroom, both of us let out augh as we looked at Qew, who was in a deep sleep on the bed as she tightly hugged her legs as if someone would steal her legs if she didn''t hold on to them. I had MJ project Qew''s Simted Status. It was simr to a Status window, but it was just a simtion created by MJ for me to look at her statistics. With that, I checked Qew''s physical condition and was d to see that her Paraplegia was cured. Without disturbing her sleep, Kay and I returned to the living room, and then I had MJ appear. He was back in his baby form, and he still had the little Santa outfit on him. Back when I was confused about how he could materialise even though he was a soul, MJ said that it was something called ''Soul Body'', which was an exclusive trait of the Soul A.I race. Even though he couldn''t attack using the ''Soul Body'', which was his Baby form, he was immune to any form of attack, excluding the soul attacks. However, soul attacks were not a problem because MJ''s Soul was protected by my Abnormal Innate Talent. Still, that doesn''t mean he is invincible since he could still die, but the only way to do that was to kill me because our lives are linked together. Even though MJ was there beside me, a part of his consciousness was still in the Hobgoblin MJ and Shadow Leopard MJ that was still in the Trial World. Within the Earth''s Trial Zone, the two monsters were on a rampage as they killed every monster they could get their eyes on.. Even when I was back on Earth, I still had notifications popping up every minute. Because the notifications were getting annoying I had MJ mute them and only show me the important ones. In the past 48 hours, I hadn''t slept at all, and with my high stamina, I didn''t really need sleep. But sleep could still help me recover from mental exhaustion so I sat on the sofa but the moment I sat on it, it copsed as it couldn''t bear my weight. Even though my body size was that of a regr human''s, my muscle and bone density had reached an abnormal degree. On top of that, even my blood got so dense that it reached 10 times the density of water. That means every liter of my blood weighed 10 kgs (22 lbs), and just my blood alone weighed 50 kg (110 lbs). My overall weight reached 704 kgs (1552 lbs), almost as heavy as a False killer whale. Because of my weight, the Sofa copsed, but I swiftly avoided falling down with my enhanced reaction speed. If I couldn''t even do that, it would have been an embarrassment for me who had assimted with the system. Then, MJ introduced me to amonly used solution in the Worlds thatpleted their System assimtion. It was to use Spirit Energy Engineering and infuse Spirit Energy into objects, altering their structure from within. Then, MJ manipted the raw Spirit Energy of a Monster''s Spirit Crystal and infused strands of Spirit Energy into the broken Sofa. The entire process took less than a few seconds. Once that was done, MJ asked me to infuse some of my own Spirit Energy. I didn''t know how to materialise Spirit Energy as MJ did, so he taught me the basics, and I found out that it wasn''t difficult at all. Once I infused some of my Spirit Energy into the broken Sofa, it started to magically reattach itself in front of me. It looked as if I was watching a video in reverse. Just in the span of a second, the Sofa returned to its normal state; as if it never broke in the first ce. Watching such an unbelievable scene unfold in front of us, Kay was even more amazed than me. At the same time, Qew also witnessed it and gasped as she stood at the bedroom door. It seemed that she had woken from the noise of the sofa breaking. She then walked towards us with great difficulty since she had just regained control over her legs. Before she could get all the way to us, she stumbled across her feet and was on her way to hit the floor. But before she could hit the floor, I used the psychokinesis ability of to stop her from falling. Using that, I made her stand upright and then lifted her up so that she floated a few inches above the floor and pulled her towards us. She opened her mouth in awe as she flew in the air. When she got closer, she eximed in surprise, saying that my eye pupils had turned golden. Then, I looked in the nearby mirror, and even though my pupils were not a pure golden colour like Olivia''s eyes, they had a shade of gold in them. It was not permanent since my eyes returned to their normal state when I stopped using Olivia''s Innate Talent. Instead of going into details, I just told my siblings that I gained a new ability on Day-2 of the Trial Program. After a short interaction, all three of us looked at MJ as we waited for him to exin what he did to the Sofa. Then, MJ puffed up his chest as he exined that what he did just then was called ''Spirit Energy Signature'', a technique that could be used by those who have at least Stage-2 Spirit Engineering expertise. Basically, what that technique does is incorporate Spirit Energy in a precise manner to restore the original structure of the said material or object. So, when I infused a small amount of my Spirit Energy into the broken Sofa, it regained its original structure due to the ''Spirit Energy Signature'' on it. Along with that, MJ had also strengthened the Sofa material by using Spirit Energy Engineering, making it harder than most metals on the. Because of the passive ability of , hearing everyone''s thoughts within a certain range was something I had to get myself ustomed to. Due to that passive ability, I could sense Kay''s thoughts. He was thinking about the boundless implications of Spirit Energy Engineering. Unlike Kay, the first thing that Qew thought was to have MJ imprint a Spirit Energy Signature on her phone so that it could repair itself in case it breaks. I shook my head as I didn''t know what to say when I read her thoughts. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER; ''Yuno'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PERSONS'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' Channel under ''Wee'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 64 - . (EDITED) When Qew asked MJ to use Spirit Energy Engineering on her phone, his chubby face gave off a smug smile, as he replied that such a small work didn''t necessarily need him to do it and pped his little hands twice. Then, the entire house was enveloped by a white cube, and suddenly, hundreds of holograms that looked precisely like MJ filled the house, but each of them was just one third the size of Baby MJ. All of those baby holograms began to perform the sameplicated Spirit Energy Engineering process, on every object in my house. Meanwhile, MJ sensed my confusion and exined that those holograms were Quantum Artificial Intelligences, and that they were a part of the perk , that he gained from awakening Battle Mode. Unlike MJ, those Quantum A.I''s were without a soul, but each of them was a million times more efficient and useful, than Earth''s most potent Quantum Computer. As for the , it was an independent Virtual Space that was under MJ''splete control. The white cube that engulfed my house was manifesting a small part of its space into reality. Using that as a medium, MJ brought those Quantum A.I''s into reality to have them do his work. I had MJ make the white cube turn invisible, so that no one from outside could notice it. Within just a few minutes, hundreds of those Quantum A.I''s finished strengthening every object in my house, along with creating a Spirit Energy Signature on each of them, including the house itself. During that process, the raw Spirit Energy from 40 Tier-1 Spirit Crystals was consumed as those crystals turned into dust upon consumption. With that, the concrete in the walls of my house became as strong as a titanium alloy. Even if my house was destroyed, it could be brought back to how it was before by just injecting Spirit Energy into it; but the Spirit Energy needed to repair it would be higher. This was amon sighting in the Worlds that were assimted with the System. When one reaches higher Tiers, their weight and strength will increase just like mine. From what MJ mentioned, that will also be the same case for Earth after the System''s assimtion. Following that, MJ removed the Invisible cube, and the Quantum A.I''s returned to the . Then, MJ mentioned, that to have a clear understanding of , I need to enter it. Since it was a Virtual Space, one had to use their consciousness to enter it. Kay and Qew also wanted to enter the , but they couldn''t control their consciousness like me. Then, MJ took out a ck ring and had Kay and Qew wear it one after another. When they removed it, a thin ck tattoo was in the ce where the ring was worn. Apparently, that tattoo would let their consciousness enter the , whenever they wanted. Without any further dy, all three of us sat on the sofa and entered the along with MJ. Upon entering it, we were standing on an endless green in. The warmth from the sunlight, the air whistling past us and the fresh smell of flowers made us doubt if it really was a virtual space. I was even able to feel my body as if it was real. If not for MJ mentioning that it was a virtual space, I would have assumed it to be an alternate space just like the Trial World. Within the vast green in, there was a town around 500 meters away from us. The houses and buildings reminded us of the European medieval era. Then, MJ exined that since he was an Epic Grade Soul A.I, the number of Quantum A.I''s that he could create were at most 10,000, and that the town in front of us was created by MJ for them. Then, MJ snapped his fingers, and all of us vanished from where we stood and reappeared at the centre of the vast medieval town square. Other than us, the vast town square was bustling with noise from thousands of Quantum A.I''s that all had the appearance of little babies who were dressed in an attire that matched the medieval age setting. Every 100 of those Quantum A.I''s formed a group as they worked on the white screens that floated in front of them while asionally discussing with each other in an unknownnguage. With MJ in the lead, we walked past those groups of Quantum A.I. When they saw us, all of them stopped working and formed a crowd around us as they greeted MJ with a bow since he was their creator. Then, MJ announced that they got an hour break for ying, causing all of those little baby A.I''s to burst into cheers. What''s amazing was that those Quantum A.I''s had feelings just like humans, but it was only on the level of a little kid. Something that was clearly visible in their behaviour. For the next hour, MJ joined them as they yed hide & seek and several other children games. They were friendly towards me, and even wanted me to y together with them, since they could sense the simrity between me and MJ. As for Kay, the little baby A.I''s were neutral towards him and didn''t invite him to y with them. But in the case of Qew, they even feared approaching her, because, ording to them, she was a scary being that bullied their creator. Looking at that, Kay and I couldn''t control ourughter. After an hour passed, Quantum A.I''s resumed their work, and MJ brought us out of the town. In that town, those Quantum A.I processed andpleted the work that MJ provided them with. It seemed that ever since he gained the perk after awakening Battle Mode, he had those 10,000 Quantum A.I working on creating the blueprints for the advancement of Earth''s technology in various fields, into Spirit Energy-based technology. That was because, once the System assimtes with the Earth, any equipment that doesn''t operate on Spirit Energy, will cease to function. That was a significant problem as that would make all electronic gadgets and modern weapons useless. It was one of the most significant downsides for Lifes that assimted with the System. On the 18-hour rest period after Day-1, I had MJ provide Kay with advanced technology, so that the ''Nav-Yuga''enterprise could grow to be a powerful enterprise. Since he couldn''t use Spirit Energy Engineering back then, all he could do was provide Kay with just the advancement of already existing technologies. But now that MJ could use Spirit Energy Engineering and the , which let him use 10,000 Quantum A.I''s, he could create Spirit Energy-based advanced gadgets instead. In the initial period after System assimtion with the Earth, humanity wouldn''t have to turn chaotic from the loss ofmunication devices and other useful technologies. After learning that MJ had the ability to mass-produce the Spirit Energy-based technology, Kay pleaded with me about making the important Spirit Energy-based gadgets avable for everyone, which would help improve the chances of humanity''s survival in the early period of the System assimtion. Since the Spirit Energy-rted technology couldn''t be reverse engineered without having the Spirit Energy Engineering ability, it would be the same as asking for trouble, as some greedy people and influential organisations would stop at nothing to get hands over the new technology. At that moment, I could have just said that it was naive of him to think about introducing a powerful technology to the world without any severe consequences. But I didn''t do that and instead agreed with him, on the condition of introducing Spirit Energy-based technology after a month from then. After some time, Kay and Qew exited the , but I stayed back along with MJ. When we were alone, MJ asked me, "Master, why did you agree to your brother''s request, even when it was a bit dangerous to release the new technology just yet. I replied, "Do you know that even after Kay was tortured by the Underground Syndicate Organization, he never hated them or the Quadnite Conglomerate for it." "If I had been in the same position as Kay and was tortured like him, I would have hated them to my core." "Just like Grandfather, Kay is also gifted with a rare nature of pure benevolence, which can be hardly seen even now, and it''ll only get worse, once the Earth bes a dog eat dog world after its System assimtion." "With the power of an Omega-Chosen that my brother will gain once he bes a holder of one of my Major ORIGIN SIGILS,bined with his nature to help others, he will eventually walk the path of a true leader in the future apocalyptic world, without even realising that himself." Then I looked at the Virtual blue sky and thought to myself with a smile, ''Be the light, brother; I shall protect you from the shadows.'' ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER; ''Yuno'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PERSONS'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' Channel under ''Wee'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 65 - Secret Base. (EDITED) Before my consciousness had exited the , MJ suggested that we get a Secret base of operations so that he could manifest a part of his there and use Quantum A.Is to work on creating prototypes of Spirit Energy-based technology and for other research purposes. Since the was a Virtual space; it wasn''t possible to take physical objects into it, hence the Quantum A.Is could, at most, only design blueprints of those prototypes in there. I agreed with MJ. As for the Secret Base location, I decided it to be at the Underground hideout of Syndicate Organization as it was hidden in an isted area outside the city. In just a few seconds, MJ had already created the construction''s blueprint and began to brief me on its specifics. At first, I assumed it to be just a few meters below the ground, but soon I learned how wrong I was when I heard that it will be located at a depth of 2500 meters. 2500 meters was even deeper than China''s Joint Military Command Centre, which is imed to be the world''s deepest nuclear fallout bunker, that was mooted to be up to 2000 meters below ground level at its deepest point. A Nuclear bunker at such depths could even withstand the direct impact of a nuclear warhead that has a yield of 1 Megaton of TNT. But, in the case of our Secret Base, which would be as big as a Deep Underground Military Base. It was designed to even withstand a direct hit from the most powerful Nuclear bomb to be ever detonated, the ''Tsar Bomba'' that has a maximum yield of 57 Megaton of TNT. Usually, toplete the construction of an Underground Bunker of such calibre, it would take a lot of time and money. Lots and lots of money. This was because as we dig deeper and deeper, the soil pressure will continue to increase, and it would be expensive and challenging to keep the Underground hole from copsing in on itself. But ording to MJ, instead of excavating the soil granite, Spirit Energy Engineering could be used topress the soil and strengthen it to form a material that is several times stronger than the reinforced concrete, which was generally used for creating fallout bunkers. That way we wouldn''t need to use any heavy machinery or remove the soil granite to form space to construct the Secret Base 2500 meters deep under the ground level. At MJ''s request, I took out the Spirit Iron Ore scraps that were formed when I coated Spirit Items with Origin Energy and gave them to him. MJ said that he could create Barrier type Spirit Equipment with them as the primary material that could suppress Sound and seismic vibrations produced during the Secret Base construction. Actually, if a construction of such magnitude were to take ce using current technology, many powerful countries could spot the soil granite extracted from the ground through their Satellite surveince. But with MJ''s measures, no one would find out that there was construction going on deep below ground level. I was once again taken aback when MJ said that it would just take 12 hours from the moment he manifests a part of 2500 meters beneath the ground level to build the Secret Base with all the 10,000 Quantum A.Is working together. It was 7:30 in the morning, and it would take another 30 minutes for MJ to make the Barrier-type Spirit Item and finish other preparations before starting to work on the Secret Base construction. It would be done by 8 in the night. I looked forward to it. But, in order to recover from the mental exhaustion I stacked from the past 48 hours, I rested on my bed. Before drifting into sleep, I asked MJ to wake me up 15 minutes before the start of the Court''s Retrial. ******* 10 minutes before the Court Retrial, Inside the Supreme Court Room. In the past 10 years that I have been the Chief of Security for the Quadnite Conglomerate, I have seen the Board of Directors and the Chairman stepping on otherpanies and individuals, and I have assisted them with it. If legal means couldn''t be used to suppress others, I would anonymously take out anypetitors under the Quadnite Conglomerate''s Chairman''s order. Due to my cautious nature, I always did detailed background checks on those targets to form a viable n ordingly. One such case was the Founder of ''Nav-Yuga'', who managed to survive the car st but still entered aa state. The Chairman intended to take out the entire family of Nav-Yuga''s Founder, but I insisted that he not do that. The main reason for that was when I did a background check on each and every family member, I learned that Nav-Yuga''s Founder has three grandchildren. Each of them had their own unique specialities. But the one that I was wary of the most was the eldest one of them. Even though he was not as intellectual as his other two siblings, his capability to learn any physical activity was off the charts. By chance, if a man of such potential escapes the murder of his family, and has nothing to lose, then it wouldn''t be long before he bes a highly trained killer that set his life goal on hunting down the ones that were responsible for what happened to his family. The consequences of such a possibility gave me chills every time I thought about it. So, I presented my reasoning to the Chairman. I was d that the Chairman found it logical and didn''t go after their family other than creating a Conspiracy against their Enterprise ''Nav-Yuga''. Just as I hoped, the oldest one among the triplets didn''t deviate into the path that I was worried about the most since he had a lot to lose. Although there wasn''t any need, I still kept tabs on their daily lives and learned that his younger brother, Kay had started collecting evidence against the Quadnite Conglomerate. But that was a just minor issue since he couldn''t win the case even if they were to reopen the ss action Case against us. The reason was simple, the judge and most of thewyers were already on our side. So, even if he were to collect enough evidence, they would still lose the case. Maybe because the Lawyer they hired to represent their Enterprise in the ss action case had been bribed by our Conglomerate, Kay studiedw in order to be awyer himself. Soon, a few years passed, and one day I learned that Kay reopened the case after bing a Contract Lawyer. The Chairman also learned about it, and against my advice, he hired the infamous Underground Syndicate Organization to get hold of the evidence even if they had to kill Kay. I kept in touch with one of the top members in the Underground Syndicate, and through him, I was able to keep track of what''s happening there. They tortured the youngest triplet, Kay for nearly 6 hours but still failed to find where the evidence was hidden. Later, the Underground Syndicate Organization head made a phone call to the oldest of the triplets, and demanded that he bring the gathered evidence against Quadnite Conglomerate in exchange for his younger brother''s life. But that was thest piece of intel I received on what was happening there. For some reason, I had a bad feeling when I stopped receiving intel. So, I went to the Criminal Syndicate''s hideout only to find out that the thick metallic entrance was cut open in half without marks indicating the usage of a metal cutter. I didn''t know of any other modern equipment that could make such a clean cut. Upon inspecting the hideout''s interior, all I could find was ash, bullet holes in the walls and few explosion marks that usually ur from grenade sts. Other than that, I couldn''t find anything evidence. But the smell of the ash there reminded me of the graveyard, which intensified the bad premonition that I had. Sitting in the Court thinking back to that incident from yesterday, I once again began to wonder about who could have erased the Underground Criminal Syndicate without as much as a piece of slight evidence in such a short period of time. Just then, my thoughts were disrupted when the court was about to begin, as the oldest of the triplets entered the courtroom as he walked towards the seat rows beside us. Along with his appearance came the abrupt silence to the point that every footstep he took caused a resonant sound within the courtroom. An unusual dominance radiated from him, making me think that just his presence alone could put him on a par with most world leaders. As he passed by us, he nced at the Director and all the top officials of the Quadnite Conglomerate. When his gaze passed by me, my body froze for a moment as I saw a golden sh in his eyes. Throughout my career, I have experienced many dangerous situations and seen several influential individuals. So, even if it was just for a fraction of a second, I was able to recognise that gaze; it was the look of a predator that had eyes on its prey. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER; ''hyperStar'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PROPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' Channel under ''Wee'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 66 - Power Of . (EDITED) Throughout my career, I have experienced many dangerous situations and seen several influential individuals. So, even if it was just for a fraction of a second, I was able to recognise that gaze; it was the look of a predator that had eyes on its prey. I felt something was off and tried tomunicate with the security detail through ourmlinks. However, my body was not in my control anymore, and what boggled my mind was that my body wasn''t frozen. Instead, it acted ording to my usual behaviour as it kept on looking around for any potential threats. Others might not find anything off, but only I know that my body was moving on its own. Since part of my job was to keep an eye on any potential threat for the Chairman, my body subconsciously kept track of Jay''s every single action because my instinct screamed at me that there wasn''t anyone more dangerous than him in the courtroom. I watched Jay sit beside his family members. Unlike his previous cold appearance, he looked like an entirely different person as he greeted his parents and siblings with a smile. After that, he gave the same cold look at thewyer that we hired to represent the Quadnite Conglomerate. Just like me, thewyer also froze for a second before returning to normal. Soon, the same process repeated with the Court Judge. I had a strong feeling that they were in the same unusual situation as me. Once the Retrial started, I was sure that they weren''t in control of their own body. This was because the Judge, who was bribed by our Conglomerate, was favoring the ''Nav-Yuga Enterprise'' instead of the Quadnite Conglomerate. Even the Attorney that we hired was not doing what he was supposed to do and instead started to support Kay who was presenting evidence against our Conglomerate. Generally, in such a scenario, a Lawyer''s client, i.e. the Quadnite Conglomerate, would be able to request another Lawyer under some pretext. However, no one made a sound, including the board of directors and the Chairman. I could already guess the reason why none of them weren''t able to move. They must have been in the same state as me. On top of that, the witnesses that we ckmailed in the previous case revealed that they made false statements back then. The evidence was so clear that the Retrial, which was supposed to take a few months, came to a conclusion in just a few hours. In the end, the Court ordered the Quadnite Conglomerate to pay back the money or assets that was worth 1.65 Trillion Rupees (22.4 Billion Dors) that ''Nav-Yuga'' Enterprise had to pay 5 years ago with interest along with an additional 10 Billion Dors (747 Billion Rupees) for orchestrating a conspiracy against the ''Nav-Yuga'' Enterprise. From the moment I had eye contact with Jay, I had be a puppet where none of my actions wasn''t in my control. From what I observed throughout the Retrial, everyone representing the Quadnite Conglomerate was in the same situation as me. After that, the board of Directors and the Chairman, who didn''t have control over their actions, made an announcement in the media outlets that they were the ones who nned the conspiracy against the ''Nav-Yuga'' Enterprise. That didn''t stop there as they also initiated the transfer of stocks and most of the Quadnite Conglomerate''s properties to the ''Nav-Yuga'' Enterprise within a few hours after the Court''s order. It didn''t take long before the announcement became a nation-wide news sensation. By night 9''0 clock, all the paperwork needed for theplete transfer waspleted, and then, for some reason, my mind nked out as if I was knocked out. ..... (A short note from Author: There is a GRAPHIC SCENE ahead in this chapter, that contains gore and blood (from torture). Proceed with your own volition.) ..... 10:30 P.M, Deep Underground Secret Base (2500 meters beneath ground level). ..... When I woke from my unconscious state, I was relieved to find that I regained control over my body, but that didn''tst long as I realised that I was alone in apletely sealed white room. Pushing aside my thoughts on today''s inconceivable events, I got a hold of myself and began to inspect the room in search of any weak points that would let me escape such as any air vents and the origin of the light source within the sealed chamber. Halfway through my search, I heard a nd voice in my mind, "Don''t bother, I didn''t intend to lock you up in the first ce.." As I heard the voice, a side of the white room separated into two identical parts, just like elevator doors. The wall that just opened seemed to be amon wall for an adjacent room that looked identical to the one I was in. The only exception was that the white floor of the adjacent room was covered in blood and pieces of body parts. Then, I looked at the irregr body hanging from the hooks at the centre of the ceiling, and even I, who had seen a lot of bloodshed, felt nauseous at the bloody sight in front of me. I could barely tell that the body was that of a man, but with his appearance, he could hardly be recognised since his hands and legs were cut off along with his ears, nose and tongue before being mutted into pieces that were spread around on the floor. But that wasn''t the end of it as he had no skin on his body, and even his inner muscles were punctured with holes, and his eyes were gouged out. But the most unbelievable part was that the tortured man was still alive even in such a state. Then, I turned my attention to the person who stood facing the horribly tortured man with butcher knives in his hands. He then turned around and looked at me, and even though his face was drenched in blood, I could right away recognise that the person was the eldest of the triplets, Jay. Once again, my body froze, but unlike thest time, my body didn''t lose control and instead froze from fear. He then snapped his fingers, and to my awe, a small quantity of water magically appeared and cleaned off the blood and grime over him. While turning his head back towards the tortured man in front of him, Jay said in a calm tone of sarcasm, "Why don''t you greet the Great Chairman of the Quadnite Conglomerate?" My eyes widened in shock as I unconsciously took a step back on learning that the barely alive mutted body was the Chairman himself and several thoughts spiralled in my mind. The thoughts I felt were not pity or empathy for the Chairman. Coming to that matter, I know that he would eventually end up in such a position for all the families and lives he had messed up in his life. If not for the expensive medications for my son''s cancer treatment, I wouldn''t have worked for him in the first ce. But I couldn''t deny the fact that I had assisted the chairman and the directors in their crimes. Looking at the man who possessed unfathomable powers, I realised that I couldn''t escape this unknown ce no matter how much I tried. I resigned myself to fate, and with a sigh, I kneeled as I pleaded, "I know I have a share of Quadnite Conglomerate''s sins and for that, I was willing to be tortured or even killed but please leave my son and wife out of it, they don''t even know about the dark things that I have done." Then, Jay waved his hand, and I was pulled up by an invisible force back into a standing position. Then the reply Jay gave then made me realise why he tortured the Chairman to such an extent, "Unlike your sincere words and thoughts, the Chairman''s plea to let him live was contrary to his thoughts of wanting to brutally kill my parents and siblings in front of me in the case he manages to escape." After that, Jay pped his hands twice, and a cylindrical container with light green liquid rose from the hole that opened up at the centre of the floor. The hook connected to the mutted Chairman''s spine moved and submerged him in the container, and a robotic voice resounded in the room. "Critical tissue damage and organ failure detected, Recovery Capsule enters hibernation mode to preserve any loss of life force." Then, Jay threw away the butcher knives and asked me to follow him as he walked outside the door-shaped entrance which formed when he ced his hand on the wall. I took onest look at the mutted Chairman and shook my head at his fate which was worse than death as he couldn''t live or die even if he wanted to. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER; ''hyperStar'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' Channel under ''Wee'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 67 - Token Of Gratitude. (EDITED) Upon exiting the room, I followed him into the broad alleyway-like space. Along the way, he didn''t speak a single word, and neither did I. We soon reached the end of the alleyway, at least that''s what I thought, until Jay ced his hand on the wall, and an entrance opened to a vast, spacious room that was big enough to fit a football stadium. I was gobsmacked by the room''s scale, and the environment was like a researchb with equipment that looks futuristic. Other than that, what caught my attention was the almost hundred humanoid robots, among which a few were operating on white-coloured holograms. Simultaneously, another few conducted various tests on the people with their hands and legs locked up to the metallic tables, as they were injected with something. All those 37 people that were treated as test subjects had one aspect inmon, and it was that all of them had partaken in the conspiracy against ''Nav-Yuga'' in one way or another. But none of them were shouting or trying to retaliate. With that, I could only assume that they couldn''t control their bodies, just like what happened to me in the Court. Then, Jay reading my thoughts, said in his usual emotionless tone, "Yes, you guessed correctly, none of them have control over their body. Would you believe me, if I said that killing all of them was the easiest thing I could do right now?" I instinctively gulped when he said that without even batting an eye. Jay continued, "But instead of killing them, I decided to let them helplessly experience being test subjects, as the A.I controlled robots inject them with all kinds of deadly diseases on the, and analyse how their bodies react to them, in order to create advanced medical vines for the diseases." Upon noticing my reaction, he shook his head and said, "Don''t worry, I won''t treat you like them. Just follow me." After that, I followed Jay as he exited the vast research room in the opposite corner to where we initially entered. As we continued to walk, I asked Jay why he didn''t treat me as a test subject just like the others, or even torture me like the Director, even though I was the one who nted the bomb that sent Jay''s grandfather into aa. Then, his reply changed the way I look at him. "Others might judge you for what you have be, but I, who have seen your memories, know what you have experienced to be what you are today, and just like me, you would do anything to save your family." "Right now, I am in a state of harmony where my decisions are mostly based on logic and rational reasoning instead of emotions. So, there is no such thing as good or bad to me, only with me or against me." "When I contemted without taking my personal emotions into consideration, I realised that I should, in fact, be thankful to you for persuading the Quadnite Conglomerate Chairman to not kill my family, and if not for that, you wouldn''t be standing near me in one piece." "I know that you did that out of your cautious nature thinking that I might be a killer that only lives for my revenge. But, what you didn''t know, was that your single decision saved me from bing a hatred-filled monstrosity that goes around killing everyone, with the power I received from the System." Even though I didn''t understand why he couldn''t feel emotions, and the so-called ''System'' he was talking about, I still understood that he currently held no intention to kill me. Before I could get my hopes up, Jay said, "If it were up to me, I would let you live. But the bomb you nted under the orders of Quadnite Conglomerate''s Chairman took Uncle Aadrik''s life, who was my family''s Chief of Security and most of all, he was the father of my only friend, Rownak." "I will let my friend be your Judge and Jury, and he will decide whether you live or die." After a short walk that was filled with silence, we finally stopped, after reaching something that actually looked like a door. Jay ced his hand on the door and said, "Even though I can''t help you much about it, I have prepared something as a token of my gratitude." Just as he said that, the door opened, and he told me to get inside. I didn''t know what he meant by token of gratitude, but when I turned back to ask him about it, he locked the door. Just when I was about to try to pull the door with all my strength, I heard a familiar voiceing from the room that I was in, "Mom, Look! Dad is here!" Upon turning around, what greeted my eyes made me fall to my knees as tears rolled down my cheeks. My 10-year-old son, who could barely walk due to him being in the final stages of Leukemia, was now running towards me cheerfully. His body wasn''t weak anymore. He then jumped onto me as he hugged me tightly, and chirped excitedly, "Dad, Mr Baby Santa said that my disease was cured and I could y as much as I want. Let''s y ''Hide & Seek''." I didn''t understand what he meant by Baby Santa, but then my wife approached me and exined everything that had happened today. I learned that, at around 1''0 clock in the afternoon, some bright white glow appeared in my son''s hospital ward, and that when they re-opened their eyes, both of them were in an unknown white room that had all necessities of a house. ording to her, a flying angel baby in a Santa Costume appeared in front of them, and had my son ingest a drop of a golden liquid, which drastically improved my son''s health. After that, the baby angel gave my wife 6 more drops of that golden liquid, and told her to feed it to our son once an hour for him to make a full recovery. Before vanishing, the Baby Angel told my wife that I would soone here, and that the golden liquid was a token of gratitude from his Master. Hearing the words, ''token of gratitude'', I realised that it was Jay''s doing. It was my dream to see my son recover and live normally like any other kid his age. Now that my dream turned into reality, I could die peacefully. I didn''t tell them that I have a day or a few at most to live, before I''d meet my final judgement. I hugged my son and wife before all three of us yed ''Hide & Seek'' as my son wished. ***** It was already 11 p.m, and there was just an hour for the 18-hour rest period to end before the start of Day 3 of the Alpha Program. I intended to go back to my house, and see if my siblings could be the Holders of my Major ORIGIN SIGILS, before they even assimted with the System. If not for MJ reassuring me that nothing harmful would happen to my siblings, I would have waited until the start of the Beta Program so that they could assimte with the System, before making each of them one of my Major ORIGIN SIGILs'' holder. But before that, I looked at the two sets of 6 Armour-type Spirit Items (A/N: Helmet, Shoulder Guards, Gauntlets, Tassets, Greaves, Boots) with one set containing Common Grade Spirit Items, while the other set has Umon Grade Spirit Items. It was enough to upgrade the growth type Spirit Item by two grades, utilizing those two sets. Initially, the set of Umon Grade Armour-Type Spirit Items were also of Common Grade. That was because Dante could only use his Fate Stats to obtain Common-type Spirit items at most since he was only in Tier-1. But, MJ managed to remould one set of Common Grade Armour-type Spirit Items to Umon Grade ones, using his Grade-4 Spirit Energy Engineering, thus making it possible for me to upgrade from Common Grade to Rare Grade. After cing both Sets of Spirit items in front of me, I epted the notification that popped up in front of me. [Specific Spirit Items that are needed to upgrade the Growth Type Spirit item are avable, Do you wish to start the absorption process?] ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADERS; ''hyperStar'' & ''Yuno'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' Channel under ''Wee'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 68 - Centauri Kavachs 1st Armour Form. (EDITED) [Specific Spirit Items that are needed to upgrade the Growth Type Spirit item are avable. Do you wish to start the absorption process?] Once I epted the notification, the set of the 6 Common Grade Armour-type Spirit Items floated in front of me. Then, the which was in the form of a Sun shaped tattoo on my chest turned lively as it began to spin while emitting zing golden mes, looking almost like a miniaturised live star. From that, a pitch-ck material began to spread across my upper body,tching onto my skin before turning into a chest armour. The Sun shaped golden imprint at the chest area of the didn''t calm down and started to spin at high speeds, as it began to radiate heat. From such heat, my clothes couldn''t escape the tragedy of being burnt off. Maybe because of the bond I formed with the , but I wasn''t damaged by the heat it emitted. The set of Common Grade Spirit Items flew into the spinning golden Sun imprint and vanished. The same happened with the other set that has Umon Grade Armour-type Spirit Items. In the next second, the half an inch thick pitch-ck armour that only covered my chest and stomach area began to spread until it enveloped every inch of my body except the head Instead of some kind of helmet, my head was wrapped in a transparent protectiveyer, that didn''t hinder any of my senses. Simultaneously, a few golden lines originated from the golden Sun imprint, and spread around on the surface of the pitch-ck part of the armour and formed intrinsic ancient symbols. Even though the covered my fingers, neck, elbow and knee joints, that didn''t restrict their range of motion nor my sense of touch. One of the aspects I liked the most about , was that I never felt ufortable wearing it. Because of that, it didn''t take more than three seconds for me to get ustomed to the full body armour. After that, MJ opened the description for me to look at its changes. ___________________ (Growth type Armor) Current Grade: Rare (Upgradable) A Bio integrable body armour that was created by a High-Phase Tier-9 cksmith using the essence of a Live Centauri Star. Growth type Spirit Items are unrivalled among the Spirit Items of the same grade. Growth Type Effect: Able to obtain a single ability from every Armour-type Spirit Item that it absorbs. Effect: Strength+15, Agility+15, Vitality+25, Endurance+25, Spirit+15 Requirements: 30 Strength, 30 Agility, 50 Vitality, 50 Endurance, 30 Spirit Durability: 100/100 1st Armour Form: (Unsealed) Full Body Armour''s Perk: : Able to alter the shape and structure of the within the Full Body Armour''s size. 2nd Armour Form: Sealed 3rd Armour Form: Sealed Inherent Skills (Rare Grade): , , , . (Grade of Inherent Skills improve ording to the ''s Grade.) ___________________ The first thing I did was to activate the System''s Safety Mode, so that the additional Stats from would be added at a slow pace, without any pain from the sudden increase in Vitality and Endurance Attributes. The 1st Armour Form, , was unsealed. When I tried to activate its perk, information on using Frame Morph was transmitted into my mind. Then I willed my body armour, to turn into the clothing that was just burnt off, and the structure of the Full Body Armour''s material altered. Following that, Instead of the Full Body Armour, I had a pitch-ck suit with golden patterns. Even though ''s toughness reduced upon turning into a suit, it still has 25% of the Full Body Armour''s defense. Still, the defense of that was morphed into a suit couldn''t be underestimated, since I wasn''t even able to make a small tear on it even when I used my full physical strength. One has to keep in mind that I was as strong as a Low-Phase Tier-3 Life Form, without even entering mode. Only when I used the , was I barely able to sh open an inch wide tear, which repaired itself almost instantly. As for the in Full body Armour form, I wasn''t able to break its defence even when I used the 2nd strongest attack in my arsenal, which was a full-on attack of that was enveloped with Stage-3 , & . Still, I believe that if I were to use the Prehistoric Skill, , it would be a piece of cake to break past the defence of . But the prerequisites were that I had to be in the mode, and on top of that, I need a ive-type Spirit Weapon to activate it. The first one wasn''t a problem, but the second condition was a significant issue. That requires me to coat any ''ive-type Spirit Weapon'' with Origin Energy for me to use the Prehistoric Skill. That was a significant issue, because once I coat any Spirit Weapon with Origin Energy, their durability would plummet rapidly before turning into scraps. So, the only way to use was through the ''Silver ive'' of my Innate Talent''s previous host. Putting those thoughts aside, I let the stay as clothing for my convenience. With its property to adjust to my size, I wouldn''t have to deal with having my clothes shred apart every time I enter mode. Next, I went through the 3 new Skills, that absorbed from the set of 6 Common Grade Spirit Items and the set of 6 Umon Grade ones. At first, I assumed that I would gain a skill each from the 12 Spirit Items (6 Common Grade + 6 Umon Grade) that the absorbed, but apparently, during the upgrading process, the Skills that had simrities with each other merged among themselves into those 3 Skills. I just went through the details of those skills, but I left testing them out for another time since I didn''t have much time left before the 18-hour rest period ended. Using the Elevator that connects the Deep underground Secret base to the ground level, I reached back to the surface; from there, it was just a few minutes ride to my house. My sister was in the courtyard of my house, learning to run around, as her personal bodyguard Esha assisted Qew, whenever she was about to stumble. If not for the Wrist band Prototype that MJ created for Qew, to transmit my experience of the essential leg coordination for walking and running, she would have still been at the stage where she had to learn how to walk properly. Other than our Family, Esha was the one that Qew trusted the most and even treated her as an elder sister. 6 hours back, when Qew asked me if she could reveal to Esha that her Paraplegia was cured, without mentioning anything about the System or the Trial Program, I agreed to her right away. If Qew were to ask me about divulging Esha in matters regarding the System and the Trial Program, I would even have agreed to her request. It wasn''t because I trust Esha or any ulterior motives in my mind for agreeing to Qew''s request. I did it simply because that would make my sister happy. Plus, with the diverse abilities of , I had the power to disregard the consequences of Qew''s actions. When Qew revealed to Esha that her ''Paraplegia'' was cured, I went through Esha''s thoughts and emotions. She was genuinely happy for Qew, and from her memories, I learned that she suspected me of having something to do with the overnight changes in Qew and Kay. But Esha didn''t pry on that issue. I even went through Esha''s memories to check if she was trustworthy and loyal. With more than 100 Stats in my Spirit Attribute, my thought processing speed exceeded way past human capabilities, and it took just a few minutes for me to go through Esha''s important memories. Turns out that my Grandfather bore the medical expenses for Esha''s ill father when they were in dire financial crisis. Even though that wasn''t able to save Esha''s father, the financial help that my Grandfather gave, prolonged the time her father was able to live before his untimely demise. Due to that, her loyalty to our family was a form of gratitude to my Grandfather. ------------- I know, I know...this chapter feels short but in actuality, it was meant to be read together with Ch.69 and that way, it would go in a smooth flow. Anyway, I guess you have to wait a few more days for the next chapter and trust me, the next chapter is gonna surprise you. SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Yuno'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' Channel under ''Wee'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 69 - Change In The Trial Programs Course. (EDITED) Even then, I didn''t unconditionally trust her like my sister, because I knew that her loyalty would waver in the future should she face a circumstance, where she had to betray our family to save her own mother. But, I didn''t want to take any chances, especially when it concerned my sister''s safety. So, with the and Stage-3 , I nted something called ''Soul Marker'' in Esha''s Soul, just like what I did at the Court Retrial. Using a ''Soul Marker'', I could restrict one''s Soul and take away control over their body. But, I didn''t do that to Esha, and just set the ''Soul Marker'' in her Soul so that it automatically activates itself, should she have even the slightest intention to harm Qew in the future. Still, the ''Soul Marker'' has its weakness as it only works on the souls of anyone that is at least a tier below the user. For those that weren''t even assimted by the System, its effect was undeniable. As for the ''Soul marker'', It was a technique that I developed based on the ''Shadow Marker'' ability of the Spirit Item , which was given out as a System reward when MJ killed the Tier-2 Shadow Leopard. ________ (Umon Grade): Enables the user to imnt a ''Shadow Marker'' in the target''s shadow to trace their location within a 100 km radius. No. of traceable targets: 100 Effect: Spirit+15^ Requirements: 25 Spirit Durability: 100/100 ________ Before I sent Shadow Leopard MJ on a killing spree, I had it merge with the , so that if ites across any other Earth''s Alpha Chosen in the Trial Zone, the Shadow Leopard MJ could imnt a ''Shadow Marker'' in their shadow to track their movements, wherever they were within the Earth''s Trial Zone. While I was in my thoughts, Qew noticed me standing at the gate entrance, and excitedly ran towards me and asked me with excitement, "Big brother, you are finally back! Kay and I were waiting for you. Together, we even tried to guess what ''Special Gift'' you said that you would give us just before the end of the Day-2 rest period." I patted her head and replied softly, "As for the ''Special Gift,'' both of you can see for yourselves and no, it''s not your favourite Ice Cream." Back when they asked me about how everything in the Court Retrial worked out in our favour, I revealed to Kay and Qew that I gained an ability rted to Soul, which basically lets me hear everyone''s thoughts around me, and even take control over their mind. When I told Qew that the ''Special Gift'' was not her Favourite Ice Cream, she knew that I read her thoughts. But she could only pout since she knew that hearing thoughts was a passive ability of my . After that, I nodded to Esha, and she left as I got into my house along with Qew. Kay was still busy with work piled up from the Quadnite Conglomerate transferring its shares and properties to our Enterprise. When he saw me, he took a break from his work and thanked me for having MJ help him with the Enterprise''s work, and that if not for him, Kay would have loads of work to deal with. After a short chat with my siblings, I revealed that the Soul rted Innate Talent was not something I looted from a Monster, but obtained through my new awakened Innate Exclusive Skill, . Then, I gave a brief exnation of ORIGIN SIGILS'' functions and their 3 subdivisions, Major, Minor and Rudimentary. I didn''t fail to mention that bing the Holder of an ORIGIN SIGIL would give me absolute control over their Innate Talents, and that I would also have the ability to strip off their powers if I willed it. But, when I was about to talk about the disadvantage any further, both Qew and Kay cut me off, asking me to skip the exnation part and to just proceed with the process of imprinting ORIGIN SIGILS. If I couldn''t read their thoughts, I would have thought it to be their impatience, but, from their thoughts, it seemed that they outright dismissed the possibility of me hurting them under any circumstance. Even though my Sister acted spoiled, she felt guilty that our family members had to personally take care of her due to her paraplegia. So, when she learned about the System''s existence and the impending invasion of monsters, she wanted to participate in the Trial program, so that she could grow powerful enough to help me. But, knowing that she had to wait for three months before entering the Beta Program, she was disappointed that she couldn''t help me till then. Still, she did her best to grow ustomed to her legs whose functionality recently returned, as she was cured with the High Vitality Fruit''s sap. But when Qew learned that the Major ORIGIN SIGILS could turn anyone into an Omega-Chosen, she wanted it even more; this was further fueled by her motivation to help me, resulting in her being very excited for the opportunity. In my brother''s case, his motivation was entirely different, as Kay didn''t want to be so powerless, that I had to save him from those who intend to harm him. It was not that he was worried about my safety, but that Kay knew that I would mercilessly annihte anyone who tries to harm him. Back when he learned that I killed all of those Underground Criminal Syndicate members, Kay even med himself for their deaths. ording to him, If he was strong enough, he wouldn''t have been captured by them, and would have resolved the situation without any casualties. As I read his thoughts, I let out a sigh at his soft-heartedness. After that, I had MJ manifest a part of the around the house, in case of any disturbance that might interrupt me during the process of imprinting ORIGIN SIGILS. I wasn''t sure if the Origin Sigil would work on those who weren''t even assimted with the System; however, I still wanted to try. I ced each of my hands on their foreheads and closed my eyes. Once I willed to imprint Origin Sigils, I sensed two pirs of Origin Energy emerging from my Unique Innate Talent within my Spirit Space. The length of those pirs continued to expand exponentially, before it finally exceeded the boundaries of my Spirit Space. Beyond my Spirit Space, I wasn''t able to sense where the pirs of Origin Energy reached. Then, a notification popped up in my vision, as that showed what had transpired between the System and . [ is forcibly summoning the allotted Innate Talents of Earth ORIGIN SIGIL Holder and Venus ORIGIN SIGIL Holder into Host''s Spirit Space.] After looking at the notification, I sent my Consciousness into my Spirit Space to have a closer look at what was happening in there. It didn''t take more than a few seconds before the Origin Energy pirs began to retreat back into my golf ball-sized Innate Talent. Soon, I was able to see the other end of the two Origin Energy pirs and each of them had Grade-7 Variant Category Innate talents attached to it. Once the Origin Energy pirspletely retracted into my Innate Talent, those two Grade-7 Innate Talents were hit by a wave of Origin Energy. Each of them continued to growrger, until they reached a diameter of 10 million km. After that, a few Origin Energy chains bound each of those two Innate Talents, and made them obediently revolve in the 10th outermost circr path around the golf-ball-sized Orb. On the day before the Milky Way Gxy Trial Program began, the System let the countless Innate Talents of the universe choose the hosts, with the highestpatibility with them. But, one would only gain the Innate Talent when they actually assimte with the System. At least that was the case until defied that Universally acimed logic by letting my siblings gain their Innate Talents even before their assimtion with the System. Following that, I exited my Spirit Space and opened my eyes. There was an exquisite silver imprint of Earth on Kay''s be. (E/N: the spot between the eyebrows) The Earth ORIGIN SIGIL, which represented his Kindness, was slowly rotating with a trace of the silver moon revolving around it, just like how the moon revolves around Earth. In my sister''s case, it was the exquisite silver imprint of Venus ORIGIN SIGIL, which represents her yfulness and her unconditional love for anyone that she trusts. Just when I was about to test the Innate Talent abilities of my siblings, the Trial-Worldwide announcement notifications that popped up, sent me into a daze. [# Due to the appearance of three Omega-Chosen, the duration of ''Milky Way Gxy Trial Program'' will be shortened] [# Duration of the Alpha Program shortened from 3 months to 1 month.] [# Duration of the Beta Program shortened from 6 months to 2 months.] [# Duration of the Gamma Program shortened from 9 months to 3 months.] [# All Trial World Tournaments were preponed to match the shortened Trial Program.] ------------- (SHOUTOUT:''Fenris Monocle'' is a piece of Equipment created through the customisation-benefit of an ''Alpha-Patron'' - Fenris. A shout-out to ''Fenris''! ) SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADERS; ''Yuno'' Note: To make up for the inconvenience caused by 1-day dy in chapter release. I am givingaway ''1 advanced chapter (Ch.70)'' for free evryone in the Discord server. [Check in the ''announcements'' Channel under ''Wee'' Category."] As for the ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment on Ch.69 will a 2nd ADVANCED CHAPTER'' (Ch.71) for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for more Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' Channel under ''Wee'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 70 - Universe Laws. (EDITED) Soon, I recovered from my daze and looked at MJ, expecting some answers. However, through our mental connection, I could tell that he was just as puzzled as me. Noticing my gaze, MJ answered while he fiddled with his fingers, "Master, this¡­ in the System records, there was no mention of such a drastic decrease in a Trial Program''s duration." He was a bit anxious, fearing that I would scold him for being unable to predict such an oue. When he saw me raising my hand at him, he closed his eyes and scrunched his shoulders in fear. Instead of what he expected, I just patted his head as I consoled him, that it was not his mistake, since even he couldn''t predict everything, and asked him to brief me on the changes brought by the shortening of the Trial Program''s duration. With MJ exining in detail, it just took me a few minutes to overview the situation. It seemed that ording to the System records, there were only two cases in which a Gxy Trial Program had two Omega Chosen at most, but that didn''t bring any changes to their Trial Program. From that, I could see why MJ assumed that there wouldn''t be any changes even when a Gxy Trial Program has three Omega Chosen. The change led to the Trial Program''s duration, being reduced to one-third of its original size. As for the Tournament among 1000 Trial Zones, which was supposed to be held on Day-30 of the Trial Program, was preponed to Day-10 instead. The same was the case for the other two Tournaments, i.e. Trial Continent Tournament and Trial World Tournament, that were preponed to Day-20 and Day-30, respectively. Even though the duration shortened, that didn''t increase the difficulty of said tournaments, since all the Alpha Chosen of the differents had the same amount of time as us to grow stronger. The true impact of the change in the Trial Program''s course, lies in whates once it ends. Because, one of the main reasons of the Trial Program existence, was to let the Chosen of a Gxy be strong enough, for them to face the inevitable monster invasion. Because of that, the standard time period of a Trial Program was set to be 18 months, but, with my siblings gaining a Grade-10 Innate Talent each, both of them were considered as ''Omega-Chosen'' by the System, causing the Trial Program to shorten by 12 months from what it should have been. I also learned that even with Tier-4 System ess, MJ was unable to find information on why the Trial Program shortened with the appearance of 3 Omega Chosen. At this point, we could only make assumptions; MJ guessed that the System might have considered the potential of 3 Omega Chosen to be sufficient to deal with the monster invasion. However, I had a feeling that it wouldn''t be as simple as that. When the System announcements appeared, it didn''t congratte Qew and Kay by their names, or that they were from Earth, like it did with Olivia. It seemed that even though my siblings were considered as Omega Chosen, both of them were yet to assimte with the System. Without the System, they couldn''t learn any information on what their Innate Talent was or even what abilities it possessed. With no connection with the System, both of them had to find out their Innate Talent usage by themselves. They had to wait until the Beta Program could begin to be an official ''Omega-Chosen.'' Upon hearing that, Qew was dejected that she couldn''t join the Alpha Program and assist me in the Trial World. Iforted her, by telling her that she could stay on Earth and learn more about her Innate Talent''s abilities, and slowly adjust herself to the Undistributed Looted Stats I provide both of them with. That way, my siblings could protect our family when I was in the Trial World. I just said that to console my sister, as there was no need for her to protect our family, since MJ had already assigned 100 Quantum A.I to conduct constant surveince on everyone in the World. Those who intend to harm us would be put on a list, that I would give a visit in the uing 18-hour-rest period. Coming to the details of their Innate Talents, unlike them, I could see their information since I was assimted with the System. So, I had MJ upload their Innate Talents'' information onto their respective Wristband Prototypes that MJ had made using Spirit Energy Engineering. Those Wristband prototypes were Spirit Energy-based Gadgets, which were embedded with several useful functions. One of its primary functions was ''A.I Space Communication'', which made it possible for them to use their wristband prototype tomunicate with me, even when I was in the Trial World. Another useful function was ''Simted Status,'' which would allow the Wristband Prototype user to look at the MJ''s simted version of their Status. Using that function, both my siblings opened their Simted Status with a thought, since the Wristband Prototype needed mentalmands, as it tapped into one''s consciousness. Along with them, I looked at both of their Simted Status that were projected in front of them, from their Wristband Prototype. ________________________ [SIMULATED STATUS] Name: Kay Age: 23 Race: Inferior Human (Male) (Yet to assimte with the System) Level: N/A Life Energy: 0/100 Tier: N/A Strength: 6 Agility: 7 Vitality: 14 (5+9^) [^ - for Spirit Items {includes Spirit Fruits}] Endurance: 6 Spirit: 20 Health: 140/140 Stamina: 30/30 Spirit Energy: 100/100 (Locked until System Assimtion) Luck: 11 Undistributed Stats: 0 Pseudo Skill: Eidetic Memory Disease: Polymyositis (Cured) INNATE TALENT: (Grade-10) (Variant Category): The Host will be able to manipte the 19th Powerful Law of the Universe, ''The Law of Rules,'' depending on the Host''s Innate Talent Mastery level. (Yet to awaken the Innate Exclusive Skills.) ________________________ [SIMULATED STATUS] Name: Qew Age: 23 Race: Inferior Human (Female) (Yet to assimte with the System) Level: N/A Life Energy: 0/100 Tier: N/A Strength: 6 Agility: 5 Vitality: 16 (7+9^) [^ - for Spirit Items {includes Spirit Fruits}] Endurance: 7 Spirit: 18 Health: 140/140 Stamina: 20/35 Spirit Energy: 90/90 (Locked until System Assimtion) Luck: 14 Undistributed Stats: 0 Pseudo Skill: Parallel thinking Disease: Paraplegia (Cured) INNATE TALENT: (Grade-10) (Grade-10): The Host will be able to manipte the 17th Powerful Law of the Universe, ''The Law of Convergence,'' depending on the level of Host''s Innate Talent Mastery. (Yet to awaken the Innate Exclusive Skills.) ________________________ With the description of their Innate Talents being too vague, Qew and Kay didn''t understand what it meant by the ''Law of Rules'' and ''Law of Convergence.'' Even though the description of their Innate Talents was vague, I had a basic understanding of ''The Law of Rules'' and the ''The Law of Convergence'' from their Lv.1 Innate Talent Masteries, i.e., , and Lv.1, which I gained, through the Major ORIGIN SIGILS. So, I exined to them, that just like how the Laws of Physics govern the Earth, The Universe was also governed by numerous Laws. Usually, one needed to reach at least Immortal Realm (Tier-7 to Tier-9) before one could have the ability to manipte one of the Universal Laws that corresponds to their Innate Talent. But the Omega-Chosen were an exception from that, as they have the ability to manipte such Powerfulws from Tier-1 itself. That was another major reason as to why the Omega-Chosen were feared and respected throughout the Universe, even at lower Tiers. With the ''Synchronize'' function of my ORIGIN SIGILS, I could just share the knowledge regarding their respective Lv.1 Innate Talent Masteries with my siblings. However, I was worried for their safety since it would be dangerous to transmit knowledge without assimting with the System. Then, MJ suggested that the way around the problem was to increase the Spirit Attributes of my siblings. For that, I sent my siblings 20* Undistributed Looted Stats each and had MJ set them to periodically improve their Stats while giving my siblings the time to adjust to the improved Stats. Once I was done with everything, there was only 5 minutes left before Day-3 would begin. During that time, I rxed on the sofa as MJ opened the fridge and sneakily slipped a few of Qew''s favourite Ice Creams into my Limiter Ring''s Storage Space for him to enjoy, when we were back in Spirit World. I admired MJ''s guts to steal under Qew''s nose, as it''s not something even I would dare to do. Meanwhile, Qew boasted to Kay, "Little brat, the Convergence Law that I can manipte is two ranks higher than yours. Quick, praise your Big Sister." Hearing Qew, Kay facepalmed himself, and I chuckled at his inner thoughts, ''A Powerful ability was wasted on my Devil Sister.'' Looking at the chaos in the house, my heart was filled with warmth, and soon the 18-hour-rest period ended, causing me to be teleported back to the Trial World. I looked forward to testing the new Skills of and my siblings'' Grade-10 Innate Talents abilities. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Yuno'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' Channel under ''Wee'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 71 - (EDITED) I was teleported to the Trial World and reappeared in front of the Underground Maze''s Entrance. It seemed that with the high Endurance Attribute, my body automatically ustomed itself to the teleportation since I didn''t feel the nauseous sensation that I''d usually experience right after teleportation. But that was not the same case for Dante, as he was clearly trying to suppress his urge to vomit. Just in case he threw up, I moved a few steps away from him. Then, I used my Umon Skill Lv.1 and found that he had reached Tier-2. He seemed to take my advice of undergoing Tier-2 evolution during the 18-hour-rest period. In the next few seconds, Dante recovered from his nauseous state, and tears welled up in his eyes as he thanked me from his bottom of his heart. "Thanks to the magical medicine you gave, Uncle Roberto waspletely healed from his near-death state. I will never forget your help in my entire life." As I could read his mind, I could tell that his each and every word was genuine and heartfelt. I took advantage of that situation and revealed my true intentions. "Let me put this straight, in this day and age, there are only a few that help others purely out of kindness and I am not one of them. I only helped you because of the necessity, I have with your Fate rted abilities." Then, I pointed my forefinger out towards him, and a circr ''Rudimentary Origin Sigil,'' with the silver-coloured number ''1'' on it, appeared over it. Then, I began to exin that it was an ability that lets me share others Innate Talent abilities. When I was halfway through mentioning the disadvantages that it would bring him, Dante cut me off and agreed to it, before giving me a reply that waspletely out of my expectations. "To you, I might be just a random person you saved along the way, but to me, you are a saviour brought by Fate." "Another reason why I trust you is that other than Uncle Roberto, you are the only person to not distance yourself from me, even after knowing that I bring misfortune." With the Tier-3 monsters under System''s restriction, there weren''t any other monsters in the Earth''s Trial Zone that could threaten me. As for the misfortune that he was worried about attracting, that wouldn''t affect me since, if any monsters attacked us, it would only be unfortunate for those monsters. So, I never worried about his whole misfortune thing at all. But I didn''t expect that would make Dante put his blind trust in me. Since it was a win-win for both of us if he were to ept an Origin Sigil, I didn''t dy and sent the floating silver Rudimentary Origin Sigil towards his forehead. Soon, it entered his Spirit Space and through that Rudimentary Origin Sigil, I could sense Dante''s Innate Talent , which was an Ash Grey Orb with a diameter of 1 meter. Even though it was smaller than a 10 meters wide Grade-1 Innate Talent, it was still 20 timesrger than my Innate Talent, which was 5 cm in diameter. Soon, the Rudimentary Origin Sigil reached the Ash Grey Orb and to my disbelief, the Origin Sigil was rejected by his Unique Innate Talent, . Thinking that the Rudimentary Origin Sigil was not strong enough, I sent the Minor Origin Sigil, but the same scene repeated itself. As thest try, I even sent one of the 10 Major Origin Sigils to see if that would work, but that too failed. If not for the notification that appeared in front of me, I would have thought that the mighty Origin Energy failed to subdue Dante''s Innate Talent. [Your current Origin Energy Mastery (1%) is insufficient to imprint an ORIGIN SIGIL on .] Dante stood there with a nk face as he waited for something to happen. Just from that, I could tell that he couldn''t sense what transpired in his Spirit Space, even without reading his thoughts. Right then, I heard MJ''s excited voice in my mind, "Master, I finally located an Aerial type Monster. As long as I get it for my 3rd Corpse Integration Slot,pleting the Virtual Map for Earth''s Trial Zone would take a lot less time." The Virtual Map that MJ mentioned was a miniaturised 3D model of the entire Trial Zone that we were in. To create that Virtual Map, MJ had to visit each part of the Trial Zone in person, and to cover the entire Trial Zone''s area of 10,000 sq.km (3861 sq.miles), it would take a long time for a monster on the ground. But if it was an Aerial type monster, the time needed to create a Virtual Map would be drastically reduced. With that, MJ could render the Earth Trial Zone''s 3D model map to hopefully find the traces of a Grade-4 Spirit Fruit that could save my Grandfather. Upon learning that Shadow Leopard MJ found an Aerial type monster, I intended to go there right away to hunt that monster. But I had to hold my horses after learning that it was a Mid-Phase Tier-3 Monster, with its habitat enveloped by a System restricted Dome. If not for the Restriction Dome that was set by the System, I would have just headed straight towards the Aerial type monster. Through our mental connection, I asked MJ, "Why did you mention that Tier-3 Aerial type monster to me, when it was within a System restricted Dome, which is powerful enough to not crack even under continuous attacks of a peak Tier-4 Lifeform." Then, MJ replied, "Master, at this stage, it might be an impossible feat for any other Alpha Chosen but, to you, who has the ability to manipte the ''Law of Rules'', it isn''t much of an issue." I was surprised to learn that the Barriers that the System uses were basically created by the ''Law of Rules''. ording to MJ, as long as I increase the to Stage-2, I would be able to enter the System restricted Dome by temporarily disabling a part of it for a few short seconds. After that, I turned towards Dante and just told him that it would take me more time to imprint Origin Sigil on his innate Talent and both of us went back to the Underground Maze Centre. I suggested Dante to train in , whereas I began toprehend the Mastery of my Brother''s Innate Talent, . With theprehension methods that were transmitted to my mind from gaining Lv.1, I was able to increase myprehension over the ''Law of Rules''. Since it was a Grade-10 Innate Talent, it took me just an hour to reach Lv.11 (Stage-2) from Lv.1 (Stage-1). Upon reaching Stage-2, I even managed to awaken Apex Ruler''s 1st Innate Exclusive Skill, . [ : Let''s the user create a 25-member Party, where the party members could equally share the Life Energy gained from killing monsters. Any attack of a Party member couldn''t harm another Party member.] To test it out, I called out for Dante, and when I mentioned that I wanted to test a new skill on him, he began to sweat a lot. Only when MJ convinced him that the Skill I would use would be beneficial to him, did he calm down and ept the Party Invitation that I sent him. Once he epted, I brought out a random Common Grade Sword from Limiter Ring''s Storage Space and took a swing at him, with less than 5% of my strength. Looking at me take out a Sword and strike at him, he screamed in fear, "How in the hell is this benefici¡­.." Before he could finish his sentence, the sword strike already reached his hand, but it was blocked by an invisible barrier, that was created by the Law of Rules. In the next few minutes, I continued the testing process with various Skills and abilities in my arsenal, but nothing worked. The same situation repeated itself even when I had Dante to attack me. As for Dante, he was ecstatic because in thest 15 minutes since he epted my Party invitation, he already levelled up twice without even having to do a thing. It wasn''t shocking, because the Life Energy I gained from the monsters that Hobgoblin MJ and Shadow Leopard MJ killed was being equally shared between Dante and me. Dante''s ecstasy turned into that of a shock, when he suddenly thought about what might be the amount of Life Energy I had stacked till then. Even though Dante didn''t ask me that, I was annoyed by his thoughts, as I could sense him trying to guess how much Life Energy I''ve stored up; he almost seemed to be in some sort of trance, as he was doing it. So, I had MJ to show him the Life Energy and Estimated Level section of my , and that seemed to shut him up. But looking at Dante, who had his jaw dropped with no hope of recovering anytime soon, I second-guessed my decision to show him the amount of my Life Energy. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Yuno'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within ''advanced-chapters'' Channel under ''Wee'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 72 - . (EDITED) Ignoring Dante, who was still in shock, I opened the Stats section in my to look at the improvements from the centauri Kavach''s stats, that were added through the system''s safety mode. _____________ Level - 25 (Tier-2; High-Phase) Estimated Level - 37 (Tier-3; Mid-Phase) ~~~ * ? Looted Stats ^ ? Spirit Item Stats ¡ã ? Achievement Title Stats E ? Evolution Stats Lt ? Temporarily Limited Stats ~~~ Strength: 130 (33+15*+72^+10 E) Agility: 125 (33+15*+67^+10 E) Vitality: 125 (65+15*+35^+10 E) Endurance: 125 (70+15*+25^+5¡ã+10 E) Spirit: 125 (85+15*+15^+10 E) Luck: 47 (7+25^+15¡ã) Health: 1250/1250 Stamina - 625/625 Spirit Energy - 605/625 Undistributed Stats: 0 _____________ On top of the Centauri Kavach''s additional stats (i.e, STR+15, AGI+15, VIT+25, End+25, SPR+15), there were also the Looted stats that I gained every time I exited Inverse mode. With them, my Overall stats reached ''630'', which was why my ''Estimated level'' showed LV.37, bringing me on par with a Mid-Phase Tier-3 Being. As thest preparation to fight against the High-Phase Tier-3 Aerial monster, I used to temporarily limit my Strength Attribute to by 5 stats. [Strength: 130-5Lt -> 125] [With all 5 main Attributes in Equilibrium, automatically activated and you have entered the State of Harmony.] A cooling sensation spread through my mind, as I magically gained off the charts control over my 5 Main Attributes. After entering the state of Harmony, I didn''t directly leave for the Aerial monster''s habitat. Instead, I decided to make a short visit to Olivia''s group and leave Dante with them, so that I don''t have to babysit him while I fight against that Aerial monster. With Hobgoblin MJ protecting their group, I don''t need to worry about Dante''s safety. Well, with his Fate stats, Dante could survive just fine even without MJ''s protection. But, I wanted him to focus on increasing his , so that he could help me in tracking down the Grade-4 Spirit Fruit I was looking for. Another reason for intending to visit Olivia''s group, was to give Andrea a Party Invite. From MJ, I learned that Andrea trained her Innate Talent Mastery during the 18-hour rest period, and brought it to Stage-3. But to save my Grandfather, she needs to at least have Stage-4 Mastery in the Light Element. With her Grade-8 Innate Talent, it wouldn''t take long before she reached the peak of Stage-3 Mastery, but going past that was an entirely different topic, due to the existence of the 1st Universal Limit. Still, it wouldn''t be much of an issue, considering that Andrea had an Grade-8 Innate Talent. So, by epting my Party Invite, Andrea could solely focus on training in her , without having any need to level up on her own. After that, I would leave there and go towards the Aerial monster''s habitat by myself. Since Hobgoblin MJ was with Olivia''s group, they wouldn''t be in any danger whatsoever. Once I decided on my course of actions, I asked Dante,"Did you consume any food in thest 3 hours?" Hearing that, Dante replied in puzzlement, "No, but why do you ask?" Instead of answering him, I looked at the description of one the Centauri Karach''s Inherent Skills, . _____________________ (Rare Grade): Able to use suction force to pull any object or lifeform towards the user as long as it weighs less than the user. Range: 1000 meters. Cost: 10 spirit Energy per use. _____________________ Compared to the Skill''s information that was transmitted to my mind, it''s description was rather vague, because the uses and applications of that skill were numerous. One of them was to use it for high speed movement. But, before I activated it, I passed my Stream Wind Sword to Dante, and asked him to hold onto my Stream Wind Sword as hard as possible. Even though he didn''t understand why I was asking him to do that, he stillplied. I lifted my left arm and pointed at the top of a tree that was 200 meters away from me and murmured, "Isted Suction". Since a 20 meter tall Tree weighs more than me, who weighed in at around 1600 pounds, I was pulled towards it at high speeds, just like a pebble that was fired from a slingshot. At such speed, it took me just a second to traverse the 200 meter distance. If not for me using the psychokinesis ability of Olivia''s Innate Talent to deviate myself at the end, I would have crashed into the tree. With no more suction force in action, I began to fall back to the ground like a stone that was thrown at a 45 degree angle. But, before Inded on the ground, I once again activated upon another tall tree that was 300 meters away from me. By repeating the same process, I continued to travel towards Hobgoblin MJ, who was with Olivia''s group. Slowly, I increased the range of until it reached its maximum. With my enhanced vision, it wasn''t a problem for me to have a clear look at a tree that was a kilometer away. Unlike how it took me a second to cross 200 meters, it took me 5 seconds to reach the tree that was a kilometer away. In my mind, MJ analysed that my velocity while using was 200 m/s. If not for , I had to at least be a Low-Phase Tier-4 Lifeform to move at the astonishing speed of 200 m/s. Due to the Skill, , the always stuck floating closer to me. As for Dante, he held onto the like a ko hugging a tree branch. There wasn''t any problem for him to cling on the Sword since the skill was active, and with that, he basically holds on to the softyer of wind around the . Even with 30 Stats in the Endurance Attribute, Dante still had to close his eyes, since he didn''t have goggles to protect his eyes at high speeds. With around 600 points of Spirit Energy, I didn''t shy away from continuous usage of , which consumed 10 Spirit Energy per use. Just like that, it took me less than 3 minutes to traverse 23 kilometers (14.3 miles), and Olivia''s group soon entered my vision. ****** -----Sergei''s P.O.V----- Just like what was in the agreement that Olivia had with me, she made me her Company''s Chief of Security in the 18-hour rest period after Day-2. With the information she collected on the remaining members of the Assassination Organization, that had tried to kill my daughter and me, I began my hunt. The concealment abilities of my Grade-8 Darkness Innate Talent made it a cakewalk for me to infiltrate past any security detail, and take down most of the higher ups of that Assassination Organization before the rest period ended. Back when Olivia recovered from her near death state, the System announcements mentioned that she turned into an ''Omega-Chosen''. Even though I didn''t exactly know what that meant, I became sure that it was even above the title ''Alpha-Chosen'' from the pressure she unintentionally gave off with just her casual gaze. It was totally different from a Tier Suppression, as I felt an invisible oppressive force upon my Innate Talent, rather than my physical body. Later, she controlled the Innate Talent suppression that exuded from her, and told us not to ask her anything regarding the incident that happened just then, as that she would exin it when the time is right. Even though Olivia didn''t tell us anything, I had a hunch that everything has to do with the man who stood at the top of the Trial World Leaderboard rankings. By the end of Day-2, Olivia even surpassed me in the Leaderboard rankings. Even though Olivia didn''t need me with her new potential and how fast she levelled up, she didn''t waver any of our agreement conditions, and fulfilled her end of the deal. Along with her honesty, her leadership, and capabilities to analyse and deal with any situation in a calm and collected way, only made my admiration grow for her. So, I decided to follow Olivia and help her gather more of Earth''s Alpha Chosen before the tournament began. When Day-3 began, Kasim and Andrea started with sharing their opinions and thoughts on the change in the duration of the Trial Program. But from Olivia''s expression during our discussion, I could tell that she knew something about it, but she didn''t mention anything and instead diverted the topic to hunting monsters. That only increased the centainity of my hunch that everything had to do with the Hobgoblin''s master. But I didn''t voice my thoughts, and following that, we began hunting monsters without being careful of any monsters, since we had the all powerful Hobgoblin Monster protecting us. An hour passed while we were at it and then all of a sudden, Olivia froze in her tracks and turned to face north. I extended my ''Shadow Sense'', which was an ability of my Darkness Innate Talent that let me sense any movements of Shadows within a kilometer radius. Through that, I sensed a shadow heading straight towards us at a breakneck speck. I alerted the others in our group and all of us took a defensive stance, except for the Hobgoblin monster, which did something that I didn''t expect such a powerful monster to do. It kneeled on one leg with an expectant look on its face, as it looked at the direction of the iing shadow. Looking at the Hobgoblin monster''s actions, a sudden realisation dawned upon me. In the next second, a loud bang resounded a few meters in front of us as if two cars collided against each other and earth momentarily shook, as we were hit by the waves of wind that were caused by the crash. Once the dust settled, there was a 4 meter wide crater visible at the crash site, and at the centre of that crater, there stood a man in a golden ck suit, with a long sword vertically floating half a meter behind his back. My suspicions were confirmed, when I heard the Hobgoblin Monster''s words, "Wee, Master." ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Yuno'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 73 - Clash With A High-Phase Tier-3 Monster. The man in the Golden ck suit¡­ no, rather the Trial World''s No.1 Alpha Chosen, Jay patted the kneeling Hobgoblin''s head and lifted it up. Then, he swept his gaze at all of us, pausing at Olivia, she instinctively took a step back and fear was evident in her eyes. But she managed to get a hold of herself and nodded at Jay, who nodded back at her. Unlike the Hobgoblin''s Tier Suppression, Jay didn''t outright pressure us, but his posture and the way he looked at us gave me a bad feeling, almost as if I was no longer in control of my own life. To those who might not know better, it might look like an act of dominance, but from his eyes, I could tell that it was his pure confidence; this was to the degree, that he wouldn''t care about us, even if we all teamed up on him at once. After that, my attention turned towards the person who just got off the floating sword, and was coughing in an embarrassed manner for some unknown reason. I used the skill on him, and found his name to be Dante, along with some other information on his . But the most peculiar thing, was that he levelled up from Lv.12 to Lv.13 right in front of my eyes, even when Dante didn''t do anything. In the case of Jay, when I used on him, I couldn''t find anything other than his name. While I was thinking, Jay approached Andrea, who was still in awe from learning that the man in front of her, was the master of the powerful Hobgoblin. Then, Andrea showed a startled expression, as she looked at the empty air in front of her and lifted her head back towards Jay, to which he told Andrea to ept something called ''a Party Invitation'' and that it would only be beneficial for her. At first, Andrea hesitated, but when the Hobgoblin monster mentioned that she could gain some of the Life Energy that its Master would obtain, she epted it. Once Andrea epted the so called ''Party Invitation'', she immediately levelled up once, startling us. Kasim was the most excited one and from his face, I could tell that he wanted to ask Jay for that ''Party Invitation'' that he gave Andrea. But, at the same time, Kasim was too afraid to ask that man whose presence itself was so domineering. Then, Jay asked Olivia if she wanted the ''Party Invitation,'' to which she shook her head. For an Independent woman like her, it was understandable to reject help from others, but for some reason, she didn''t even dare to meet his eyes. Even when Olivia rejected his offer, there wasn''t any change in Jay''s expression, almost as if he expected it. He then asked Andrea and Dante to just focus on increasing their respective Innate Talent Masteries. After instructing the Hobgoblin monster to protect them, Jay pointed his hand in the south direction and disappeared from his spot, leaving a set of after images in his path. Just the speed at which he moved was an evidence of how vast the difference in our power levels was. I hoped there wouldn''te a day where I had to fight against that man. ****** From there, the habitat''s location of the Aerial monster was 14 km away to the south and with the continuous use of , it took me a little over one minute to arrive. The transparent dome that enveloped the habitat, was the upper half of a hollow sphere with a diameter of 500 meters. The first thing I did was to absorb a few Spirit Crystals to replenish my Spirit Energy. After that, I ced my hand on the Transparent Dome and felt the ''Law of Rules'' ingrained in the Dome barrier. Just like MJ had said, Using the Stage-2 , I was able to manipte the System restricted Dome. But still, the extent to which I could manipte it was limited, as I was only able to create a door sized pathway into the Dome, which I walked in through. As for the hole, it slowly started to repair itself and at that rate, it would atmost take a few more seconds before it wouldpletely close up. Right then, I heard a loud screech from the centre of the Habitat within the Transparent Dome. The screech became louder and louder, and soon the Aerial type monster appeared in my vision, as it flew towards me at a fast speed. As the monster got closer, it''s appearance became clearer; it resembled an Eagle, but it''s overwhelming size wasparable to a fighter jet as it''s wings spanned 13 meters (42 ft) wide, and from head level to feet it was 5 meters tall (16 ft). It''s body was covered in sharp emerald-green feathers, that shone from the light reflecting off them. When I used on it, the Skill''s level increased from Lv.2 to Lv.8 in one leap. [Lv.48 Storm Eagle (Tier-3; High-Phase)] Other than it''s level and Tier, I couldn''t find anything else in it''s . With the speed at which that monster flew, it took just 5 seconds for it to close up on me. Instead of attacking me, it tried to exit the Transparent Dome through the hole, which was halfway through the self-repairing process. But with its huge body, that hole in the Dome Barrier wasn''t big enough to escape. So, it tried to w at the hole to make it bigger but no matter what it did; it wasn''t able to budge the Barrier. The Storm Eagle could only watch as the Holepletely vanished from the Transparent Dome, and only then did the monster turn its attention towards me. Maybe because it couldn''t escape the Dome, or that it was like any other monster which goes berserk on seeing Alpha-Chosen, the Storm Eagle let out an angry screech, that resounded within the dome. Following that, it attacked me with its right w that had sharp talons, clearly intending to kill me with a single strike. The Storm Eagle underestimated me, if it thought that it could kill me with such ease. Instead of dodging the iing talons, I enveloped the with and at the same time to attack it. The Storm Eagle seemed to have sensed danger from my attack and tried to change the course of its w. Still, it wasn''t able to escape, as the Sword attack struck its w, snapping away a single one of the four talons of Storm Eagle''s w. Instead of going berserk after being wounded, it acted cautiously and flew into air, from where it attacked me using ranged Wind Element attacks. Compared to the Dire Wind Wolf, the Storm Eagle''s Wind element attack damage output and their speed were on another level. Even the huge trees were sliced apart like butter. MJ analysed that the maximum speed of Storm Eagle reached 120 m/s, and the attacks it created while moving at such speeds even reached up to 150 m/s. If not for using , I wouldn''t be able to dodge those sharp Wind des, that the monster continued to shoot down at me. I was taken back by the Intelligence level of a Tier-3 monster, as it devised a counter after observing my movement ability in just a short time span. It then used countless sharp Wind Shards to attack 200 meters around me, leaving me no way to dodge them, even when I used the . I had 625 overall Stats whereas the Storm Eagle should have around 800 overall Stats, since it was Lv.48. If I were to use mode, my overall stats would be 1000, and with the defensive properties of Origin Energy, I would only receive 50% of its wind elemental attacks'' damage. Killing it like that would be a piece of cake, but I didn''t want to always rely on mode. The reason why I decided to fight head-on against the Storm Eagle, was to hone my battle senses and gain fighting experience. Even without entering mode, I had a few trump cards of my own. Before the Wind Shards could reach me, I morphed my Golden ck Suit back to the Full Body Armour form. In an instant, a pitch-ck armour with golden patterns covered every inch of my body except for my head, which was enveloped in a protectiveyer of transparent scales, improving my overall defence by a whole lot. When I was hit by those high-speed wind shards, they only managed to leave a few scratches on the Full Body Armour, which recovered in the next second. Other than the asional knockbacks from the impact of those Wind Shards, I didn''t receive any damage whatsoever. The new revtion seemed to puzzle the Storm Eagle, as it paused its barrage of attacks. I took that chance to activate the Stage-3 perk of Sword mastery, , to shoot 4 meter long Sword Aura Projectiles at the flying monster. ------------- A shout out to ''David Ramirez'', who customised the Tier-3 High Phase Monster, ''Storm Eagle'' through the customisation-benefit of the Patron Tier: ''Alpha-Chosen''. SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Yuno'' ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 74 - Min-soo’s Encounter {(Part-1) Out Of 3} Even though those Sword Aura Projectiles travelled at incredible speeds, with the Storm Eagle flying 150 meters in the sky, it had enough time to dodge them, especially with it''s agility which was further augmented by its control over Wind Element. I continued to attack it using every projectile attack in my arsenal, and none of them managed to even graze the monster. Since my attacks couldn''t reach the monster, whereas its attacks that managed to reach me couldn''t break past my Centauri Kavach''s defence, the Storm Eagle and I were stuck in a draw. The monster''s intelligence was so high that it even feigned attacking me by getting closer in order to let me use more skills and use up my Spirit Energy. I didn''t let the Storm Eagle realise that I understood it''s intentions and yed along by continuing to attack it, and soon, my Spirit Energy was drained. I could feel the dizziness trying to pull me into sleep, and tiredness could even be visible in my posture. Noticing me in such a state, the Storm Eagle let its guard down and dived towards me with its maximum speed, intending to pierce me with it''s beak. When it reached 30 meters away from me, I activated , a Rare Grade Skill of (Rare Grade): Lets the userpletely refill their Spirit Energy Pool. (It can only be activated once the user''s Spirit Energy runs out.) Cooldown: 12 hrs. ________ In an instant, my Spirit Energy reached its maximum capacity again. [Spirit Energy: 0/625 --> 625/625] By then, the Storm Eagle was 10 meters away from me. I pointed the tip of my Stream Wind Sword at its head and activated and at the same time. Since the Monster would have at least 30% Wind Element Resistance, I even coated Darkness element over the Sword Aura Extension to finish it off with that attack. At a speed of 120 m/s, it couldn''t dodge my attack with such a short distance in between us. As ast-ditch effort, the Storm Eagle folded its neck and ced both of its ws to protect its head. But that wasn''t of much use as my attack pierced through its ws, and the Storm Eagle''s high-speed movement in the opposite direction of my attack caused the monster to ram itself into my attack. Just when my attack passed through the Storm Eagle''s ws and was about to pierce it''s head, something unexpected happened. ***** Even though I was just 22 years old, I was called a Prodigy in my field of work. I, Min-soo, was close to cracking Warp technology, which was tens or even hundreds of years advanced from current time. But toplete my research, I needed a vast amount of resources, which was ultimately denied by the South Korean government and other Conglomerates due to loss that might be brought in case of my failure. No one believed in me, and for the past 3 months, I begged them to invest in the Warp technology and promised I could seed in creating it. While I was going through continuous rejections, one day, I was teleported to a world filled with monsters. As a Scientist, I never believed in God, but still, I believed in some kind of higher power. The content of the notifications that appeared before I was teleported and the superhuman-like powers I gained made me believe that the System must be that higher power. I don''t know if it was fate that I, who devoted my whole life to space research, gained a Grade-7 Space Innate Talent. Thanks to that, I gained a whole new understanding of Space. With the ability to manipte the very fabric of space itself, I learned to teleport myself. But the distance to which I could teleport was limited to a short-range. On top of that, the number of times that I could teleport was limited to my Spirit Energy. Only by increasing my Space Mastery was I able to shorten the expenditure of Spirit Energy and increase the range of Teleportations. Because of my ability to teleport, I managed to survive Day-1 in a World that was filled with dangerous monsters. When a function called unlocked, I learned that other than me, 10 more people from Earth were teleported to the Trial World. Among the 11 people, I was ranked 9th with my Lv.3. It was understandable because all I did was kill a few weak monsters and escape when I came across any intimidating monster. But only when the announcements appeared in the sky at the end of Day-1 did I finally realise how vast the true scale of the Trial Program was. During the 18-hour rest period after Day-1, I increased my along with other things, and when Day-2 began, I tried my best to level up, unlike Day-1, where I stayed hidden most of the time. But just after four hours into Day-2, I was surrounded by a small group of Tier-1 monsters when I was recovering my limited amount of Spirit Energy, leaving me no chance to use teleportation for escaping. When I thought it was over for me, a blonde-haired man, whose body was covered in lightning arcs, appeared and confronted the Tier-1 monsters head-on with a Spear in his hands. Other than him, there was a thin man in a baggy tracksuit, supporting the blonde-haired man by shooting arrows at the monsters as he jumped from tree to tree, using almost gravity-defying movements. That was how I met Mr Brandon and Gabriel Gonzales. They saved me by killing those Tier-1 monsters. Like that, I joined them to survive in the Trial World. During Day-2, Mr Brandon taught me how to fight against monsters and even helped me level up by helping me kill monsters. Upon staying together, I learned more about them. Gabriel Gonzales was a Brazillian Parkour Athlete who won the World Parkour Championship for the past 4 years. To me, that made a lot of sense as to how he could move so dexterously. Even though he was annoyinglypetitive in nature, I got along with him pretty well. As for Mr Brandon, his leadership qualities to n ahead ording to the situation, and formting monster-hunting strategies by keeping our strengths and weaknesses in mind, made Gabriel and me follow his lead. When we were not hunting, we prioritised increasing our respective Innate Talent Masteries. When the reached Stage-3, myprehension over Space Element reached a point where I could create a small room-sized subspace that was only essible to me. Within that Subspace, I was able to store anything as long as it was inanimate. As I experimented more with the Space element, other than the subspace, I was also able to create pockets in space, which acts as a reflection of the real world. By entering it, I would be separated from the real world, making me invisible. But to create Space pockets, it consumed a lot of Spirit Energy and to maintain stability in those Space pockets, it takes the constant expenditure of my Spirit Energy. Because of that, the duration I could hide in Spacepockets was limited by my Spirit Energy. Even though I couldn''t use the Space element to attack directly, I could incorporate the teleportation ability in my physical attacks and make them unpredictable for the target. Other than that, I was able to sense spatial fluctuations within a 10 km radius, making me a human radar. Because of those abilities, I was given the role of scouting the surroundings. Aside from myself, Gabriel was also good at scouting because of his Grade-8 Wind Innate Talent. That,bined with his Parkour skills, basically made him faster than a monkey on a tree. Coming to Mr Brandon, he was a CIA agent, an ex-CIA agent to be exact since he was promoted to be the head of a new organisation called ''Guardian Guild''. It was an organisation that was created especially for recruiting those who were assimted by the System. Of course, Mr Brandon didn''t reveal all of that to me. At least, not until I had joined that organisation. My reasoning to join ''Guardian Guild'' was simple, It was because of the expensive resources that I needed for my research. The thing I liked was that Mr Brandon didn''t force us to join ''Guardian Guild'' and rified that even if Gabriel and I didn''t choose to join the ''Guardian Guild'', we would still be a group in the Trial World in order to survive together. Apart from that, I also liked their cause to recruit more of the Chosen to defend the Earth from the possible monster invasion once the Trial Program ends. Plus, there weren''t restrictions on me, besides responding to Mr Brandon''s instructions when the United States and its interests were in grave danger. Besides me, Gabriel was also a member of the ''Guardian Guild'' and just like what we agreed upon, both of us received the benefits that we were promised. Within 12 hours of the 18-hour rest period after Day-2, Mr Brandon had arranged the resources I needed for my research, along with providing me with the Research centre of my own at the US Embassy in South Korea. It seemed that Mr Brandon wasn''t kidding when he said that the entire resources of the USA were at his disposal. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''hyperStar'' & ''Yuno'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 75 - Min-soo’s Encounter {(Part-2) Out Of 3} Meanwhile, Ipleted my Tier-2 Evolution in the rest period, improving my physical prowess by arge margin. But even then, Mr Brandon was undoubtedly the most powerful one among the three of us, and even in the Trial World rankings among 11 million Alpha-Chosen, he was in the top 1000. That made me wonder about the other three who were ranked even above Mr Brandon. Especially that monster of a man, who was even ranked 1st in the whole Trial World. In a world filled with dangerous monsters, where the Alpha-Chosen had to live in fear of death, having such a powerful person from Earth gave me a strange sense offort. I bet Mr Brandon would offer tons of money and any other things that suit the No.1 Alpha Chosen''s desires. As long as we three groups up with him, chances of our survival in the Trial World would increase, but the problem would be whether he would even want to join us? There were also Olivia and Sergei, who were ranked above Mr Brandon in the Trial World Rankings. In an online conference, Mr Brandon shared the intel he gathered on a few other Earth''s Alpha-Chosen through the USA''s intelligenceworks spread throughout the globe. The intelligence division under ''Guardian Guild'' cross-checked the first names of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen shown in the and themon aspect of the Alpha-Chosen, such as being a prodigy in their respective fields. This reduced the remaining Eight Alpha Chosen to 879 possible candidates. Well, rather than Eight Alpha-Chosen, it should be Seven because we found out that the ''Sergei'' among the Alpha-Chosen was the ''Sergei Mikhailov'' who is a top-notch assassin from Russia. When I saw the list of his confirmed kills along with some disturbing images of the death he left behind on the 18-hour rest period after Day-1, it scared the hell out of me. Even though I was fearful of such a dangerous assassin, I hoped to have Sergei within our group for higher chances of survival from another perspective. Soon, the rest period ended, and Day-3 began. Unlike what I expected, Mr Brandon didn''t try to approach Sergei in any way. Out of confusion, I asked Mr Brandon as to why he didn''t try to recruit Sergei now that we know of his identity directly. In turn, Mr Brandon asked me to imagine myself in a scenario where I didn''t meet him in the Trial World and if I were to be approached by a stranger saying that he was from the US Government and that he knows that I am an Alpha-Chosen and want to recruit him into an unknown organisation. If I were to be in such a scenario, I would feel threatened by the fact that the opposite party knows everything about me, whereas I would be oblivious to their identity. Even if they were to introduce themselves, I wouldn''t trust a person from an unknown, strange organisation. Only by imagining myself in such a scenario did I realise how far ahead Mr Brandon had thought it through and was awed by his foresight. Mr Brandon said that it would be inevitable for us 11 Earth''s Alpha Chosen to meet each other. So, instead of approaching them on Earth, he said that it''s best to meet the others in the Trial World as their fellow Alpha-Chosen who were in the same situation as them. With the Trial Program shortening to one-third of its size, the need to group up increased even more because once all 11 of us Earth''s Alpha Chosen group up, our chances of survival would increase along with our leveling speed from killing monsters together. Because of that, I was sent to scout the surroundings since I could sense spatial fluctuations in a 10 km radius searching for other Alpha Chosen. An hour passed since Day-3 began, and nearly 15 mins after I started scouting, I sensed someone in my 10 km radius moving at extreme speeds. Even though I could teleport as far as 500 meters at once, I was still shocked by such fast movement. I sensed the spatial movement pattern was rather odd since it was more like the path of a stone thrown outwards into the air, but just beforending on the ground, the same pattern repeated itself, almost like flying in the air. Whatever that was, it didn''t sense my presence since it didn''t head in my direction, and 3 km away from me, it came to a stop. Using that chance, I used a new trick I came up with while experimenting with the Space element that I could manipte. This was possible thanks to my Space Innate Talent. I closed my eyes, and it took me some time to concentrate using my spatial sense radius at the location where it stopped. Then, a ck and white visualisation of the targeted space appeared in my mind. I call it ''Space Visualisation''. To my surprise, the figure wasn''t a monster but a human. I initially imagined it to be a monster because of its high travel speed, but that doesn''t seem to be the case. Through the Space Visualisation, I could observe the outline of the location I targeted and everything within it. For some reason, his body outline was covered in some kind of blur, making it impossible for me to even tell if that person was a Man or Woman. Anyway, I was happy toe across another fellow Alpha-Chosen and invite that person into our group. I immediately began to teleport towards the unknown Alpha-Chosen. In just a few seconds, I crossed 3 km and finally managed to look at that person as he walked through a door-sized hole in a transparent barrier. He wore a ck suit with golden patterns on it, along with a longsword floating behind his back. I used on him, but all I could find was his name since everything else about his was in question marks. But that name was enough to send me into euphoria because I didn''t think I would be able to find the most powerful Alpha-Chosen so soon. While I was in my thoughts, a loud shriek resounded in the surroundings, making me cover my ears in pain. Even then, my ears bled from that shriek. In the next second, a huge eagle entered my vision and headed towards the diminishing hole in the barrier beside Jay, who was 200 meters away. When I used on that monster, the Common Grade skill levelled up into an Umon Grade one, . I was now able to see that it was a High-Phase Tier-3 Monster, sending shivers down my spine. I experienced a potent Tier suppression from the Storm Eagle even when that Monster was 200 meters away from me. I saw it trying to break some kind of transparent barrier before the hole recovers itself. The terrifying suppression brought me to my knees, but the man who was standing near that Monster didn''t seem to be affected by that suppression at all. Instead, he was calmly watching the Storm Eagle to see if the monster could really break that transparent barrier or not. The transparent barrier didn''t budge even under the Storm Eagle''s barrage of attacks, which caused the ground beneath me to reverberate. Then the hole in the barrier recovered itself and disappeared. Only then did the Storm Eagle halt in its tracks and turn its attention to Jay, and right away attacked him with the sharp talons of its paw. Instead of dodging its attack, he attacked it with a full-frontal attack using his sword that was covered in a dark blue aura and a sharp transparent windyer. I didn''t understand why he was trying to attack a High-Phase Tier-3 monster instead of running away from it when he was only at Lv.25. Even though I couldn''t see his level in his , I could tell he was at Lv.25 because each one in the Leaderboards Rankings had their level shown beside their names. In the next second, my eyes widened in shock as I couldn''t believe that the one that was wounded in the confrontation was the Storm Eagle. Following that, the monster flew a few hundred meters into the air and started shooting 10-meter long wind des at Jay. But none of them managed to reach Jay, who moved at a speed to the point my eyes couldn''t even keep up with his movement. Those long wind des are so powerful that those giant trees were sliced apart like tofu. To not get in their crossfire, I tried to teleport away and observe them from further away, but I was obstructed by some kind of barrier. Only then did I realise that the Dome was some kind of powerful barrier that not even my space sense could detect. It seemed that I identally entered the Dome by teleportation when there was a hole in it. But since the door-sized hole in the Dome was closed, I wasn''t able to use teleportation to escape the strange Dome. Then I reasoned to myself that since I didn''t create a hole in the Dome and even the Storm Eagle couldn''t do it, then it must have been Jay. I didn''t know how he made a hole in such a powerful barrier and how he was able to fight head-on against such a powerful Tier-3 monster, but I rooted for him to win. Because, if the Storm Eaglees out as the victor, I would be stuck in the strange Dome along with that Tier-3 monster. When it finds me, it would be my death without a doubt. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Zed'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 76 - Min-soo’s Encounter {(Part-3) Out Of 3} I turned back at the fight, which looked a lot more intense with the Storm Eagle''srge area attack. A few thousands of wind shards that were the size of a palm flew at high speeds in all directions, covering arge area around Jay. They sliced any tree or rock in their path into pieces. If even one of those shards were to hit me, I would be sliced apart just like the trees. So I quickly created a Space Pocket and entered it so that I wouldn''t be a casualty in their crossfire. Because no attacks can reach me once I was in a Space Pocket, making me invisible and invulnerable at the same time. However, the duration that I could maintain stability in a Space Pocket was short because of my limited Spirit Energy. Like a one-way mirror, I could watch everything that''s happening outside the Space Pocket but not the other way around. Even though my eyes couldn''t keep up with both of their high-speed movements, I was able to get the hang of the overall situation. The Storm Eagle''s barrage of attacks managed to devastate arge area around Jay, but none of those wind shards managed to break past the defence of the full-body armour that Jay wore. Then, Jay took the chance to attack the Storm Eagle that was taken aback by the defensive prowess of Jay''s new armour. A dark-blue aura extended 4 meters on top of his longsword, and using that, he swung it pointing towards the monster. A de of dark-blue aura was shot from his sword, moving at high speed towards Storm Eagle. But it managed to dodge that attack and many others that followed behind. I didn''t understand why Jay continued to attack even when his attacks couldn''t hit the Storm Eagle, which has an advantage in the distance and its mobility in the air. Soon, he seemed to be exhausted from the depletion of Spirit Energy and noting that the Tier-3 monster dived towards him at its fastest speed to kill him. At the same time, I used something I called ''Reverse Teleportation'' on Jay. Usually, if I had to teleport someone along with me, I had to have physical contact with them. But, in the case of ''Reverse Teleportation'' that I recently came up with, I just had to concentrate on an object or a person in my vicinity to teleport them anywhere within my 500-meter radius. The only downside for that was the expenditure of Spirit Energy, as it depends on the weight of the said object or person that I was using Reverse teleportation on. This means that I would be exiting the Space Pocket due to high Spirit Energy expenditure from using Reverse teleportation and exposing myself to danger. However, I still used it since I couldn''t let him die because if he were to die, the Storm Eagle would eventually find me once the duration of Space Pocket ends. In the next instant, Jay, who was about to be killed by the Tier-3 monster, was reverse teleported and reappeared right beside me. To my disbelief, almost all of my remaining Spirit Energy reserve was drained from a single use of Reverse Teleportation on Jay, making me wonder just how heavy that man actually was. From the exhaustion of using a lot of Spirit Energy at once, I leaned on my knees using both hands and said while looking at him, "Mr Jay, I will introduce myselfter, but we have to escape the Dome before the Storm Eagle senses our locati¡­.." Before I couldplete my sentence, the Storm Eagle let out a loud enraged shriek that resounded throughout the Dome. Its shriek was so loud that it ruptured my eardrums. Other than buzzing sounds, I could not hear anything else. While covering my bleeding ears, I turned my gaze towards Storm Eagle and realised why it was so enraged. Both of its paws were pierced through and blue blood oozed out of them. But I didn''t understand how it was wounded. I felt something was off and turned towards Jay, who didn''t look exhausted like how he was a second ago, and the sword in his hand had blue blood on it. By cing all those pieces together, realisation dawned on me on what actually happened before I reverse teleported Jay. It seemed that Jay pretended to be weak and exhausted to lure the Storm Eagle and kill it once it let its guard down and closed upon him. But I misread the situation and teleported him when he was just a split second away from killing the Tier-3 monster. While I was contemting on how big I messed up the situation, the Storm Eagle prepared some kind of ultimate attack as all the air within the Dome was siphoned towards it and stacked on top of its body, forming tens ofyers of sharp condensed wind. Once its preparation was done, the Storm Eagle let out another shriek, and each windyer on top of its body shot out at once. Nearly 100 of those condensed windyers that had the exact shape as the Storm Eagle moved like they had a conscience and approached us from different directions, leaving no chances to escape. Because of my depleted Spirit Energy, I couldn''t teleport even if I wanted to. In thosest moments, memories of my entire life shed in front of me, and the regrets I had in my life surfaced in my mind. I regretted not mending with my father after the angry argument I had with him. I regretted that I didn''t ask out the girl I was in love with for 5 years. I regretted that the person who might as well be the hope of Earth in the Trial Program would die because of me. I know that my apology wouldn''t suffice, but I still stuttered, "Mr Jay, I am tru...truly sorry." For some reason, he wasn''t angry at me; to be precise, he didn''t have any emotion on his face. When those 100 windyers of Storm Eagle were about to hit us, he sighed and said just a single word. Even though I couldn''t hear what he said because of my ruptured eardrums, I could still tell that the word he said was ''Inverse'' from reading his lips. In the next instant, steam covered everything in my vision, and a few shes of dark-blue light within it and sounds of explosions followed. I stood there as I looked around for the windyers that were in the shape of the Storm Eagle but to no avail. After a second of silence, I heard loud collision sounds from the direction where the Storm Eagle was located. The wind shockwaves originated from the impact of those unknown collisions that caused the cloud of steam in my surroundings to disperse. Once the steam was cleared, I saw a scene that I could never forget in my life. Those wind shockwaves were an after-effect of the collision impacts from the fight between Storm Eagle and a 10-meter tall, Humanoid Titan with silver hair. Rather than a fight, it was the Humanoid Titan single-handedly thrashing the once-powerful Storm Eagle. Because of the unique Full Body Armour on the Humanoid Titan, I recognised that it was none other than Jay. My sense of logic was first altered when I saw him fight against a High-Phase Tier-3 on almost equal terms while he was just in High-Phase Tier-2. But when I saw him pounding the mighty Storm Eagle like it was some kind of helpless punching bag, my remaining sense of logic was broken. The Storm Eagle tried to fly away, but when Jay pointed his palm towards the Tier-3 monster, it was pulled towards him almost like a metal that was being pulled by some kind of high-powered ma. Jay didn''t use any Weapon or Skills on the monster. Instead, all he used was his pure physical power. Every time the Storm Eagle let out a shriek, he would punch it in the face, and that continued for quite some time. The more I looked at it, that seemed more like him trying to tame it by the pure difference in power. Even though it was intelligent enough to understand that it would get punched whenever it let out a shriek, the Storm Eagle still continued to let out enraged shrieks at Jay till the moment it died, almost as if it wasn''t in control of itself. Then, a baby in Santa costume popped up beside Jay and turned into a green stream of light before entering the Storm Eagle''s Corpse. What happened afterward caused whatever that was left of my broken sense of logic topletely shatter. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Zed'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 77 - (EDITED) ***** Just when the , that was coated with ''Sword Aura Extension'', ''Stream Wind Edge'' and Darkness element was about to pierce the Storm Eagle''s head after piercing its ws, I was suddenly teleported 300 meters away from my location. When I looked at the exhausted person that stood beside me, I recognised that it was ''Min-soo'' right away because of the beforehand information I had on the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen. With MJ keeping surveince on all of them, I know that Brandon recruited Min-soo. But, I didn''t expect to meet Min-soo within the System restricted Dome. So, I used the ability of to read his thoughts and memories, giving me a clear picture of the situation. It seemed that when I made a hole in the Dome, he identally entered it using his Space Innate Talent, which was one of the rarest among the Elemental Category Innate Talents. With the Dome Barrier that was powerful enough to hold down a High-Phase Tier-3 Monster, Min-soo couldn''t escape it even when he tried to teleport outside of the Dome. He was just unlucky to enter the Dome in the short time frame that the hole in the Dome barrier was open. To my surprise, he was even able to create something called a ''Space Pocket'', which literally made him invulnerable from the Storm Eagle''srge area attack. But even before that, my heightened Senses couldn''t sense him because he could use his Space Innate Talent to mask spatial fluctuations around him, making it hard to sense his presence. Since his time perception was way lowpared to mine and the Storm Eagle, he mistook that I was about to die when I intentionally used up all of my Spirit Energy to lure the Storm Eagle. Because of that, Min-soo teleported me right when I was about to kill it. The Storm Eagle that had its ws pierced was enraged and unleashed a powerful attack than anything it used until then. The sharpyers of condensed wind in the shape of Storm Eagle approached us from all directions, making it hard to escape even if I use . Within my mind, MJ analysed that even with the power behind those iing attacks, they wouldn''t be able to break past the defence of Centauri Kavach''s Full Body Armour and that I would at most suffer a few minor injuries from the physical impact of those attacks. But unlike me, Min-soo couldn''t survive such an attack, and with his Spirit Energy exhausting from reverse-teleporting me, he didn''t have any more to escape by teleporting himself. With that, he lost all his hope to survive such an attack and med himself after realising his mistake to teleport me when I was about to kill it. Even though he just said that he was sorry, I could sense how sorry he truly was. At that point, I could just do nothing and let him die, whereas I would take those attacks head-on and suddenly attack the Storm Eagle when it was expecting the least. If I were to do that, it would be hitting two birds with a stone since I could loot the Space Innate Talent from the dead Min-soo and take on the Storm Eagle by surprise, giving me another chance to kill it. With the ''State of Harmony'' that I was in, my every thought was devoid of any emotion and leaned towards the best possible oue, whether it be right or wrong. But if I were to let the person who tried to save me intentionally die, I would be just as inhumane as the monsters. That was why whenever in the State of Harmony, I always took into consideration how my decision would affect me once I exit my emotionless state. Just as the Storm Eagle''s attacks reached closer, I sighed as I activated Inverse Mode. I wanted to improve my battle experience using the chance to defeat a High-Phase Tier-3 monster, but the situation demanded otherwise. Upon undergoing , my time perception improved even further. The nearly 100 condensed wind attacks appeared to move slower, making it easier for me to destroy all of them before they could reach Min-soo. After that, I directly attacked the Storm Eagle. With 1000 overall Looted stats in Inverse mode, I didn''t even need to use my or any Skill to crush it in a head-on confrontation. Whenever the Storm Eagle tried to fly away from me, I used the Skill and pulled it towards me. If I had used it before entering Inverse Mode, I would have been pulled towards the Tier-3 Monster, but it wasn''t the case anymore since I weigh more than the Storm Eagle. Because of that, the Storm Eagle wasn''t able to escape me no matter how much it struggled. With the high amount of attributes in Inverse Mode, I could just kill it right away, but I used that chance to test out something I had in mind. Since Day-1, every single monster that I came across tried to kill me. It was also the same case for Dante. There were even situations where the monsters that were fighting against each other halted their sh and united to fight against me. I wanted to know why the monsters are so aggressive towards Alpha-Chosen. For that, I continued to punch its face in order to establish the fact that it would hit whenever it tried to attack me. I wanted to see if the Storm Eagle would still be aggressive in such a situation. I kept on monitoring its emotions through the ability of . I could sense that it felt fear and terror towards me, but whenever it looked at me, a desire to kill me continued to emerge in its mind, like it was some kind of basic impulse that it was born with. Even when the Storm Eagle knows that it would die if it continues to act aggressively towards me. That continued for a while, but I couldn''t find anything more about the aggressiveness of the monsters. Having nothing to learn, I killed it off, and a series of notifications popped up. [Lv.48 Storm Eagle (High-Phase Tier-3 Monster) Killed] [12000 Life Energy Obtained] [Congrattions! You have earned an Achievement Title, (Rare) by killing a Storm Eagle of High Eagle Species.] ___________________ Effect 1: All the Lesser, Greater, and High Eagle Races will fear you, and Higher races of Eagle Species will be aggressive towards you. Effect 2: Increases all Wind-rted abilities by 30%. ___________________ [Congrattions! You are the 5th High-Phase Tier-2 Existence in the entire Universe to y a High-Phase Tier-3 Monster in a full-frontal battle.] [Due to causing a Universe Level Achievement, you will receive a random grade reward that will be most useful to you at the present moment. The Grade of the reward depends on your Luck Attribute.] [Due to a request in process, the Universe Level Achievement you achieved shall be converted into 100 Universe Points and be pooled together till it satisfies the exchange value for the Weapon you wished for.] [Current Universe Points: 1100.] Just as expected, the Universe Level Achievement was converted into Universe Points and are pooled together to obtain that Silver ive of the LOOT''s previous host. But unlike thest time, I only achieved 100 Universe Points instead of 1000. Then, MJ appeared beside me in baby form and exined that only those who are the 1st to aplish a Universe Level Achievement in their respective aspect could obtain 1000 Universe Points. Those who were ranked from 2nd to 10th in a Universe Level Achievement will receive 100 Universe Points, and from 11th to 100th, it will be 10 Universe Points. Even though those who are ranked between 101 to 1000 only obtain 1 Universe Point, I didn''t look down on it, mainly because I know how valuable even a single Universe Point was. {A/N: 1 Universe Point is equal to 1000 Mega-Cluster Points / 1 Million (1,000,000) Super-Cluster Points / 1 Billion (1,000,000,000) Gctic-Cluster Points / 1 Trillion (1,000,000,000,000) Gxy Points.} Aplishing a Universe Level Achievement was no small matter but for me, who was considered a High-Phase Tier-2 Lifeform by the System even when I was a lot more powerful than that, it became a lot easier to aplish them. Only then did I realise why MJ said that it would be beneficial for me to stay in Tier-2 for a while. It was because as long as I stay in High-Phase Stage-2, I could continue to aplish Universe Level achievements every time I kill a monster that was 3 Phases higher than me. If I were to evolve to Tier-3, I would have to defeat a Tier-4 monster. But then again, it wouldn''t be as easy as I slew the Storm Eagle because of the qualitative difference in power between a Tier-3 Lifeform and a Tier-4 Lifeform. If I were to face a Tier-4 monster before I could break past the 1st Universe Limit in Inverse Mode, it would be almost impossible for me to kill it even if I was in INVERSE Mode. But, I don''t have to worry abouting across any Tier-4 monsters, at least not for a while. I looked at the Storm Eagle''s Corpse and activated on it. [79 Stats Looted] [Lv.30 (Rare Grade) Looted] Once I was done with looting, I let MJ use the 3rd slot of his perk on the dead Storm Eagle. While MJ was at it, I took a peek at the description of the Skill I chose from Storm Eagle. ________________ Lv.30 (Rare Grade): Enables the user to condenserge amounts of Wind into protective Barriers on top of the user''s body, which could also be converted into the wind form of the user''s clones to attack the opponents. (A/N: As long as the condensed windyers are on the user''s body, they act as Wind Barriers and once those same condensed windyers are shot towards the opponents, They act as Wind Clones.) Minimum Requirement: Grade-4 Wind Innate Talent & Lv.30 . Cost: 100 Spirit Energy per creation of 25 Wind Barriers / Wind Clones. Duration: 10 minutes. Wind Barrier Effect: Each Wind Barrier increases the User''s defence by 10% (stackable). Wind Clone Effect: Each Wind Clone delivers damage that was equal to the user''s full-powered physical damage. ________________ Just for that Skill, I didn''t even loot the Storm Eagle''s Grade-4 Wind Innate Talent or its Peak Stage-3 , which were the most valuable aspects that I could loot from it. On the surface, it might look like a dumb choice because I only could use the if I at least have a Grade-4 Wind Innate Talent and Peak Stage-3 . One of the reasons as to why I chose that Skill was because it can be used either to attack or defend or even do both at the same time. It''s just that the Storm Eagle was so enraged that it sent all those Wind Barriers around it to attack me in the form of Wind Clones, leaving it no chance of defending itself once its attack failed. As for the main reason why I chose the Skill even under such requirements was that I had an ingenious idea to bypass those requirements. As I was in my thoughts, the wounds on the Storm Eagle''s corpsepletely recovered and MJ''s integration with itpleted. Then, MJ excitedly flew around as he adjusted himself to the Storm Eagle''s body. Ignoring MJ, I intended to set my ingenious idea into action right away but before that, I turned around to deal with Min-soo who had his jaw dropped upon watching the once dead Storm Eagle was now lively as it could get. I didn''t know if it was because of my intimidating appearance that resembled a Titan, but Min-soo straight away fell unconscious once I crossed the distance between him and me in a short few seconds. Only when MJ did an analysis of him, did I realised that it was not because of my intimidating presence but due to theck of air in the surroundings, that was caused by the Storm Eagle when it used as it requires condensation of arge quantity of air to create them. Because of my high Endurance and Vitality attribute, I wasn''t even affected in such an environment, but that wasn''t the same case for Min-soo. So, I opened a hole in the System restricted Dome before he could die from Asphyxiation (A/N: usually happens from theck of oxygen in the air). Then, Storm Eagle MJ manipted the air that entered through the hole in the Dome and concentrated it around Min-soo, and created an Oxygen-concentrated environment around him, which was even more effective than using Oxygen cylinders for Oxygen therapy treatment. With how my each and every thought was calctive towards my benefit in the State of Harmony, I couldn''t help but think that it would have been a lot lessplicated if Min-soo would have just tried to kill me instead of trying to save me. If such a scenario had really yed it out, I would have directly gained a Space Innate Talent. I shook my head as I was used to having such thoughts almost all the time when I was in the State of Harmony. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Yuno'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 78 - Ingenious Use Of Origin Sigils. (EDITED) I used the remaining few drops of the High Vitality fruit''s Sap on Min-soo, and I was left with thest High Vitality Fruit from the initial three. I didn''t shy away from using them because at the time that Hobgoblin MJ and Shadow Leopard MJ went on a Monster killing spree, they covered arge area in the Trial Zone. They came across Magical Trees that had Fruits simr to Stamina Fruits and Vitality Fruits. Just like the Grade-3 Vitality Fruit that improved my Vitality Attribute by 10 stats upon consuming it for the first time, MJ had found many other Magical Fruits. Other than the Vitality Fruits and Stamina Fruits that I came across on Day-1, there were also Fruits that could improve the other three Attributes such as Strength Fruits, Agility Fruits, and Spirit Fruits. With proper knowledge on how to use them, they could provide additional stats. ording to MJ, something like that would only be known when some Alpha Chosen identally learns about it, and that usually happens in theter stages of a Trial Program. It was a rather simple trick, one just had to first consume a Grade-1 Fruit before consuming a higher grade one. That way, one would get the utmost benefit from those Magical Fruits. Consuming a Grade-1 magical fruit for the first time would increase one''s respective Attribute by 1 Stat, for Grade-2, it would be 3 Stats, and for Grade-3, that was 10 Stats. However, in my case, I didn''t have MJ with me when I first consumed a Grade-3 Vitality Fruit on Day-1. This caused me to lose the chance to gain more Stats in my Vitality Attribute as it would be useless even if I were to consume Grade-1 and Grade-2 Vitality Fruits. Well, to me, that wouldn''t matter much since I could just gain about 10 Stats every time I exit INVERSE Mode, and that might even increase once I gain more Mastery over the mysterious Origin Energy. But still, I intended to use them. It''s just that I was waiting until I could obtain Agility Fruits so that I could increase my stats uniformly without disrupting the equilibrium among my 5 main Attributes. Among the ones that MJ found, none of them were Grade-3. It seemed that I was rather lucky toe across a Grade-3 Vitality Fruit Tree on Day-1 itself. Moreover, it only had a Tier-2 Monster guarding it. From what MJ said, I learned that usually, a Tier-3 Monster would be the one guarding a Grade-3 Magical Tree. ording to such logic, that should mean that the Storm Eagle should also be guarding some kind of Magical Tree. So, while MJ was treating Min-soo, I went to search the entire area within the Dome. At the very centre of the Dome, I found a cave having an entrance that was big enough for my 10-meter tall self to enter without crouching. Inside the cave, the path headed diagonally into the ground. After reaching the end of the pathway, I noticed a spacious ce deep within the underground. The underground space was one-third the size of the area within the Dome and it was filled with 2-meter-tall trees that had light-blue coloured leaves and fruits on them. Through the skill , I could see that they were Agility Fruit Trees. Looking at the hundreds if not thousands of Agility Fruits hanging on those trees, I knew right away that I hit the jackpot. Even though those were Grade-1 and Grade-2 Agility Fruit Trees, I considered it as a jackpot because other than them, there were also Grade-3 Agility Fruit Trees present. There were even 3 of them at the centre of the underground space with each of those three trees having 10 Grade-3 Agility Fruits. I wasn''t in a hurry to pick all those Agility Fruits since the Dome of a High-Phase Tier-3 Monster willst till Day-21. Till then, no one could enter the Dome, much less finding the Agility Fruit Trees hidden in the Underground Space within the Dome. Even though the shortening of the Trial Program caused the Tournaments to be preponed, it didn''t affect the actual Days on which the Dome restrictions would be lifted off. The precise timings when the Dome restrictions would be lifted off the Tier-3 Monsters stayed the same. On Day-7, the restriction on all Low-Phase Tier-3 Monsters in the Trial World would be lifted, and on Day-14 and Day-21, it was the Mid-Phase Tier-3 Monsters and High-Phase Monsters, respectively. If even they were to be preponed to an earlier date like how it happened with the Tournaments, it would be a nightmare for the millions of Alpha-Chosen to survive in the Trial world. Through MJ''s Tier-4 System ess, I learned that among the 11 Million Alpha-Chosen in the whole Trial Program, a little over 100,000 Alpha-Chosen had already perished in the first two days of the Alpha Program. Even though that was a lot, it was actually one of the least casualty rates to be seen in the Trial Programs that took ce since the very beginning of the System''s existence ording to MJ. When I first learned about it, I realised that the Alpha-Chosen of the entire Milkyway Gxy were abnormal. It''s just that the Earth''s Alpha Chosen were among the top portion of that abnormal list. As I was in my thoughts, MJ contacted me through our mental connection and said that Min-soo''s condition stabilised and that with the healing properties of High Vitality Fruit''s Sap, it would at most take an hour for his ruptured eardrums to heal. But for Min-soo to regain consciousness, MJ estimated that it would take around 24 hours. After that, I exited the cave and tested the ingenious idea on Storm Eagle MJ that I had a while before. I couldn''t share the Innate talent of any monster that MJ uses on unless I loot it before MJ integrates with its corpse. Above that, I couldn''t share the Mastery of any of MJ''s Corpse Integrated Monsters like how I could with the holders of my Origin Sigils. So, that led me to think that why not imprint Origin Sigils on all the MJ''s Corpse Integrated Monsters to get the best possible benefits. Just as I expected, I was able to Imprint an Origin Sigil on Storm Eagle MJ. I didn''t use a Major Origin Sigil to avoid any possibleplications, such as the shortening of the Trial Program. Because of the Minor Origin Sigil that I imprinted on Storm Eagle MJ, its Grade-4 Wind Innate talent was upgraded to Grade-9, and I gained absolute control over it. With the other Minor Origin Sigil benefit that lets me synchronise with the respective Innate Talent Mastery, it was even better than having a Grade-9 Innate Talent since I personally don''t need to train in the Wind Mastery to raise it. [Do you wish to synchronise with memory fragments that contain theprehension of Lv.30 (Stage-3)?] Once I epted it, a simr scene to when I merged with the memory fragments of Shadow Leopard''s Darkness Elementprehension repeated itself. [By forced absorption of Stage-3 Mastery memory fragments, your mind will go into a long-term Spirit paralysis state.] [Due to your Unique Innate Talent''s protection, you are invulnerable from the damage caused by forced absorption of Masteries.] By going through synchronising with Peak stage-3 , I experienced tons of mental pain that matched the amount of pain I usually experience every time I enter INVERSE mode. With that, my increased from Lv.37 to Lv. 45 in a single swing. Once the synchronisation with Lv.30 waspleted, my Wind Elementprehension improved by leaps and bounds. A few minutes ago, I just had Lv.2 and with that, I could barely control the air around me. But with the increased on top of having the abilities of a Grade-9 Wind Innate Talent, I was able to cause the orientation of winds in the Dome to change with just my breath alone. My sensitivity towards the Wind Element reached the point that the air around me became a part of my senses. After that, I repeated the same process with Hobgoblin MJ and Shadow Leopard MJ, turning Grade-3 Fire Innate Talent and Darkness Innate Talent into Grade-9 ones. I also synchronised with their Masteries, Lv.24 and Lv.26, respectively. After that, it took me a few minutes to properly adjust myself to the sudden improvements in my , , and . By then, 15 minutes passed. With my Time Perception standard being 20 times a normal human, it took me just a few minutes to adjust to the improvements. In the remaining 10 minutes of my Inverse Mode, I beganprehending Origin Energy to improve my Origin Mastery. When I was stuck in the time loop inside my Innate Talent, it took me around 200 days worth of time just to gain 1%prehension over Origin Energy. After that, no matter what I did, I couldn''t enter the depths of within my Spirit Space and activate the time loop toprehend Origin Mastery. Even though I didn''t know exactly how long it would take to reach 2% Origin Mastery, I could at least tell that it would take more than the 200 days that it took me toprehend 1% Origin Mastery. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Zed'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 79 - Ruler’s Bond Even though I didn''t know exactly how long it would take to reach 2% Origin Mastery, I could at least tell that it would take more than the 200 days that it took me toprehend 1% Origin Mastery. So, whenever I enter INVERSE mode, I use that tiny amount of time toprehend as much as I can to improve my Origin Mastery. Once the remaining 15 minutes of INVERSE mode duration ended, I entered a 25-minute long weakened state, where my Stats were reduced to half of the initial amount in . Every time I enter the weakened state, the abrupt change in Stats takes a toll on my body, rendering me too exhausted for head-onbat. So, to use that time efficiently, I tried toprehend the Law of Rule through the training methods gained by as that doesn''t require any physical exertion. Time passed, and I returned to my usual condition once the weakened state ended. But I didn''t pauseprehending the ''Law of Rule'' and around 3 hourster, the reached Stage-3 (Lv.21-Lv.30), unlocking the 2nd Innate Exclusive Skill, . [Ruler''s Bond: The Ruler''s Bond will be imprinted on anyone as long as they form a karmic debt with the user. Failing to repay the Karmic Debt will end up in a deathmatch with the Ruler.] Just like the 1st Innate Exclusive Skill, , the description of was vague. There was also an unfamiliar concept called ''Karmic Debt'' but I understood it clearly thanks to the knowledge that was transmitted into my mind. Right then, I felt some kind of connection form between Min-soo and me. When I turned to look at the unconscious Min-soo, a navy-blue wheel tattoo the size of a watch dial, formed on top of his wrist. There were two navy-blue lines within that circr wheel extending from the centre till they touched the circle''s border, just like spokes in a wheel. Since I had knowledge about the transmitted into my mind, I could tell that the navy-blue wheel tattoo represents the symbol of ''Ruler''s Bond'' and the navy-blue spokes in it represents the amount of help Min-soo received from me. What the ''Ruler''s Bond'' basically does is to use the ''Law of Rule'' to bind anyone that I help and acts as a System-recognised favour. Once a Ruler''s Bond was imprinted on someone, I could ask that person anything within the value of the favor they received from me. In the case of Min-soo, I saved his life from the Storm Eagle''s Wind Clones, resulting in the formation of the first navy-blue Spoke in the Ruler''s Bond Wheel. As for the second Ruler''s Bond Spoke, it was because I saved him when he would have eventually died from asphyxiation and eardrum rupture. Because of that Ruler''s Bond, When I need his help, I could ask Min-soo for anything as long as that doesn''t exceed the help he received from me. Of course, Min-soo could choose to reject returning my favour but thenes the consequence of opposing the Ruler''s Bond, the DeathMatch. In such a scenario, I could choose to initiate a DeathMatch. This would result in Min-soo and me being teleported to an alternate closed-space where Min-soo had to face me in a battle to the death and only the survivor could exit that alternate closed-space. First of all, I didn''t expect my soft-hearted brother''s Innate Talent to have such a domineering Innate Exclusive Skill. I doubt he would ever use the DeathMatch option on anyone. Secondly, the was a passive Skill, and I couldn''t do anything about forming a ''Ruler''s Bond'' with any person that received help from me. Finally, even though Min-soo''s Space Innate Talent was rare, I don''t n to use the Ruler''s Bond to have Min-soo forcibly ept my Origin Sigil in order to gain control over his Innate Talent. It''s not like I was desperate for his Innate Talent. Coming to that matter, I am sure that I would eventuallye across a Monster that has Space Innate Talent. When that happens, I could just have MJ use on it and use an Origin Sigil on that Monster, just like how I did with the Storm Eagle. Just because I could loot others'' Innate Talents doesn''t mean that I am greedy enough to kill anyone for their Innate Talents. Well, It''s an entirely different matter for those who intend to kill me. But for someone like Min-soo, who tried to save me, I would only return their good intentions by several fold. So, I used the Ruler''s Bond between Min-soo and me to ept the Party Invitation I sent him. Then, from the Ruler''s Bond Wheel imprinted on his wrist, one of the two navy-blue Spokes faded away. Usually, when I give someone a party invite using the , they have to ept it to join the Party. But, I used one of my ''System-recognised Favours'' to ept the Party Invitation in his stead. Just the aspect of gaining free Life Energy to level up without doing anything makes my ''Party Invitation'' valuable and is something one would only dream about. Once that was done, I exited the Dome and intended to move towards the Domes of other High-Phase Tier-3 Monsters. Besides gaining Combat experience, my intention was to find Grade-3 Fruit Trees and possibly even the Grade-4 Spirit Fruit Tree that I was searching to save my Grandfather. After exiting the Dome, I handed the unconscious Min-soo over to Shadow Leopard MJ in order to protect him. I instructed Shadow Leopard MJ to protect Min-soo from a distance once he regains consciousness and groups up with Brandon and Gabriel. Aside from Min-soo, I also instructed Shadow Leopard MJ to save the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen if they were to face life-threatening dangers. It''s not that I was kind enough to do charity by saving all of them. It is because I know that having more Earth''s Alpha Chosen will be beneficial to the Earth''s position among other Lifes of the Milky Way Gxy in the Final Tournament of the Trial Program. Besides that, I could also form Ruler''s Bond with them if any of MJ''s Integrated Corpses were to save them. So, that would only be beneficial to me. After finishing up my thoughts, I traveled to the nearest High-Phase Tier-3 Monster Dome that was marked in the Virtual Map created by MJ. ******* ¡­.18 hours Later¡­.. While I was mindlessly drifting in the clouds, I heard Gabriel''s voice, "Mr. Brandon, Min-soo''s vitals are normal. He just seemed to be unconscio....Ahh! He is waking up." While hearing Gabriel''s voice, it made me realise that I was in a dream, resulting in me waking up abruptly and shocking Gabriel, who was holding my wrist to check my pulse. "Huff, Hey, Min-soo...you gave me quite a scare. You okay, man? Where have you been for the past 22 hours? We were searching for you everywhere." Only when Mr. Brandon stopped Gabriel''s barrage of questions was I able to collect my disoriented thoughts. Mr. Brandon then informed me that Gabriel found me a few minutes earlier when he was scouting the area in search of me. That was also when I learned that Day-3 was going to end in just a few minutes. After pondering for a few seconds, I was able to remember passing out just after the Storm Eagle came back to life after Mr. Jay killed it. Just thinking about it sent me into a daze with my mouth open. However I was woken up by Gabriel, with him once again asking me a series of questions. Among the things he asked me, the thing he stressed mostly was how I could reach Lv.25 in such a short time. I didn''t understand why Gabriel asked me such a thing when I was just at Lv.11. At first, I thought Gabriel was just kidding. But, when Mr. Brandon asked me the same thing, I was surprised. I immediately opened my as I knew that Mr. Brandon wouldn''t be messing around. __________ [STATUS] Name - Min-Soo APEX RULER''s Party Member) (Alpha Ranker) Age - 21 Race - Greater Human Life Energy - 32500+2675{stacked} / 32500 Level - 25 (Tier-2; High-Phase) Estimated Level - 14 (Tier-2; Low-Phase) Strength: 34 Agility: 37 Vitality: 32 Endurance: 37 Spirit: 52 Luck: 14 Health: 320/320 Stamina - 185/185 Spirit Energy - 260/260 Undistributed Stats: 140 INNATE TALENT: Space Innate Talent (Grade-7) ELEMENTAL MASTERY : Lv.22 (STAGE-3) _____________ I didn''t know what to make of the 140 Undisturbed Stats and my current Level that reached the peak of Tier-2. But, the only thing I could link to the sudden improvement in my Level was Mr. Jay. Since in my view, only he could pull off a stunt like that. When I concentrated on the words ''APEX RULER''s Party Member'', a blue screen window appeared with 4 names on it. When I went through the first name listed on it, I realised that my spections were on point. ______________ [APEX RULER''s Party] 1.Jay (Party Leader) : Lv.25 (Alpha Ranker) 2. Dante : Lv.25 (Alpha Ranker) 3. Andrea : Lv.25 (Alpha Ranker) 4. Min-Soo : Lv 25 (Alpha Ranker) ______________ After going through the list of names, I concentrated on the words ''Alpha Ranker'' to see if I could find what it meant. Along with the description of ''Alpha Ranker'', I was greeted with the . Only the 1000 Alpha Chosen in the were given the Honorific Title ''Alpha Ranker''. But what gobsmacked me wasn''t only because of the fact that I became an Alpha Ranker but the position I was in among the 1000 Alpha Rankers. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Zed'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 80 - - 1000 Alpha Rankers 1. Jay (Earth) - Lv.25 2. Regaz (Garek) - Lv.25 3. Drogor (Mogret) - Lv.25 4. Dante (Earth) - Lv.25 5. Andrea (Earth) - Lv.25 6. Min Soo (Earth) - Lv.25 7. ..... - Lv.23 8. ..... - Lv.23 9. Olivia (Earth) - Lv.23 10. ..... - Lv.23 11. ..... - Lv.22 12. ..... - Lv.22 ¡­ ... 223. Sergei (Earth) - Lv.21 ¡­ ... 318. Brandon (Earth) - Lv.20 ¡­ ¡­ 1000. ..... - Lv.17 ____________________ I was out of words upon finding that among the Top 10 Alpha Rankers, I was in the 6th Position. Half of the Top 10 Alpha Rankers were Earth''s Alpha Chosen, and considering the overall , 7 of the 11 Earth''s Alpha Chosen were among the 1000 Alpha Rankers. Among those 7, three Earth''s Alpha Chosen, including me, managed to be Alpha Rankers only because we were Mr Jay''s Party Members. Aside from that, I was amazed by the fact that in less than a day, my Level increased from Lv.11 to Lv.25 just by receiving 1/4th of the Life Energy Mr. Jay gains. For a few seconds, I wondered how Mr. Jay managed to achieve such a feat. But, I soon gave up thinking about it since he was not someone who could be seen through bymon sense and logic. As for the Ex-Assassin ''Sergei'' and Mr Brandon who were in thete 500''s of the Leaderboard Rankings previously, they managed to reach the early 200''s and 300''s respectively. The increase in their position in the Leaderboard might be because they adapted to their Innate Talent abilities and hunting Monsters. Other than Sergei and Mr Brandon, there was ''Olivia'', whose rise in Leaderboard Rankings could only be described as meteoric ever since she awakened as ''Omega-Chosen''. Even though she was not a member of Mr Jay''s Party, she managed to reach Lv.23 and stood high at 9th Position. I bet that with her Grade-10 Innate Talent, it wouldn''t be long before she reaches among the Top-3. In the case of Mr Jay, he even reached Lv.25 on Day-2 itself, and for some reason, he didn''t evolve to Tier-3. But, in the case of Mr Jay, the ''Lv. 25'' that was shown beside his name in any of the Leaderboards wouldn''t matter much as the strength of a Lv.25 Lifeform was inconsequential in front of the power that Mr Jay disyed against the one-sided battle Storm Eagle. Right then, Mr Brandon''s voice woke me up from my thoughts, "Min-soo, could you please share the information of the events you have encountered after you separated from us for scouting the surroundings." Even though Mr Brandon was in charge of the organisation that Gabriel and I became a part of, he never ordered us around or even forced us to do something we weren''tfortable with. Besides his excellent Leadership qualities, his consideration for our freedom and opinion was what I admire the most about Mr Brandon. After that, I began to describe everything from the moment I entered the strange Dome and my encounter with the terrifyingly powerful Storm Eagle and Mr Jay, who overpowered a High-Phase Tier-3 Monster. But throughout my exnation, I experienced something strange beyond words. I was only able to give a short and vague exnation whenever I was about to reveal Mr Jay''s abilities that he disyed when he fought against Storm Eagle. Not to mention his abilities, I couldn''t even describe something as simple as his physical appearance when Mr Brandon asked me about it. I remembered everything that happened as clearly as a day, but for some reason, when I want to say it out loud, I seem to forget it. It was a simr feeling that one experiences just after waking up from a dream. It feels like you remember the contents of the dream but couldn''t recall them in detail. But, with the vague information I provided, both Mr Brandon and Gabriel understood the overall situation. After that, Mr Brandon took a few seconds to pull himself together from the shock he received from learning that Mr Jay was powerful enough to single-handedly y a High-Phase Tier-3 Monster. Whereas Gabriel even refused to believe that someone could have gained such strength in just 3 Days since the start of the Trial Program. Unlike Gabriel, Mr Brandon believed what I said, primarily because of my sudden rise in Level. He even guessed that Mr Jay must have a way to share his Life Energy with others or to share the life Energy he gains from killing monsters. While I was trying hard to recall any details of the blurred events, Mr Brandon tapped my shoulder, "Don''t over-exert yourself. If that man was as powerful as you mentioned, it wouldn''te as a surprise if he has some means to stop others from revealing any information about him." Right then, a notification appeared, saying that there was a minute left before teleporting back to Earth. After a short pause, Mr Brandon continued, "But in case you do manage to remember anything about Jay''s appearance after returning to Earth, contact me at the fastest speed possible." "Because, finding his identity on Earth will help me in learning what he needs or desires. With that, I could spare no expense of the entire country''s resources to offer him anything he requests in order to recruit him to our side." Mr Brandon continued after a deep breath, "Even at the expense of using half of the country''s resources, I wouldn''t hesitate to provide whatever he needs or desires to bring him to our side before he grows stronger beyond measure." From Mr Brandon''s solemn tone, I could tell how serious he was about inviting Mr Jay to join the Guardian Guild. Just like that, Day-3 ended, and all three of us vanished from the Trial Zone. ***** Day-3 Rest Period, 6:00 A.M... When I was teleported back to my house, I saw my Sister impatiently walking back and forth in the Hall. By reading her thoughts, I could tell that she was waiting for Day-3 to end so that she could ask me to train her somebat techniques. But, when she saw me, Qew hurried towards me and shouted anxiously with tears welled up in her eyes, "Big Brother! What hap¡­.happened to your head? Why did it turn pale blue, and why are there injuries all over your body?" Looking at her concern for me, it warmed my heart. Before she could worry more, I replied, "Don''t worry, it''s nothing serious as the injuries weren''t fatal. Give me some time and I will be healedpletely." After reassuring her, I rested myself on the couch. While I waited for the Centauri Kavach''s Full Body Armour form to recover from its fist-sized holes and asional fractures in it, I consumed two Grade-3 Vitality Fruits in a row. In the next 15 minutes, all my injuries recovered along with the Centauri Kavach that repaired itself. However, my skin was still pale blue from the Poison injected by the High-Phase Tier-3 ''Venomous Scorpion''. After the fight with Storm Eagle, I fought against three more High-Phase Tier-3 Monsters: ''Devil Earth Bear'', ''Fiery Fire Boar'' and ''Venomous Scorpion''. Since I didn''t use INVERSE mode while fighting against any of them, I suffered injuries every time. But, none of them were fatal, thanks to my Centauri Kavach''s abnormal defence. Among those three monsters, fighting against the Venomous Scorpion was the most challenging part since the piercing power of its sharp tail was able to break past a small portion of Centauri Kavach''s defence, poisoning me with its venom. Once poisoned, I went full-on offensive and killed it as quickly as possible and had MJ integrate with it''s corpse. Then, I manipted the Venomous Scorpion''s Innate Talent to freeze the Venom from spreading further in my body and harming my organs. Right after that, I was teleported to Earth, and since I had the venom in my whole body and because the Centauri Kavach''s Full Body Armour covered my entire body except for the head, Qew could only see that my head was pale blue. Once all my injuries were healed, I initiated the merging process with the Innate Skill Lv.30 that I looted from the Venomous Scorpion. My Blood, which was almost ck in colour due to Lv.5 from Poisonous Spiders, began to burn and gradually the pale-blue skin turned red from the intense heat produced by the transformation in my blood. Soon, my blood cooled down, causing my skin tone to return to its original state and because of the the poison from Venomous Scorpion couldn''t harm me anymore. When I made a small cut on my finger, I could see a streak of blue blood appearing from the cut and before the cut healed itself, I took out a drop of blue blood and passed it to the Baby MJ to analyse its toxicity levels. Meanwhile, I manipted Water and Wind Innate Talent to remove blood stains over thepletely recovered Centauri Kavach''s Full Body Armour Form and morphed it back into ck Suit with Golden patterns on it. Only when my condition returned to its normal state did Qew sigh in relief. I patted her head, to which she retaliated, "Huu! Don''t pat me. I am not a little girl anymore." While looking at Qew, I smiled and asked MJ out loud, "Did you record someone crying like a little girl." Looking at me bullying Qew, MJ replied enthusiastically, "Yes, Master! All my memories are recorded and can be disyed whenever needed." But what MJ didn''t know was that I sent his ''nemesis'' after him. Qew chased after MJ while shouting at him, "Little Brat! You wait right there and delete that memory or see how this GrandAunt will bully you." While they were running around in the house like Tom & Jerry, I soon went into a deep sleep from the exhaustion that was stacked up from fighting four High-Phase Tier-3 Monsters in a single day. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Zed'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 81 - Second Wristband Prototype. ***** Once the Day-3 rest period began, I flew from Italy to India with Uncle Roberto. Jay sent someone to pick us up at the airport. Soon, we reached the luxurious house that Jay arranged for us to stay in; it was his neighbouring house. With the Umon Grade Spirit Ring that has a Storage Space of 5m x 5m x 5m, it was convenient to bring most of my stuff, and it didn''t take long to settle in the house that has all the facilities needed. Due to the jetg from 8 hours long air travel, Uncle Roberto took a rest. Then, I walked to the next door and knocked on it, expecting to meet Jay and thank him for the hospitality. However, the one that opened the door was not Jay, but he was as tall as him and resembled Jay. "Yes, can I help you with something?" Just when I was about to reply with my rusty English, I heard a familiar baby voice from within the house, "Master Kay, Let him in, that''s Dante, one of the 11 Earth''s Alpha Chosen aside from your brother." That voice was unmistakably that of the Great Venerable MJ, and from what he said, the man that opened the door must be Jay''s brother. He politely invited me into the house, and when I entered the room, I saw something unbelievable. The Great Venerable MJ that caused the Trial World Monsters to cower in fear just from his presence was now begging for mercy as a young woman continued to pull his chubby cheeks. Kay sighed at her, "Sister, let the little guy alone already." Hearing that, I learned that she was Jay''s sister. Even though she looks gorgeous, for some reason, I am scared of her. Maybe it was because of the fact that even the Great Venerable was helpless in front of her. Kay informed me that Jay was asleep and he should be waking up anytime soon. Kay offered to sit on the couch and wait for a while, and soon Jay''s siblings showered me with questions on my experiences in the Trial World and how I met their Elder Brother in there. Under their looks of anticipation, I began to tell them my side of the story and how Jay saved me when I thought I was about to die and the events after that. That continued for half an hour, and when I exined about the and its rankings, they seemed to be quite surprised to learn that their Brother was ranked 1st among the millions of Alpha Chosen. For the next few seconds, silence filled the room. The reason for their silence was due to the shock from learning the extent of their Brother''s power. However, my silence was because I realised that I must have messed up since there must be a reason why Jay never told his siblings how powerful he truly waspared to the other Alpha-Chosen. Suddenly, the footsteps of someone entering the room broke the silence in the air. It was none other than Jay. ***** Right after waking up, I looked at the Day-3 Rest period timer on the top left of my vision. [Time left: 8:27:42 (hr:min:sec)] It seemed that I slept for nearly 9 hours. I moved towards the living room after hearing lively sounds from there. There sat my siblings together with the flustered Dante, who was answering the series of questions that were thrown at him and at his replies, my siblings continued to gasp in awe. When Dante saw me enter the living room, he jumped to his feet and greeted, "Good Morni...I mean Good Afternoon, Jay, the house you arranged for us was wonderful. Tha¡­Thanks for inviting us. I am sure Uncle Roberto loves this ce." By reading his thoughts, I could tell that he was anxious if I would get angry at him for revealing to my siblings that I was ranked 1st among the entire Alpha Chosen. Then, Qew grumbled, "I can''t believe you never told us that you are the most powerful of all the Alpha-Chosen." As to why I didn''t reveal how powerful I was to my siblings, it was because I didn''t want that to affect their motivation for growing stronger. It wasn''t much of a deal that Dante revealed it. But now that theye to know about it, I just have to revitalise their motivation. "Well, both of you never really asked it. But now that you want to know let me tell you something that widens your perspective." After a brief pause, I continued with a solemn tone, "I never really considered myself as the strongest even when I was the leading one in the Leaderboard. Do you know why? It was because my vision was even beyond the Trial Program and the Monster Invasion thates after System''s assimtion." "Even if I were toe out as the strongest one of the Trial Program and even if we somehow manage to ovee the impending Monster Invasion, there still would be the forces from the rest of the Universe trying to take control over our Gxy that has promising potential and resources." "Compared to those forces that have foot soldiers capable of even conquering the military might of our in less than a day. It doesn''t matter even if I was the strongest one of the entire Milky Way Gxy. I would still be nowhere near as powerful to stop them should they try to take over our." "In a fight against such forces, it doesn''t matter even if you have the highest potential Grade-10 Innate Talent. If you don''t have enough time to grow stronger to face those Beings that were training and levelling up for hundreds if not thousands of years." "Ranking 1st in the doesn''t amount to much in front of such forces. That was why I train most of the time, ignoring the fact that I am the leading Alpha Ranker." By the time I finished, fear was evident in their eyes, and Dante gulped as he sweated unconditionally. It seemed that my speech which was intended to motivate them, scared them instead. To lighten the mood, I broke the silence with a cough, "Ahem, But there is still hope as long as you all grow stronger by then, our chances to ovee the Monster invasion and whates after that would increase." Only when I said that did their fear turn into resolve. To know that, I didn''t even have to read their thoughts as I could see that in their faces. At first, I didn''t want my siblings to face any danger and live a peaceful life, but they would be thrown into a situation where they would face danger sooner orter. So, instead of protecting them from the new reality, I decided to prepare them to face it head-on without having to depend on me. As for the forces that I mentioned, which ended up scaring them was not something that was as pessimistic as I put it. It might have been the case for Lifes from other Gxies but since the Milky Way Gxy has 10-Star Gxy Rating, our Gxy would have a more extended protection period. Till the protection ends, no one from the rest of the Universe could enter our Gxy. As long as I grow stronger at my current rate, I am confident that I could grow strong enough to deal with them by the end of the protection period. Using their re-found motivation, I took the chance to have MJ give my siblings and Dante each the Second Wristband Prototype that he created to replicate the System''s Knowledge Transmission feature. Compared to the First WristBand Prototype that helped Qew to learn walking and running by transmitting my experience of the essential leg-coordination, the Second upgrade was an advanced one as it could transmitplex information. Even though the Second WristBand Prototype couldn''tpare to the System''s instant knowledge transmission, it could still transmit theplete knowledge I learned of Earth''s Martial Arts to them in a day. Still, learning the transmitted knowledge is the same as me training my from the training methods transmitted by the System. Soon, my siblings entered a meditative trance once they began the transmission process. To those who don''t know, it would look like they were sleeping. As for Dante, he doesn''t need my Martial Art knowledge since he could just train in Weapon Masteries transmitted by the System. But, the reason I gave him the Second Wristband Prototype was for him to learnnguages in the shortest time possible. Now that he intends to live in India, it would be a lot more useful if he understands the regionalnguages. After a short chat with Dante, he returned to his house to train his respective Masteries. Then, MJ showed me the toxicity analysis report on a single drop of my Blue Blood. It was 1000 times more poisonous than Africa''s most poisonous snake, White Boomng, whose single drop of venom could kill 500 humans. Technically, a single drop of my blood is poisonous enough to kill everyone in a small city. But that''s just a way to measure how deadly a venom could be. Other than the highly poisonous nature of the , its other speciality was the ability to cure any poison by absorbing it into my blood as long as that poison was weaker than the Lv.30. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Zed'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 82 - Qew’s Innate Exclusive Skills. After that, I asked MJ to brief me on any trouble pertaining to ''Nav-Yuga Enterprise''. "Master, while you were in the Trial World, there were a fewpanies that tried to suppress and sabotage our enterprise to stop it from rising back to its peak. Some of them even hired local goons to terrorise our employees or anyone that woulde to ''Nav-Yuga Enterprise'' for employment." Noticing the cold glint in my eyes, MJ quickly borated, "There is no need for Master to bother about it, I already dealt with them. The exact locations of those local goons were anonymously reported to the city''s authorities along with theplete evidence of all the crimes they havemitted in their lives." "I also did the same for thosepanies that hired them. But, since thosepanies can use their influence to escape thew through their connections with corrupt authorities, I made sure to ckmail those corrupt individuals to either enforce the highest possible punishment on thosepanies, or all the crimes they havemitted would be released to the press and public along with detailed evidence, which would end their career in a single day." With MJ and his quantum A.I''s looking over our enterprise, I didn''t have to worry about disruptions of such level. But, even after that, there would still be more who wanted a piece of our pie. With that in mind, I had MJ run a simtion for probable scenarios to counter future troubles of such kind and the conclusion for that, was to set two ns in motion. Once I was done with them, ''Nav-Yuga Enterprise'' would be on a smooth ride to be one of the top enterprises in the world. First and foremost was to increase Nav-Yuga''s security detail. For that, I nned to select a few loyal ones that stayed with our family, even when we were at our worst, and make them Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL holders. As for the ''not-so trustable'' security members, I nned on using the magical fruits I obtained in the Trial World, to enhance their attributes, and nt a soul tracker on them, in case they try to betray or go rogue. That would increase the security of our enterprise to another level. As for the second n, it was to associate ''Nav-Yuga Enterprise'' in rtion to ''F.U.T.U.R.E Inc.'' that was owned by the holder of the Moon ORIGIN SIGIl, Olivia Morris. That would mean that Olivia''s conglomerate would own a minority or non-controlling stake in our enterprise, but still have significant influence over it. Once that happened, none of the Indianpanies would try to prey on our enterprise, as it would be partly owned by one of the world''srgest conglomerates. To be precise, ''associating'' with Olivia''s conglomerate would be in name only. In actuality, our enterprise would be ''partnering'' with her conglomerate, which would be the face of introducing Spirit Energy Engineered Devices, or SEED, into the international markets. Since Olivia''s conglomerate produced a wide range of products for the international markets, she would be the one providing raw products, for the thousands of Quantum A.I''s to turn them into Spirit Energy based ones. I had yet to talk with Olivia about it, but with how smart she was, I am sure she would ept it if I presented her with this opportunity, where she would get a 25% share in the profits. Once the Spirit Energy based technology is introduced, its revtion would tip the bnce of the world''s economy. So, even a 1% share in profits was an overwhelming number just to look at, even for one of the richest people on the, like Olivia. Before starting the first n, I initiated the second one by having MJ convey my proposition to Olivia. It went as smooth as I expected, and she quickly epted my deal. However, to make it official, she had to discuss it with the other shareholders of her conglomerate. Since she was the one with the majority of the shares, it would at most take a few days for her to release an official statement, saying that our enterprise would be working together with their conglomerate. Since MJ in his A.I form could use the inte as a medium for travel, he could basically go anywhere in the world that had inte ess. Once he reached Scond, where Olivia''s conglomerate headquarter was located, I had MJ manifest a part of nearby that headquarter, and the Quantum A.I''s began creating another secret base of operations there. The second secret base would act as a safe location for mass producing Spirit Energy based products and since it was deep underground, there wouldn''t be any disturbances. While MJ was busy with that, I didn''t dilly dally my time on Earth and beganprehending the Mastery of my sister''s Innate Talent, . Since it was a Grade-10 Innate Talent, it took me less than five hours to reach from Stage-1 to Stage-3 in , awakening Qew''s 1st & 2nd Innate Exclusive Skills in the process. [: Lets the user to converge two or more Skills of the same Grade into a new skill of higher grade. (Converged Skill''s grade is directly rted to the user''s stage of .) No. of uses per 24 hours: 1] Just the was so useful that with enough time, I could easily create as many high grade skills as I wanted. After all, I wasn''tcking in the amount of skills. But, the only thing that was limiting me was the mastery over . Since I reached Stage-3 in , I could atmost create rare grade skills. It was the same for , as the rare grade was the extent to which the Spirit Items could be converged. To see how they work, I used the on mymon grade skills that are rted to my vision. ______________ Result of skill convergence process: {A/N: (C) - Common Grade, (Uc) - Umon Grade, (R) - Rare} Lv.10 (C) + Lv.10 (C) + Lv.7 (C) + Lv.6 = Lv.5 (Uc) ______________ [Lv.5 (Umon Grade): Enhances user''s eyesight and enables the user''s vision to adjust to the surrounding light spectrum. Range: 500 meters] Just as the new skill was created, it automatically began merging with me. I once again went through a burning sensation in my eyes. But, I barely felt any pain due to my high . After experimenting around with for a while, I gained a clear understanding of the improvements in my Vision. At first, I assumed that creating a new skill through convergence of two or more skills would result in losing the abilities of the skills that were used in the process. But, that didn''t seem to be the case, since I could still use the abilities of all the skills that were converged into . On top of that, the range that I could use my vision''s abilities were also improved by a bit. After that, I opened storage space and took out two silver ive replicas, which I had MJ to create based on the appearance of the silver ive that the previous host of used. The reason I had MJ create them, was because my ultimate skill could only be activated by using a ive-type weapon. But the replicas that MJ created using Spirit Energy Engineering were only of umon grade, and I would need at least a rare grade ive-type weapon to activate without breaking the weapon straight away. Because, no umon grade could withstand the overbearing Origin Energy before turning into scraps in a second or two. But, the rare grade one would be able to withstand for 5 seconds, which would give me enough time to activate by creating the required prehistoric patterns through Origin Energy. Without the proper grade materials, making rare grade Spirit Items was impossible, even for MJ who was well versed in Grade-4 Spirit Energy Engineering. However, the changes that possibility as it doesn''t need higher grade metal ores, since the Convergence Law would take care of that issue. Without any dy, I activated on the two replicas. ______________ Result of spirit item convergence process: (Uc) + (Uc) = (R) ______________ [ (Rare Grade): A replica that couldn''tpare to its original.] Effect: Strength+18^, Agility+22^ Requirements: 34 Strength, 38 Agility Durability: 100/100 Inherent Skill: (Rare) : Turns the ive as light as a feather and increases shing damage three-fold. Cost: 40 Spirit Energy per second. ______________ With my Lv.30, the rare grade silver ive replica felt natural in my hands, almost like a part of myself. Even though it was a rare grade spirit item, I didn''t merge with it, so that I didn''t have to suffer a drastic stat reduction when it eventually got destroyed by the Origin Energy from . While I was inspecting the Silver ive replica, a few celebratory notifications popped up in front of me. From the chimes that were associated with it, I could tell that they were the notifications for the whole Trial World. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Yuno'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 83 - Genonian Language [# Trial World Announcement #] [# ''Regaz'', the Alpha Chosen of the ''Gharek,'' underwent Tier-3 Evolution and reached Tier-3 in the first 3 Days of the Milky Way Gxy Trial Program. #] [# Congratte Regaz for being the 1st Alpha Chosen among the Alpha Chosen from 1,000,000 Lifes that the System selected for the Milky Way Gxy''s Trial Program. #] [# Due to the appearance of a first Tier-3 Alpha Chosen, every Alpha Chosen of the Milky Way Gxy Trial Program will receive Basic Tier-3 Information. #] Following that, a series of notifications appeared. ________________ [Basic Tier-3 Information] 1. The System Dome restriction on Low-Phase, Mid-Phase and High-Phase Tier-3 Monsters will be lifted on Day-7, Day-14 and Day-21, respectively. 2. On Day-10, Trial Regional Tournaments will ur among the Trial Zones of each Trial Region. Out of the 1000 Trial Zones in every Trial Region, only the Top 10 Trial Zones will be qualified for the Trial Continental Tournaments that will take ce on Day-20. 3. Introduction of the Universal Language to all Alpha-Chosen. ''Genonian Language'' is added to your , you can choose to learn it anytime. ________________ Thanks to MJ, I already know everything contained in the ''Basic Tier-3 Information'', except for the aforementioned introduction of the Universal Language. Even though the Trial Program was shortened, it was supposed to be introduced just a day before the first Tournament begins. The only reason I could think of was that the change was due to an Alpha Chosen reaching Tier-3 at such an earlier stage. After that, I began the merging process with , which I found in my as mentioned in ''Basic Tier-3 Information''. At that moment, Dante rushed through my house''s front door in a hurry and started to speak in a iprehensiblenguage., "???''??????????????????????????????????''??????????????????3?????????;" Soon it became more apparent as the knowledge regarding the Genonian Language flowed into my mind. By the time the merging process waspleted, I could feel that my understanding of the Genoniannguage was more proficient than my mother tongue. Noticing that I stayed silent, Dante repeated himself, "Jay, did you see the changes in Alpha Rankings, someone reached Tier-3 before you." Considering how natural it sounds, it''s not surprising to see Dante using the Genonian dialect without even realising that himself. Well, once the System assimtes with Earth, it would be amon urence to speak in Genonian as it would be a globally recognisednguage due to it being avable to every individual on that is assimted with the system. I went with the flow and replied in genoniannguage, "Yea... I did notice the changes. It''s just a ranking based on level. By now, you should know that having a higher level doesn''t necessarily mean that one is stronger than the other. Anyway, it''s gonna be a while before I reach Tier-3." "Quit worrying about me and get back to training . Both Andrea and the new guy in our party, Min-soo, already satisfied their Mastery requirement and are just one step short from evolving to Tier-3." Ever since I left Dante with Olivia and others, none of them looked down on him and even treated him well because of his familiarity with me. Andrea and Kasim even called him Senior Brother with respect. Well, this was mostly due to the fact that he was the secondest oldest one, as Sergei is the oldest.. Since I read his mind, I know that Dante takes pride in being the most senior member in my party. So, I used that to motivate him, and it seemed to work as he quickly took off to resume training his . After that, I focussed on the notification that continued to pop up every hour in the past 15 hours. [You have fulfilled all three requirements to undergo Tier-3 Evolution. Do you wish to proceed right away?] Like thest 15 times, I once again rejected the notification and looked at the Masteries Section in my . _____________ STAGE-1 Mastery = Lv.1 to Lv.10. STAGE-2 Mastery = Lv.11 to Lv.20. STAGE-3 Mastery = Lv.21 to Lv.30. .... [ELEMENTAL MASTERY] : Lv.12 ? Lv.30 {Max} : Lv.15 ? Lv.30 {Max} : Lv.16 ? Lv.30 {Max} : Lv.8 ? Lv.30 {Max} : Lv.21 ? Lv.30 {Max} : Lv.10 (No changes) [WEAPON MASTERY] : Lv.7 ? Lv.12 : Lv.9 (New) Sword Mastery - (Sword Minor-1): Lv.14 ? Lv.23 (Sword Minor-2): Lv.21 (No changes) (Sword Minor-3): Lv.11 ? Lv.22 Spear Mastery - (Spear Minor-1): Lv.30 {Max} (No changes) (Spear Minor-2): 22 (New) (Spear Minor-3): 25 (New) [VARIANT MASTERY] : Lv.16 ? Lv.23 : Lv.30 {Max} (New) : Lv.30 {Max} (Recent) : Lv.21 (New) : Lv.21 (New) _____________ All the Masteries that were rted to the Innate Talents I gained were at Stage-3, thus satisfying the Mastery requirement for Tier-3 Evolution. Since I already met the Level and Achievement Title requirements, I was already eligible for Tier-3 Evolution for quite some time. If I wanted, I could have be the 1st Alpha-Chosen to reach Tier-3. But, I didn''t evolve to the next tier because obtaining Universe Achievement Points is rtively easy as long as I remain in High-Phase Tier-2. That was because I only had to solo-kill a High-Phase Tier-3 Monster to aplish a Universe level Achievement. But if I were to undergo Tier-3 Evolution, I would be a Low-Phase Tier-3 Lifeform. To aplish the same Universe level Achievement, I had to kill a Monster three phases above me, i.e. a Low-Phase Tier-4 Monster. In that case, the difference between Tier-4 Monster and me wouldn''t just be three phases, but a ''Realm'' since the Tier-4 Monster would be in Sky Realm (Tier-4 to Tier-6), whereas I would be in Earth Realm (Tier-1 to Tier-3). Defeating a Sky Realm Lifeform while being in Earth Realm was a pipe dream to anyone. Even if I was in mode, I wouldn''t be 100% sure that I could kill a Tier-4 Monster. But, that''s a matter for some other day to think as none of the Alpha-Chosen woulde across a Tier-4 Monster for a while. So, I decided to stay in Tier-2 till I collect enough Universe Achievement Points to obtain the original Silver ive. After that, I left the house and soon entered the Training Room that MJ prepared for me in the secret underground base. There, I entered mode and practised the process of activating the Skill . The process involves enveloping the Rare Grade silver ive replica with Origin Energy and manipting that energy to form aplicated prehistoric pattern on top of the weapon''s surface before sending it as an attack. However, it''s not as simple as it sounds. This is because, to create the prehistoric pattern, I first have topletely envelop the rare grade ive with Origin Energy, which would cause the weapon''s durability to drastically plummet and destroy the weapon before I could create the pattern. After calcting the rate at which Origin Energy destroys a Spirit Item, MJ concluded that I would have 3 seconds to create the prehistoric pattern and unleash the before the rare grade ive''s durability falls from ''100'' to ''o'' and gets destroyed. It didn''t work as expected when I tried to do that, and as a result, the rare grade Silver ive replica turned into scraps. Even though it ended as a failure, I wasn''t disappointed because I managed to manipte the origin energy to create the prehistoric pattern and was just a second away from unleashing the attack. I was confident that as long as I practised more, I would be able to activate before the weapon gets destroyed. In the remaining time I had in mode, I tried to activate using the several other Umon Grade silver ive replicas that MJ created for me. Of course, each of them turned into scraps in just a second, but that helped improve my understanding of Origin Energy by a considerable amount. Just like that, I found a much better way to increase myprehension of Origin Energy. Once I exited mode, I returned to my house. With Qew and Kay in the process of receiving martial art knowledge from the second Wristband prototype, I didn''t disturb them. After taking afortable shower, I prepared myself a delectable dinner and waited for the Day-3 rest period to end. Right before I was teleported back to Trial World, another celebratory notification appeared which stated that an Alpha-Chosen named ''Drogor'' reached Tier-3. Ignoring that, I resumed my hunt for High-Phase Tier-3 Monsters the moment Day-4 began. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Despair'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 84 - Origin Energy With a loud thud, the 7-meter tall Troll copsed and the dust that rose from its fall covered the numerous injuries that were inflicted on its body by 20 of my Wind Clones. After using the to overwhelm it with numbers, I had Storm Eagle MJ hold it down and incapacitate the Tier-3 Giant Troll, while I injected it with some of my . Despite its angry roars, I manipted the injected venom using Poison Innate Talent and Lv.30 that I got from Venomous Scorpion MJ. My goal was to see if the could also act as a neurotoxin, which could cause temporary paralysis. It took several failed attempts before I finally seeded in using my blood as a neurotoxin and temporarily paralysed the Giant Troll. If not for the Giant Troll''s abnormal regenerative ability, it would have died from the toxicity of the ''Blood Venom'', just like the other Tier-3 monsters that I tested my blood on before. Following that, I killed the Giant Troll by piercing through its head and heart using the . [Lv.43 Giant Troll (High-Phase Tier-3) Killed] [10750 Life Energy Obtained] [Congrattions! You have earned an Achievement Title, (Rare) by killing a Giant of Troll Species.] [Congrattions! You are the 267th High-Phase Tier-2 Existence in the entire Universe to solo-kill a High-Phase Tier-3 Monster in a full-frontal battle.] [Due to causing a Universe Level Achievement, you will receive a random grade reward that will be most useful to you at the present moment. The Grade of the reward depends on your Luck Attribute.] [Due to a request in process, the Universe Level Achievement you achieved shall be converted into 100 Universe Points and be pooled together till it satisfies the exchange value for the Weapon you wished for.] [Current Universe Points: 2300.] Without further dy, I activated on the Giant Troll. [72 Stats Looted] [Lv.30 (Rare) Looted] [Lv.30 (Passive): Enhances the user''s base regeneration by a factor of 30.] Ignoring Giant Troll''s Grade-4 Earth Innate Talent, I looted its racial Innate Skill. Before I was able to merge with , Storm Eagle MJ reminded me of my prior appointment, "Master, it''s about time." When I heard that, I immediately checked the time notification on the top left of my vision. [Alpha Program, Day-6, Time - 11:55:01 (hr:min:sec)] "Alright, Let''s be on our way then. With your flying speed, 5 minutes is more than enough time to reach there." Since it''s almost time for my prior appointment, I didn''t merge with right away and hopped onto Storm Eagle MJ before he took off to the said destination. With the Grade-9 Wind Innate Talent, Storm Eagle MJ didn''t face any air resistance on its way ahead, making it ratherfortable for me to sit. During the 5 minutes, I recalled my improvements I had in the past two days. Among them, the main improvement was the looted stats that were added to my every time I exited mode. The restriction that held me from using mode without having at least double my ''s overall stats in , was toned down when I gained 1%prehension over Origin Energy. Even the description of mode changed, saying that I could activate mode as long as I have more overall stats in than my . That was why I was able to use mode even when I did not have at least double my overall stats in my . Including the 18-hour rest periods of Day-4 and Day-5 and the first 12 hours of Day-6, I had activated mode 20 times, improving my overall stats in my from 630 to 830. With that, my estimated level improved from Lv.38 to Lv.50, bringing me to High-Phase Tier-3. The only problem was that I could at most use the mode 17 more times. Because, by then, my overall stats in would reach 1000, which would be the same number of overall stats in my . After that, I wouldn''t be able to enter mode. At least, not until I manage to break past the 1st limit of the universe. Aside from that, another improvement that I made was myprehension of Origin Energy; it reached to 2% in the rest period after Day-5. Technically, it should have taken a lot more time for me to do that. However, the time needed was drastically shortened down because I had used nearly a thousand Umon Grade silver ive replicas that MJ had created for me to train in the past few days. Upon achieving 2% Mastery over Origin Energy, I was once again taken into the depths of in my Spirit Space and just likest time; I was thrown into a time loop for some unknown period of time. There, I learned more astonishing facts about Origin Energy. It seems that Origin Energy is anything but ordinary as it was the very first Energy to be born from the creation of the vast cosmos. Then I realised why any elemental energy or aura thates in contact with the Origin Energy disperses. It was because all of them were basically a part of Origin Energy. As long as I achieve enough Mastery over Origin Energy, none of the energies in the existence would be able to harm me. But, that''s not something I could achieve with just 2% Mastery. As the true origin of all elements and energies, the Mastery of Origin Energy was calibrated differently from the other existing Masteries. A single percent of Mastery over Origin Energy represents a stage for any other Masteries, meaning that having 2% Mastery over Origin Energy corrtes to having a Stage-2 Mastery. So, as long as I achieve 4% Mastery over Origin Energy, I could break past the 1st Universe Limit, letting me use mode to its full potential. Within my Innate Talent''s time loop, I learned something called ''Momentary Solidification of Origin Energy''. It wasn''t a skill like , but rather a technique which lets me momentarily solidify Origin Energy into any shape I desire. The first thing I did after learning it was to solidify Origin Energy into the shape of a ive and try to use with it. But it ended up as a failure because the duration that I could solidify the Origin Energy was only a fraction of a second before that solidified Origin Energy dispersed back into its Energy form. So, in thest five times I entered mode, I trained in ''Momentary Solidification of Origin Energy'' technique to prolong the duration of the solidification, even if it was for an additional fraction of a second. Another reason I practiced it was because it was the quickest way to reach the next stage ofprehension over Origin Energy. Other than ying High-Phase Tier-3 Monsters andprehending Origin Energy, I trained the Innate Talent Masteries of my siblings to peak of Stage-3. Because of the 1st Limit of the Universe, Lv.30 was the maximum extent to which I could bring any of my Masteries. The key to crossing the 1st Limity in turning their Minor Mastery into a Major Mastery, meaning that one had to advance one''s Mastery from Stage-3 to Stage-4 (Lv.31 to Lv.40). But, that was easier said than done, as one had to find the true essence of their own Innate Talent Mastery by themselves, in order to turn a Minor Mastery into a Major one. Finding the true essence of one''s Innate Talent Mastery was not something that could be done by wrecking one''s brain over it. So, I didn''t dwell on it and let the time take its course. I just had to wait till I chance upon it. Over the past two hours, I had been having an odd feeling, as I had received no notifications about monsters dying, and me gaining their life energy and looted stats. When I first noticed it, I enquired with MJ, and was taken aback to find that it was because there were no more Tier-1 & Tier-2 monsters left in Earth''s Trial Zone, as all of them were hunted down by all of MJ''s integrated monsters. Each Trial Zone had 100 Tier-3 monsters, 500 Tier-2 monsters, and 2500 Tier-1 monsters. But their number didn''t matter in front of MJ''s integrated monsters, who had the same amount of stats as me. Since the monsters didn''t respawn, Earth''s Trial Zone ended up bing a monster-free zone, in just the first five and half days of the Trial Program, that is, if I didn''t consider the Tier-3 monsters that were restricted in the domes. (E/N: RIP other alpha trial participants, as there''s no more exp for them) As for the Trial World rankings, there were several changes in it. After ''Regaz'' and ''Drogor'', a few others followed them into Tier-3, and that amount continued to rise in thest few days. Since every Alpha Chosen learned about the restrictions that the System set on the Tier-3 monsters, most of the Alpha Chosen focussed on hunting monsters and improving their levels as much as they could before Day-7. As a result, I was pushed to thete five hundreds and ranked 584th. Everyone that was ranked above me in the had reached Tier-3, and all those below me were at Lv.25. Even though I fell behind in the Alpha Rankings, I was kinda still ranked first, since two of my Party members, Andrea and Min-soo, who received a part of the Life Energy I obtained were now ranked 1st and 2nd, respectively. If Dante had met his Innate Talent Mastery requirement, he would have been the one ranking first in the , but it was understandable, considering that he has a Unique Category Innate Talent. Other than Andrea and Min-soo, Olivia was among the top 10 Alpha Rankers, as she stood at 9th position. If not for theck of monsters in the Earth''s Trial Zone, she might even have been in the top 5. Aside from those three, Sergei and Brandon also reached Tier-3, and were around mid two hundreds in the Alpha Rankings. Before I couldpletely recollect the thoughts on my improvements and the changes that took ce in the past few days, Storm Eagle MJ arrived near the destination. That location was just outside a system restricted dome, where MJ had gathered all the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen under my instructions. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Yuno'' & ''hyperStar''. Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 85 - The Gathering Of Earth’s Alpha Chosen [(Part-1)/3] ---Dante''s P.O.V --- In the past few days that Jay left me with Olivia and others, I got along well together with all of them. Especially with Andrea and Kasim, they were the ones who introduced the others in their group to me. I was awed by their identities on earth as each of them were at the peak of their respective fields. Even though it''s natural for people of their statuses to look down upon a nobody like me, none of them treated me in such a way. To my surprise, they even treated me with respect. Only through the chat I had with Andrea did I learn that just before Jay brought me to them, the Great Venerable, Hobgoblin MJ already informed them about me. When I learned the details of that information, I could see that it was exaggerated. The Great Venerable proimed that even his powerful master, Jay, would find it troubling to defeat me if I used my abilities. Even though I could predict Jay''s movement and attack patterns ahead of time, I couldn''t evade them due to the vast stat difference between us. If I was on par with him, stat-wise, there might be a chance for me to hold up against him. However, if Jay activates that strange silver energy of his, none of my Fate-rted abilities would work on him, making it my thorough defeat. Without mentioning myck of luck , the Great Venerable only revealed to them that I could see anyone''s Fate, a minute ahead in the future and even alter that fate if I wanted. At first, I didn''t understand why the Great Venerable said those things about me. After giving it some thought, I realised that he deliberately said that so that none of them would think little of me. I was d that the Great Venerable was looking out for me. During the past few days, Sergei helped me train basicbat techniques. Other than Sergei, Olivia also assisted me to hone mybat abilities bying up with better ways to use my Fate rted abilities in a fight. Until Kasim spilled it out for me, I didn''t know that the usually silent but warm-hearted Sergei was once a deadly assassin, whom everyone feared and the down-to-earth Olivia was the fifth richest person on our. From Kasim, I also learned that Sergei used to be the strongest of their group and that seemed to change after they were hit by a silver shock wave. Even though none of them know anything about it, I know where the silver shock wave originated from, since I was right beside Jay when that happened. After going through the details mentioned by Kasim, I spected that she must have received one of the sigils that Jay offered me at the beginning of Day-3. But, I didn''t reveal anything about the sigils to them. Upon adjusting ourselves to the stats gained from reaching Lv.25, On Day-4, the Great Venerable in hobgoblin form, took Andrea and me to a Dome where a Low-Phase Tier-3 Monster was restricted and made us battle it while asionally assisting us from the side only when our lives were in danger. Only by using my 2nd Innate Exclusive Skill, did both of us manage to kill that Low-Phase Tier-3 monster and gain the Rare Grade Achievement Title, which was the reason we were brought there. It is needed to fulfil the Achievement Title requirement for evolving to Tier-3. With that, Andreapleted her Tier-3 evolution, whereas I couldn''t, since my was stuck at Lv.20 without any signs to reach Lv.21. Days passed, and the monsters became scarce, making it hard for the remaining members in our group to level up. I could tell that it was Jay''s doing as I could see the Life Energy stacking up in my . Even under such circumstances, Olivia and Sergei managed to reach Tier-3. On Day-6, we didn''t even find a single monster, leaving Kasim to shed tears of frustration as he was just a few Life Energy points away from reaching Lv.25. When it was around 11 hours into Day-6, the Great Venerable took us to a location outside a Dome saying that Jay wanted all of us to gather there to make an announcement. By the time we arrived, there were already five more people in that location, along with the Great Venerable''s Shadow Leopard form. Andrea and I recognised one of them right away as we could see his name ''Min-soo'' floating on top of his head. It was a Party function which lets the Party''s members recognise each other. Looking at Min-soo approaching us excitedly, I could tell that he also seemed to recognise that both of us were members of Jay''s Party. Just like Andrea, he was also at Lv.34, standing second in the Trial World Rankings. Looking at the both of them who were at Tier-3, I could only me my innate talent for not letting me reach Stage-3 , which in turn prevents me from evolving to Tier-3. Soon, the Great Venerable''s Hobgoblin form and Shadow Leopard form left our groups before telling us to stay here until Jay arrived. After that, Min-soo introduced their group to ours and I did the same for our group. Other than Min-soo, there was one more person in their group, who reached Tier-3. Upon noticing Min-soo taking nces at the person with blue eyes and blonde hair as if he was asking for his approval, I could tell that he must be the one that leads their group, just like how Olivia was to our group. I looked at the two members that recently joined their group, Henry and Kensei. ording to the introduction Min-soo gave, Kensei Fujiwara was a prodigy kenjutsu partitioner from one of the four ancient samurai ns to still exist in Japan. As for Henry, he is an Australian Boxer that seems to have won the World''s middleweight Boxing Champion consecutively for the past 3 years. When Min-soo introduced Henry to us, those who seemed to recognise him in our group had strange expressions over their faces. Before the system''s appearance, I didn''t have much general knowledge about what''s happening in the world and just lived my life. That was why I didn''t even recognise Olivia when I first saw her. I quietly asked Kasim, "What''s with your annoyed expression, have you met Henry before?" "Nah, I didn''t personally meet him but he is infamous for his weird personality." "Weird? In what way?", I asked, curiously. Kasim replied with a sigh, "You will know soon enough." I didn''t ask Kasim anymore and soon, there was a bit of an awkward atmosphere between our groups since we just met with each other. To clear that up, I began to share my side of experiences in the Trial World. That didn''t bring much of a change, but it drastically changed when I began to mention how I first met Jay. Everyone, including the members of my group grew silent and attentively listened to me as I shared a few experiences with Jay. Even though I couldn''t reveal details of Jay''s appearance or his abilities, I could still mention the power levels of the monsters that Jay defeated when he saved me. Awe was evident in all of their faces because ording to the time of that fight I mentioned, every other Earth''s Chosen were still in Tier-1, while Jay single-handedly defeated High-Phase Tier-2 Monsters Following that, Andrea continued after me as she shared her experience where Hobgoblin MJ had saved them and took out Tier-2 Monsters with ease. After her, Min-soo picked up the stage as he briefed on his meeting with Jay. Then, it was our group''s turn to be shocked when we learned that Jay was powerful enough to even y a High-Phase Tier-3 Monster when he was still in Lv.25. I thought back to the moment when Jay told me that level isn''t everything, as it does not determine one''s true power. All this time I thought that I would be able to assist him with the power I gained from reaching Lv.25 but it seems that his power remains at a whole tier above us. Moreover, that was his strength from three days ago. By now, he must have grown stronger to the point where the difference between us would be beyondparison. Among our group, Olivia was the one who maintained her calm. I spected that the sigil she obtained from Jay might have a way to let her estimate Jay''s power for her to stay so calm, even after learning the extent of Jay''s power. While Min-soo was continuing his share of experience, his group member that recently joined them stepped forward and interjected, "Mate, that''s bullshit. You guys are exaggerating that Jay or whoever too much. He must have had some trick to enter these domes and I am guessing his ability rotates around controlling monsters and he must have taken advantage of that to gang up on a single Tier-3 Monster." "Moreover, he is not the 1st Alpha Ranker anymore and just like me, he is also at Lv.25. Just so you people know, if ites to a one-on-one fight, I could defeat him easi¡­..." Before he could finish, Min-soo shut him up by teleporting a Common Grade Stamina Fruit into his mouth. Min-sooughed embarrassedly, "Don''t mind Henry, as you might have already known, he is too full of himself. When we first met him, he blurted out simr stuff and even fought against Mr Brandon saying that he wanted to defeat him and be our group''s leader, only to get his ass handed over to him." Everyone had ck lines on their foreheads as they looked at Henry, who continued to babble with his mouth stuffed. Then I understood why Kasim was annoyed at the mention of Henry. Even though Henry was annoying, I should give it to him, he was quite lucky that the Great Venerable didn''t hear him challenging Jay or he would have been in for a good-old ass whooping. Right then, except for Olivia, all the Tier-3 individuals in both of our groups turned serious and went into a defensive stance as they cautiously looked in the North direction. I right away activated to see every Being''s Fate Halos within my 10 km radius and then I sensed it. A three stacked Fate Halo was approaching us at great speeds. With how sensitive I was towards a Fate Halo, I was able to sense whose Fate Halo it was. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Zed''. Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 86 - The Gathering Of Earth’s Alpha Chosen [(Part-2)/3] ***** Through the mental transmission from Shadow Leopard MJ that was hidden in a tree''s shadow near the other Earth Alpha Chosen, I learned about all of their conversations when I was a few kilometers away from my destination. Just as expected, there seem to be a few that think they could defeat me now that I am no longer in the top of the Alpha Rankings. For what I am about to do next, I first have to crush their confidence that makes them think they have the power to stand against me. In order to do that, using Tier suppression is not ideal as that would only intimidate them. What I wanted to show them was that the difference in our powers is not something they could ovee. For that, I already have a few things nned out beforehand. Soon, Storm Eagle MJnded in front of them with a rather shynding as all the winds in the nearby area turned restless from the sudden deceleration of Storm Eagle MJ. It took a few seconds for the winds to calm and the dust to settle down. Meanwhile, none of the other Alpha-Chosen made a single noise, and my footsteps echoed in the silence as I moved closer to them. From reading everyone''s thoughts, I could see that I underestimated my reputation, since I could sense fear or caution in most of them. Among them, only Dante was the one that was d that I arrived and waved at me while smiling like a kid. In thest two 18-hour rest periods, Dante helped my siblings to trainbat techniques he learned from Sergei. Because of that, they slowly grew closer to him. Even though Dante is a trustworthy person and he genuinely considers me as his friend, I couldn''t bring myself to treat him the exact same way because of the trust issues that scarred me ever since the conspiracy incident. Still, other than my only friend, Rownak, Dante was the only one who came closer to being considered as my friend. After nodding at Dante, who was waving his hand at me, I broke the silence that permeated there by directly diving into the topic. "Since all of you seem to know my name, let''s not go into any formal introductions. Now then, rather than telling you why I have gathered you all here, it''s better to start with a demonstration." I pped my hands twice and in the next few seconds, a van sized Fire Smander crashed from the sky, creating a wide gap on the ground between them and me. Following that crash, Hobgoblin swooped into the scene and stood upright beside me. Once all of them used skills such as on the Fire Smander that had its feet and mouth confined by the shackles, and realised that it was a Low-Phase Tier-3 Monster, I continued, "This Fire Smander is one of the 40 Monsters that will have their respective Dome restrictions lifted on Day-7, which is not long from now." "As most of you already guessed, I have the ability to enter the Dome restrictions. The reason why I had this monster brought out from its respective Dome is so that all of you would realise the reality of fighting a Tier-3 Monster. Let''s not waste and begin, shall we?" I nodded at Hobgoblin MJ and with a wave of his hands, the shackles that confined the monster were removed along with the Fire Element suppression that Hobgoblin MJ had used his Grade-9 Fire Innate Talent on. Since the Fire Smander has Grade-3 Fire Innate Talent, it was rendered helpless against Hobgoblin MJ who has the same elemental Innate Talent that was several grades higher than it. The Fire Smander looked towards me and when it saw the Hobgoblin MJ beside me, it cowered in fear but when it saw the other Alpha Chosen, it suddenly turned ferocious as if it was taken over by the monster instinct that every Monster in the Trial World has and attacked them. None of them expected that I would release the Fire Smander at them until thest moment, so all of them were not prepared apart from Dante, who could practically see one minute into the future. He shouted, "Kasim!! use your right away, it''s going to attack you first!" Since Kasim was familiar with Dante''s abilities, he cast the in front of him and sessfully managed to defend the Fire Spit that was thrown at him. Soon, everyone recovered their wits and showered their skills at the Fire Smander. Other than the attacks of those at Low-Phase Tier-3, the others'' attacks only managed to slow down the Fire Smander, who only wanted nothing else other than killing them. The strugglested for several minutes, and with half of them being at Tier-3; it didn''te as a surprise that they managed to defeat it. Moreover, none of their injuries were fatal, making it simple for Andrea to heal everyone with her Light Element. I took out a Stamina Fruit before saying, "Most of you might havee across Stamina Fruits of Common Grade or Umon Grade, but this right here is a Rare Grade one, which not only could recover your stamina but also could improve your Endurance Attribute by 10 Stats." Most of them had different thoughts as to why I was showing it to them, but I shattered those thoughts by simply throwing a Rare Grade Stamina Fruit at each of them before asking to consume them. Before any of them could voice it out, I once again pped my hands twice and said, "There is no catch and none of you would be owing me anything. So, feel free to use it. Anyway, you all are gonna need it." By the time I was finished, the Venomous Scorpion MJ entered the scene while dragging a Centipede that was the size of three train bogeys by its tail. Unlike the Fire Smander, the Orchid Centipede wasn''t shackled but was paralysed by Venomous Scorpion MJ''s venom neurotoxin. I interrupted those who were still staring at the Orchid Centipede in shock. "You guys better hurry, this Mid-Phase Tier-3 Monster is going to recover from its temporary paralysis state any time from now." With the abilities that were shown by MJ''s corpse integrated monsters and the things they heard about by my capabilities from Dante and Min-soo, none of them stood forward to question me when I made them fight against the Fire Smander. But now, Brandon brought himself to question me, "Mr Jay, I know that you want to bring us awareness of fighting against Low-Phase Tier-3 Monsters but this Orchid Centipede is at Tier-3 Mid-Phase and on top of that, it is a poisonous monster. If you make us fight against it, the chances of someone sumbing to its poison are high. I hope you take this factor into consideration." As I could read Brandon''s thoughts, I could tell that he didn''t want to offend me at all. Hence his respect towards me, even though he could see that I am a few years younger than him. Even though he sincerely meant what he said, I could tell that his other intention was to see if I would be pressured by others that I would not release the Orchid Centipede on them. If I were to do that, he would conclude that I wasn''t as strong as what Dante and Min-soo said. After a quick processing of thoughts, I responded to Brandon right away by pointing to my left, "With Venomous Scorpion MJ here, none of you need to worry about dying from poison. Coming to that matter, none of you need to worry about dying at all as MJ would personally save any of you when you are about to be killed." "Just like I said before, I want all of you to know what happens once the Day-7 begins. Think practically. Will the other Low-Phase Tier-3 Monsters be waiting while you fight against one of them? No, they wouldn''t and fighting against a single one of those 40 newly released Monsters would end up attracting the remaining Low-Phase Tier-3 Monsters." "You could all guess what would happen then. So, for all of you to get a better experience, what''s better than facing a Mid-Phase Tier-3 monster, which is the same as fighting several Low-Phase Tier-3 Monsters at once?" With a single nce at Brandon, I could tell that he didn''t see my replying. Oddly, everyone found my reply reasonable and quickly ate their respective Grade-3 Stamina Fruits. Before releasing the Orchid Centipede, I gave them all an extra few minutes to adjust to their Stamina Attribute that was improved by 10 Stats. Soon, the battle started, and Olivia did something that was unexpected. Just like how I used Innate Talent toe up with the Skill , she also created a skill called to face the Orchid Centipede. By using on all the other Earth''s Alpha-Chosen, she was able to bring an unparalleled coordination among each other. Not even once did each of their attacks ovep or cancel out the others'' attacks. All their attacks were used in the most efficient way possible. It seems they were in some kind of strategic formation, making it hard for even the Mid-Phase Monster topletely defend against them. At first, I thought Olivia was controlling all their minds, but it took me a few seconds to realise that all of them have their own conscious state, but they were fighting as a single entity. Dante''s presence in that formation brought the effectiveness of to a whole new level. It was because Dante could see the path and attack pattern of the Orchid Centipede for the next minute and Olivia, who acts as the core of that formation, mentally conveys the necessary information to the remaining Alpha Chosen, giving them an upper hand in the fight. Even though it took them some time, they emerged victorious without having to be saved by MJ. Once they yed it together, Olivia seemed to be mentally exhausted from the high consumption of Spirit Energy to use for a longer time. Impressed by her wits toe up with such a suitable skill in that situation, I gave her a Grade-3 Spirit Fruit instead of just giving her Spirit Crystals to recover Spirit Energy. With the amount of Magical Fruits I gathered from the Domes of 13 High-Phase Monsters, I don''t have to be thrifty in using them. Plus, I am thankful that Olivia came up with . Now, I just have to synchronise with the Origin Sigil I gave her once more to directly obtain that Skill. As for others, they were also mentally exhausted, but not as much as Olivia. So, I simply gave them each a few Grade-2 Spirit Fruits and used them to recover their Spirit Energy. All of them were not just exhausted mentally, but also physically from the earlier fight, and they reached their limit after defeating the Orchid Centipede. All of themid there exhausted by the rocks and trees while talking with each other. Since they all fought together and defeated a powerful monster, they all got closer without realising themselves and the awkward atmosphere they had among both groups was no more. Even though I didn''t expect that to happen, it would still be beneficial for the real reason why I gathered them here. While they were rxing, I drew their attention. "Now then, since you all get to know what it takes to fight a Mid-Phase Tier-3 Monster, let''s end this demonstration with onest Monster." Once again, I pped my hands twice, but this time, MJ didn''t show up with any monster. Instead, a huge door shaped entrance opened in the Dome behind me and a 6-meter tall Ogre walked out of it and let out a roar that shook the ground within a few hundred meters, almost like there was a 3.0 Richter scale earthquake. Just the appearance of the huge dark-green Ogre that had a horn on its face, scaring the hell out of some Earth''s Alpha-Chosen. Gabriel was the first one to shout, "Mr Jay!! That''s a Lv.46 Monster. Even if all of us fight together like thest time, defeating such a powerful monster was nigh impossible, much less when we were not in our best conditions!" The Ogre ran towards me, as I was the one closest to it. Without even turning back, I activated , temporarily enhancing my Strength Attribute by 25% for the duration of 10 minutes. My muscles bulged a bit from the sudden increment of 41 Stats in my Strength Attribute, but that pain was nowhere close to the pain I experience every time I enter mode. With the Strength Attribute of 207 Stats, which was 7 stats more than how much I could use in mode, I sent it flying with a punch on its chest before it couldnd a hit on me. From the impact of the Ogre''s collision with the Dome, a few cracks appeared on the barrier before they recovered in the next second. In the time that the Ogre recovered from the punch, I looked back at Gabriel who had his jaw dropped and said inly, "Well, I never said you guys would be the ones to fight this Monster. Justy back and watch what it takes to defeat a High-Phase Tier-3 Monster." Turning towards the Ogre, I walked towards it while cracking my knuckles, with each crack causing a loud boom in the nearby surroundings. There wasn''t any need for me to use in order to defeat the Lv.46 One-Horned Ogre. But since I wanted to show the other Earth''s Alpha-Chosen the true gap in our power, what''s better thanpletely overwhelming a High-Phase Tier-3 Monster right in front of them. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Zed''. Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 87 - The Gathering Of Earth’s Alpha Chosen [(Part-3)/3] I continued the one-sided fight against the Ogre till the 10 minute duration of ended before finishing it off. The One-horned Ogre had a Weapon Category Innate Talent, Grade-4. But I didn''t loot that from the Ogre, because if I did, I would be left with no choice but to increase to Stage-3 in order to meet the Tier-3 Evolution. Even though I won''t be evolving anytime soon, I don''t want to waste my time on when I am focussing on Sword and ive Mastery. However, what piqued my interest was the Ogre''s Innate Racial Skill, Lv.30. [Lv.30 (Rare Grade): As long as the User''s muscle mass exceeds the targeted opponent, the user gets a temporary buff of STR+10%, END+10%, VIT+10% for the duration of 3 minutes. Cost: 30 Stamina CoolDown: 30 minutes.] That was the first skill I came across that only requires Stamina to activate it. The best thing about , was that it stacks up with the other temporary boost skills like . Also, it''s best suitable when I use mode, since I would be 10 meters tall with muscles matching that hunk of a size. After looting that skill, I turned to look at the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen and judging from their reactions; I realised that I overdid the fight, as most of them didn''t even dare to make direct eye contact with me. Still, I am satisfied with the result. Using that to my advantage, I stated, "Nowing to the real topic, the thing you all have to know is that the uing tournament won''t just be an individualpetition among the Alpha-Chosen, but rather it will be apetition among the 1000 Trial zones in the Trial Region we are in." I continued after a brief pause, "That means we won''t be fighting against each other in the uing tournament, but as a single team against the Alpha Chosen from others, i.e. from other Trial Zones." "The Trial Zone that has all 11 of it''s Alpha-Chosen alive by the time the 1st Tournament starts will have a great advantage over others. If it was just apetition of individual strength, I am sure I alone would be enough to sweep away thepetition. But, unfortunately, that''s not the case here. To put it simply, the fewer the Alpha-Chosen in a Trial Zone, the more trouble they have to face in the tournament, which in turn reduces the chances of winning it. That is the reason why I gathered you all here; to make sure that none of you die till then." Passing my gaze over each one of them, I continued, "I don''t care if you form groups or organisations on Earth, but when you are in the Trial World, all of you will be under my lead; in return, I will offer you all my protection, provide you with resources, and crucial intel that can help you grow stronger here." Even though none of them raised their voice to disagree with me, I emphasised in an authoritative tone, "If any of you can defeat me, I will be under your lead instead. Are there any of you who wish to challenge me?" Right then, everyone other than Olivia, Sergei and Brandon turned their heads at once to look straight at Henry, who hid behind Kasim and Dante. I could hear Henry muttering at them, "Why are you punks all looking at me? Do y''all want me dead or what? Turn around already!" Dante nodded at Kasim with an evil smirk, and both of them slid aside, bringing Henry into my line of sight. When Henry noticed my piercing gaze, he wiped the sweat off his head and stuttered, "Mr Jay, don''t bel...believe them, I wouldn''t dare challenge you." Ignoring him, I told the others if they do intend to challenge me in the future, they would only be qualified to do so if they could defeat any of MJ''s monster forms. Following that, I sent each of them a party invite, and had MJ exin to them the uses of it. The most important one being the restriction that wouldn''t let party members harm each other. (E/N (Yuno): Time to go crazy with those AoE attacks, friendly fire is just that good) The next one was themunication aspect; each party member could contact each other wherever they were through the party channel. As for the sharing of the Life Energy I gain from monsters, I could decide whom I could share it with. Other than those who already reached Tier-3, I adjusted the Life Energy link in my party so that only those who were just a level or two away from satisfying the Tier-3 Evolution requirement, would have a share of the Life Energy I obtained from then on. Since even MJ doesn''t know how many Alpha Rankers there would be among the Alpha Chosen of the remaining Trial Zones in our Trial Region, it was better to have the Earth''s Alpha-Chosen who were in Tier-2 reach Tier-3 before the 1st Tournament began. While I was in my thoughts, I overheard a few of the Alpha-Chosen discuss among each other on whom to send towards me, to suggest that I select a location, where they could begin preparing a camp since that could be done easily by Kasim, who has Grade-8 Earth Innate Talent. Finally, they selected Dante to convey their suggestion to me, since Dante was the one who was the most familiar with me among them. If I wasn''t in the state of harmony, I would have chuckled at their behaviour. I thought back to when I ended the One-horned Ogre by brutally sting it into pieces, and could only sigh in my mind for overdoing it to the point where others were too intimidated by me, to even hold the most simple of conversations with me. Before Dante could pass me their suggestion. I approached the dome and ced my hand on its barrier before closing my eyes. From behind, I could hear Hobgoblin MJ saying to the other Alpha-Chosen, "Hmph, why do you all need that, when this great venerable has already created something no camp can bepared to. Prepare to be amazed." By the time Hobgoblin MJ finished his sentence, I was done with making changes in the dome, and the blurry barrier of the dome turned transparent, making everything in it visible. I could hear gasps as they caught sight of the futuristic constructions within the dome, which had a radius of 250 meters (820 feet). Within it''s centre, there stood a nine-storey tall tower that was surrounded by ten six-storey tall towers. Other than them, there were several three-storey tall constructions of strange aesthetics spread out within the entire area of the dome. Looking at them, Dante couldn''t help but exim in surprise, "Awesome!! This looks like some kind of futuristic vige." Hobgoblin MJ puffed up his chest and boasted while stroking his chin, "Of course it''s awesome, I designed it myself. The central tower is Master''s residence. Whereas, the surrounding ten towers are the residences allotted for each of you. As for the other ones, some are training arenas with environments that suit your respective Innate Talents, others are especially made to sustain sparring between Tier-3 individuals. There are even advanced recuperation chamber centres and many other facilities that can help you grow stronger at a quick pace." After that, I let them pass through the dome as if it didn''t exist in the first ce. Back when I ced my hand on it, I didn''t just turn the Dome transparent, but also altered it so that only those I let in could enter it. That was all made possible thanks to reaching the peak of , i.e. Lv.30. I had MJ to be their guide, so that he could show them around while introducing them to all facilities avable to them in ''Earth''s Foothold''. That was what I decided to call it, since that would match the events that would eventually take ce in the future. To create this, MJ used the metal ores that were extracted by the Earth Wyrm, which was MJ''s 5th Corpse Integrated monster. I wanted to use thatst slot for a water-type monster but since the Earth Wyrm was most efficient in extracting ores from depths of the Trial World; I chose it instead. Those metal ores were already tougher than any other metals on the earth, and using spirit engineering on those made them even stronger, to the point even my strongest punch wouldn''t leave a small dent in it. Their toughness would in turn make it harder to use them as material for the construction. Even to create a deep underground secret base on Earth, it just took MJ and thousands of his Quantum A.I''s just 12 hours, but for the construction of Earth''s Foothold toplete, it had taken them nearly 200 hours (8 days) of continuous effort. Those 200 hours included the 18-hour rest periods of Day-4 and Day-5, which were actually counted as 72 hours in the Trial World, since the time here flows four times slower than the Earth. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Yuno''. Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 88 - Soon, I reached my residence tower and the doors opened by themselves, as each tower was run by its own Quantum A.I. Upon passing through the door, I disrupted the equilibrium in my stats using the , which deactivated the State of Harmony. From there, I walked into the spot that was enveloped in green light and murmured, "5th Level". Then, I started floating in the green light, and moved upwards through the pathway in the floors until I reached the 5th floor in just a second. Even though I experienced it a few times already, I couldn''t help but be amazed by all the advanced technologies that MJ installed in here. As I entered the 5th floor, I was greeted by the view of a king sized bed in the middle of a garden that was filled by nts with rainbow coloured leaves. Those were the Rainbow nts that were considered under the category of magical trees, since they could improve one''s recovery rate of stamina and Spirit Energy within a few meters around them. While resting on the jelly foam bed, which provided me withfort that made me feel like I was in heaven, I merged with the skills and . Once I was done with that, I opened the list of converged skills that I made from using in the past few days. _____________ Converged Skills: COMMON Grade (C) ? UNCOMMON Grade (Uc) Lv.10 (C)+ Lv.10 (C) ? Lv.5 (Uc) Lv.5 (Umon): Lets the user to leap from shadow to shadow within the range of 50 meters. Cost: 20 Spirit Energy. Duration: 5 minutes. Cooldown: 20 minutes Lv.10 (C) + Lv.10 (C) + Lv.10 (C) ? Lv.5 (Uc) Lv.5 (Umon): Enables the user to create a sonic shock wave with a jaw bite. Cost: 10 Spirit Energy Cooldown: None ..... UNCOMMON Grade(Uc) ? RARE Grade(R) Lv.10 (Uc) + Lv.10 (Uc) ? Lv.5 (R). Lv.5 (Rare): Lets the user to condense air to form steps for a limited duration in an empty space. Cost: 50 Spirit Energy. Duration: 5 minutes. Cooldown: 50 minutes. ___________ was a quite useful skill as it would help me in evading and making my attack pattern more unpredictable. In a fight where both sides are evenly matched, unpredictability is a crucial factor. Coming to , rather than using it as an attack, it''s best used to disrupt the opponent in the midst of preparing for an attack. Even though it was an umon grade skill, if used at the right moment, even against high-phase Tier-3 Monsters, it would work like a charm. As for the , its a skill thates quite handy when facing Aerial type monsters. After that, I activated the , since its cooldown ended half an hour ago. This time, I used two of the umon grade skills that I gained from synchronising with Olivia''s Moon Origin Sigil. __________ Lv 10<360 Mind View> (Uc) + Lv.10 (Uc) ? Lv.5 (R) Lv 5 (Rare): Uses the soulw to passively visualise almost all entities within the user''s radius of 500 meters. Cost: None Cooldown: None __________ Upon merging with , it was like I could see everything in a 500 meters radius around me even with my eyes closed. With it being a passive skill, it couldn''t be turned off and I will always be aware of what''s happening in a 500-meter radius around me, even if I don''t want to know. Even though it had its demerits, they were negligiblepared to the benefit that the provided me with, which was that I could sense danger at all times and that made it a perfect counter for surprise attacks. Once I had experimented on it for a while, I rested on the superfy bed, and thanks to the effect of rainbow nts, my Spirit Energy and stamina recovered in a short period of time. After that, I called out, "101, you there?" A palm-sized baby that was identical to MJ, popped up in front of me with a swoosh and chirped while floating in the air, "Grand Ancestor, is there anything you need?" "Brief me on the Spirit Crystal reserves and their consumption." The little quantum A.I baby showed a 3D graphical presentation, "Grand Ancestor, there were 1870 Grade-1 Spirit Crystals, 317 Grade-2 Spirit Crystals and 13 Grade-3 ones to start. Out of them, 70% were used for the construction of Earth''s Foothold and for it to run an entire month, it will need 20% of the original reserves, so we can currently only keep it running for a month." Since I know how technologically advanced MJ designs for everything in the Earth''s Foothold was, I wasn''t surprised that three fourths of the entire Spirit Crystals reserves was consumed for the construction of this ce. But, I didn''t expect the maintenance cost to be so high. Since I already sent some of the Spirit Crystal reserves to Earth for the mass production ofmon S.E.E.D (Spirit Energy Engineering Devices), I was left with only 7% of the initial amount. With that, the advanced training facilities in Earth''s Foothold would only function for another 10 days. To solve that, I needed more Spirit Crystals, but the problem is that there are no more Tier-1 and Tier-2 monsters left in our Trial Zone. The only ones remaining were 43 low-phase Tier-3 monsters out of 45, 34 mid-phase Tier-3 ones out of 35 and 7 high-phase Tier-3''s out of 20, totalling 84 monsters. Except for the high-phase Tier-3 monsters, I didn''t intend to kill the low-phase and mid-phase ones, as the other Earth''s Alpha-Chosen needed them to grow stronger. So, I would at most get 7 more Grade-3 spirit crystals from Earth''s Trial Zone. That''s quite a considerable amount since one Grade-3 spirit crystal has enough raw Spirit Energy of ten Grade-2 ones. Simrly, one Grade-2 spirit crystal is equivalent to ten Grade-1 spirit crystals. Still, seven Grade-3 crystals wouldn''t be enough for my future ns. But, I guessed that wouldn''t be an issue, as long as I could pass through the barrier that separated the Trial Zones. I have to see for myself if the peak would be enough for me to enter other Trial Zones. If not, I could only wait till the first tournament took ce, and for the Trial Zone barriers to be removed. But that wasn''t my primary concern. What worried me the most was that I had yet to find a Grade-4 spirit fruit to save my grandfather. Even in the domes of the high-phase Tier-3 monsters that I killed, there were Grade-3 spirit fruits at most. For that, I intended to finish off the remaining 7 high-phase Tier-3 monsters by the end of Day-6, and if I couldn''t find a Grade-4 spirit fruit within their Domes, my only choice would be to search in other Trial Zones. While I was heading out of my tower with rather stressful thoughts in my mind, I noticed the little A.I, ''101'' following me. Since they were A.I''s, I couldn''t read their minds, but from seeing ''101'' fidgeting with his fingers, I could tell that he wanted to ask me something but was hesitant to do so. So, I asked him to tell me what he had in mind. After hesitating for a moment, the A.I brought its courage and asked me for permission to y ''tag'' with his fellow A.I''s. Right then, 10 more quantum A.I''s popped up, and they all had an expectant look in their eyes. They were the A.I''s that took care of everything in the Earth''s Foothold. I couldn''t help but smile at their antics and tapped their little heads with my finger, "Why do you little guys need my permission, you can y whenever you want, if that little brat MJ doesn''t let you y, let me know, I will take care of him. Alright?" All 11 of them burst into cheers and ''101'' thanked me before leaving with the others to y right away, "Hehe, Grand Ancestor is the best... hehehe¡­.." "105, you were thest one to be tagged in the previous game. So, you should be the one to star¡­.." Whooshh¡­. "Tag! You''re it!....hehehehe" "Hey! I was not ready yet¡­.." Looking at them chasing after each other, my previously tense mood lightened. Soon after that, I left to kill the remaining high-phase Tier-3 monsters. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Yuno''. Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I will personally message those 15 individuals the link for the advanced chapter within an hour of the chapter release... Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 89 - Hypergravity Chamber. ---Brandon''s P.O.V --- ***** When I first learned about Jay from Min-soo, I found it hard to believe that anyone could be so powerful to kill a high-phase Tier-3 monster, while only being at Lv.25 themselves, that too within just the first 3 days of the Alpha Program. From then, I observed his ranking in the Trial World leaderboard, and saw as his position continued to fall as one by one evolved to Tier-3. Observing that, I began to doubt if Min-soo exaggerated him too much, and that Jay might have reached Lv.25 in such a short time due to a stroke of luck. So, when Henry boasted in front of the other Alpha Chosen that he could defeat Jay, I personally didn''t stop him, intending to see what Jay would do when he found out about it. In the case he became aggressive and tried to attack Henry for challenging him, I was prepared to step in and fight Jay. I believed that I had the strength to face him, since I had already evolved to Tier-3. Whereas, Jay was still Lv.25. Once I proved my strength to him, I could use that chance to invite him into our group. That way, the action of recruiting Jay would also serve to establish my position among the other Alpha-Chosen. But, when Jay arrived in front of us, my skill that alerts me whenever I am in imminent danger or in the presence of a powerful monster that could threaten my life, went off like never before. That made me realise how vast the difference in our power was. I threw away my previous n and quietly warned Henry that I couldn''t save him if he tried to pick a fight with Jay. I was relieved that Henry took my words seriously and didn''t act rashly, like he usually does. Later, when we witnessed Jay one-sidedly crush the Tier-3 Ogre right in front of us, Henry couldn''t help but shake in fear. If Jay was trying to establish his dominance by the spectacle he pulled in front of us, I would say he seeded with flying colours. Due to the terrifying power he disyed, even Jay''s casual words carried a weight of authority to them. From what Jay announced, it was clear that he wanted to unite all the Earth''s Alpha Chosen and prepare us for the future tournaments. I didn''t raise any concerns on that, nor did anyone. I was rather d that we have such a powerful person on our side. Later, Jay left us with the Hobgoblin monster, and time passed quickly, as it continued to introduce us to the numerous futuristic facilities within the dome. Half of them were the cultivating grounds, with each one providing a respective elemental environment, that could help one shorten the time required to improve one''s mastery. The Hobgoblin monster proimed that within those cultivation grounds, one''s rate ofprehending their respective element would improve by a grade above their actual one. That meant, as long as I use a lightning element cultivation ground, theprehension rate of my Grade-8 Lightning Innate Talent would temporarily improve to that of a Grade-9 one. But there were two issues, the first one being that the lightning cultivation ground was inactive, since it wascking its primary resources. As for what those primary resources were, I didn''t know and from the words of the Hobgoblin monster; it seemed that only the cultivation grounds with fire, earth, wind, darkness and poison elemental environments were active at the moment. So, only Sergei, Gabriel and Kasim could benefit from them. But, therees the second issue, it was that all of us reached the peak of our respective minor masteries, and we''re obstructed by something called the first Universal Limit. Since the Hobgoblin monster made it clear that one couldn''t improve their respective Innate Talent mastery to the next stage, till we could break past that limit. After that, we were taken into a recovery chamber facility, where all of us were surprised at the improved recovery of our stamina and Spirit Energy. But, the hypergravity chamber facility that we visited next, was something that stood out from the other facilities. It seemed that the main purpose of the hypergravity chamber was to ustom us to different levels of gravity. The Hobgoblin monster emphasised that we should train more in that facility, so that when we eventually enter other Zones after the first tournament, we could easily adjust to that respective zone''s gravity. Usually, when one adds the undistributed stats to their attributes, it would take some time to adjust to them. But, by adjusting the hypergravity field in that chamber to reach higher gravity levels, the time that takes to improve control over our physical attributes would be shortened by a great deal. Due to CIA''s special training that uses higher gravitational forces, I should say that I am pretty familiar with the effects of enduring high gravity levels. For an average person, 3 to 4 times Earth''s gravity would be more realistic, and they would still need rigorous training to get their muscle strength up that of an elite athlete. But above that gravity, it is hard to even walk, because the load on your legs and core muscles in a strong gravitational field feels pretty much like carrying arge weight on your shoulders. Even though human bones could theoretically withstand the load of running at 10 times the Earth''s gravity, the skeletal strength would be pointless if the muscles aren''t strong enough to stand up or walk. Based on squatting ability, even an elite athlete wouldn''t be able to move from a seated position at five times Earth''s gravity, since it would be the same as squatting around thrice one''s size. But, that wouldn''t be much of an issue for us, who had our physical attributes enhanced due to the undistributed stats we gained from levelling up and evolving to higher tiers. With Henry boasting that he could reach higher gravity levels than others, the environment eventually ended up bingpetitive. Looking at them, the Hobgoblin announced, "Well, since you guys are in apetitive mood, why don''t I take this chance to inform you of the rules set by my master earlier than intended. It''s regarding the benefits that Master promised to provide you with; instead of spoon feeding you the valuable benefits, Master decided to let all of you earn them with your abilities. Let''s take this hypergravity chamber for example, the number of G''s you can withstand in this chamber will reward you with the number of minutes you can spend in the Virtual Training Chamber per day." Many gasped upon hearing about the reward. Even I couldn''t help but be tempted by it. The Virtual Training Chamber could allow us to create an avatar in a perfectly simted virtual space, where we could customise our opponent, so that we could ovee our weaknesses. By using virtual avatars, we could improve ourbat abilities without having to fear death, which made it more effective than training by ourselves. Soon, under the Hobgoblin''s instructions, all ten of us entered the hypergravity chamber and lined-up within apletely sealed huge cylindrical room. With a wave of the Hobgoblin''s hand, a wide screen appeared in front of us showing ''5G'', indicating the force of gravity acting upon us was five times that of the Earth''s. Rather than feeling any uneasiness from the increased gravitational force, everyone was pumped to withstand as much as gravity as possible, for the reward that followed it. Even under the pull of 5G''s Henry began challenging Kensei, whom he treated as his rival. The usually silent Kensei epted his challenge with a bet, saying that if he managed to endure a higher gravity level than him, then Henry shouldn''t challenge anyone among us till the first tournament ends. If Henry manages to win their bet, then Kensei would be his sparring partner whenever Henry wanted till the first tournament ends. Looking at both of them, I sighed, since it was an usual sight for me to watch thempete against each other. Unlike us, Henry and Kensei spawned beside each other when they were first teleported to the Trial World. Even though their behaviour was quite opposite to each other, they developed a sense of camaraderie from fighting against the monsters together. Once the gravity reached ''10 G'', I started to feel the pressure trying to push me down. However, that was nowhere enough to make me give up. In the wide screen in front of us, the gravity continued to rise by 1G per 5 seconds, and it soon reached 30 times the gravity of Earth, and Gabriel fell to his knees as hisplexion turned pale. The Hobgoblin immediately pulled Gabriel into a safe zone, where the gravity slowly returned to normal without damaging his body. The test to withstand higher forces of gravity depended mostly on how high one''s strength and endurance attributes were. With Gabriel being the one with the lowest level among us, he was the first one to go down. Soon though, Kasim, who was also at Lv.24, followed after Gabriel. Next ones to follow were those at Lv.25. Dante, Henry and Kensei gave up at 37 G''s, 39 G''s, and 40 G''s respectively. Just like that, Henry lost his bet with ''1 G'' difference, leaving him toin that he should have endured it a little longer, whileying in the safe zone nearby. My body began to shake once it crossed 40 G''s, and by the time it crossed 50 G''s, my blood rushed into my legs, and it felt like my heart was having trouble with pumping blood to my brain. After reaching my limit at 52 G''s, I tapped out, and so did Sergei at 53 G''s. With that, the only ones that were left were Andrea, Min-soo, and Olivia. It didn''te as a surprise considering the high amount of stats they had, since they were at Lv.34, Lv.34 and Lv.32 respectively. Contrary to what all of us thought, Olivia managed to endure, even after Min-soo and Andrea gave up at 60 G''s. At that point every single increase in G caused the pressure exerted on one''s body to worsen by a notch. When she crossed 70 G''s, I couldn''t help but be astonished, just like every other Earth''s Alpha-Chosen. She managed to hold it out till she reached 75 G''s, making me wonder how Olivia had such a high amount of stats. With the performance she disyed, I am positive that she could defeat the Mid-Phase Tier-3 Orchid Centipede with just her physical strength. While everyone was still in shock, the Hobgoblin disyed the results recorded in the Hypergravity chamber. ____________ Hypergravity chamber recordings: 11. Gabriel : 30 G''s 10. Kasim : 32 G''s 9. Dante : 37 G''s 8. Henry : 39 G''s 7. Kensei : 40 G''s 6. Brandon : 52 G''s 5. Sergei : 53 G''s 4. Andrea : 60 G''s 3. Min-soo : 61 G''s 2. Olivia : 75 G''s 1. Jay : ##### ____________ My gaze stopped at Jay''s name, as I guessed that he must have used the hypergravity chamber before us, since he was basically the owner of this area in the dome. Just like me, everyone also noticed Jay''s name in the top position. With how curious Min-soo was, he was the quickest one to ask the Hobgoblin monster about the extent of G''s Jay had managed to withstand. The Hobgoblin''s answer left all of us gobsmacked, "With the current resources I have at hand, I was only able to make a Grade-3 Hypergravity chamber that has a maximum capacity of 98 G''s. So, to answer you exactly, I am also not sure how much gravity my Master can endure in his peak form, hence I didn''t specify it there." Once I recovered from my shock, I sighed and gave up onparing myself with that monster of a man. After that, the Hobgoblin ended the ''dome tour'' with an exnation that included several things about the system, that I didn''t have a clue about beforehand. Then, Gabriel hesitated before asking that monster, "Mr Hobgoblin, could you please tell us how you have so much knowledge of the syst¡­..eh, Kasim, Andrea, what you guys are shaking your head for?" While he was in the middle of asking that Hobgoblin, Kasim and Andrea signalled to stop Gabriel from what he was doing. Following Gabriel''s query, the Hobgoblin lost the colour in its eyes, falling to the ground like a dead body and a chubby baby emerged from it. The baby''s eyes glistened while looking at Gabriel. Kasim pleaded, "Mr Venerable, please, let me exin your background story to Gabriel so that you personally don''t have to waste time and effort on this." Ignoring Kasim, the chubby baby cleared his throat, and looked at all of us, "I am d that Gabriel brought up this topic. To know the reason why I have so much information regarding the Trial Program and the system, you all first need to learn about my story. It all started thousands of years ago. I was once a powerful being that was given the title ''Great Venerable''. Sigh, but even I had to face betrayal....." The never-ending story continued for more than 2 hours, making me realise why Kasim and Andrea tried to stop Gabriel back then. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Yuno''. Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 90 - Boundless Hatred [(Part-1)/2] ***** Day-6 Rest Day, 10 A.M. At the top floor of the Nav Yuga headquarters, there was a board meeting taking ce among the top executives of the enterprise and the CEO. The senior management executive uttered, "Mr Ankith, at the current rate, it wouldn''t be long before our enterprise reaches its old glory. If not for your youngest son, Kay, we wouldn''t have won the re-trial" The senior development executive countered, "True, but Kay vouched that his elder brother was the one who managed to find such concrete evidence against the Quadnite Conglomerate. We shouldn''t forget his contribution." At the mention of Jay, the senior management executive''s face turned rather awkward before directing his words at the middle-aged man, "Mr Ankith, I aware of Jay''s contribution but just withinst two days that you have appointed him as the head of our enterprise''s security division, he has already expelled nearly one-tenth of our employees. Even though Jay somehow gathered evidence on the employees that were spying for otherpanies, firing them all in such a short period has caused quite amotion among the employees and has affected their morale. In this age, industrial espionage was an issue that every leadingpany had to face due to the amount ofpetition going around. If more employees were to be fired at such a rate, it wouldn''t be beneficial for our enterprise." The middle-aged man maintained a poker face as he leanedfortably onto his chair before raising his voice, "Well, if you had personally known my eldest son, his actions wouldn''t be a surprise. Before I reveal my decision, let me tell you something about him. Back when Jay was 13 years old, I got a call from his school saying that he beat up a group of 15-year old students that tried to bully a ss member of his. Later, when I met Jay; like any father, I lectured him not to take matters into his own hands when he sees bullying, and instead report it to the school authorities. When he revealed the real reason behind his actions; I was left stunned, because Jay didn''t beat up those 15-year olds for bullying someone in his ss, but because he felt it would be just a matter of time before they would try to bully his siblings. So, before that could happen, he dealt with it. This short story is to tell that when my eldest son senses trouble, he preemptively exterminates it." If my father or I was as decisive as him, our enterprise wouldn''t have fallen to such a state during our reign. Now that God gave our enterprise a second chance, I won''t let the same mistake repeat itself. So, when I learned that Jay left his martial arts trainer job, I asked him to take care of our enterprise together with Kay. Jay agreed with a condition that for a two-week duration he needs the authority to make any changes in our enterprise that he deems necessary for its growth. That was why I made him the head of the security division and granted him an authority that equals mine. None of you need to try persuading me to change my decision. Alright then, this shall conclude the meeting." After that, the senior executives left, and the only ones that remained in the boardroom were the CEO and his younger brother, Umesh, whose position was just below that of a CEO, the president of Nav-Yuga Enterprise. Umesh chuckled, "Brother, who are you kidding, I remember that incident all too well. The ones that Jay beat up weren''t just limited to a single group of 15-year old students, but almost every single delinquent in his school suffered the same fate at his hands. Back then, you had to face an angry mob of parents due to the aftermath of Jay''s rampage." Ankith let out a sigh before replying, "If I had said all of that, it would be overwhelming for them to believe that a 13-year old kid did all that. Furthermore, in order to exin that, I would have to reveal Jay''s exceptional muscle memory. That''s not something one would believe unless they witness it firsthand. Because of that special ability, our old man used to worry about Jay the most. But, I have to say, it came as a surprise to me that Jay left his obsession of learning various martial arts and joined our enterprise." While looking outside through the transparent ss walls he continued, "Even though I can''t put a finger on it, I can tell that my son somehow changed." Right then, the CEO''s personal secretary walked into the boardroom and said, "Mr. Ankith, your youngest son asked me to hand this file over to you." "Kay already finished all the essential work needed for the sudden rise of our enterprise?!" Ankith and Umesh eximed, after having gone through the documents in the file. They couldn''t help but be shocked, since all that work which would have taken most people a few months, was taken care of by Kay in just 3 short days. What they didn''t know was that if not for MJ''s assistance, it would have taken Kay a few weeks toplete the said work, though that''d still be faster than most people. "Brother, it seems like Kay is much more capable than both of usbined. Maybe we should pass our mantles to both of your sons. With both of them taking care of our enterprise, we can rest in ease." said Umesh to his elder brother. Ankith sighed, "It''s not time yet. Kay is too soft-hearted like our father; he needs more experience. On the other hand, Jay is anything but soft-hearted, and ever since that incident 6 years back, hepletely stopped socialising with anyone beside our family. He needs to grow in that aspect before he is ready, as social skills are essential for running an enterprise." Following that, Ankith asked his personal secretary to call Kay over. "Sir¡­this¡­ after handing that file, he left with your eldest son to visit the chairman at the hospital." After the personal secretary left the room, Umesh suggested, "Brother, maybe we should tell them about the report that the doctor gave usst week on father''s condition." Ankith sighed, "I didn''t want to tell them that our father doesn''t have much time left because it would destroy their hope of him waking up from hisa. However, they have the right to know. Let''s wait for the uing family gathering, before announcing it to our family." Both Ankith and Umesh wished for a miracle to happen and save their father. Little did they know that Jay was working on creating that exact miracle. ***** "How is it brother?" Jay asked Kay, as both of them got out of the car that brought them to the hospital. "Simply amazing! To think that this car could move ording to our mentalmands whilst we just rx in the driving seat." Jay smiled, as he looked at Kay, who was in awe and said, "This is just a standard feature for the S.E.E.D car model that we will be releasing in the future. Moreover, the car in front of us has a lot more advanced features than those standard S.E.E.D car models. One such feature is the exterior camouge which I activated long before, to make this look like a normal car from outside, so that it wouldn''t attract any unwanted attention. You can figure out the other advanced features by yourselfter, since this car is for you. I transferred its ownership to your wristband prototype." Even though Kay maintained hisposure, Jay could sense Kay''s excitement by reading his thoughts. As they walked from the hospital parking area to the hospital entrance, Kay asked, "Brother, is it possible to use one of your Origin Sigils to save Grandfather?" Jay shook his head, "With the current condition of Grandfather''s consciousness, it''s too risky to engrave an Origin Sigil in his consciousness. I don''t want to take any chances otherwise I would have done that exact thing long ago. Anyway, we came here not to visit grandfather, but to take him to the deep underground secret base due to safety concerns." "Safety? Isn''t it safe in the hospital?" Kay wondered. With a sigh, Jay said, "Brother, you underestimate the measures some individuals would take to gain power over others. In the past few days, MJ''s global surveince detected cases where some powerful conglomerates and organisations contacted mafia and mercenary groups to seize control of our enterprise.. A few tried to spread fake news and usations on digital media to damage our enterprise''s reputation. Luckily that wasn''t an issue since we have MJ, who has absolute control over Earth''s digitalworks. Aside from that, there were even those that wanted to take our grandfather hostage, and ckmail us to buy some of our enterprise''s shares without causing a bigmotion." Kay got worried upon learning from Jay about the underhanded methods that were used against their enterprise over the past few days. He then suggested to Jay that they should inform the authorities about those incidents. Jay patted Kay''s shoulder and said, "Oh brother, you''re too naive, nearly a quarter of all cops and politicians are corrupt. Even if we bring this situation to their attention, it won''t make any difference. Anyways, there is no need for you to worry about it; I have already taken care of all those that conspired against us. The reason why I revealed those incidents, is because I wanted you to realise how cruel humanity can be. Yes, there are good people out there, but there are bad ones too, who aren''t worthy of receiving kindness." Kay nodded as he kept Jay''s words in his mind. Even though Jay simply stated his actions as ''taking care of them'', what he really did was much more than that. Jay made an example out of them and spread fear in India''s underworld criminal organisations. With that, most of those that intended to act against Nav-Yuga Enterprise immediately cancelled their ns, and those who had evil intentions towards the enterprise dispelled their greed-fuelled thoughts at once. It caused a lot ofmotion in the authorities, as they couldn''t find any evidence on those that vanished. No one could find them, since those missing individuals were locked up in the underground base''s research facility, where they were used for testing the efficiency of the spirit engineered medicines. Just as Jay and Kay were about to enter the hospital, Jay paused in his tracks, as his skill alerted him. allowed Jay to view the emotions of people around him in the form of colours glowing around them. Those that have positive emotions would have green glows emanating from them, and those with negative emotions would have red glow. The darker the glow, the more intense their emotions were, and the range of colours in the glow showed the depth of the said emotions. The glow that was visible to Jay was a crimson red that represented hatred and bloodlust. The emotions were so intense that it caused a glow bright enough to cover the entire hospital He was taken aback by the new revtion, because the most intense glow he ever encountered in either green or red colours, was only limited to the size of a standard room. That caught Jay''s interest. So, he moved towards the source of the dark-red glow, and soon he reached a seminar room on the hospital''s fifth floor together with Kay. Kay didn''t understand why Jay suddenly changed his path and moved to the fifth floor, when their grandfather''s medical ward was admitted on another floor. Jay opened the door of the room, as several medical students and the professor in the seminar room looked at Jay who disrupted their ongoing ss. Ignoring everyone''s gazes, Jay''s attention was fixed on the source of the boundless hatred, which was emanating from a youth who was dressed in a patient gown and seated in a wheelchair with a saline bottle equipped to it. The youth stared nkly into the back of the hall. If the youth moved as much as a hair''s width, everyone in the hall would have beenpletely astounded, as he was in aa for thest 8 years. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Yuno'' ''hyperStar'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 91 - Boundless Hatred [(Part-2)/2] ***Jay''s POV*** Ignoring others around me, I looked at the weak-looking youth in the wheelchair whose face was mostly covered by his long hair. I probed theatosed youth''s consciousness to find the root cause of his hatred. The hatred in his consciousness was so intense that I had to enter the state of harmony to stay unaffected by it. With my high processing power, it took me just a second to go through all his memories, and gain a clear understanding on how he became like that. Kay tapped my arm and asked, "Brother, What happened to him?" At that moment, I could have just revealed to Kay what happened to the youth in a wheelchair in front of them. But instead of that, I said, "Why don''t you see for yourself?" Then, I connected Kay''s consciousness to that of the youth in the wheelchair, to have Kay experience the life of that pale youth, and the injustice he had been through to umte such hatred, even though he was in aa. Theatosed youth''s name was ''Moro''. He was born with a mental disorder which makes him incapable of expressing emotions. Because of that disorder, he neverughed or cried in his whole life. However, he could feel all those emotions just like anyone. Other than that, his mental disorder also affects his ability to focus, making him unable to concentrate on one thing for long periods of time. With both of thesebined, he was viewed as a freak at his school. Even though Moro''s fellow ssmates bullied him, and called him ''mentally retarded'', he didn''t everin about why he couldn''t be normal like the others, and just be born without a mental disorder. This was because of his loving and understanding family, which he was extremely grateful for. Moro''s father worked as a cop, mother a housewife, and a cute sister who was four years younger than him. To Moro, his house was the only ce where he was treated like a normal person. But, all of that changed when he was 14 years old, as several gangsters rained down bullets on Moro''s house when they were having a family dinner. Moro''s father was a well-aplished cop who took down several criminals and some of the most dangerous ones, among those was their city''s drug lord. Those gangster''s were precisely that drug lord''s underlings. One of those bullets hit Moro on his spinal vertebrae, paralysing him. Moro''s father died on the spot with a bullet to his head, whereas his mother took a few bullets to her back, as she shielded his 10-year old sister with her own body. But even then two bullets had managed to pierce his sister''s gut, as she fell right beside Moro. It didn''t take long for his mother, who was riddled with bullets, to die. Even though Moro was able to watch and hear everything in front of him, he wasn''t able to move his body with the spinal injury. All he could do was watch his 10-year-old sister cry and call out for Moro, as she drowned in her own blood, before dying with her eyes open. With the peculiar mental disorder, he couldn''t even shed tears as his life was turned upside down in a matter of minutes. That was how his hatred budded into existence. Moro badly wanted all of that to be a dream. But, every passing second proved it to be reality as medics and police soon arrived at their house. On the way to the nearby hospital, Moro overheard medics talking amongst each other that his sister would have survived, if the neighbours would have entered his house and do a simple first-aid procedure, like applying pressure on the wounds. But none of them helped, fearing that those criminals would target themter if they found out about it. From the moment he learned that, Moro''s hatred didn''t just include criminals, but also the society that stood by without helping their family. A few days after that incident, two cops that were his father''s colleagues visited Moro''s ward, and he could only helplessly witness as they pulled out his oxygen supply, leaving him to die. But to Moro''s luck, soon a nurse noticed that and switched on the oxygen supply when he was at the verge of death. Even though Moro managed to survive, he was pulled into a permanenta, where he had lost hisst hope for justice, with the cops themselves trying to kill him. That only helped to develop his hatred even more, and even though he was in aa, he could hear everything happening, and strangely, he had his eyes open every day from then on. With none of his rtives stepping forward to look after Moro, he was left in the care of the hospital that he was admitted in. Eventually, the doctors found the peculiar state of thea that Moro was in, and used him as aa case study patient for the medical students. Days passed, and with his mental disorder, the hatred in him continued to umte without any form of outlet. All the love for his family turned into hatred for the world that failed him. 8 years passed since then, and Moro''s hatred reached a point where his consciousness waspletely engulfed in hatred and vengeance on the entirety of humanity. Soon, the professor called security guards and they shouted at us to quickly leave the seminar room, or they would take action against us. The seminar room was filled with the noise of the students throwing insults at us, who intruded in there. When those security guards were about to reach us, Kay opened his eyes as he woke up from experiencing Moro''s memories. His body began to shake involuntarily from the injustice Moro had been put through, and he let out a shout, "Silence!!!" Without even realising it himself, Kay managed to awaken an innate exclusive Skill and used it while he shouted. Except for me, everyone in the room froze in their tracks like statues, and the room turned dead silent. I looked at the notification that popped up in my vision. [Earth Origin Sigil holder awakened ''s 3rd Innate Exclusive Skill; .] is an AoE buff type skill, as it would increase 10% stats of all allies along with their recovery rates for a period of time. Other than that, it could also be used like tier suppression. However, it didn''t need the user to have a higher tier than the targets, as it just needs to have higher overall stats. With the looted stats I send through the Origin Sigil, his overall stats already reached 150, nearly three times that of what an average human would have. If not for the time that would take to adjust to the improved Stats, I would have transferred more looted stats to him. Everyone in the room could only stay frozen while looking at Kay, as they needed permission to even move under his presence. Ignoring them, Kay crouched over in front of Moro, who could see and hear everything that''s happening around him and said in a soft tone, "Moro, you have been through things no one should have suffered. Even though I can''t feel the pain you went through, I can imagine it to some extent. I am going to take you with me. You don''t ever have to stay here anymore and be treated as a case study subject. I swear to bring justice to you." I quietly stood beside Kay and didn''t interfere with his decision. To me, there wasn''t much of a difference if Kay brought Moro with us or not. But, what I did care about was how it would affect my brother. The reason I let Kay experience the tragic events in Moro''s life was so that he could see the dark side of humanity for himself. Even though I went out of line to impose my brother with such tragic experiences, I still did it in order to prepare him for the dog-eat-dog world that the Earth would soon be. Because, if he stayed the same way, he would be taken advantage of, just like how it happened with our enterprise a few years back. Since I could read his mind, I could see that Kay realised the reason why I pulled such a stunt on him. However, the only thing he asked me was if there was a way to save Moro froma. Kay was relieved when I nodded at him. Because of the boundless hatred that Moro managed to stack up over the course of these 8 years, most of his active consciousness was consumed by intense hatred, and what''s left of sanity had been engulfed by his hatred. That hatred somehow managed to save his inner consciousness from deteriorating to the no-return stage that my grandfather reached. I could just have MJ customise a spirit engineered medicine that could wake Moro froma. If that didn''t work out, then I could just use a Grade-3 Spirit Fruit, and with the state he was in, that would do the trick. But I had other things in mind for him. The moment when I met Moro, MJ used his Tier-4 System ess, to find what the category of his preselected Innate Talent was. Then, he found out that it was of Variant Category, but the baffling part came after that, because besides an Innate Talent, he was also chosen by a Bloodline. When I learned about it, I immediately knew that I had hit a jackpot. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''Yuno'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 92 - Moro, The War Asura! ***** Soon, both of us left the seminar room with Moro. I made sure to remove memories of everything that had happened in the seminar room from the students, their professor, and the security guards. After that, I took my grandfather to the deep underground secret base, where he was surrounded by advanced medical equipment and a few Quantum A.I robots to take care of him at all times. Following that, I sent Kay away under the pretense of taking a look at the new S.E.E.D technology products so that he would get a clear understanding of what they are and how they work. I did that so Kay would leave Moro alone for a while. With Kay personally experiencing Moro''s life, he had be over protective of Moro and treated him like a younger brother. However, the way I nned to wake Moro froma would be rather painful. If Kay knew about it, he would never let me do it so I sent him away. Soon, I entered Moro''s hate filled Spirit Space. From there, I went in deeper to find his inner consciousness that was suppressed by the immense hatred. I isted the hatred and his consciousness so that I could have a proper conversation with Moro. His inner consciousness didn''t resemble his 22-year old self but that of his younger self, when he was 14 years-old. "Well, I guess, I don''t have to introduce myself since Kay already did that an hour ago. So, I will get straight to the point. My brother wants me to cure your paralysis and wake you up from thea state you are in. I am presenting you with two options, you could either choose to get a miracle medicine that could cure you and be a normal person again or you could choose to gain power that could crush those that killed your family. Of course the second optiones with a pric¡­.." Before I couldplete what I was about to say, Moro already touched the Minor Origin Sigil that was hovering in front of his inner consciousness. Since Kay has personally seen the events Moro experienced, he wanted Moro to live a normal life. But he underestimated Moro''s immense thirst for revenge. Because of that, I already knew what Moro would choose even before I presented him with those two options. Soon, I brought my consciousness out of his Spirit Space and entered my own. Then, I watched as my Innate Talent sent a pir of Origin Energy beyond the boundaries of my Spirit Space. I eagerly waited to find what his bloodline would be. ording to MJ, bloodlines were remnants from the Prehistoric Era and there were only 10,000 of them recorded throughout the Universe. Simr to Innate Talents, bloodlines also choose their own hosts based on their affinity with them. But that doesn''t mean that everyone could possess a bloodline. Only those that meet the specific criteria of a bloodline will be chosen by one of those 10,000 bloodlines, irrespective of one''s Innate Talent grade. Even though bloodline doesn''t improve one''sprehension over their respective mastery, the benefits provided by a bloodline would exponentially raise one''s battle prowess. It wasmonly known that other than those with Grade-10 Innate Talents, no one could defeat those that awakened a bloodline within the same tier. Just from that, one could tell how strong a bloodline was. While I was thinking about bloodlines, the pir of Origin Energy pulled Moro''s Innate Talent into my own Spirit Space. It was a Grade-5 Innate Talent with a crimson river that roamed around his Innate Talent. With the Minor Origin Sigil, Moro''s innate talent''s grade didn''t matter to me. Soon, his Innate Talent evolved from Grade-5 to Grade-9 and chains of Origin Energy encased his Innate Talent. After that, I exited my Spirit Space and was greeted with two notifications. [You have gained absolute control over Grade-9 Innate Talent, ]. [You have gained absolute control over .] I turned to look at MJ, waiting for him to exin what Moro''s bloodline does. After that, MJ told me everything he knew about Moro''s bloodline. I was surprised to learn that even among the 10,000 bloodlines, the War Asura Bloodline was in the top 100. MJ believes that the immense hatred Moro had was the reason why War Asura Bloodline chose him. This was because War Asuras have always been someone that had hatred towards anything and everything. Their existence itself was meant for war and everywhere they go, only blood and carnage remain. That was why War Asuras were feared throughout the System assimted Universe. While I was in my thoughts, Moro started shaking in his wheelchair as his skin all over his body began to shred apart. MJ eximed, "Master! He is going through Bloodline Metamorphosis!" Upon hearing that, I couldn''t help but be taken aback. This was because one can only experience Bloodline Metamorphosis when they awaken their bloodline. Once someone was chosen by a bloodline, it would typically take a considerable amount of time before they could awaken it. However, Moro had managed to awaken his bloodline as soon as he gained it. Soon, all of the skin on his body was torn apart and his blood formed a cocoon around him. Whenever I give someone a Minor Origin Sigil, the Undistributed Looted Stats that were worth 25% of my overall stats will be automatically added depending on the speed at which they could adjust to those stats. So, when I made Moro a Minor Sigil Holder, he was allotted 208 Undistributed Looted Stats. But, what surprised me was that it took him less than half an hour to use up all those Undistributed Looted Stats. That meant that the rate at which Moro''s body adjusted to the improved stats was exceptionally high. Soon, the blood cocoon withered and Moro''s appearance and physique had taken aplete reversal. His thin and frail body was reced by muscles with a frame that was bulkier than mine. Even his height had increased by half a foot to 6''2, two inches taller than me. Moro''s long ck hair had turned crimson along with his pupils and the white in his eyes was reced by pitch-ck. The Bloodline Metamorphosis had woken up from hisa state and the spinal injury that paralysed him was also healed entirely. Once his gazended on me, he let out a loud roar and rushed towards me before attacking me with the intention to kill. Since I know that his hatred was controlling his mind, I suppressed the Origin Energy chains that were about to take action against his Innate Talent in my Spirit Space, or else, they would have obliterated Moro''s Soul, just for trying to attack me. Instead of stopping Moro, I let him attack me as I continued to evade his attacks. I did that to see for myself the extent of the abilities provided by the War Asura Bloodline. The most noticeable was the ''Battle Instinct'', which was unique for War Asuras. It was said that in the Universe, there were no species that fought more battles than the War Asura race. So, anyone who awakens the War Asura Bloodline would have the instincts of their War Asura predecessors that had experienced countless battles. Although Moro had never learned anybat techniques, his fighting standards were in a league far above mine. Whenever one attacked or defended or evaded, they had to think before acting. But in Moro''s case, every move he makes was done out of pure instinct. Mastering how to fight with instincts was the epitome one could reach in hand to handbat. Although Moro''s overall stats would put him at Mid-Phase Tier-2, hisbat prowess was enough to easily take down a High-Phase Tier-2 Monster. Moreover, that was when I didn''t even consider War Asura''s off the charts regeneration power and the ability to use their own blood as a weapon. Moro couldn''t manipte his Blood to such an extent yet because his was still at Stage-1. But now that his Innate Talent was of Grade-9, it wouldn''t take him very long to improve his Mastery. As long as reaches Stage-3, he could even go head-on against a Low-Phase Tier-3 monster. Moro continued to attack me for 15 minutes but with the vast difference in our stats, he wasn''t able tond even a single hit on me. However, his aggressiveness didn''t go down at all ever since he awakened the War Asura Bloodline. ording to MJ, once someone awakens a War Asura Bloodline, it would take them at least a few years to get a hold of their hatred. Until then, they would go on a rampage killing any living being theye across. So, after knocking out Moro, I used the Minor Origin Sigil in his Spirit Space to seal all of his hatred. If I hadn''t found Moro before the System assimtion, he would have be a mass murderer after awakening the War Asura Bloodline. Now that I sealed his hatred, I don''t have to worry about Moro going on a rampage anymore. Nheless, I couldn''t help but think highly of the perks provided by War Asura Bloodline. So, I didn''t wait any longer and tried to merge with it. I didn''t care if my race changed from human to something else. On top of that, since I had absolute control over War Asura Bloodline, I am positive that I could control my hatred and not go berserk like Moro. [Warning! If you merge with War Asura Bloodline, your race will change to that of War Asura. Do you wish to proceed?] Right when I was about to ept it, the usually silent let out a series of ominous hums that reverberated in my Spirit Space almost as if it was looking down on the War Asura Bloodline. [Your Innate Talent rejected merging with War Asura Bloodline. You can''t undergo bloodline metamorphosis.] The contents of the recent notification made me want to cry. I couldn''t believe that my innate talent ''bloodline-blocked'' me. That too for such a useful bloodline. If was a person, I would have definitely picked a fight with it. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''hyper Star'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 93 - Long Awaited Justice. Soon, I sensed the retaliation from the hatred in Moro''s consciousness. But, that was useless with the Minor Origin Sigil sealing that pent-up hate. However, since it was being restricted, the hatred began to harm his consciousness. If that were to continue, Moro would eventually be consumed by that hatred forever, without any hope to regain his sanity. At that point, I would be left with the choice to either kill him or strip his abilities, to stop him from bing a bloodthirsty being that killed every living thing in sight. So, I decided to quell his hatred before that could happen, so that he could gain proper hold of it. Since Moro''s source of hatred came from his family''s death, I knew just the way to deal with the situation. So, I left the deep underground secret base, and went hunting for the criminals that killed Moro''s family and the drug lord that orchestrated it. One by one, I collected all of them by putting them to sleep. Rather than a hunt, it was more of a kidnapping. Except for a select few, I brought everyone else involved in the death of Moro''s family to the underground secret base and locked them in a closed room, along with Moro. After I woke those gangsters and that drug lord, they shouted at me, asking where they were, and what I wanted to do with them. Looking at me ignoring them, a few gangsters tried to attack me, only to be sent flying by a wave of my hand. After that, I lifted the seal ced on Moro''s hatred using the Minor Origin Sigil, and that woke him up. Unlikest time, he didn''t try to attack me, since I am the true owner of his Minor Origin Sigil. When Moro heard me saying that they were the ones responsible for his family''s death, the hatred in him intensified even more and a crimson-coloured aura enveloped his body. It was the , which could amplify Moro''s attack damage and his blood-rted abilities. ..... {A short note from the editors: There is a GRAPHIC SCENE ahead in this chapter. Proceed on your own volition. If you don''t want to read some gore and Moro doing some disgusting things, then ignore the next five sentences.} ¡­.. Moro didn''t kill them off directly and took his time, as he slowly hacked them into pieces one by one, before ripping out their hearts and squashing them out of pure hatred. Without realising it himself, his body absorbed their blood essence, which improves his and increase his attack power while manipting blood. I deactivated and stood there watching those gangsters scream in agony, as they continued to beg Moro for mercy. It was to ustom myself to blood, gore and death without having to enter the state of harmony. At first, I was a little nauseous, but as time passed, I grew used to it. Still, it felt rather odd to watch Moro pluck out their hearts as if they were beads on a string. ¡­... By the time he finished killing all of those gangsters, his changes in appearance became more apparent, as his skin dyed chalk-ck before hardening into an exoskeleton with crimson coloured cracks spreading over his entire body. I soon learned from MJ that Moro was awakening the first stage of the War Asuras'' transformation, ''War Asura Skin''. Thest one to remain was the drug lord that orchestrated everything. He quivered in fear while looking at the approaching Moro, who was covered in the blood of his underlings. Noticing that Moro wasn''t attacking me, the drug lord hid behind me and pleaded, "Please, save me, he is a mon¡­.monster!! Why are you doing this?!" It struck a nerve in me when the drug lord asked why I was doing this. I lifted him by his neck andughed at the irony, "Hah! Why, you ask? It seems you don''t recognize the one you call a ''monster''. Why don''t I jog your memory from 8 years ago." I used Olivia''s innate talent to highlight the drug lord''s memories of ordering his men to kill Moro''s family, and sending two cops from his payroll to take out the paralysed teenage Moro in the hospital. Once he remembered everything, I threw the drug lord at Moro''s feet before saying, "Remember, your actions created the so-called ''monster'' you want me to save you from. It''s about time you face the consequences." Moro took extra time to finish off the drug lord and following that, a new notification popped up, saying that hepleted awakening his first stage of War Asura''s Transformation. Just as the name suggested, ''War Asura Skin'' let those with the War Asura Bloodline, transform their skin into protective armour with higher defensive prowess. When Moro reached higher stages in his transformation, he would undergo further enhancements in his physique. But, now that his hatred was quelled to a controble degree, it wouldn''t affect his sanity and Moro could turn his skin to normal whenever he wants. I sealed his hatred just in case so that he wouldn''t be consumed by it again. Right after I did that Moro fell unconscious and his skin returned to normal again. After that, I handed Moro to the robots that were controlled by the Quantum A.I babies to clean him up and left him there before meeting up with Kay. Other than the painful process of his bloodline awakening and the part where I let Moro have his revenge, I revealed everything else to my brother. Kay rejoiced upon learning that Moro was cured from his paralysis anda. If I hadn''t said that Moro was resting from undergoing bloodline awakening, he would have rushed to check upon Moro right away. Then, I got a message from MJ, ''Master, they are here.'' Soon, Qew entered my view as she merrily waved at me. Behind her were the five main security personnel who were the most loyal to our family when we were in a crisis. Among those five, two were the bulky ex-goon brothers who guarded my grandfather even when he was ina. Other two were Uncle Aadriks''s close friends who were in charge of my father''s and uncle''s security. Thest among those five was Esha, whom Qew considered as an elder sister figure. The reason why I had Qew bring them into the underground secret base to offer each of them an Origin Sigil. Qew was very excited when she learned that I intended to make Esha an Origin Sigil holder. She insisted that she wanted to be the one to reveal everything about the system and the trial program to Esha. So, I had her bring Esha and the others there and from reading their chaotic thoughts, I could see that Qew already exined everything to them on the way to the underground secret base. It seemed that my sister had even arm wrestled with the ex-goon brothers to disy her abnormal strength. From her overwhelming performance, they wanted to believe everything she said but still found it hard to ept all of the things she had told them. To remove their final doubts, I projected some memories into their minds using Olivia''s Innate Talent. All five of them were visibly quite shaken since the memories I had showed them were my memories of the events that I had gone through and my encounters with the monsters on Day-1 of the Trial Program after being teleported to the Trial World. I also showed them the catastrophic events that would take ce on Earth after 6 months. Of course those memories didn''t reveal anything about the information on abilities that were rted to my Innate Talent. Once they recovered from their shock, I made sure to exin to them the pros and cons of the power that I intended to offer before giving them the opportunity to decide for themselves. The first ones to decide were the ex-goon brothers. But, both of them held a dramatic pose and knelt on one knee before shouting in unison, "We shall dly ept the Young Master''s bestowal!" They were the most straightforward people I have ever met. In fact, the reason they agreed right away was purely because of their gratitude for my grandfather. Unlike the two brothers, the remaining three took several other factors into consideration before making their choice. When Esha and the other two were thinking of following the ex-goon brothers'' awkward way of announcing their approval, I quickly stopped them before they could say those embarrassing lines. Following that, I used a Minor Origin Sigil on each of them, and simr to how it happened with my siblings, my Innate Talent sent pirs of Origin Energy and brought their pre-selected Innate Talents into my Spirit Space. Except for Esha who has a Grade-6 Martial Category Innate Talent, the other four had Grade-5 Weapon Category Innate Talents. Since none of the innate talent the four had shed with the Grade-9 Innate Talents I have with me, I didn''t rece the Minor Origin Sigils to that of Rudimentary ones. With that, their Innate Talents, which were in my spirit space, grew exponentially till they reached the size of Grade-9 Innate Talents before the Origin Energy chains encased them. Once that was over, I opened my eyes and exited Spirit Space only to find my sister staring at me with an expectant look to find what their Innate Talents were. I flicked her forehead before telling Qew to ask them herself and left the five security personnel under my siblings'' care. Ignoring Qew''s vow to avenge herself by bullying me when she bes strong enough, I headed towards a training area to test out the newly gained Innate Talents, especially the Martial Category one. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''hyper Star'' & ''Yuno''. Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 94 - Martial Category Innate Talent Within a training area in the underground base, I looked at the Origin Sigil section in my . __________________ (3/10) - 1. Olivia: (Grade-10) 2. Kay: (Grade-10) 3. Qew: (Grade-10) ... (11/100): 1. Storm Eagle MJ: (Grade-9) 2. Hobgoblin MJ: (Grade-9) 3. Shadow Leopard MJ: (Grade-9) 4. Venomous Scorpion MJ: (Grade-9) 5. Earth Wyrm MJ: (Grade-9) 6. Moro: (Grade-9), 7. Esha: (Grade-9) {New} 8. Rahu: (Grade-9) {New} 9. Kethu: (Grade-9) {New} 10. Jon: < Spear Innate Talent> (Grade-9) {New} 11. Ravan: (Grade-9) {New} ... (0/1000) : None __________________ I focussed on the five Innate Talents at the end that had ''New'' highlighted beside them. Other than Esha, the four others had Weapon category Innate Talents. Even though gaining other Innate Talents would mean that I had to train their respective masteries to Stage-3, before I could once again satisfy the Tier-3 evolution requirement, I didn''t bother about it since I didn''t n to reach Tier-3 anytime soon. Besides, it''s not like I could use the bloodline exclusive skill ''Battle Instinct'' like Moro does. I had to work my ass off to improve mybat sense, and training in other weapon masteries would precisely help me in gaining the insight I needed. Since all those innate talents were of Grade-9, the time I needed to spend improving their respective masteries would be way shorter,pared to when I learned weapon masteries in the past. But, before training in them, I turned my attention to the . Those with Martial category Innate Talents are a bunch that operate differently from the Elemental and Weapon category ones, since they had to cultivate their bodies. That involves aplex process of absorbing Spirit Energy in nature into their dantain, using that to nurture their body to sustain ''Martial Aura''. The higher the grade of the Martial Innate Talent, the easier the absorption process. Just like how those with a Weapon Innate Talent could use Weapon Auras, such as Sword Aura, Dagger Aura, etc. the Martial Innate Talent users could use the aforementioned Martial Aura. However, unlike the Weapon Auras that could only be used on a Weapon, the Martial Aura could be used on the body, making it as strong as a weapon. That was why anyone that picked a fight with an Martial Innate Talent user, would try their hardest to avoid a closebat fight. Among the Martial Innate Talents, it''s rare to find those that had some kind of element integrated in them. Even though such an urrence was not as rare as awakening a bloodline, it was still pretty rare. Esha''s innate talent ''Ice Haven Martial Scripture'' was one such case, since her innate talent had the ice element integrated within. But of course, in regards to usage of elements, those with element integrated martial talent couldn''t at allpare to those with their respective elemental innate talent users. Because, by increasing mastery in , the ice element would just be ingrained in the Martial Aura without being able to use projectile attacks. Anyway, I began training the ''Ice Haven Martial Scripture,'' to figure out the effects of cultivation for myself. Before that, I used the Grade-3 & Lv.30 to cover the entire training room with ice, with MJ suggesting to me that it would be beneficial to cultivate in an icy environment for the Ice Haven Martial Scripture. ording to the training methods of Ice Haven Martial Scripture, I cultivated my body, and since there wasn''t any Spirit Energy on earth yet, I had to use Spirit Crystals to absorb Spirit Energy into my dantian that was located at the centre of my body, slightly underneath my belly button level. For martial talent users, the dantain was where they could store and filter the Spirit Energy into a pure energy that would nurture their body and inner organs. Whereas Elemental talent users would have ''Spirit Pool'' that was located in their head, and the Weapon talent users have a ''Weapon Core'' located at the centre of their chest. Because of that, they weremonly dubbed as ''Upper Dantian'' and ''Middle Dantian'' respectively''. Time passed as the Spirit Crystals were sucked dry, and at the rate I was absorbing Spirit Energy, I could sense changes taking ce in my body. Even though using undistributed stats to improve one''s attributes could improve one''s external body strength, that still couldn''t bring out the body''s full potential for the amount of stats it had. But, those who cultivate their body could improve their inner organs to a higher extent than others, which was also why martial talent users hadparably higher lifespan than the others at the same tier. By the time I reached Stage-3 of , 5 hours had passed, and my body was covered with inner organ impurities that were expunged through my skin. The odour it emitted was so foul that I had to block off my sense of smell till I had taken a quick bath. Other than the improvements in my internal organs, my body''s overall defence increased as well. But all those stillck in front of the benefit provided by the Martial Aura. Then, I looked at the recent notifications. [Congrattions! You have reached Stage-3 .] [Congrattions! Your advanced to Stage-3 by reaching Lv.21. ] [Congrattions! You gained the Stage-3 Mastery Perk ] I activated the Stage-3 and a light-blue coloured aura enveloped my body, giving me a 15% boost to my Strength, Agility and Endurance attributes along with improving my base attack damage and defence to a whole new level. On top of that, every attack of mine while using would have a constant ice elemental damage to it. When I added to the mix, the attack would manifest Ice Martial Aura into a projectile form which could then be shot at an enemy. However, the attack''s range was far lower than the weapon aura projectiles. It''s apt to say that Martial talent users specialise in dealing close range damage, Weapon talent users as mid-range damage dealers whereas the elemental talent users were long range damage dealers. Most of the disappointment I felt from not being able to use the War Asura Bloodline vanished after I began to train in ''Ice Haven Martial Scripture'' because it improved mybat prowess drastically. After that, I didn''t train any further and went to meet my siblings. It was already 8 o''clock at night and I only had four hours before Day-7 of the alpha program began. On my way, I went to check on Moro who was still asleep. But, while he was in sleep, he had tears of blood pouring across his cheeks as he unconsciously emanated Blood Aura that chaotically moved around his body due to the nightmare he was experiencing. Even though killing those who were responsible for that incident caused his hatred to quell, the pain of losing his family didn''t go away. Because of Moro''s mental disorder, which made him unable to express his feelings and emotions, Moro did not have an outlet for the emotions that he had experienced when he helplessly watched his family die in front of him. Now that his mental disorder was cured by undergoing bloodline metamorphosis and his hatred was suppressed, all those pent-up emotions turned into nightmares as an outlet. I used to slow down those rush of emotions, which were the root cause of those nightmares and added those painful memories together with the happy memories he shared with his family. At the end of that, I created a dream that his parents and sister were looking from heaven and were happy that he recovered. I did it so that Moro could gain peace and move on. Soon, Moro woke up and when he saw me, he stayed silent for a while before saying a single sentence, "Thanks for everything Mister." I could read his thoughts and see that he meant a lot more that couldn''t be expressed in a sentence. Moro didn''t think a day woulde where he would be able to avenge his family, that too with his own hands. Since we saved him and I let him enact his justice, he seemed to have made it his life''s purpose to spend the rest of his life repaying Kay and I. But, I noticed something off about Moro and to confirm that, I intended to use an innovative skill that Olivia came up with on Moro. She uses that to find whom she could trust and whom to not. It was called , a rare grade skill that lets the user ask the target''s anything and they would give genuine replies before forgetting everything regarding that conversation. I was amazed as to how Olivia managed toe up with this skill because it wouldn''t just affect the memories and outer consciousness but one''s subconsciousness. Subconsciousness was present in the depths of one''s own consciousness where there will be information that the person even doesn''t know about themselves. The reason I didn''t try to poke around anyone''s subconsciousness was because the chances of causing irreversible harm to one''s soul was high. However the skill wouldn''t harm the target''s subconsciousness. After everything that Moro had experienced and the hatred he developed in the past 8 years, he barely had any humanity left in him. Even though the hatred in him was suppressed after he killed those who were reasonable for his family''s death, the hate he had for the world that failed him was not something a normal person would have. I wanted to find how far his humanity has fallen. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''hyper Star'' & ''Yuno''. Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 95 - When I used the skill on Moro, the War Asura bloodline acted out to defend him, but since I had absolute control over his bloodline, it was suppressed by the Minor Origin Sigil right away. Moro stood still as if he was hypnotised. I started by asking him what he would do, if I were to ask him to kill someone for me. He replied right away, "Yes, I would." After that, I asked him something ridiculous, like what he would do if I were to ask him to kill 1000 innocent people. Just like the previous time, he replied without a least bit of hesitation, "Yes, I would." With that, I confirmed that Moro''s immense hatred, which was sealed at the moment, seemed to affect his personality and the way he sees the world. (E/N: or maybe he''s just loyal to the person who helped him get revenge) After all, he lived carrying such immense hatred towards the world for the past 8 years. It would be strange if he still was that innocent teenage kid. Now, he had be almost like me, back when I was in the state of harmony, without any emotions left in him, and because of that, even if I asked him to do inhumane things, he would agree straight away. To check onest thing, I asked him something that his true self would find it hard to answer, "What would you do if I asked you to kill my own brother, Kay." I thought his true self would hesitate but he gave a quick reply, and his answer shocked me. "No, I wouldn''t harm Mr. Kay. But Mr. Jay, If you try to, I will do everything I can to kill you." I was surprised that he has some humanity left in him, and that he didn''t say yes to the hypothetical question I imposed on him. However, I didn''t expect Moro to say that he would even try to kill me in a scenario where I tried to harm Kay. It''s not that I would ever harm my brother, but I didn''t expect that Moro held Kay with such high regard, to the point he would go against me, even when he knew that the Minor Origin Sigil would crush his soul, if he were to do that. Before, when I went through Moro''s memories, I didn''t find any such thing rted to his protectiveness towards Kay. But, after he answered a few of my follow-up questions, I got a clearer picture of the situation. It seemed that to Moro, Kay was the only person that cared for him, even when everyone else had given up. Although Kay had treated Moro with kindness for only a short amount of time, that seemed to have a great impact on Moro''s subconscious as it reminded of his kind father. Basically, it was his subconscious speaking, even Moro was not aware of that himself. I was d that Moro would eventually grow protective towards Kay. Moro''s ''Battle Instinct'' not only increased hisbat prowess but also gave him one hell of an intuition as he could tell that I had only helped him for my own benefit. Although Moro was grateful to me for saving him and making him an origin sigil holder, his opinion on me was entirely different from Kay. I didn''t care about that but unlike me, Baby MJ got mad at Moro and tightened his little palms into fists and let out a cute growl before throwing punches at Moro''s face like there is no tomorrow. However, since MJ wasn''t in a corpse integrated body but in his baby form, he only had the strength of a 1-year-old child and against Moro who was as strong as a Tier-2 life form, all his punches were as ineffective as throwing cotton balls at a rock. "Ungrateful Bastard! How dare you say that you would go against my Master." I helplessly sighed and pulled back MJ by the cor of his little Santa costume as he continued to wave his fists and feet at Moro like he was MJ''s archenemy. To MJ, I am his creator and one and only master. So, his loyalty towards me was unwavering. When he heard Moro''s words, MJ red up even when he knew that Moro was under a skill influence. It took some time for MJ to cool down. Soon, I deactivated the skill , and Moro returned to normal, and due to the effects of the skill, he forgot everything that happened while he was under the influence of . When Moro gained his consciousness, MJ huffed as he gestured at Moro with two fingers, "Hmph! Red-haired punk, I will be watching you from now on." Moro was confused as to why the chubby floating baby was fuming at him. Since I know that Moro wouldn''t ever harm Kay, my impression of him improved. I patted Moro''s back and told him to ignore MJ for a while and brought him to my brother and introduced him to the others. I didn''t reveal anything about Moro''s past and only told the others that Moro was also a Minor Origin Sigil holder just like them. Of course, Kay was the most shocked because of the drastic changes in Moro. If not for the identical features, Kay wouldn''t have believed that the once weak and fratosed youth he had seen in a wheelchair was the sturdy youth in front of him. Initially, my brother guessed that I would use the spirit fruits or some spirit engineered medicine to cure Moro, but he seemed to not have expected that I would make Moro a Minor Origin Sigil holder. After all, I only had a limited number of Origin Sigils, and each of them were valuable. I also made sure to inform my brother that Moro agreed to be an Origin Sigil holder, irrespective of it''s cons. I emphasised that it was Moro''s choice, so that Kay wouldn''t misunderstand my intentions. Following that, Kay neared Moro and showered him with enquiries on his well being and how he felt, as it''s only been a few hours since he woke up from thea. I could sense the rare trace of warmth bubbling in Moro''s emotionless heart, when Kay was treating him with such care. Even though Moro couldn''t put a finger on it, I knew that he would soon grow close to Kay. Whenever Moro answered Kay''s relentless enquiries, he continued to call my brother, ''Mister Kay'' when he answered. "Peh! What''s with all that ''Mister Kay,'' just call me Big Brother from now on, alright?" Kay requested as Moro nodded. Only then did Kay let out a wide smile. Qew approached them and coughed twice, while holding her wrists behind her back, signalling Kay to introduce her to Moro. Kay took the hint and introduced Qew, "Moro, this is my elder sister, Qew. Don''t be deceived by her innocent looks, she''s a bully to the core; but, overall she''s a good person." Qew stared daggers at Kay, "Brat! Who are you calling a bully! I am an upright and model citizen." I rolled my eyes before saying, "Riiight. Sure you are." Qew''s mouth twitched at my remark, but hid it, before turning towards Moro with aplete shift of attitude. "Ahem! Ignore my brothers'', I am d that you recovered Moro. Since Kay treats you like a little brother, you are also the same to me from now on. You can call me Big Sister from now on. If anyone tries to bully you, just tell me; I will take care of them for you." When Kay was busy conversing with Moro, I had informed Qew of the events that had happened, when Kay and I went to the hospital. I had briefed her about the life story of Moro through the telepathic powers of . Upon learning about Moro, Qew pitied him for all that he had to experience from a young age. Because of that, she extended good will towards Moro in her own way. After my siblings chatted around with Moro for a while, I made an announcement that Moro will be joining the core security personnel of our enterprise, and that I am making him the personal security protection for Kay. Of course, the first one to react was my brother, as he raised his concern opposing my proposal. He thought that Moro, who recently woke from aa, wouldn''t be able to handle being a security personnel, much less without any priorbat knowledge. Following that, one of the core security personnel stepped forward and raised his voice, "I agree with the youngest young master''s view, Moro seems to be too young and inexperienced to be a core security personnel. But, if the eldest young master insists on it, I will train him till he reaches the requiredbat standard." Standing 5 feet 9 inches tall, Jon had high cheekbones with a square jaw. If not for the low fade of white hair on his sides, it would be hard to believe that such a physically fit person was just a year shy away from turning 40. Jon Constantine was my father''s personal security guard, who had been loyal to our family for a long time. Before he joined in our Enterprise, he was skilled mercenary He worked as a mercenary in Europe, before joining our enterprise through Uncle Aadrik''s rmendation. Until my father made me the chief of security of our enterprise, he used to supervise the security division. Back in my early teenage years, when I was up-close addicted to training various martial arts, he used to be my sparring partner. Among the security personnel, he was the most experienced and skilled one in our enterprise. Hearing Jon, I replied, "You are right Uncle Jon, Moro was inexperienced as a security personnel, but you are gravely mistaken about hisbat standards. How about this, spar with him once, then you will understand why I want him in the security division." Everyone, including my siblings, were taken back by what I said. They didn''t understand why I was so confident in Moro''sbat prowess. Even though Jon was surprised, he quickly recovered before nodding at me, and prepared himself for a short spar with Moro. While Jon was taking off his ck jacket and folding his shirt sleeves, all of us gave space for them to exchange fists. My brother was nervous, whereas my sister''s eyes were excited to see the end result of their spar. As for Esha and the other core security members, all of them were pretty confident about Jon''s fighting skills. However, what they didn''t know was that I telepathically messaged Moro to go easy on Jon. If I had said that out loud, they would have thought that I was exaggerating too much. Moreover, now that their attributes were improved to that of a Mid-Phase Tier-1 life form, they were doubting if Moro couldst long against Jon. Obviously, they didn''t know that Moro had a powerful bloodline that allowed him to already adjust to all the looted stats he received from me, and that Moro was now as strong as a Mid-Phase Tier-2 life form, an entire tier, higher than Jon. As for the rules of the spar, I announced that they would only use hand-to-handbat, without using any of their Innate talent abilities. Ofcourse, to make it a fair fight, I restricted Moro''s overall stats using the Minor Origin Sigil to match those of Jon''s, and mentioned that both of them would be facing each other with the same amount of overall stats of 90. As everyone was looking forward to the spar, I dered out loud, "Fight!!" ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''hyper Star'' & ''Yuno''. Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 96 - Spar - Defence As Offence. ***Jon Constantine''s POV*** In the past few hours, I learned several abnormal things that I found hard to believe if this was reality. Everything from the System to the monsters sounded like some fantasy, but, when I watched the superhuman abilities disyed by young miss Qew, I tried my best toe to terms with the new reality that would soon dawn upon us. Through the mystical Origin Sigils that Young Master Jay gave us, we had our physical bodies enhanced, exceeding human limits. Before the spar began, I took a look at the dark-grey wristband on my wrist that was made of an unknown material. Young Master Jay called it the ''2nd Wristband Prototype,'' and it had many technologically advanced features that I had nevere across before. But, the important feature of it was something called ''Simted Status''. When I mumbled those words, a light-blue hologram hovered on top of the wristband prototype with all the information on my stats and abilities. ________________________ [SIMULATED STATUS] Name: Jon Age: 38 Race: Inferior Human (Male) Level: N/A (Locked until System Assimtion) Estimated Level: 8 (Mid-Phase; Tier-1) Strength: 18 (12+6*) Agility: 18 (11+7*) Vitality: 18 (10+8*) Endurance: 18 (11+7*) Spirit: 18 (8+10*) Health: 180/180 Stamina: 89/90 Spirit Energy: 90/90 (unlocked due to Origin Sigil) Luck: 8 Undistributed Stats: 0 (Locked until System Assimtion) Undistributed Origin Sigil Stats: 170* INNATE TALENT: Grade-9 Spear Innate Talent (unlocked due to Origin Sigil) Current Stats Adaptability: 78% (need to reach at least 90% adaptability of current overall stats to distribute more Origin Sigil stats.) ________________________ This ''Simted Status'' feature was to replicate something called that one could ess by assimting with the System. When I first saw this, I was amazed that the small wristband could show my attributes in statical numbers. But, the magical aspect was that I could use the Origin Sigil Stats to improve my attributes as long as I willed it, and that would enhance my physical strength, reflexes, speed, and several other aspects. In the past few hours, I used 38* Origin Sigil stats and improved all my attributes to 18, under the guidance of Young Miss Qew and Young Master Kay. However, getting used to the improved stats was the hard part, as it took a lot of time. Moreover, Young Master Jay set a condition on the usage of Origin Sigil stats, so that only by reaching 90% or above in ''Current Stats Adaptability,'' would we be able to ess more of them. It was made to help us gain proper control over our attributes and avoid going through unnecessary pain from stat increase. Now that all my attributes had 18 stats, I crossed the stat threshold of human capabilities, and my control over them had reached 78%, as shown in the ''Simted Status,'' and that''s good enough to execute the fighting techniques I have learned. As for the spar, I am pretty sure that I could win. But, since Young Master Jay was so confident about the crimson-haired youth in front of me, I didn''t look down on my opponent. Even though Moro looked young and his stance was off, I intended to give it my all, and I didn''t have to worry about harming him fatally, since Young Master Jay had said that we have the same amount of stats. Once I steadied my breathing and prepared myself, I heard, "Fight!!" Maintaining a proper stance, I slowly approached my opponent and probed him with a few bluffs and faints, to see how he would react and get a read on him. However, Moro didn''t even try to evade, instead, the only thing that greeted me was his unwavering eyes, almost as if he could tell my initial attacks wouldn''t reach him and only were a test. I was surprised by that, but didn''t think much about it and took the initiative tounch actual attacks at my opponent. Moro''s stance itself wasn''t proper and was full of openings. It could hardly even be called a stance since his posture was almost no different from standing normally. I threw punch after punch, but not a single onended on his body that dodged every single one by a hair''s breadth, almost as if he knew where my attacks were headed. The spar continued, and throughout the first five minutes, I was unable to even graze my opponent''s clothes. I attributed it to coincidence in the beginning, but as time passed, it became clear as to how surprisingly skilled he actually was. Unlike me, Moro didn''t even sweat, since his movements were minimalistic to the core. That was when it became clear to me why Young Master Jay wanted me to spar with him. While I was catching my breath, Young Master Jay said something I didn''t seeing. He looked at everyone and said, "All of you except Qew and Kay, go join the ongoing spar at once, against Moro. It''s now 5 v 1." Everyone was taken aback by his announcement but still listened to him and joined the fight alongside me. I nodded at Esha, Ravan, and the twins and surrounded Moro, attacking him by coordinating with each other. This time, Moro didn''t just evade but defended himself without attacking us. In the beginning, it seemed like he was being overwhelmed by us, but as time passed, I began to feel numbing pain in my muscles and arm joints. Looking at the expressions of the others, I could see that they are all in the same situation as me. I didn''t understand how he did that since he was doing nothing but defending himself. The spar continued for another few minutes, in which each and every one of us continued to get hurt more and more. The first ones to fall were the twins as they fell on the floor with exhaustion and grunting pain. Following them was Esha, and then the only ones standing up against Moro were Ravan and me, but we were barely hanging on. I wasn''t able to believe that even with all five of us attacking together, none of us managed tond even a single hit on him. On top of that, he didn''t even fight back, all he did was defend himself. I thought back to Young Master Jay''s words before the spar started, ''You are right Uncle Jon, maybe Moro is inexperienced as a security personnel, but you are gravely mistaken about hisbat standards.'' I couldn''t help but recognise the talent of the crimson-haired youth who was calmly standing in front of me. It was evident that Moro didn''t even have to fight seriously. In terms ofbat, he was far ahead of anyone I have ever seen. Right after that, Young Master Jay said while looking at all of us, "Alright, now that all of you can see the point I want to prove, let''s wrap it up, shall we?" Following that, each of us was given two fruits that resembled peaches. One was red, and the other one was green, and both of them had shiny glints on them. Once I ate them, my stamina recovered under a minute, and pain in my muscles and arm joints that I had received from the spar receded. After that, Young Master Jay exined how we had lost even though Moro was just defending from our attacks while reying a recording of the spar. Only after Young master Jay''s exnation did I learn that Moro wasn''t simply defending but positioning the strongest parts of his arms like knuckles and elbows to the weakest links in our attacks, causing muscle inmmation and joint pain, which lead to exhausting us much faster than usual. Young Master Jay called the method that Moro used ''Defence as Offence'', and to put that into action, one needs a high amount of control over their body and bnce between all five main attributes. But, it didn''t end at that; every single movement Moro did during the spar was extremely clean and precise and used the least amount of effort one needed to expend. Only after Young Master Jay pointed it out did I realise how unbelievable Moro''s fighting skills were. Then, Young Master Jay said, "By now, you all should have seen for yourselves what it is like to face a true expert of closebat. So, I hope you all shouldn''t have any qualms with training under Moro. Other than being Kay''s security personal, Moro will personally train you all from tomorrow." After that, he looked at Young Miss Qew and Young Master Kay before saying, "That includes both of you as well, I didn''t ask you to join the spar because both of you have only trained with me for a few days and don''t have any realbat experience. Honestly speaking, the two of you couldn''t even hold a candle in a spar with Moro. So, from tomorrow onwards you will also be training extra hard under Moro''s guidance." Young miss Qew pouted for a second before nodding with determination. After that, Kethu broke the silence and approached Moro whileughing, "Young man, that''s quite some expertise you have. I admire you for that. If you want any help, you can ask me anytime. Also, no need to use any honorifics with me and just call me Brother, eh." Rahu intervened, "What?? You are calling yourselves his brother? Didn''t Young Master Kay say that Moro is 22 years old? You are 14 years older than him, old enough for him to call you Uncle. How shameless can you be? You should be called ''Uncle Shameless''." Kethu''s mouth spasmed at Rahu''s quirky reply, and the twins began to banter at each other. While they were at it, I asked Moro how long he had trained to have such fighting experience and capabilities. Moro replied with a straight face, "I have never trained in my life." Hearing his words, all five of us core security personnel eximed loudly, "What?!!!!" ------------- A shout out to ''Morobitoyakiro'', who customised the character ''Moro'' through the customisation-benefit of the Patron Tier: ''Alpha-Chosen''. ''Morobitoyakiro'' is also the top fan of this novel. Thanks for your support man, I appreciate it alot. === A shout out to ''Jon'', who customised the the character ''Jon Constantine'' through the customisation-benefit of the Patron Tier: ''Alpha-Chosen''. Checkout EAP''s discord server to find more details about this customisation benefit which was exclussive for ''Alpha-Patrons''. ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADER: ''hyper Star'' & ''Yuno''. Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ____________________ Chapter 97 - Day-7 Begins ***Jay''s POV*** Looking at their shocked faces, I revealed to them about Moro''s War Asura Bloodline and that it provides him with the unrivalled ''Battle Instinct'' of the War Asura Species. Hearing that, they managed to recover from shock, but curiosity was evident on their faces. So, to curb their curiosity, I briefed them about Bloodlines and how only a few could awaken them. After that, I also telepathically mentioned those five core security personnel about the suffering and tragedy Moro had gone through in the past, and that was the reason why he was able to meet the requirements of a powerful bloodline and was chosen by it. Initially, I didn''t want to indulge them in Moro''s past. Nevertheless, I told them because they all had trained and experienced a lot to earn their present fighting expertise and have their own pride. I didn''t want them to view Moro as someone who was just lucky enough to get a bloodline that could allow him to gain such high-endbat knowledge and experience. After all, being chosen by any Bloodline is something extremely hard to aplish. Those who don''t know any better would think that if one gains a higher grade Innate Talent or powerful bloodline, that they were lucky to possess them. But, from MJ, I already learned the actual process that goes into Innate Talents or Bloodlines choosing someone as their host. There are countless Innate Talents and Bloodlines in the System, and each of them was sentient. However, their sentience is nowhere close to an intelligent species. Whenever the system selects a life for assimtion, the Innate Talents would search throughout the to find a host with the highest affinity. However, the said affinity is not something that one is born with but was formed by one''s life experiences umted and several otherplicated factors. That was why in a System assimted life, only those who reach a certain mature age depending on their species would obtain an Innate Talent. MJ estimated that in the case of the human species on Earth, only those who have an age of 18 and above would gain an Innate Talent that they have the highest affinity towards. As for the under-aged ones, they had to reach 18 years before obtaining an Innate talent based on the ''affinity'' that formed throughout those 18 years. Several advanced civilizations in the system assimted part of the Universe tried to study the patterns of how the ''affinity'' is formed to try and emte a living environment for the newborns of their species to match those who possess higher grade Innate Talents among them. That way, they wanted their species'' newborns to obtain higher grade Innate Talents and increase the overall power of their species. Of course, to date, no civilization or powerful beings managed to find a way to manipte one''s ''affinity'' as it wasplex beyond imagination. Even in the future, I highly doubt anyone could ever aplish such a feat. Before I learned about all this, I used to feel I was just lucky to obtain such a powerful Innate Talent as . Thinking that, if anyone were to obtain other than me, they would have been able to aplish everything that I was able to do or even better than me. However, I realized how wrong my assumption was after learning that the Innate Talents choose their hosts. Moreover, from what I learned about Unique Category Innate Talents from MJ, I became sure that my Innate Talent stands out from the rest of the Unique Category ones. There was no case ever recorded about a Unique Category Innate Talent user using Origin Energy. I didn''t understand why such a powerful Innate Talent chose me. Maybe it was because I had exceptional muscle memory that could help me learn any physical skill in a short period or maybe because of some other unknown factors. There were no records of anyone controlling Origin Energy in the System records. With that, I came up with two possibilities. The first one was that no one managed toprehend Origin Energy since the System''s appearance in the Universe, i.e. after the prehistoric era. The second one was that MJ''s Grade-4 System ess was not high enough to ess information on Origin Energy. Before I go with the first possibility, I have to rule out the second one. To do that, I have to increase the skill level of so that MJ could have higher grade System ess. To others, it might be unimaginably hard to improve the grade of a Skill. Still, to me, who could create Universe Level achievements by single-handedly killing monsters that were three phases higher, it was possible by using Universe Points. With that, I simply have to think about upgrading a skill, and it will happen, and as for the grade that the skill could be upgraded will depend on my luck. Of course, I couldn''t do that yet since all my Universe Points were being pooled together to exchange for the silver ive of ''s previous owner. Until then, I wouldn''t be able to use those Universe Points. The only problem was that I don''t know how many more Universe points it would have for that Double-ded silver ive. It gave me a headache thinking about that. So, I set those thoughts aside and turned my attention to the five core security personnel and what I told them worked effectively and even improved their opinion on Moro to see him so calm andposed even after he went through such a tragedy. What they didn''t know was that Moro''s hatred was sealed by the Minor Origin Sigil I gave him. If not for that, Moro would have been on a killing spree of every living thing. Of course, I didn''t mention any of that to them. After that, I assigned the twins, Rahu and Kethu, as the core security personnel of the family mansion since the Chairman was safe in the secret underground base. As for Jon, Ravan and Esha, their responsibilities didn''t change from before as they are to guard my father, uncle and Qew, respectively. After that, I discussed a few security protocols and its issues with them as my role as the head of security. Once that was over, I introduced MJ to them. Except for my siblings, all five of them were taken aback by MJ''s appearance at first, but after what they hade across in the past few hours, they quickly got used to abnormal situations. I put MJ up to clearing any queries they had regarding the System, monsters and trial program and to give a detailed exnation on it. After all, I only gave a vague overview to them when I first exined about the Trial World. Noticing MJ going into full-on ''professor mode'', who went on lecturing Jon and others, I quietly left the room, knowing that it''s not going to end anytime soon. Soon, I left the Underground secret base and went back to my house to prepare myself for Day-7 since I only had less than two hours left before getting myself teleported there. After a satisfying bath, I had ordered food for my dinner. As for my clothes, I got used to using the as my wardrobe. Since I couldn''t change its default ck colour with golden patterns, I often morph into any set of clothes I wish, just for a sense of change. Thefort it provides was far beyond any clothing could provide. Moreover, I don''t even have to wash those morphed clothes since they don''t smell, and any dirt on them will be automatically cleaned. I rested on the sofafortably with that was morphed into a t-shirt and track pants pair. Right then, I heard a knock on the entrance door. Thanks to the , I long ago knew who that was. "Come on in." Dante walked through the door. After dinner, I called Dante through the Wristband prototype toe to my house to discuss a few things I n to do on Day-7. After exchanging a few pleasantries with him, I got right to the point, "Dante, do you remember the 2nd condition of the deal I made with you when I gave you Vitality fruit sap to heal your Uncle Roberto. It''s about time I need your help to find the Arch Spirit Fruit that I was looking for." Dante smiled, "Even without that deal, I would still help you, Jay." I ignored his over friendliness and asked him, "How about your Fate Mastery, did it reach Stage-3?" "About that, for some reason, it was stuck at Lv.20 without any sign of improving." Dante replied while scratching the back of his head. After hearing that his didn''t reach Stage-3 (Lv.21 to Lv.30), I sighed. It was understandable since it was way hard to improve a Unique Innate Talent''s Mastery. Because of that, the Unique Innate Talent users couldn''t reach higher tiers, and only a rare few manage to do that. If not for the unpredictable progress of innate talent Mastery, the Unique Category Innate Talents would have been hailed as the most powerful ones instead of the Grade-10 Innate Talents. I looked at Dante, who was internally ming himself for not being able to reach Stage-3 yet. I told him not to stress about it. I initially wanted to wait till Dante''s Fate Mastery reached Stage-3 because, at that point, he would be able to locate the Grade-4 Spirit Fruit more urately using the Fate Points. But, since I don''t know when that would happen, I decided to go with n-B, and that was to have Dante locate the Grade-4 Spirit Fruit with his Stage-2 Fate Mastery. In this case, it would get a lot harder since the Fate Stats would only show the direction in which he was searching but not the distance and other specifics. However, I don''t intend to wait anymore and proceed with the search as soon as Day-7 begins. Once I decided, I exined to Dante my n to go to other Trial Zones, searching for Grade-4 Spirit Fruit in great detail. Soon, time passed, and it was already 12 in the night, and along with Dante, I was teleported to the Trial World. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 98 - Breaking Barriers I was teleported into the Earth''s Foothold in the Trial World that I established within a dome. Just like Dante and me, other Alpha Chosen also appeared in the ''Earth''s foothold''. Right then, an announcement appeared in the form of a gigantic notification in the sky. [#Trial World Announcement: The restriction domes of all Low-Phase Tier-3 monsters were lifted off. Be wary of them. Survive, ovee danger and grow stronger. All the best.] Alpha Chosen from other lifes would have been in a full alert after this announcement. However, on the contrary, Earth''s Alpha Chosen were carefree, ignoring itpletely since they were safe in a High-Phase Tier-3 monster dome. Upon noticing me, some of them greeted me; cheerful ones like Kasim and Andrea waved at me, whereas the prideful ones like Olivia and Brandon nodded at me before rushing to cultivation grounds and other facility centres that could help improve their overallbat power. It seemed that my n to motivate them using Spiritual Fruits and Spirit Crystals as rewards worked better than my expectations. Like the ranking process in the Hyper Gravity chamber, there were many more facility centres that could improve different aspects of their overallbat strength. By reaching certain standards that I set for them in each of those training centres, they could obtain resources from me; the higher the reach, the more resources they would receive. Using those Spirit Crystals could fill up their Spirit Energy much faster so that they could train for longer periods. Whereas the Spiritual fruits, especially Grade-3 ones, were even more precious as they could increase their attribute stats, and if they wanted, they could even give those spiritual fruits to their family members or close ones to improve their health and lifespan. With me monopolising almost all Grade-3 Spiritual fruits in Earth''s Trial Zone, I have thousands of Spiritual fruits in all five categories, i.e., Strength fruits, Agility Fruits, Vitality fruits, Stamina Fruits & Spirit fruits. So, using a small amount of those to reward the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen doesn''t affect me. Moreover, now that I am about to enter other trial zones, I could obtain many more resources than what I obtained from Earth''s trial zone. In just a few seconds, all that was left standing out in the open were Dante and me. He reluctantly looked at others as they left off to train themselves. Dante was worried that he would fall behind others. Nevertheless, he didn''tin. After that, I exited the dome, along with Dante. Once we were out, he used the Fate Points to predict the direction in which the Arch Spirit Fruit was located. From what he said, 10 Fate points were expended, and a translucent arrow appeared in front of him, pointing in Arch Spirit Fruit''s general direction. Just like the Fate Halos that only Dante could see, that arrow was also only visible to him. I didn''t dilly dally and got on to Storm Eagle MJ along with Dante and flew off in the direction he mentioned. Dante couldn''t help but gasp at the Storm Eagle, MJ''s speed that moved at 150 meters per second. In just a few minutes, we crossed several kilometres and soon reached a translucent barrier. It seemed like there wasn''t any barrier from far away, but only when we got close did we notice it. The barrier extended in a straight line. Unlike the dome, which was circr, the trial zone barrier was like a square, and the barrier in front of me was a side of a square. Soon, Storm Eagle MJnded beside the system barrier, and I ced my hand on it as I tried to create a hole using the Lv.30 . Since the reached the peak of Stage-3, my control over those barriers improved, and because of that, I was pretty confident in entering other trial zones. However, no matter how hard I tried to make a hole in the barrier, it didn''t budge at all. Only then I learned that the trial zone barriers were a few times stronger than the dome barriers and that it needs at least Stage-4 to open it. The new revtion stumped me. At the same time, Dante was expectantly waiting to see how other trial zones would look like. I asked Dante if the fate arrow was still pointing in the same direction as the barrier. After he confirmed that, an idea hit me, making me think that if the system barrier didn''t restrict his Fate ability, then my Origin Energy, which is even more powerful than Fate, shouldn''t be affected by the barrier. To test it out, I activated mode before telling Dante to go more than 10 meters away from me since the steam that was created from my sudden body expansion was too hot, and if he were close, that would burn his skin. Once again, I went through a lot of pain from entering mode. However, this time the pain was considerably lower since my overall stats in is 830, whereas the overall stats in was 1000, and the difference was not too much. The higher the difference between them, the higher the amount of pain I experience. Once my height reached 10 meters, the pain gradually receded, and with a swing of my arm, a wave of air blew, dispersing the steam around me. After that, I enveloped my right hand with bolts of Origin Energy and slowly brought it close to the barrier. Just when my hand was about toe into contact with the barrier, it melted away like a stic cover that was brought closer to a me. However, the hole that was created in the barrier was only enough to fit my hand in it, and once I retracted my hand that was covered with Origin Energy, the system barrier quickly recovered itself in the next second. I once again brought my hand close to the barrier and the same process repeated, and when I tried to move within theyer of the barrier, it began to disperse in the pathway of my hand movements, but it soon repaired itself. I was pleasantly surprised and thought to myself, ''No wonder the Origin Energy is the true origin of all energies. It never disappoints me.'' If I want to cross the barrier, I just have to envelop myselfpletely in Origin Energy, but then, only I would be able to pass, and not Dante. I need him to show me the way to the Arch spirit fruit. With that in mind, I readied myself to test out something as I curled back my hand and clenched my palm into a fist as more of the Origin Energy flowed through my hair and concentrated around me causing loud whistling sounds. Following that, Inded a punch on the barrier with my full strength. If it was just pure strength, there wouldn''t have been any change in the barrier, but with the assistance of Origin Energy, it was an entirely different thing. With the speed I punched, there wasn''t enough time for the barrier to disperse, and the vtile Origin Energynded upon it, creating an explosive sound, and the barrier broke into thin shards within a diameter of 500 meters. It looked like a half-circled entrance in the barrier, connecting Earth''s trial zone and the one adjacent to it. Soon, the barrier started to repair itself, but since such a huge portion was obliterated, it would take a few minutes for it to return to normal. After signalling Dante to follow me, I passed through the barrier hole, and Storm Eagle MJ followed as well. Once I crossed the half a meter thick barrier, I could sense the sudden changes in gravity, temperature, and atmosphere, even when the surroundings were identical to Earth''s trial zone with huge trees and grassynds. Then, I heard MJ''s voice in my mind, "Master, this trial zone gravity is 1.74 times that on Earth and the temperature is 62 degrees celsius (144 Fahrenheit). Whereas, the oxygen content in the air was just 7%, which was three times lower than oxygen in Earth''s atmosphere." Due to often training in the Hypergravity chamber, the change in gravity felt almost negligible to me. As for the temperature, even though it was high, it only felt a little warmer with 200 stats each in Endurance and vitality attributes. The only problem was the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere. Even though my body could handle it, I couldn''t say the same for Dante. So, just as he passed through the hole in the barrier, I manipted air and concentrated more oxygen around him. With loads of air enveloping him, it also eased the effect of temperature on him. Right then, I heard several loud growls and roars in the distance, approaching in our direction. It wasn''t just from the new trial zone but also from the Earth''s trial zone. The loud sound that was caused by breaking the barrier seemed to attract them. "Jay, there are hundreds, No!..... nearly a thousand monsters are approaching us from this new trial zone. Most of them were Tier-1 & Tier-2 ones, but there were eight Low-Phase Tier-3 monsters. From the Earth''s trial zone, seven Low-Phase Tier-3 monsters were approaching. At this rate, we will be surrounded. Should we fly off on Storm Eagle MJ? " Dante blurted as he could sense all the fate halos within his 10 km radius. Even though he witnessed how strong I was when I killed the Tier-3 Ogre in front at the ''Gathering'', Dante was worried since our spirit energy is limited, and it was nowhere enough to deal with the horde of monsters nearing us. I shook my head and asked Dante as I morphed back my to full body armour, "You never saw me fighting in this form, right?" Dante was puzzled when he heard me, "N...No. But, still we are talking about a thousand monsters, isn''t it¡­.." Before Dante could say any further, I cut him off as I continued my previous sentence, "Because, If you did, you wouldn''t have found it necessary for us to escape." ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 99 - Momentary Materialisation Technique It didn''t take long for the horde of monsters to enter my view, and once they were within my 500-meter range, I could perceive everything with great detail thanks to . Looking at so many monsters, I could only assume the worst for the Alpha Chosen in this new trial zone, that they weren''t able to deal with the monsters and most probably died in the first few days of the trial program. I took out the from the storage space of . However, I didn''t hold it and instead let it float beside me. I didn''t wield the nor the ''s, because their size was too small to use in mode. I only brought out the to use its skill and assist me in fighting the monsters. After that, I told Dante to stay close to the barrier and put Storm Eagle MJ up to deal with the seven Low-Phase Tier-3 monsters that were approaching from Earth''s trial zone. As for the horde of monsters that were nearing us from the new trial zone, I intended to test out the technique I learned when I reached 2% mastery in Origin Energy on them. The first one to reach me was a glider sized Sonic Bat, as it was the fastest out of the eight Low-Phase Tier-3 monsters that were leading the monster horde. I already fought a Sonic Bat on day-4, but the one I fought was only a Tier-2 monster, and I had knowledge of its skills. Sonic Bats'' attacks focus on using sound waves to attack, which makes them difficult to evade, as sound travels a lot faster. So, when I saw that the Sonic Bat in front of me was about to open its mouth, I immediately knew that it was going to use the skill , which was its species rted skill. So, before the Sonic Bat couldunch the attack, I used on it, causing it to be pulled towards me at a high speed. It tried to escape but to no avail, since its weight was nowherepared to mine. When it was less than 5 meters away from me, I folded my right palm and pictured a sword in my hand and swung my wrist at the iing monster. Then the bolts of Origin Energy on my body instantly flowed into my folded palm, and a 5-meter tall silver sword materialised in my hand slicing the Sonic bat in half before vanishing into thin air. To anyone that was watching, it would look like a sh of silver in my palm, but they wouldn''t know that my Origin Energy materialised into a sword for just a split second, before dispersing back to its original energy form. Even though my Origin Energy mastery was low, the ''Momentary Materialisation Technique'' allowed me to materialise the Origin Energy into any shape I wanted. However, its duration was limited to as little as one-hundredth of a second, ten milliseconds. With 200 stats in all five attributes, my true time perception was 20 times more than an average person. It meant that from my perspective, the Origin Energy would take a solid form for 200 milliseconds but even then, if I wanted to use it to attack, I had to time the Origin Energy materialisation with impable precision tond a hit on my target. If not for the Grade-3 Innate Talent that I looted from a Hobgoblin Archer before rescuing Dante, it wouldn''t have been possible to operate with such precision. As for the cooldown of using the Momentary Materialisation Technique, it was the same as the duration of Origin Energy in solid form, i.e, 10 standard milliseconds. This would have been troublesome for me if I had to face one who was stronger than me in a head-on sh, but against the monsters in front of me, it''s a piece of cake. The pace at which the monsters approached me didn''t lower, even when they saw that the Sonic Bat was sliced in half. With a leap, I rushed directly into the middle of the horde, ignoring the Low-Phase Tier-3 monsters that almost closed in upon me. If I wanted, I could directly kill them off, but by doing so, the lower-tiered monsters might retreat and I didn''t want to miss this chance to earn more looted stats and skills. As Inded within the horde of monsters, I had the revolve around me at a high speed within my 10-meter range, and that obstructed monsters outside that said range from jumping at me. Meanwhile, I used the ''Momentary Materialisation Technique'' to continuously materialise a weapon every 10 consecutive milliseconds and swing at the monsters. Sometimes, the Origin Energy solidified into a sword, other times a spear, chain whip, or any weapon I could imagine depending on the distance between me and the targeted monster. With the amount of stats I have, my time perception was so high all the monsters looked like they were moving in slow motion. Every swing I took, blood sshed like rain as monsters were hacked apart. Some weak monsters were even squished under my feet. Sadly, I wasn''t able to use Origin Energy into projectile attacks, since it only materialised for ten millisecond or it would have been much easier to eradicate the horde of monsters. Besides and ''Momentary Materialisation Technique'', I don''t have any other way to use Origin Energy in actualbat. Over the past few days, I tried to use Origin Energy like how Sword Aura could be used as a projectile and an extension, but all of my attempts ended in failure. I even tried to use it to control the elements and weapon aura since Origin Energy was the true originator of every type of energy, but that also yielded no results. I could only conclude that my current 2% mastery was not enough to do such stuff. However, I discovered that while I was in mode, I would be able to ess endless amounts of Origin Energy that was stored in . Thanks to that, in less than three minutes, the nearly thousand monsters were reduced to less than a hundred. However, continuously using ''Momentary materialisation technique'' left me with less than 100 Stamina. If I were to continue, I would be physically exhausted before I could kill the remaining monsters. So, I stopped circting Origin Energy and activated the skill that I looted from the Storm Eagle. ________________ Lv.30 (Rare Grade): Enables the user to condenserge amounts of wind into protective barriers on top of the user''s body, these barriers could also be converted into the wind form of the user''s clones to attack the opponents. (A/N: As long as the condensed windyers are on the user''s body, they act as Wind Barriers and once those condensed windyers are shot towards the opponents, they act as Wind Clones.) Minimum Requirement: Grade-4 Wind Innate Talent & Lv.30 . Cost: 100 Spirit Energy per creation of 25 Wind Barriers / Wind Clones. Duration: 10 minutes. Wind Barrier Effect: Each Wind Barrier increases the User''s defence by 10% (stackable). Wind Clone Effect: Each Wind Clone delivers damage that is equal to the user''s physical damage. ________________ Then I used 380 Spirit Energy creating 95 condensed windyers on top of my body, which was the exact number of monsters left alive. One by one, the condensed windyers shot themselves towards each monster once I targeted them. Since each Wind Clone could unleash the damage output of a punch from me, all of the Tier-2 monsters died on the spot. The Low-Phase Tier-3 monsters sensed the danger from the wind clones that locked onto them and tried to evade but the end result was the same as the Tier-2 monsters, exploding into smithereens. If not for the Centauri Kavach''s full body armour, I would have been drenched in the blood of monsters from the after effects of the explosions. Using , I confirmed that there was no monster left alive in a 500 meter radius and activated while looking at their dead bodies, or at least what''s left of them. I was hit by a torrent of notifications as I continued to gain arge amount of looted stats and skills. I personally didn''t select any skills from the monsters and let MJ select the ones that would be useful to me. Even though I wouldn''t merge with all of them, I still looted them in case they would be useful to me in the future. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''S PROOFREADERS: ''hyperStar'' & ''Yuno''. Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 100 - The amount of undistributed looted stats I obtained from these monsters was around 15,000 andbined with the ones I already had, it totaled around 40,000. If not for the 1st Universe Limit that was hindering my overall stats in from exceeding 1000, my overall stat count would have reached thrice my current amount of 830; i.e, 2490, which meant I would have been as strong as a Low-Phase Tier-5 lifeform. (Author note: You might ask, ''Why couldn''t Jay use all 40,000 Looted stats in and grow stronger?'' The answer to why he could only increase it to thrice the amount of overall stats in was because that was the limitation of mode.) (E/N: Author forgot to mention that this was exined a while ago) At that point, whenever I entered mode, I would literally have been invincible in the Alpha Program. But since that''s not going to happen anytime soon, I stopped daydreaming about it and focussed on the skill that caught my attention. ________________ Lv.22 (Rare Grade): Enables the user to alter the size of one''s own body, ranging within the height of 12 centimeters (~5 inches) to 12 meters (~40 feet). Cost: 30 Spirit Energy. Duration: 30 minutes. Cooldown: 1 hour. ________________ It was from an ant-type Tier-3 monster that I had killed at the end. Without hesitation, I merged with it and more detailed knowledge about it flowed into my mind. If not for the state of harmony, I would haveughed with glee, because with this skill, I could remain in my original size even after entering mode. ording to MJ, the reason why my body became so huge whenever I enter mode, was because of the side effect that was caused by the sudden increase of stats that didn''t match my ''Grade-2 Physique''. ''Physique'' was something that one would attain by undergoing tier evolution, and it increased the survivability of a lifeform down to a cellr level. I have a ''Grade-2 physique'' because I finished the Tier-2 Evolution, and due to that, one would have an easier time surviving harsher environmental conditions. That was why, even when Dante and I entered a trial zone that had an environment that was hard for humans to survive, we only found it ufortable, and could make do with increasing the oxygen content in air. If it had been Olivia, Brandon, or Sergei, in our position, they wouldn''t even have broken a sweat, even in the high temperature environment and could also survive at freezing cold temperatures, because all three of them had undergone Tier-3 Evolution and attained a ''Grade-3 Physique'', which gave them a higher survivability. Even though the ''Grade-2 Physique'' couldn''t bepared to the ''Grade-3 Physique,'' it still was nothing to scoff at, because as long as one has it, they wouldn''t be susceptible to regr diseases anymore. If a global virus pandemic had taken ce after earth''s assimtion with the system, it would have been a walk in the park for humanity to ovee it with just this ''Physique'' alone. If it were anyone else, their body would have exploded, but in my case, the sudden increase was caused by the looted stats, making me invulnerable to the damage caused by their sudden usage, because my Innate Talent protected me, though it didn''t reduce the pain. After merging with , I activated it right away, causing my body to shrink visibly, and in just a matter of seconds, I had retained my original body size. Although the process was painful, that was nowhere near the pain I usually experienced from entering mode. Before activating it, I had pulled out a few Grade-3 Spirit fruits and Stamina fruits from the storage space. In front of my massive size, those standard fist-sized fruits had looked like small pills. So, I had just thrown them into my mouth and gobbled them down at once, recovering my Spirit Energy and Stamina to their peak in a matter of seconds. Returning to my original size didn''t affect the mode, so I still had silver hair with bolts of Origin Energy shing through it, and my Irises were still silver. After confirming that there weren''t any debuffs to my attributes after shrinking, I returned to where Storm Eagle MJ and Dante were at. Ignoring Dante, who had his mouth wide open from the one-sided massacre, I nced at the dead bodies of seven Low-Phase Tier-3 monsters that had approached from Earth''s trial zone. With his overall stats at 830, Storm Eagle MJ is as strong as a peak High-Phase Tier-3 monster, so it took less than a minute to deal with those monsters. As for the hole in the barrier, it was reduced to the size of a two story apartment and it would only take a minute or two to fully recover. Looking at the scene in front of me, I was immersed in my thoughts. Since the only way I had to enter other trial zones was by using Origin Energy, it meant that I could only enter a few other trial zones. This was because I was only able to use Origin Energy when I enter mode and since my overall stats in was 830, it meant I would only be able to enter mode 16 more times before my overall stats in catch up to overall stats in . Furthermore, the duration of mode was only 25 minutes and each trial zone was 100 kms (62 miles) wide. Even if I were to activate & , which boosts my Strength and Agility attributes respectively by 25%, for 10 minutes, it would take 10 minutes of running at full speed to cross such distance. That means, everytime I enter mode, I would only be able to cross two trial zones. I hoped to find the Arch spirit fruit within the nearby trial zones. While I was contemting about this, MJ suggested something interesting. To see if it really works, I ced my palm on the barrier, just beside the broken part and used Stage-3 to create my own Rule barrier within the hole of the system barrier. To my surprise, it worked and the system barrier didn''t crush the one I ced. Just like that, I made something simr to a door between two trial zones that only I could open using . As for the appearance of the barrier, no one could tell the difference between the one I made and the system barrier as they were blended together since they were created from the ''Law of Rules''. Following that, I didn''t just stand there idly and told Dante that I will be making my way into the next trial zone. I signalled Storm Eagle MJ to pick up Dante and follow me before using on the huge trees to move at a breakneck speed of 200 meters per second in the direction Dante''s fate arrow was pointing at. In the 9th minute after I started, I had reached the border of the system barrier and with a punch, I broke open a hole in the barrier but this time, I only used a little of my Origin Energy so that it wouldn''t make an explosive sound and attract monsters from both sides. Dealing with them would only waste the time I had left in mode. Just like I anticipated, the hole I made on the barrier was just 10 meters in diameter and it didn''t make much noise. I quickly filled that hole with a Rule barrier of my own and once again darted towards the other end of the second trial zone I entered. With the continuous usage of to cross nearly 100 kms in the first trial zone and nearly half of the second one, my Spirit Energy reached a low point. I could use it a few more times before my Spirit Energypletely dried out. I could use Spirit fruits to replenish it after it runs out but it''s not as simple as it seams. Using numerous Spiritual fruits in a short period of time will result in a temporary debuff to one''s attributes. I already consumed a lot of Spiritual fruits a few minutes back, so I couldn''t use them again without getting the debuff. The only option I was left with was to sprint. I have just over 5 more minutes left before the duration of mode ends and with my present sprint speed I have close to zero chance of reaching the other end of the second trial zone before that. On top of that, the Gravity in the second trial zone was higher than the first trial zone, reaching 2.7 times the gravity of earth. Although that didn''t affect the speed at which I travelled using , my running speed was affected by it slowing me down considerably. However, I didn''t give up. The trial zones I could enter were few due to the limited times I could use mode and I had to utilise every minute of it to enter as many trial zones as possible and increase the chances of finding the Arch Spirit Fruit. I activated & at once, improving my Strength and Agility attributes by 50 stats each. Once my muscles stopped squirming from the increase in stats, I began sprinting towards the other end of the second trial zone again. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 101 - Aquatic Trial Zone. ({Part-1} Out Of 3) Since my Strength and Agility attributes were not in equilibrium with the other three attributes, the effect of state of harmony took off, and my control over my body worsened. Because of that, every step I took created a small crater from the strength I used to sprint and cross 160 m/s. Even that was not enough to cross the remaining distance as fast as I''d like. By racking up my brain, I came up with using & Stage-3 to further improve my travelling speed, and thanks to that, there was little to no wind resistance obstructing me, increasing my overall speed to a whopping 180 meters per second. It was a bitckingpared to using , but it would do just the trick. While I was sprinting, I perceived the presence of two life forms on my way with my that were fighting a Low-Phase Tier-3 monster. I guessed that it must be some Alpha Chosen of the second trial zone. However, I didn''t slow down to take a look as my priority was to make barrier entrances into as many trial zones as possible within the limited duration that I could ess Origin Energy. I soon had only 2 km (1.2 miles) left before the barrier, but my mode only had 15 seconds remaining, and though my speed would normally allow me to pass this distance fast enough with ease, the terrain had begun sloping upwards like a mountain, which slowed down my movement speed quite drastically. With my higher thought processes power, I went through many possible scenarios in my mind in a split second, and only the skill seemed to be viable with the little amount of spirit energy that had regenerated over the past few minutes. I could use the but that made it hard to maneuver properly in this terrain. So, I instead activated right away. ___________ Lv.5 (Rare): Lets the user to condense air to form steps for a limited duration in an empty space. Cost: 50 Spirit Energy. Duration: 5 minutes. Cooldown: 50 minutes. ___________ 50 Spirit Energy were expended and square tiles made of condensed wind were materialised within the range of 100 meters in the direction I wished for, creating a shortest path to reach the end of the elevated terrain. Using them as the footholds, I sprinted with my full capacity, and even though I reached as close as 100 meters, I didn''t slow down since I just have a second left before the mode ends, and directly collided into the barrier while covering myself with Origin Energy. Because of that, the broken part of the barrier between the second trial zone, and the third trial zone extended as long as 5 kilometers and the sound produced from that was even more deafening than when I broke the first trial zone barrier. Even the roarsing from the direction of the second trial zone were a lot louder than those of the monsters half an hour ago. But that wasn''t all, I could sense the presence of the nearby monsters in the third trial zone approaching towards the broken part of the system barrier. The third trial zone waspletely different from the previous two trial zones that I passed through. Instead of grasnds with huge trees, there was water everywhere even to the end of the horizon, like an endless sea. As for the elevated terrain I saw at the end of the second trial zone, it was actually a 500-meter cliff that separated the second and third trial zones together with the system barrier. Due to the , I didn''t fall into the water even after crossing the cliff and was able to stand in the air, a few hundred meters away from the cliff and analyse the situation. The part of the barrier that''s broken was too big and for that to recover, it would take at least half an hour, but in less than a minute, hundreds of monsters would gather at the barrier from both trial zones and the numbers would only increase every passing second. I didn''t know if the monsters from both barriers would fight amongst each other or cooperate with each other. But in either case, I didn''t intend to stay there in the air to find out what happend, since I was in no condition to face so many monsters at once. Because, just after I broke a part of the system barrier, the duration of mode ended, so I entered a weakened state, which reduced overall stats in to half, bringing them to 420. In that weakened state, my overall stats were simr to a monster that just entered Tier-3 Low-Phase. On top of that, my Spirit Energy was almost exhausted along with my Stamina. For Storm Eagle MJ and Dante to reach here, it would take at least five more minutes and if I wait for them out in the open, I would be a live target for the hundreds if not thousands of monsters even if I was several hundreds of meters in the air. So, I jumped into the sea before any monsters could sense my presence and dived deeper. Due to themon grade skill Lv.10, I was able to breathe underwater through my skin and the pressure on me from the water around me was reduced by tenfold, making it easier for me to dive deeper. At 50 meters deep, through , I sensed a few Tier-2 sharks that were the size of a school bus sneakily making their way towards me. If it was some time ago, I wouldn''t have given them another look, but now that I am in a weakened state with 2% of my Spirit Energy and Stamina, I didn''t look down on them and used . [Lv.25 Speartooth Shark] [Lv.24 Sand Tiger Shark] [Lv.22 cktip Reef Shark] Due to the overwhelming defence provided by the ''s full body armour, even if I ce my hand between their jaws, they could forget about harming me. I wasn''t worried about fighting the iing sharks but at the same time, I don''t want my fight with them to attract more monsters. With the intention to finish them off as fast as possible, I stayed still near them as if I didn''t notice them and once they were just 20 meters away, I brought out three sharp daggers that looked like needles from the storage space. Just like how Olivia uses to telekically move objects, I shot each of those dagger needles at those three sharks. Since I couldn''t use Aura over them, they only managed to pierce their scale hide half way through but for my n to work, that was more than enough. I had MJ design those dagger needles beforehand, and each of them have a hollow space, which was filled with my ''Blood Venom'', and once they hit their targets, the venom will be injected. Just as those four sharks were ten meters away from me, their movement slowed down and when they reached as close as a meter, they halted before drawing theirst breath. I still had seven more of those dagger needles in my storage space. I just had MJ create them for emergency purposes but I didn''t expect to use it too soon. I didn''t try to dig out the Spirit crystals in their hearts since that would cause a blood spill, which would attract more monsters. After looting them, I dived deeper to hide in the deep water until the 25-minute weakened period ended and while I was at it, I merged with the four skills I looted from them. [Lv.10 Electroreception (Umon) Looted] [Lv.10 Electroreception: ability to passively sense any electric signal that was created through any life form''s muscle movement within 1000 meters] [Lv.4 Water Pressure Resistance (Umon) Looted] [Lv.4 Water Pressure Resistance: ability to resist Water Pressure increases by 40 fold] [Lv.8 Aqua Bullets (Umon) Looted] ____________ Lv.8 Aqua Bullets: ability to condense water into droplets before shooting them. Cost: 5 Spirit Energy per aqua bullet. ____________ ''Electroreception'' was a special ability of shark species. Unlike which would let me perceive everything that''s happening within 500 meter range, could only sense the movement of a lifeform. The reason why I merged with it even when I had was because the range of was nearly double that of and that would be alot helpful to me in that situation. would be quite useful under water since their movement wouldn''t be affected. However, those sharks weren''t able to use projectile skills such as on me because I caught them by surprise. As for the , it passively reduces the water pressure on me. Combined with the effect of ''Aqua Skin'', my ability to resist water pressure had an 80-fold increase. Which means that I would be able to resist 320 standard atmospheric pressure with just the ability of alone. If I take my Endurance attribute into consideration, I could handle as high as 500 atm pressure with my bare body. That was a lot since an average human could only handle 4 atm water pressure. I could safely dive as deep as 5 kms and any further would harm me, the longer I stay there. After diving as deep as 2 kms, I found rock beds attached to the cliff with coral reefs all over them. By using , I made a small cave within before covering it with a makeshift rock door. At such a depth, it waspletely dark since the sunlight couldn''t reach such depths. Still, I was able to see due to the skill which had the functions of in it. After entering the small cave, I covered it''s entrance, and waited there for my spirit energy and stamina to recover as much as possible. Through , I could sense the movement of monsters within my 1000-meter range. A minuteter, I sensed the two lifeforms moving in my direction. At first, I assumed it was two random monsters but when they entered my 500 meter range, I was sure that they were heading towards me as I could picture their appearance in my mind using . Both of them were eight feet tall skinny humanoids with a pale blue skin and their faces were simr to humans except for their slightly t nose, broad ears, no hair, webbed feet and palms. Moreover, they weremunicating with each other while heading towards where I was hidden. Just from that I could tell that they must be the Alpha Chosen of the third trial program. Usually monsters would be aggressive in the presence of Alpha Chosen. However, even when the third trial zone''s Alpha Chosen passed by other monsters none of them were attacked. I don''t know which skill they used to find me and what their intentions were toe after me, but, I am curious to find the reason for this strange urrence. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 102 - Aquatic Trial Zone. ({Part-2} Out Of 3) Both of those Alpha Chosen of the third trial zone headed towards me, as if they could sense where I was hidden. Once they were a few meters away from me, they paused and discussed something amongst each other in some unknownnguage. For some reason, when they talked, sound propagated through water as it would on air, and I could hear them clearly. With it being some unknownnguage, I didn''t understand a single word of theirs. However, through , I could tell that they were only at the peak of Tier-2. So, I didn''t worry about them harming me, even though I hadn''t recovered much of my Spirit energy and Stamina. I also wanted to know how they found me and what they would do upon finding me. Both of them cautiously approached the rock wall I hid behind in the small cave with weapons that looked like harpoons in their hands, and while one of them hesitated, the other one stepped forward and said something, while looking at where I was hidden, in a loud voice. This time I understood what they were saying since they used ''Genoniannguage'' that every Alpha Chosen in the Trial World received a few days back. "We are the chosen ones of the proud An race from ''Anis. We know that you are from another trial zone and somehow rted to the change in the system barrier. Our Sea Lord wants to meet with you. You have two choices now, you could either willingly follow us or you could retaliate, but then we would have to subjugate you before taking you with us. Be quick and make a choice." While listening to everything they had to say, I used to read their minds. But since their thoughts were in their nativenguage, I couldn''t understand them. So, I began to extract the memories of theirnguage''s learning experience, and in just a matter of few seconds they flowed into my mind, and I gained a basic understanding of their native tongue. With that, I could read what they had in their minds. After a few silent seconds that I used to absorb their nativenguage, one of them seemed to lose patience and shouted, "If you don''te out in the next three seconds, we will use force to take you with us! You could quit the thought of escaping from here." The feminine looking one among them hesitated, before asking the male An who just warned me in their nativenguage, "Se...senior brother, this person seems to be at Lv.25, the same level as us and hisbat prowess are unknown to us, how about we wait for reinforcements before engaging in a fight?" "Humph! Junior Sister, even though this Alpha Chosen from the other trial zone was the same level as us, how could this person contend with us underwater. If you ask me, just one of us would be more than enough." From their conversation, it was quite evident that the female was a prudent one, while the male seemed to be full of himself. It seemed that they used on me and found out my level. But since the skill I had was already at the peak of Umon grade i.e, Lv.10, all they were able to take a peak were my name and level. (E/N: They must not have been paying attention to the leaderboard, otherwise they might connect Jay with the person who used to be number 1) As for their threat, I didn''t care about it at all. Even though I was still in the weakened state, my stats were still enough to be a Tier-3 Low-Phase lifeform, and in the past minute, I had already recovered enough stamina and spirit energy which would be sufficient to deal with the two Lv.25 Alpha Chosen. The male one seemed confident that he could deal with me underwater, but what he didn''t know was that I had passive skills that would allow me to move freely underwater. If I had wanted to kill them, I had a few ways thought out already. But, I didn''t, instead I just got out of the makeshift rock cave that I hid in. After exiting it, I lifted my hands above my head as if indicating that I was surrendering to them. It seemed to be a universal sign that they understood right away what I was expressing without anymunication. While the female An was cautiously observing me, the male An scoffed at me, "At least you know what''s best for you." Soon, the female An slowly approached me. I could tell that she was cautious towards me since she couldn''t check my stats at all. "Please put your hands forward without any sudden movements, I am going to use a skill that ensures that you can''t retaliate until we reach the Sea Lord." Just like she asked, I slowly brought my hands forward and the female An murmured the words ''Aqua Prison,'' as the water around me condensed into an two meter tall oval bubble that engulfed me, and from within the inner wall of the bubble, shackles that were made of water sprung out and held on to my wrists and ankles, restricting my movement. To my surprise, the skill that the female An deployed was strong enough topletely suppress a peak Tier-2 lifeform. And although it couldn''t contain me, who had overall attributes that equals a Low-Phase Tier-3 lifeform, it was quite impressive. I yed along and acted as if I couldn''t move with the restrictions on me. Only after that did the female an sigh relieved and ce her hand over the oval shaped ''Aqua Prison,'' and then nodded at the male an. Following that, both of them chanted at once in their minds, ''Aqua Propulsion,'' and they began to move as if they were flying in the air, and the oval prison that I was locked in also moved along with them. They didn''t do any swimming movements to move, as water under their feet turned into a jet stream, propelling their body in the direction they wished to move. Moreover, the speed at which they travelled was nearly half the speed of a torpedo missile, which was at 50 m/s. That speed might not be much onnd, but underwater that was quite significant due to water''s density and drag. Just like I suspected, none of the monsters tried to attack either of those Ans or me for that matter. To find out the secret behind that phenomenon, I pried into their memories, while also taking the chance to passively recuperate my Spirit Energy and Stamina. Nearly 20 minutes passed and I gained perfect mastery over their native tongue as well as learned a lot about them and about the so-called ''Sea Lord''. First thing was that their poption was scarce, their civilization technology was more advanced than Earth''s humanity. As for their ''Anis,'' it was only half the size of Earth and itsnd mass waspletely submerged within water, and all the lifeforms that lived there were aquatic creatures. Just like how Humans were the intelligent race on Earth, on the Anis, the Ans were the same. However, the aquatic animals on that were very aggressive and enormous in numbers, constituting more than 99% of their''s poption. In the beginning, the Ans had to go to war with them just for survival. But as centuries passed, they developed water source energy technology, which was the greatest invention of their race. Using that to make weapons, Ans were able to survive despite their scarce poption. However, their technology was limited due to their limited resources and countless aggressive monsters, so they weren''t able to reach the top of their''s food chain. Due to their low poption and amon enemy, there weren''t any infighing in their race nor any discrimination amongst them. The only thing that determines the position in their society, is one''s military merits, and aplishments, be they technological or military. Their An race was governed under the rule of the Sea Lord, and every generation, a few with highest aplishments will be nominated as candidates for bing the next Sea Lord. The leader of the Aquatic trial zone''s Alpha Chosen was also such a candidate who made his way to be the ''357th Sea Lord'' of their race. This generation''s Sea Lord was among those that were selected for the Alpha Program from their life. Mostly because of being Aquatic lifeforms, all of them obtained water Innate Talent. Compared to Earth''s Alpha Chosen line up, where almost everyone had Grade-8 Innate Talents, this wasn''t as impressive, because out of those 11 Ans, six had Grade-6 Water Innate Talent, four had Grade-7 ones and only the Sea Lord had a Grade-8 Water Innate Talent. As the leader of their race, the Sea Lord was the first one to react and quickly gathered the other Ans to survive in the mystical world. Unlike the Earth''s Chosen, where all of us survived, it didn''t go as well for the Ans, as they lost three of their own to the monsters in the initial two days of the Trial Program. But that weakness didn''tst long as they gradually grew stronger by hunting monsters together. Especially the Sea Lord, who, with his Grade-8 Water Innate Talent, entered Tier-3 at the end of Day-6, and became one of the Alpha Rankers by ranking 870th in the . Upon the thought of meeting that Sea Lord, my interest was piqued. Not because he was among the top 1000 Alpha Chosen of the Trial Worlds, but because of the Spirit Item he possessed which granted a ''Monster Camouge Buff'' for a certain period of time. From the memories of the male and female Ans, that Spirit Item was called ''Monster Camouge Grail,'' and when their Sea Lord reached Tier-3 and entered the top 1000 rankings, he received said item as a reward. Through that item, the Sea Lord granted the other Ans the ''Monster Camouge Buff'', making the monsters in their Trial Zone perceive the Ans as fellow monsters, thus ignoring them even when they were close by. While I was devising a n to get a hold on that ''Monster Camouge Grail'', we reached the destination. As foring face to face with their ''Sea Lord'' who was at Tier-3 Low-Phase, I wasn''t worried at all, since my 25-minute long weakened state was just about to wear off. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''s PROOFREADER: ''Yuno'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 103 - Aquatic Trial Zone. ({Part-3} Out Of 3) Soon, we reached the bottom of the seabed of the aquatic trial zone that was at a depth of 4800 meters from the water''s surface. The location they brought me was filled with coral reefs. Others might not find anything odd about this, but with my , I could sense the presence of the other Ans within a hollow space hidden beneath the seabed. Once we neared a gap in the coral reef bed, there were two other Ans guarding the entrance to their hideout. Once they confirmed that it was their fellow Ans who returned after capturing me, they gave way to us. After entering the hidden hollow space, there was a cluster of conical caves spread around. Right then, as if the other Ans detected our presence, one by one, they exited their respective coral abodes. Out of them, one of the Ans stood out the most with a golden crown and robe. Upon noticing him, the other Ans bowed in respect. Their gesture was enough to tell that the one with the crown was the ''Sea Lord,'' the strongest one among them. After that, the other Ans eyed me curiously, as it was their first time seeing a human. Meanwhile, the Sea Lord tried to look at my , only to find nothing other than my name and level. Although his Umon grade skill was at Lv.5 and mine was at Lv.10, it should have let him have a peek into the information in my , but since I was using , one would need to have at least an information prying skill that was on par with a Legend grade. But at this stage of the Trial Program, it was a pipe dream for anyone to obtain a Legend Grade skill, at least without aplishing a Universe Level achievement. If I didn''t allow it, no one could even see my name or level, and all that would be visible were question marks. Generally, when using on a Tier-3 monster, one could see their attribute stats but not the skills and innate talent. Because of that, just like how the female An reacted when she used on me, the Sea Lord also raised his guard against me. However, he didn''t show it outwards and just mentally prepared himself to act if I made any sudden moves. In the next few seconds of silence, he contemted on my name and level, before widening his eyes in surprise as he realised something. Soon, the Sea Lord regained hisposure and took the initiative to speak, "Excuse me for the unnecessary extravagance. I asked my subordinates to invite the guest from the other trial zone, but they treated you as an invader, sorry for their poor hospitality." The Sea Lord then turned towards the female An and ordered, "Ah''na, release the Aqua Prison right away." The female An, Ah''na, was conflicted and wanted to say that I might be dangerous, but under the stern gaze of the Sea Lord, she didn''t utter anything and undid the oval Aqua Prison that was restraining me. Without moving from the position where I was, I continued to look at the Sea Lord with interest in his intuition and foresight for making a smart choice. If he had tried to treat me as some captive and forcibly tried to find how the system barrier broke, it would have been thest day for them. Unlike the other Ans, the Sea Lord was sharp enough to connect my identity to the once top Alpha Ranker. He wasn''t sure of it because there are chances that multiple Alpha Chosen have the same name ''Jay''. Moreover, ording to him, there was also a possibility that I might have had some kind of Spirit Item that could hide my information. Nevertheless, he didn''t take the chance of offending me and tried to slowly test the waters. "Where are my manners, let me introduce myself. I go by the name ''Aton''. I was given the title ''Sea lord'' that represents the ruler of the entire An race of the ''Anis''. May I know your good name and which you hail from?" Before I could respond, the male An that I first met raised his voice directing at me after noticing my casual standing posture thatcked any hint of respect, "Hey, you! Our Majesty, Sea Lord is one of the strongest Alpha Chosen in this Trial World, ranking in the top 1000 among the millions of Alpha Chosen. You better be respectful when you are talking to the Sea Lord, or¡­..Hmph! I wouldn''t mind teaching you some manners." The Sea Lord was taken aback after hearing the male An acting all superior without taking a hint of the situation. It''s not just him, but most of the Ans believed that it was their Sea Lord''s benevolence to treat a random stranger with such hospitality. When the Sea Lord was about to reprimand the male An, Iughed out loud bringing everyone''s attention to me and said to the male An, "What a coincidence, I too am on the and it''s not just me, but most of my fellow trial zone members are there as well." The first one to exim was the female An, Ah''na, "No way! Don''t tell me you are from Earth!!! It is the only that has 8 of its Alpha Chosen in the Alpha Rankings." Hearing her, Aton turned silent whereas the other Ans quickly opened the in their respective windows to check with their own eyes, before all gasping in astonishment. Since Kensei and Henry reached Tier-3 on the rest day after Day-6, they were in the Alpha Rankings as well, bringing the number of Earth''s Alpha Chosen in the to eight. Except for Dante, Kasim and Gabriel, who didn''t reach Tier-3, all of us Earth''s Alpha Chosen were in the Top 1000 Alpha Rankings. At the moment, I was in the 981st position and would soon be pushed down in the rankings once more Alpha Chosen reached Tier-3. That aspect didn''t bother me, because, with the power I possessed, my ranking wasn''t relevant anymore. Among the Ans, the one that reacted the most was the An, who warned a few seconds back. He had his finger pointing at me while stuttering with his mouth open, "This¡­.this¡­.how could he be from that powerful trial zone, he must be bluffing to intimidate us and escape from here." A few of the Ans seemed to agree with him, as they found it hard to believe that I was from Earth. Unlike them, the Sea Lord, Aton didn''t show any signs of disbelief nor did he question me and instead believed my words, but there was still a hint of doubt in the back of his mind, regarding whether or not I was who I imed to be. I sighed after reading everyone''s thoughts around me. It seemed that simple words were not enough, so I went back to my crude way of showing domination and activated Tier-Suppression, targeting them all. Since I recovered from the weakened state, my overall stats were at 840, making my Tier suppression equal to a peak Tier-3 monster. Except for Aton, who had reached Tier-3, only experienced difort and minor hindrance, but all the remaining Ans who were in Tier-2, froze in their positions due to the immense pressure they were experiencing from me. By the time a few seconds passed, fear was written all over their faces and that turned into terror when I took out and moved closer to them. Especially the male An who acted all high and mighty in front of me was now shaking involuntarily. Thinking back on his previous actions, he wanted to apologise, but under the Tier-Suppression, he could only stay frozen without having the chance to move his mouth and talk. Even the mostposed one of them, Aton, was alerted by my sudden action and wanted to protect his fellow An. However, before he could move, I was already beside the male An with the tip of the sword just an inch away from his throat. "Now, tell me, do you still think I am bluffing?" The male An gulped in fear and strangely, he began to sweat even underwater. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''s PROOFREADER: ''Yuno'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 104 - Monster Camouflage Grail. By experiencing the Tier-Suppression I deployed, the Sea Lord could tell the difference in our power levels. He then approached with difficulty and pleaded, "Please, Sir Jay, forgive my subordinate''s insolence and spare his life. In return, I promise to have him serve under you for the rest of his life." He then looked at the male An and emphasised, "Akor, as long as you agree, blink your eyes thrice. Reply quickly! Your life depends on it!" Then the male An, Akor, blinked thrice to convey his willingness. Of course, he only did it due to his fear of death. I watched the situation y out and found it rather funny because I didn''t intend to kill An, Akor, or any other Ans for that matter. Just as I activated Tier-suppression, Earth Wyrm MJ mentally contacted me, saying that at the sea bed location I was standing on, it detected some signs that indicate the presence of a Spirit Metal ore reserve beneath it. That was why I took out the to make a hole in the seabed. As for pointing the sword at the male An''s throat, I did it just to scare him, but everyone seemed to have misunderstood my actions. Looking at me coat the with Stage-3 , he closed his eyes, resigning himself to death. I held the hilt of the sword with my two hands and plunged it into the seabed with all my strength while activating over the sword. The solidified Sword Aura extended to a depth of 10 meters and pierced the rock, causing the nearby area to shake violently with tremors. After that, I removed the tier suppression I used on them and turned my head towards the Sea Lord, "I have some business beneath this sea bed location, now take your subordinates and move further away from here and wait there for me toe back. Also, don''t try to escape; I have a few things to discuss with you. Don''t worry; I am not going to kill over a small matter like this." The Sea Lord nodded, and led his fellow Ans out of their hideout. Once I confirmed they were far away, I pulled the sword out and shrunk my body size using to the smallest size possible in order to fit the hole I had made in the seabed. Once my body size reached a height of 5 inches, I jumped into the hole and fell into a spirit metal ore mine, illuminated in green light. However, the mine was not very big and only had a small amount of Spirit metal ore. But that didn''t disappoint me because when I used the extended Sword Aura, it only made a small mark on the lumps of the green-coloured metal ore. Just from that, I could tell this was quite rare, and MJ''s words confirmed that. "Master! Your 37 Luck stats didn''t go to waste. This is Emerald Spirit Metal ore, a Grade-4 mineral ore, which can be used for creating Grade-4 Spirit Equipment. Although the amount is quite low, I could make one or two Epic Grade Spirit Equipment with this." I asked him right away, "MJ, is it possible for you to make a replica of that Dual-ded Silver ive?" "Of Course master, but with this amount, I can only make one such weapon." I was overjoyed after hearing that because having a Grade-4 Spirit Weapon will let me sessfully unleash my trump card . The Grade-3 Silver ive replicas that MJ previously made for me couldn''tst for more than three seconds under the Origin Energy, which was less the time needed for me to unleash . Although I had never used it before, I knew that the damage output of the skill I had learned from my Innate Talen''s predecessor would be heaven-defying. I would feel a lot safer with it in my arsenal. Although I know the various stages of the trial program and its details beforehand, I still had to be prepared, as anything could happen and put me in a dangerous situation. After that, I used the telekinesis ability of and excavated all the Emerald spirit metal ore within the ore mine and stored them within my storage space. I was d that the Spirit Items like my and shrank ordingly to fit my size, or it would have been troublesome for me every time I used . Once I was done with that, I went back to the Ans'' hideout on the surface of the seabed and returned to my original size. Following that, I met up with the Ans whom I had waiting for me nearby. Except for the Sea lord, Aton, all of them lowered their heads when my gaze passed by them, not daring to look me in the eye. It seemed that the Tier-suppression I used on them had ingrainedsting fear in them. Ignoring them, I moved towards the Sea Lord, who was tense about what I wanted to discuss, and asked him, "Shall we begin now?" Hearing my words, the Sea Lord and the Ans were taken aback because I used their nativenguage to speak. I showcased speaking fluently in their nativenguage to hint to him that he couldn''t hide anything from me. "Ye...Yes, Sir Jay, Please, after you." He said while gesturing with the utmost respect, fearing that I would go back on my words if they displease me in any way. I could only shake my head after seeing how fearful they were of me. But I didn''t correct them anymore. After all, having them fear me would be beneficial to me in what I am about to do. "I will get straight to the point. Well, a possession of yours caught my interest. I would like to exchange it for items of equal value." The Sea Lord''s expression immediately hardened upon hearing my words. He right away understood that the possession I was talking about was the ''Monster Camouge Grail''. It was the most precious Spirit Item he had with him, and with that, the Ans managed to move freely within the trial zone without having to fear even the Low-Phase Tier-3 monsters that were released on the start of Day-7. Now that I asked to exchange such a valuable Spirit Item with me, he was reluctant but didn''t voice his feelings and unwillingly took out a Grail from what seems to be an Umon grade Spirit ring. It shone in golden rays of light that made it look exceptional. I used on it right away. _____________________ (Rare Grade) A special Grail that produces ten drops of golden nectar per day that grants'' Monster Camouge Buff'' upon its consumption. Effect: Spirit+25^, Vitality+25^ Requirements: 50 Spirit, 50 Vitality Durability: 100/100 Inherent Skill: (Rare). : Upon consuming a single drop of the golden nectar, the buff will be applied andsts for 24 hrs. (Cannot be stacked.) (During this buff, your presence will be camouged as a monster, causing Tier-3 and below monsters to not attack you unless they were provoked first.) ____________________ It seemed that the buff couldn''t only be used indefinitely as it was limited to ten times a day. Regardless, having that buff could reduce me some trouble dealing with hordes of monsters when I break the system barriers while heading to other trial zones. Other than that, there are many more uses with the Spirit Item in front of me. Looking at the reluctance of the Sea Lord and the other Ans who were listening in on our conversation, I brought out five Grade-3 spiritual fruits, each being a different one among the five main attribute fruits. While having those fruits float above my palm, I said, "You all must have known about Spiritual Fruits, right? You might have a few in your possessions, but I doubt if any of those fruits that you have were of Grade-3. However, the ones I brought out are the real deal. Why don''t you all check them for yourselves." Once the Sea Lord and Ans used on them and found how useful they would be, especially the Vitality fruits, which could be a life-saving treasure. Moreover, the respective fruit could improve each attribute by ten stats upon consuming it for the first time. "Since there are nine of you, I will use nine sets of these five spiritual fruits as an exchange. Using these could improve your overall strength, which will be beneficial for you in the First Tournament. Let me reveal a vital piece of information to you all. Among the 1000 Trail zones that participate in the Trial Region tournament, only ten trail zones woulde out as winners and be rewarded bountifully along with the qualifications to participate in the uing Tournaments of the Alpha Program. These spiritual fruits could increase your trial zone''s chance of entering among the top 10 of this Trial Region." Even after listening to what I have said, the Ans were reluctant to exchange with the as they believed it to be a great treasure for their race in the future. If they had known the importance of bing one of the top 10 trial zones in the Tournament, they would have done anything for an opportunity like this. I didn''t go into details about the benefits of winning the Tournaments. After all, there wasn''t any need for me to do so because none of them dared to voice their opinion due to the overwhelming fear they had for me. ------------- SPECIAL THANKS TO THIS CHAPTER''s PROOFREADER: ''hyperStar'' Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 105 - State Of Enlightenment. Following that, The Sea Lord broke the bond with that Spirit Item and handed it over to me before receiving 9 sets of Spiritual fruits of all five main attributes from me. Soon after, the Sea Lord signalled the male An, Akor. He then stepped forward, and kneeled on a leg and shouted, "Liege! I am grateful for sparing my life. From now on, I shall serve you till I die." I didn''t expect him to do that even after I said that I don''t intend to kill him. All of them seem to believe that if the Sea Lord hadn''t asked for mercy for the male An by promising to have him serve me all his life, I wouldn''t have spared his life. And now, the male An. Akor was fulfilling that promise. I sighed at how the situation turned into and asked the kneeling Akor, "What do you think you are doing?" "Liege, I am paying my respects. From today onwards I will follow you and protect you with my life." Akor said while thumping a hand on his chest. "Let me get this straight. You are saying that you want to follow and protect me, but doesn''t that mean you have to face something even I can''t protect myself against? Are you sure you could do that with your measly strength? I lifted my eyebrows and slightly applied Tier-suppression over him to intimidate him from annoying me. Akor gritted his teeth and held on before saying with difficulty, "Li...Liege, I will grow stro...stronger!" Seeing his persistence, I began to read male An''s thoughts to see what was going on in his head for him to be adamant about following me. Back on the way, when I was escorted after I was imprisoned, I only went through the general knowledge about their. But now I looked into his life memories. Unlike most of their''s Alpha Chosen, who were among the Sea Lord candidates of their generation, Akor was not among the top, but he was the grandson of an earlier generation''s Sea Lord. Because of that, he grew prideful from the praises of others. From his childhood, he admired his grandfather and wanted to be a Sea Lord just like his grandfather, but as he grew up, it became apparent that his talent inbat expertise or military strategy was not enough to be a Sea Lord. But he didn''t give up to his fate and worked harder than any of his peers, but that wasn''t enough to even qualify as the possible candidates selected for their generation''s Sea Lord position. That crushed Akor''s dreams and not long after that, he was selected as one of the 11 Alpha Chosen of their life and that rekindled his hopes of bing as great as his father one day. Even though Akor couldn''t be the Sea Lord, he believed that with his Grade-7 Water Innate Talent, he would be someone of great importance one day. Looking at the kneeling Akor, I casually said while increasing the intensity of Tier-suppression to nearly half of its full capacity, "If you can stand straight on your feet under this Tier-suppression, I will think about letting you follow me." From his memories, I could see that he was hardworking, loyal and prideful, but I didn''t believe he had what it takes to pursue true power. To others, it seemed like I was testing Akor, but what I was doing was to show himself that he was far too weak to follow me. I hoped he would realise that soon and quit bothering me. Moreover, when we first met, he underestimated my strength and carelessly spewed words, thinking that I was weaker. That behaviour would one day be the cause of his death. I didn''t want such a short-sighted one to follow me. Akor tried to stand, but his body was frozen from the immense pressure of Tier-suppression. Since I only concentrated on Akor, even half the intensity of Tier-suppression was like an unbreakable wall in front of him. Seconds started to pass, and he struggled to stand up while gritting his teeth as hard as he could. Soon, a minute passed, and he still didn''t quit and his body shook like he was shivering in the cold. Since I had a few more things to discuss with the Ans, I increased the intensity of Tier-suppression to three-fourths of my full capacity to make Akor quit quickly. To my surprise, he still didn''t give up. When I was about to bring the intensity to its full capacity, the sensed a white glow around him. Akor''s body stopped shaking, and he became unusually calm as a single memory surfaced ying in his mind. Within that memory, Akor of his younger days sat beside his grandfather, who was lying weakly on a bed. Even though the wrinkled old An was a Sea Lord of two generations prior, he couldn''t escape the tragedy of life as he neared his death. The old An looked at the crying teenage Akor and said, "Little kor, I know that you wish to be a Sea Lord but don''t fixate on it in case you couldn''t be one in the future. Make it your journey, but not your destination. Let me ask you something, who do you think is the strongest An in the history of Anis?" The teenage Akor listened attentively and replied, "Umm...isn''t it you, grandpa?" The old An gently smiled, "Sea Lord is just a title thates with responsibility and power but there were many that were stronger than any Sea Lord, and they all pursued hidden treasures on this that could help one grow stronger than the limits of our race. Of Course finding them was not so simple as I put it as they were in the most dangerous locations of our. But a few brave individuals of our race went after them and some of them even managed to grow stronger than one could imagine. They were even able to y huge aquatic beasts with their fists alone. I was lucky to meet one such individual in my lifetime." The teenage Akor gasped at the words of his grandfather. Even though it sounded hard to believe, he didn''t doubt his grandfather. The old An said as he gazed at the ceiling of the room they were in and said, "Back when I was your age, I wasn''t talented at anything that was necessary for bing a Sea Lord. Because of that, I wasn''t selected among my generation''s Sea Lord candidates. But do you know how I became a Sea Lord and even given the title, ''The Strongest Sea Lord''? It was all because of a single decision I made in my life." While talking about that person the old Ans'' eyes were filled with reverence, "In a military expedition, my whole squad died and I was the only one remaining but in the onught of those aquatic beasts, I could only try to escape even though I knew that I would die soon. However, I was lucky enough to stumble across that extraordinary individual''s adobe that secluded amidst the turf of aquatic beasts. He bare-handedly defeated them all and saved me from a near death state. That when the view I had on our world broadened and that the title ''Sea Lord'' looked so little in front of them. From then on, I followed him and trained and learned several things from that extraordinary individual. That was how I grew stronger and became a Sea Lord. This is something I didn''t even tell your father. I said all this to you because even though you aren''t talented, your will to grow stronger was something I haven''t seen for a long time. " The old An looked deep into Akor''s eyes, "Remember this little Kor, If one day you meet someone so strong that your instincts will tell you that you could never possibly defeat them. If you ever feel their presence itself to be like an insurmountable invisible wall, follow that person with all your heart. Even though you couldn''t be as strong as him, you will reach heights that not many could reach." Hearing his grandfather''s advice, Alor nodded and took those words to his heart. Akor never experienced what his grandfather exined even when facing the Sea Lord, but under my Tier-suppression, Akor''s memory with his grandfather resurfaced. However, what caught my attention was not his grandfather''s unusual advice but MJ''s words that rang in my mind, "Master, under your Tier-suppression and his sheer will to follow you, he seemed to have identally entered the state of enlightenment so early in the Trial Program." I was taken aback by the new revtion. The state of enlightenment was something that''s hard to enter. Once someone''s mastery reaches the peak of Minor Mastery, they need to find their own True Essence and only by entering the state of enlightenment could one improve their respective Minor mastery to Major Mastery. In Akor''s case, as long as he seeds, his will improve to and break past the ''1st Universe Limit''. Even though the gap between Major Mastery and Minor Mastery seems small, the difference in power was far apart and it was quite hard to attain. Looking at Akor, who was in the state of enlightenment, I continued to maintain the Tier-suppression since any disturbance at the moment would disrupt his rare chance. I wanted to see if Akor could really seed. Other than that, I wanted to see if I could find any clues of entering the state of enlightenment by analysing his condition. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 106 - Skill Circuits. The Ans were worried, looking at the unmoving Akor under my Tier suppression, thinking that something happened to him. I used to telepathicallymunicate with them and let them know that Akor was going through a rare opportunity and not to do anything that would disturb him. Time continued to pass, and I failed to find any clue to artificially simte the ''state of enlightenment by going through Akor''s condition. Learning I can''t do anything regarding that, I didn''t bother with it anymore and continued maintaining the Tier-suppression. I couldn''t help but wonder which higher element of water would his mastery evolve into if he seeds in finding his True Essence. Each element, like Fire, Water, Earth, Wind etc., could evolve into a respective higher element depending on one''s True Essence. To find ones own True Essence, one had to resolve the regrets and negative experiences that were holding one back and find their core belief and the path one wants to take in the future. Once one finds their True Essence, a new property will be added to their respective mastery element, making it a higher element. Nearly 30 minutes passed since Akor entered the state of enlightenment, and I started to feel mental exhaustion from the continuous usage of Tier-suppression. Just when I was wondering how long he would take, there was a sudden change in the water surrounding Akor. The water turned hot, with bubbles being produced at a high rate. Soon, ayer of water formed over Akor''s body, but it looked different from the surrounding water. MJ''s voice chimed in my mind, "Master, His water element seems to have a vtile property added to it, forming a higher aquatic element. ording to the System records, it would even be ranked in the top among the higher aquatic elements because the property that''s embedded in water element was of opposing nature to his element, which makes his higher aquatic element quite strongpared to other properties." Right after MJ''s words ended, Akor opened his eyes, and his emerald eyes had a gleam of light red colour in them. Even his mindset seemed different from his previous attitude. He appeared calmer and looked at me while still in the kneeling position. Soon, Akor covered himself with his new higher aquatic element and stood up, resisting my Tier-suppression with slight difficulty. I was surprised that higher elemental mastery could be used in such a way to ovee Tier-suppression. However, I didn''t bother to guard myself against Akor because even with a higher element, his fighting prowess could maximum raise to a Tier-3 Mid-Phase life form while being at Tier-2 High-Phase, and that wasn''t enough to breach the defence of . Ans were taken aback by the sudden change of water around Akor and the change in hisposure. Akor looked right at my eyes and said word by word before fainting, "Liege, I...stood...up." The pressure from being under my Tier-suppression for 30 minutes straight and the mental consumption from using his higher aquatic element for the first time exhausted Akor way till all his Spirit Energy was emptied. I couldn''t help but admire his sheer will and determination. I decided to let him follow me. Once I groom him, he would be helpful to me in the future. After all, I need quite some manpower for what I nned in the future. The sight of unconscious Akor caused the Ans to eye me with fear, thinking that I did something to him. I had to calm them all, saying that he was just exhausted and needed to recover Spirit Energy to wake up. Only after that did themotions settle down. After that, I looked at the Sea Lord, Aton, "There is something else that I want to exchange with you and your fellow Ans. This time, I won''t be asking for any of your possessions but to share knowledge regarding Skill Circuits of all the aquatic skills you all managed to develop till now." As for the ''Skill Circuits'' I asked about, it was a concept that will y a crucial role in the heritage and development of an intelligent species after the assimtion with the System. A ''Skill Circuit'' is the basis of any skill. There are two ways they could be formed. The first and the easiest way was to obtain a skill from the system as a reward for killing monsters. That way, when one merges with a skill, the ''Skill Circuit'' of that merged Skill will be imprinted in one''s consciousness along with all the knowledge of that Skill. To use this Skill, one just had to send Spirit Energy into that ''Skill Circuit'' to get the oue of that said Skill. The second way was to form a ''Skill Circuit'' to create one''s own Skill. If I take for example, I could create the oue of that Skill using the Grade-9 Wind Innate Talent, but manifesting the Wind Clones would take a lot of time and concentration to make it. However, directly expending Spirit Energy into the Skill Circuit of a Skill would give an almost instantaneous oue. Creating a skill of one''s own is simr to researching something with time and effort. Once the System recognises the entire process as a skill, the Skill Circuit of that said Skill will be imprinted in one''s consciousness. The Sea Lord was quite wise to realise this in the first three days of the Trial Program and take advantage of the fact that all Ans has an Innate Water Talent. He divided them into groups of two and had them research on different applications of . A group worked on creating Defence type Water Skills, another group worked on Attack type ones, and another focussed on sensory type Water Skills and such. That way, when each group was able to create a Skill, they would share the knowledge of creating their Skill with the other groups. Using this idea, they created various categories of aquatic skills and shared them with each other. And since each of them had sensory type Aquatic skills, Akor and Ah''na were able to sense my presence when I just entered the Aquatic trial zone. After that, the Sea Lord and the other Ans demonstrated the way of creating different types of Aquatic skills, and I had MJ record the entire process so that in the future, I could use it as a resource to Water Innate Talent users from Earth. The whole process took over three hours, and I had less than half an hour before the cooldown of mode ends. So, I quickly finished the exchange by giving them several Grade-2 Spirit Crystals and basic blueprints on using them as an advanced power source. After that, I prepared to leave that trial zone with Akor, who regained his consciousness an hour earlier. I invited him to my Party so that he couldn''t harm me even if he wanted to. Even though I allowed Akor to follow me, I didn''t trust him with my life and made precautions just in case. Just as we were about to leave, the female An, Ah''na stepped forward and uttered, mustering up all her courage, "Sir Jay, is the only thing that''s protecting us from the monsters, especially the group of Low-Phase Tier-3 monsters that were released today. Without the ''Monster Camouge Buff'', the chances of being discovered by those Tier-3 monsters is high. If one or two of those monsters attack us, we could handle the situation, but it''s hard to survive if they attack us in groups. Could we please exchange something else other than ?" I couldn''t help but admire her courage, where even their Sea Lord didn''t dare to ask me that. Seeing me look at her in silence, she bit her lips anxiously. I then asked her, "When was thest time you all consumed a drop of the golden nectar from this Grail?" She didn''t expect I would ask something like that, but she replied quickly, "Tha¡­that''s just a few minutes before Day-7 began. But, the buff effect will wear off once Day-7 ends." "Then there won''t be any problem. As for the monsters, you all don''t need to mind them. The only thing you all have to worry about is to hunt as many monsters as possible today because, by the time Day-8 starts, there won''t be any monsters left alive in your trial zone." Even though they were puzzled hearing my statement, none of them retorted as they wondered how I would do that. But what they don''t know was that I will have MJ''s integrated monsters to hunt all the monsters in the other trial zones when all Alpha Chosen return to their respectives on the Day-7 rest period. Even though it was an 18 hour long rest period, it was 72 hours long in the Trial World because the time in here flows four times slower than the rest of the gxy. Before leaving, I turned around at the Ans and said, "Let me give you all a piece of advice. Don''t just train underwater and learn how to increase yourbat capabilities outside of water rich environment as that would be helpful to you all in the uing Tournament." ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 107 - Achievement? ?Title? ?slots.? ***** On their way from An''s hideout to the other end of the Aquatic trial zone, Jay and Akor came across a few Tier-3 Low-Phase monsters, and since Akor had the on him, none of them attacked him and focussed their attention on Jay. However, Akor dealt with them without Jay having to do anything. The usage of his Vtile Aqua element, which was hot and acidic in nature, made it easier for him to y Tier-3 Low-Phase monsters. After looting those monsters, Jay''s Grade-3 improved to a Grade-5 one. At the same time, Akor reached the Level requirement after killing those monsters. Instead of evolving to Tier-3, Akor insisted on following Jay and decided to undergo Tier-3 Evolution during the rest period after Day-7. Akor asked what a SuperCluster level Achievement was, and through a brief chat, Jay learned that he received the notification of the Achievement he aplished by advancing his Minor Mastery to Major Mastery at such an early stage of the Trial Program. Jay briefly exined to Akor the five levels of Achievements, (i.e. Gxy Level Achievement, Gxy-Cluster Level Achievement, Super-Cluster Level Achievement, Mega-Cluster Level Achievement, Universe Level Achievement) and that aplishing the respective Achievement Level will provide with the corresponding Achievement points. Akor listened attentively, and when Jay asked the rank of his Super-Cluster Level Achievement in that respective Category, he replied that it was 570, which means on the scale of the Super-Cluster that the Milky Way Gxy was in, he was the 57oth life form to achieve Major Mastery in just seven days since the start of the Trial Program. It''s quite an achievement, minding the point that the majority would take months if not years to undergo enlightenment and upgrade their Mastery to a Major one. After that, Jay exined the importance of the 10 Super-Cluster Achievement Points he obtained as they will be pretty helpful when the ''Achievement Store'' function opens in the future. After that, Akor revealed to Jay the new Achievement Title he received after reaching Major Mastery. _______ <1st Universe Limit Crosser> (Epic Grade): Equipping this Achievement Title improves the effectiveness of the respective Major Mastery element by 50%. (i.e., Attack Damage when using the said Major Mastery Element will increase by 50%, Spirit Energy consumption will be reduced by 50%.) _______ Hearing that, Jay wasn''t shocked to learn the effects of Akor''s Epic Grade Achievement Title because he already knew that it was an Achievement Title that everyone that assimted with the System would obtain once they cross the 1st Universe Limit. That Achievement Title was another reason why the power gap between Tier-3 and Tier-4 was so vast. Nodding at Akor, Jay advised, "If you haven''t already equipped it yet, then rece one of your 7 Achievement Title slots with this one right away. It will give a significant boost to your overall power." Akor could see that the Epic Grade Achievement Title he obtained looked quite helpful, but still, he consulted with Jay to show his worth. All his life, Akor wanted to be something great, and for him, it was the title ''Sea Lord'', but his hard work was limited by his mediocre talent, reducing his dreams to smithereens. But now that he managed to aplish something only a few in the entire Super-Cluster they were in, a sense of pride and aplishment budded within himself. Jay already read Akor''s thoughts but didn''t interrupt his happy moment and went through the ''Achievement Title'' Section in his . _______________ [ACHIEVEMENT TITLES] Equipped ones: SLOT-1: (Legend) SLOT-2: (Epic) SLOT-3: (Epic) SLOT-4: (Rare) SLOT-5: (Rare) SLOT-6: (Umon) SLOT-7: (Umon) Unequipped ones: Common Grade (78) - , , .....(75 more) Umon Grade (64)- , , , , , .... (56 more). Rare Grade (42) - , , , ... so on (37 more) Epic Grade (4) - , Legend Grade (2)- _______________ There isn''t any limit to how many Achievement Titles one could obtain, but only seven of them could be equipped to receive the corresponding Title''s effects. This was simr to how one could only maintain bonds with 7 Spirit Equipment at any given moment. The number of Achievement Titles Jay had numbered as high as 188. Most of them have the ''Hunter'' prefix since they were obtained from ying monsters. This Hunter title is named ording to the monster species one ys. However, the requirement to obtain a Hunter Title depends on the Tier of those that kill monsters. In the case of a Tier-2 individual, to obtain an Umon Grade Hunter Title, i.e., Greater Hunter Title, they need to kill 100 Tier-2 monsters of any species. However, if the same Tier-2 individual were able to y a single Tier-3 monster, they would obtain a Rare Grade Hunter Title, i.e., High Hunter Title, irrespective of whether the monster was in Low-Phase, Mid-Phase or High-Phase is Tier-3. Since Jay was counted as Tier-2, every Tier-3 monster he killed gave him a Rare Grade Hunter Title, depending on the species of those monsters. Even though the Title was an Umon Grade one, Jay equipped it in one of his slots as it provides him with 20% Water Resistance and since they were underwater, it was the most suitable one to use. Among the Achievement Titles, the most noticeable ones were the Epic and Legend Grade ones. _____________ (Epic Grade): Equipping this Achievement Title slightly increases the learning speed of new Skill Circuits. -------- (Epic Grade): Equipping this Achievement Title increases the chances of awakening a higher element of the respective Innate Talent Mastery. -------- (Epic Grade): Equipping this Achievement Title improves the effectiveness of the respective Mastery by 25% (i.e., Attack Damage when using any of the user''s Mastery will increase by 25%, Spirit Energy consumption will be reduced by 25%.) -------- (Epic Grade): Equipping this Achievement Title improves the chances of manifesting the ''Will of Pain'' once the & reaches Lv.100. -------- (Legend Grade): Equipping this Achievement Title gives a 40/% discount in the Achievement Store. -------- (Legend Grade): Equipping this Achievement Title would let the user temporarily hinder any higher Tier opponents with their recovery, whether it''s Spirit Energy recovery or Stamina or Health. _____________ Jay obtained the Achievement Title from having the possession of so many skills that he looted from the ton of monsters he killed. As for & , he received them due to his numerous Innate Talents and Masteries. Among the Epic Grade Achievement Titles, was the one that stood out the most. Jay received it because his reached as high as Lv.67 in just a span of 7 days due to undergoing mode several times. If anyone from the System assimted Universe knew about this, they would freak out because improving Resistance Skills takes a serious amount of time. It would take hundreds if not thousands of years for a typical one to umte pain to reach Jay''s level in Pain Resistance. Every time Jay underwent mode, the sudden change in overall attributes brings out the pain that equals dying several times over. Recently the pain he received was not so much because the difference between the overall stats in and was thin. Once any Resistance type skill reaches Lv.100, then it acts as a prerequisite to manifest a ''Will'' rted to that corresponding Resistance. The ''Will'' is something a very few could manifest, but most of those that managed to do that was of Tier-7 and above because only they would be able to live tens of thousands of years to do that. However, the Achievement Title was so miraculous that it could improve Jay''s chances to manifest a ''Will''. One would say that even this Title''s Grade couldn''t justify its real value as it could match a Legend Grade Achievement Title. Jay looked forward to the day when he could manifest the ''Will of Pain'' but thinking about the pain he would have to suffer to reach Lv.100 in both & subconsciously sent shivers down his spine. But when he looked at the Title, his mood took a turn for the good. Having a 40% discount in the Achievement Store would be highly beneficial in the long term. He didn''t expect to gain such a windfall when the count of Universe Points in his possession reached 5000 by aplishing several Universe Level achievements. That only improved his thirst to gain more Universe Points and possibly upgrade the Legend Grade Title to an even higher ''Myth Grade'' one. The other Legend Grade Achievement Title, , was even better as it temporarily prevented any of Jay''s opponents who were in a higher Tier than him from passively or actively recovering Stamina, Spirit Energy and health during a fight. It may not sound much, but in a tough fight, this title''s effect would work wonders. Jay obtained the (Epic) Achievement Title after ying five High-Phase Tier-3 monsters in Earth''s Trial Zone while still being at Tier-2 High-Phase. When he slew all 25 of them, it upgraded from (Epic) to (Legend). After going through the Achievement Title Section, Jay closed his , and Akor was internally motivating himself. ''Come on, Akor, You are not the same untalented person anymore. You even reached Major Mastery at such an early stage. As long as you work hard, you could soon be someone that matters, someone greater than any ''Sea Lord'' ever before.'' Jay couldn''t help but smile at Akor''s self-motivation. Akor felt Jay''s gaze and ended what he was doing with a somewhat awkward smile, and then he thought of something before asking Jay, "Liege, can I ask how many Super-Cluster Level Achievements you have aplished till now?" Noticing Jay''s silence, Akor assumed that he offended Jay by asking that and quickly exined, "Li¡­.Liege, it''s not that I am prying on you, but wan...want to set your aplishments as my goal." With a mysterious smile, Jay replied, "Trust me, it''s best that you don''t learn about them. It wouldn''t do you any good." Akor sighed in relief that Jay was not mad at him. Still, he didn''t understand why Jay said that it wouldn''t do him any good. What Akor didn''t know was that if Jay really had revealed the sheer number of Universe Level Achievements he made, all of Akor''s self-motivation would have gone up the drain as it is almost impossible to aplish as many Universe Level Achievements as Jay. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 108 - Zephyr Galactic Cluster. ***** While Day-7 was ongoing, the assimted part of the Universe was filled with unrest. Especially the ten hegemonic powers of the Virgo SuperCluster. A SuperCluster usuallyprises 1000 Gctic Clusters, with each Gctic Cluster making up around 1000 Gxies. One by one, almost every Gctic Cluster in the Virgo SuperCluster went through System assimtion in the past thousand years, and now it was time for the only remaining Gctic Cluster in Virgo SuperCluster, the ''Zephyr Gctic Cluster'' to go through System assimtion once it''s Trial Program ends. A new Gctic Cluster goes through the Trial Program throughout the Universe every two years before assimting with the System. Because of the System''s ''UltraNet'' that connects the System assimted Universe, the flow of information reaches every corner of the Universe. Within the UltraNet, System publishes a Live Performance Score every time a Trial Program takes ce. It shows the System''s evaluation of every individual Gxy within the Gctic Cluster that was undergoing the Trial Program. The factor that weighs the Live Performance Score of each Gxy focuses on the Survival Rate of the Alpha Chosen, the overall number and the difficulty of the monsters they slew since the start of their Trial Program. Usually, not many would pay attention to it as it ismon knowledge that a new Gctic Cluster goes through the Trial Program every two years. However, this time around, almost everyone''s attention in the Universe was on the Live Performance Score of the 930 Gxies within the Zephyr Gctic Cluster. It was because out of the 100 points, none of those Gxies had any lower than 75 points. Even though it was just a few days since the new Trial Program began, it was pretty shocking for everyone in the System assimted Universe since only less than 10,000 Gxies in the entire Universe ever managed to do that, and most of those Gxies ascended to be one of the powerful ones in the Universe. But that wasn''t even the most shocking part since a Gxy named ''Milky Way Gxy'' stood out among the rest of the Gxies in the Zephyr Gctic Cluster with a mind-numbing Live Performance Score of 93 points. Even in the entire Universe, less than 50 Gxies ever managed to aplish such a feat, which only makes it even more terrifying since all those Gxies eventually became the top powerhouses of the Universe. When any Gxy scores above 90, it usually means that either the average of Innate Talent Grades of the Alpha Chosen is rtively high, making them stronger or that the particr Gxy has produced an Omega Chosen. Everyone inclined towards the second option since there wasn''t any recorded case where a Gxy Trial Program''s Live Performance Score could be above 90 with just having a higher average of Alpha Chosen''s Innate Talent grades. One could say that the rise of an Omega Chosen contributed the most to the unrest among the top powers throughout the Universe as they wanted to recruit that Omega Chosen into their ranks before anyone else. Because everyone knew that an Omega Chosen has the potential to reach Tier-10, the pinnacle of power in the Universe. The ones that were even more worked up were the hegemonies of the Virgo SuperCluster, of which the Zephyr Gctic Cluster was a part of. One such Hegemony was the ''Red Elven Empire'', which holds control over one-tenth of the massive Virgo SuperCluster. On a red that''s the size of Jupiter, a vast city was bustling with people of various races. It was the imperial city of the ''Red Elven Empire''. At the centre of that Imperial city was a majestic pce, the residence of the Red Elven Emperor. With in the royal courtroom of that pce were several advisors and other higher officials of the Empire. They all were looking at the thousands of video projection screens, where each projection screen showed thousands of individuals from various races, who were the subjects of the ''Red Elven Empire''. Almost everyone visible on the video projection screens had one thing inmon; they were all at Tier-4 Low Phase. These members were all from differents and gxies. After all, the Red Elven Empire had 50 Gctic Clusters under its authority, with each Gctic Cluster constituting nearly 1000 Gxies. From this, it could be seen how grand and powerful the ''Red Elven Empire'' is. The Royal race of this Empire were Red Elves, who stand out from typical Elves due to their pale red skin and green eyes. Besides that, their tall and slim physiques and pointy ears resemble a regr Elf Race. The Red Elf race''s speciality is that almost every member of their race either be chosen by Fire Innate Talent or Wood Innate Talent, sometimes even both of them. Most of all, everyone''s Innate Talent of this race ranges between Grade-4 and Grade-6. Nearly 60 to 70% of the entire Universe poption only possess Innate Talents between Grade-1 and Grade-3. So, Grade-4 to Grade-6 were considered pretty rare as they give out the potential to reach Sky Realm (Tier-4 to Tier-6). Grade-7 and above are treated as scarce since barely anyone within the Virgo SuperCluster has a Grade-7 Innate Talent. Even the Emperor of the Red Elven Empire, who was one of the powerful existences of the Virgo SuperCluster at the peak of Tier-6, only has Grade-6 Innate Talent. Everyone who could be seen within the video projection screens was all nervously checking their own windows once in a while. Simrly, everyone in the Royal Court and the Red Elven Emperor was anxiously waiting for something. All of that was because the System only chooses members within a SuperCluster for the role of Tournament Managers in the Trial Programs. Since Zephyr Gctic Cluster has 930 Gxies and each Gxy''s Trial World has 1000 Trial Regions, 930,000 Regional Trial Tournaments will take ce on Day-10 of the Trial Program. That means a total of 930,000 System assimted individuals were needed to act as a Tournament Manager for each Tournament taking ce on Day-10 at the same time. Whenever a Tournament was about to take ce during a Trial Program, the System opens a ''Tournament Manager Quest'', and for the 1st Tournament, only those who were at Tier-4 Low-Phase could apply for it. The System randomly selects the required number of Tier-4 Low-Phase individuals from the millions of applicants all over the SuperCluster. In this case, 930,000 were needed, and due to the Milky Way Gxy producing an Omega Chosen, all the Hegemonies arepeting by having millions of people from their own domains applying for the Tournament Manager Quest in the hopes of obtaining more information about the Alpha Chosen of the Milky Way Gxy and to attract that Omega Chosen to their side. If not for the System''s restriction that only allows the Virgo SuperCluster''s native life forms to apply for the Tournament Manager Quest of the Zephyr Gctic Cluster, the Hegemonies from all over the Universe would havepeted as well. While the Red Elven Emperor was walking to and fro, an advisor of the imperial court walked over and bowed to the Emperor before saying, "Your Majesty, the results were out. Out of the 930,000 Tournament Manager positions, a little more than 22,000 from our Empire were selected. Out of them, only 15 were selected as Tournament managers for the Milky Way Gxy." The Red Elven Emperor sighed, "Fortune doesn''t seem to favour us. Sigh, only 15 made it to be Milky Way Gxy''s Tournament Managers. It''s almost the same as the remaining 985 positions being taken by the other 9 factions. The chances of one of these 15 bing the Tournament Manager for the Trial Region in which that Omega Chosen was in was quite low." Another advisor stepped forward, "Your Majesty, even if none of these 15 members encounters that Omega Chosen in this 1st Tournament, there will be many more opportunities for us in the uing Tournaments. Even if the members of other factions manage toe across Omega Chosen, I highly doubt that person would join a faction so quickly without considering the offers of the remaining factions. Moreover, the Live Performance Score of the other Gxies was also exceptional. We could instead focus on them while every other faction goes after the Omega Chosen." The Emperor nods after giving a thought to the advisor''s idea. However, he didn''t give up on the possibility of one of the 15 members of his Empire bing the Tournament Manager of the Milky Way Gxy''s Trial Region that the Omega Chosen was in. So, he issues an imperial order to gather and bring all the selected 15 Tournament Managers of Milky Way Gxy to meet him within a day. The Red Elven Emperor wanted to personally brief them on the importance of recruiting the Omega Chosen of Milky Way Gxy and list them the top-notch resources they had to mention to entice the Omega Chosen, along with the Red Elven Empire''s Grand Elder position. If anyone from the Red Elven Empire were to know about this, they would widen their mouths in disbelief since the authority of a Grand Elder was on par with the Emperor himself. After an hour, an advisor approached the Emperor, who was sitting on his throne, "Your Majesty, I issued your order to those 15 members and made arrangements so that they could reach here by the end of the day. However, one of them refused to appear." The Emperor''s gaze turned fierce, and his voice reverberated in the court, "Hmph! This matter is of utmost importance to the Empire and all the Emperor''s subjects have the responsibility to think of the welfare of the Empire. Didn''t I already mention that the rewards will be based on their contribution? Who is it that was insolent enough to ignore my imperial order?" The advisor shuddered in fear under the pressure of the now angry Emperor''s gaze. He then replied with difficulty, "Your Maj¡­..Majesty, It was the 3rd Prince." Only when the Emperor heard that it was the 3rd Prince did he calm down and let out a helpless sigh. The 3rd Prince was once one of the strongest individuals in the Empire, on par with the Emperor, and was even the top candidate for bing the next Emperor. With his dual Fire and Wood Grade-7 Innate Talents, he even had the potential to ovee the 2nd Universe Limit and reach Tier-7. Everyone in the Red Elven Empire believed that the 3rd prince would bring the Empire to new heights one day. But 15 years back, due to a deviation, while ascending to Tier-7, his Spirit Pool, the most essential part of an elemental innate talent user, was severely damaged, and he regressed to Tier-4 Low-Phase without any chance to grow stronger anymore. It was a massive setback for the 3rd Prince. Over the years, the Emperor tried to remedy his condition, but no miraculous medicine could help him. From then, the 3rd prince didn''t set foot out of his mansion and other than his own children and wife, he didn''t meet with anyone else. The Emperor tried to bring him out of depression, but all his attempts failed to rekindle the 3rd Prince''s motivation. So, when the Emperor heard that it was the 3rd Prince that ignored his direct order, he ignored it since that was amon appearance for the past few years. At the same time, the Emperor was happy that the 3rd Prince took the initiative to be a Regional Tournament Manager instead of dwelling on his past. Back then, the Emperor ced many hopes on the 3rd Prince to make their Empire even more powerful; now that another opportunity presented itself in the form of the Zephyr Gctic Cluster and its Omega Chosen, he wanted to hold on to it. The Emperor''s intention was to have that Omega Chosen feel attached to his Empire so that when the Omega Chosen eventually grows stronger and ascends to Mega Cluster level hegemonies and Universe Level ones, the Empire could use him/her to grow in power and dominate the Virgo SuperCluster or even more. It''s not just the Red Elven Empire, but the remaining nine Hegemonies were also having the same thoughts of using the Omega Chosen''s help to be the most powerful force in the Virgo SuperCluster. While the Emperor was in his thoughts, an official with a leather parchment in his hand approached the advisor who just spoke with the Emperor and asked, "Did you find out which the Region that the 3rd Prince was allotted to? I was recording today''s events in detail as everything that happened today will go down our Empire''s annals of history." The advisor replied, "Yes, Yes.... that''s true, today is an important day for our Empire. About the 3rd Prince''s allotted Trial Region, it was the 35th Trial Region in the 7th Trial Continent of the MilkyWay Gxy''s Trial World." Note: ------------------------------- 1 Universe = 1000 Mega Cluster 1 Mega Cluster = 1000 Super Clusters 1 SuperCluster = 1000 Gctic Clusters 1 Gctic Cluster = 1000 Gxies. ------------------------------- 1 Trial World = 10 Trial Continents 1 Trial Continent = 100 Trial Regions 1 Trial Region = 1000 Trial Regions ------------------------------- Also, if you go back to Ch.19, you could find that the 35th Trial Region in the 7th Trial Continent of the MilkyWay Gxy''s Trial World was the one Earth Trial Zone was in. It''s rather evident since I wouldn''t mention the Red Elven Empire and the 3rd Prince if it weren''t for that. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 109 - Blue Fishie By the time the mode cooldown ended, Akor and Jay reached the other end of the Aquatic trial zone and found the System barrier that separates the third and fourth trial zones. Once they reached the water surface, Storm Eagle MJ and Dante were already waiting there. Using the skill that Jay recently learned from Ans, he stood on top of the water surface along with Akor. Back when Jay had MJ record the demonstrations of Ans creating Skill Circuits of various aquatic skills, he didn''tze around and learned some of them. Since Jay had a , he was able to learn the water-type skills. If not, it wouldn''t be possible to create or learn any aquatic skill by themselves. Back then, Jay only had a Grade-3 , so he could only learn a little more than half of them and left out theplex ones that needed more precise maniption of water element. Now that Jay has a Grade-5 , creating or learning new water-type skills would be easier. However, he didn''t bother with them and decided to deal with themter. Storm Eagle MJ, who was floating a few meters above the water surface with Dante on top of it, closed in on Jay and hovered beside him. Akor turned apprehensive at the sight of Storm Eagle MJ, whose presence was more potent than any monster he ever came across. But watching Jay pet its head, Akor let out a breather. He then thought to himself with reverence, ''Amazing! Liege could even tame a monster, and that too such a powerful one at that. '' Jay read his thoughts and said, "This isn''t exactly a tamed monster but a monster corpse that was integrated by MJ. As to who MJ is¡­.why don''t I introduce him to you." In the next second, Baby MJ in a little Santa costume popped on top of Jay''s shoulder and rubbed his cheek against Jay''s face with affection. After caressing MJ''s little head, Jay introduced MJ to Akor, "This little guy is MJ. He will be instructing you on what to do as I will be busy with making gateways in the system barriers for the next two days, and that there is Dante, my fellow Alpha Chosen from Earth''s Trial Zone." Jay then pointed at Akor, "This here is Akor, an Alpha Chosen from this trial zone. He will be joining our trial zone expedition. You guys stick together with Storm Eagle MJ and slowly follow me; I will be heading first to make gateways for another three trail zones in the next 30 mins." After that, without dying anymore, Jay activated mode while activating at the same time to stay in my usual size. Enveloping his fist with Origin Energy, Jay punched the System barrier with just enough power so that only a small portion of the barrier would break without creating a deafening sound that could attract hordes of monsters. Dealing with a horde of monsters was not an issue for Jay, but he has to use the 25-minute duration that he has in mode to enter as many trial zones as possible. Soon, Jay left towards the other end of the fourth trial zone after creating his own rule barrier in the gap that he created. Watching Jay break the System barrier so easily with strange silver energy caused Akor to revere him even more and appreciated his own decision to follow Jay. After Jay''s figure disappeared in the horizon, Baby MJ''s amicable smile took a 180-degree turn and stared daggers at Akor while having his hands folded in front of his chest. "Hmph! Aren''t you the Blue Fishie that dared to imprison my Master?" Akor didn''t know what to say when he heard MJ calling him ''Blue Fishie''. He then let out an awkward smile and said, "Little Mister MJ, forgive my past insolence. I will be in your care from now on." Baby MJ rubbed his hands and smirked, "Don''t you think that I will let your previous actions slide. However, since Master made me in charge of you for the next two days, you will be running errands for me. Like plucking out Spirit Crystals from monster carcasses and helping Earth Wyrm with mining Spirit Metal ore. Do you have any problems with my instructions? " Akor''s mouth twitched at MJ''s words. Akor wanted to retort that he didn''t want to be an errand boy, but he could only swallow his words when he felt the Storm Eagle MJ''s intimidating gaze. He then realised that the monster in front of him was as strong as Jay when he wasn''t using the Silver Energy. It wasn''t wrong since Storm Eagle MJ has the same overall stats as Jay with 840 Stats, meaning that it was also stronger than a Tier-3 High-Phase monster. Akor then gulped and let out a few dry coughs before saying, "Of course, of course, I wouldn''t mind being Little Mister MJ''s Errand boy." Baby MJ had a satisfied smile on his face, "At least you know what''s good for you. Also, call me ''Great Venerable'' from now on." Dante sensed where the conversation was going. So, before MJ could start the neverending made-up story, Dante intervened and greeted Akor, "It''s good to meet you, Akor. As the oldest member of our Party, I wee you. " Akor greeted back, "I am pleased to meet you, Sir Dante." Dante waved both his hands while saying, "You don''t have to use honorifics like Sir and just call me by my name." However, Dante could only let out a helpless sigh when he heard Akor''s following words. "I wouldn''t dare disrespect my Liege''spanion." After that, Dante signalled Akor while sitting on top of Storm Eagle MJ, "Come on, hop over here, let''s chat on our way." Akor did as Dante asked and climbed over Storm Eagle MJ and Storm Eagle MJ took off in the direction Jay went. ***** Time passed since then, and it was already the end of Day-8, with just half an hour left before the Alpha Chosen will be teleported to their respectives for the Day-8 rest period. Meanwhile, Jay entered the 30th Trial Zone and still didn''t find the Arch Spirit Fruit. Even though Jay couldn''t find what he was looking for, he gained a lot from the Trial Zones he had been through. Whether it be Spirit Crystals or Spiritual Fruits, or Spirit Metal Ores, now he had tons of them. When Jay first began to enter other trial zones, he instructed MJ''s corpse integrated monsters to hunt down every monster in those trial zones, along with the Tier-3 Mid-Phase and High-Phase ones that were restricted with domes. As MJ''s corpse integrated monsters were basically monsters, they weren''t teleported to Earth along with Jay. Since the time in Trial World flows four times faster than the rest of the gxy, the 18 hour rest period on Earth was the same as 72 hours in there. By the end of Day-8, 20 trial zones were thoroughlybed through by Hobgoblin MJ, Venomous Scorpion MJ, Shadow Leopard MJ, Earth Wyrm MJ and Storm Eagle MJ without leaving a single monster alive in them. The Alpha Chosen in those 20 trial zones were bewildered when they couldn''t find monsters anymore. But after seeing the carcasses spread around, they weren''t able to imagine who did all that. However, the Alpha Chosen from a few trial zones witnessed MJ''s monsters massacring monsters. Initially, they were scared of their wits, but after noticing that they weren''t harming the Alpha Chosen, a few approached and thanked MJ''s monsters, only to be ignored by them. Since the gathered Spirit Crystals, Spiritual Fruits and Spirit Metal Ore in each trial zone were too much to transport them all to the Earth''s trial zone in a short amount of time; Jay had them stored in a Tier-3 High-Phase monster''s dome in each trial zone. As those domes would be there till Day-21, all that was stored in them would be safe for a while. With Jay being the only one who could enter those system restricted domes, they would be safe. Within the 30th Trial Zone, Jay, Dante and Akor sat under the shadow of a huge tree and were eating the roasted meat of a Tier-3 Low-Phase monster, Lightning Tiger. Even though Jay had packed foods in the storage space of , he ate the monster''s meat as it improves the body recovery process and also aids in nourishing one''s body and maintaining tip-top condition. Akor took a bite at a slice of the roasted meat and praised Dante, "Sir Dante, your cooking skills never cease to amaze me. The seasonings you add to them bring an ''out of the world'' taste. I should introduce your cooking recipes to my; weck any outstanding delicacies." Dante ruffled the back of his head, "You praise me too much. Even though I was a professional cook, my cooking skills areckingpared to the truly talented chefs on Earth." Akor and Dante continued to chat while Jay finished having his portion of the Lightning Tiger''s meat and resumed training Qew''s Innate Talent Mastery. The Achievement Title isn''t for nothing since he trains most of the time. Twenty minutester, the reached Lv.30, which ended up awakening Qew''s third Innate Exclusive Skill. [Congrattions! You have awakened 3rd Innate Exclusive Skill of , .] [: Let the user converge two Innate Talents into a more powerful Innate Talent of the higher grade among the two. (As long as the grade of the Innate Talent is below Grade-10, it can be converged.) No. of uses per 24 hours: 1] To Jay, it came as a surprise that Qew''s Innate Talent could even converge one''s Innate Talent. However, there were restrictions to it. Unlike Qew''s first and second innate exclusive skills, which could converge Skills and Spirit Items to a higher grade, the third one could not improve the grade of the final result. Jay didn''t hurry to try it right away and waited for Day-8 to end and use it during the Day-8 rest period. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 110 - Soon, the Day-8 rest period began, and every Alpha Chosen in the Trial World was teleported to their respectives. But, MJ''s corpse integrated monsters were still going on a monster massacre, and at the rate they progressed, the remaining 10 of the 30 trial zones would be cleared before the Day-9 could begin. Back on Earth, it was 6 in the morning when Jay was teleported into his house. After a quick bath, Jay entered the Spirit Energy reinforced training room in the basement and called out to MJ, "MJ, let''s begin with converging Grade-3 & Grade-4." Then MJ''s voice sounded in his head, "As you wish, Master." Once MJ''s voice ended, a change took ce in Jay''s Spirit Space and Qew''s Innate Talent that was orbiting on the 10th circr orbit around , let out a beam of light towards the purple-coloured sphere in the 4th circr orbit and red-coloured sphere in 3rd circr orbit. Once that beam hit them, the red sphere moved towards the purple one and began to merge with it. The entire process didn''t take more than a minute before both the spheres merged into one with two colours in it, a mix of both red and purple. Then a series of notifications popped up in Jay''s vision. [You have sessfully converged Grade-3 and Grade-4 , creating a Grade-4 .] [ enters a 24-hour cooldown until it can be usable again.] [Congrattions! You are the 1st Existence in the Entire Universe tobine two elements into one, creating a Dual-Element, Lightning Fire while just being in Tier-2.] [Due to causing a Universe Level Achievement, you will receive a random grade reward that will be most useful to you at the present moment. The Grade of the reward depends on your Luck Attribute.] [Current Universe Points: 7600.] [You don''t have enough Universe Points to exchange for the weapon you wished for, and till the request proceeds, the Universe Points will be pooled together to satisfy the exchange value for the weapon (Origin ive) you wished for.] To my shock, Qew''s Innate Talent was able to wlessly merge two innate talents into one. Moreover, that ended up creating a higher element itself. Usually, for a higher element, there would just be a property of another element added to one''s main Innate Talent element. But, in this case, the fire and lightning elements had the same contribution to the creation of this higher element. I looked at the description of the new Innate Talent that appeared in my after the [Grade-4 (Fire & Lightning) (Elemental Category) Gives Host the ability toprehend the ''Lightning Fire'' Element without losing the ability to individually manipte Fire and Lightning elements and their respective skills. Increases itsprehension speed by four-fold.] Jay let out a sigh of relief, knowing that he could still use Fire and Lightning elements differently. He also noticed that when Grade-3 & Grade-4 converged, the result gave out a Grade-4 Innate Talent. Meaning thatter, when he converges Grade-5 with the Grade-4 , the end result will give out a Grade-5 one. Jay was quite intrigued by this aspect and couldn''t wait for 24 hours to pass so that he could try using the Water Innate Talent to create a Tri-Elemetal Innate Talent, a Grade-5 one at that. After that, Jay willed it, and a purple-coloured fire that had red-coloured sparks dazzling over it was conjured and began to float over his right palm. Following his actions, another set of notifications popped up. [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.1 (Stage-1)] [Lv.1: Lv.1 Lightning Fire-element training methods will be transmitted into your mind.] [Your Lv.30 ispatible with Lv.1, do you wish to merge both of them and improve ?] Since it was already made clear that he wouldn''t lose control over the fire element or its Mastery, he agreed to merge both of them. [Lv.30 + Lv.1 = Lv.15] [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.15 (Stage-2)] [Lv.15: Lv.15 Lightning Fire-element training methods will be transmitted into your mind.] Jay could have chosen to train the using the usual way, but this way, he directly reached Lv.15 and saved some training time. Still, with this new Innate Talent being a Grade-4 one, it would take quite some time to reach Lv.30, the peak of Stage-3. On a positive note, even though the ''Lightning Fire'' element was only at its Minor Mastery, it could easily rival the power of the elements that reached Major Mastery. Typically, the weakness of the fire element is its rtively slow movement. In the case of the lightning element, it was fast, but its raw attack power is not as high as a pure fire elemental attack of the same level. After testing around the Lightning Fire element for a while, Jay learned that the ''Lightning Fire'' element has higher attack power than the fire element and is faster than the lightning element by a notch. Because of this higher element, Jay''s overall power improved once again. Now he believed that he could sh with a Tier-4 Low-Phase monster without being on the losing end. Even though defeating such a monster is quite hard, Jay is satisfied with the results. Soon after, he rested for 3 hours before leaving for the Nav-Yuga Enterprise Headquarters. Due to his high Endurance and Vitality attributes, he only felt a bit tired even after not sleeping for thest 52 hours. The 3-hour nap was enough to revitalise his mental exhaustion. As one''s tier continues to increase, their need to sleep will gradually fade away till there is no need to sleep at all. However, that''s a story for another day. Soon, Jay reached the Enterprise H.Q on his advanced S.E.E.D model car that MJ created for him using the S.E.E.D technology. (Note: S.E.E.D technology = Spirit Energy Engineering Device technology) Jay''s car didn''t stand out too much due to its chassis camouge feature, which allowed the high-tech looking car to look like a regr car''s external appearance. But still, his arrival caused amotion among the employees who were just entering the 30 storeys tall building. "Hey, what happened? Why are you both staring at that man? Is he a new employee? I don''t remember seeing him before." A young female employee asked her two fellow employees whom she was close with. "You don''t know him? Oh right, you are from the ounting department, it''s reasonable that you don''t know him. I will give you a hint; you could figure it out yourself. He is the President''s eldest son." One of her fellow employees replied. The female employee''s eyes opened wide. "That''s him? The newly appointed chief of security, Jay?" "Bingo! Yup, that''s the same man who caught several espionage spies from otherpanies. Since there were none of those spies in your ounting department, you didn''te there, resulting in you not seeing him." One of them added, "Let me tell you something interesting about him. He used to work as a model." Another female employee retorted, "Where did you hear that? That''s not true. He used to be a Mixed Martial Art trainer. My cousin learned martial arts under him a few years back, so I have seen him a few times." The one who said Jay was a model stuck her tongue out and let out a sillyugh, "Really? I must have heard a fake rumour. But you can''t me me. Just look at his chiselled jawline that matches his perfectly symmetrical face shape and the perfect physique that his golden and ck clothes couldn''t hide. Anyone would believe he was a model if they didn''t know anything about him." The female employee that seemed to know Jay from before subtly bumped her shoulder onto her colleague''s shoulder and said, "Alright, you can stop drooling now. If you have some thoughts about him, you can forget about them. Jay has a pretty cold personality. Even my cousin, who learned martial arts under him for over a year has never seen him smile orugh. Also, he rarely interacts with anyone outside of his work." "Heyy! Wh...Who''s drooling? I am just mentioning the fact that Jay looks handsome; that''s it! Anyway, I am more interested in his younger sibling, Kay. He is so friendly, charismatic and charming. I hope he talks to me one day." The other female employee said with her cheeks blushed. "Heh, Dream on, there is a long list of the female fanbase for Kay, hehehe, including me. You have to wait in the queue, pretty girl." Her colleagueughed as if she was Kay''s girlfriend. All of this didn''t escape Jay''s sharp senses. It wasn''t just those three female employees, but many others were more or less talking about him or Kay. Jay already knew of Kay''s poprity within the Enterprise, so their conversations didn''te as a surprise to him. But when he heard someone saying that he used to work as a model, he didn''t know what to say. Looks-wise, Jay used to be a cut above the average, but after going through two evolutions, his skin''s vibrancy outshone itself, and underlying facial features gave out perfect symmetry, bringing out the best version of himself, making him look handsome as per human''s aesthetic standards. Ignoring everyone''s gaze, Jay walked into the Enterprise''s headquarters. Since he took the job in his family Enterprise, he didn''t neglect his responsibility as the chief of security. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 111 - Qews Terrifying Innate Talent. ***** Till four in the evening, Jay continued to weed out any internal problems within the Enterprise and took care of several external potential threats that could negatively impact their enterprise. After that, he went to his house and then MJ''s voice sounded in his head, "Master, they would reach the airport in the next hour." "Alright, now locate where Kay and Qew were at right now." Jay mentallymanded. "Master, Moro is training them within the Hypergravity Chamber in the Deep Underground Secret Base. Should I inform them toe here?" "No need for that. I will be going there. Prepare a chamber pod for the Secret Base." "I am already on it, Master." After a few seconds, a cylindrical chamber pod emerged from within the floor of his house''s basement. He entered the horizontal chamber pod that could easily fit in a person, and once Jay settled down in a lying position, the ss hatch of the chamber pod closed. Then it moved 50 meters deep into the ground and stopped after reaching the junction of a handful of high-tech looking tunnels. Those subterranean tunnels were created by MJ''s quantum A.I''s to provide Jay with a faster means of travel without having to be noticed by others. Especially since the secret base is hidden in an isted forest area outside the city, and there are chances of someone eventually finding the hidden elevator entrance by following Jay or his siblings or the core security personnel members. MJ''s digital face glowed with a blue outline upon the ss while the chamber pod moved downwards. "Master, the Secret Base is 22.4 kms (14 miles) away from here. At Mach-1 speed, it would take a minute to reach the destination. Would you like to proceed?" "Let''s make it short, go at full capacity, my body could handle it." "Prepare for the Impact, Master. Initialising subterranean tunnel slingshot in 3...2...1¡­Launch!" In just 3 seconds, the chamber pod elerated to a speed of Mach-7, leaving Jay to experience several times gravity that was enough to crush an average human. Of course, professional pilots operating fighter jets at such speeds wouldn''t be crushed, but in this case, the chamber pod elerated to Mach-7 in just 3 seconds, exerting a massive gravity force over Jay, who was seated within. Those kinds of speeds were usually seen among hypersonic fighter jets. (Mach-1 speed (speed of sound): 343 meters/sec, Mach-7 speed: 2401 meters/sec ) However, that wasn''t hard to deal with for Jay, who could withstand 100 times the gravity. In just 15 seconds, the chamber pod that Jay was lying in reached the interior of the secret base, and the ss hatch opened up as Jay stepped out of it and headed towards the Hypergravity Chamber in there. Before long, Jay walked in through the dpression room that was connected to the Hypergravity chamber. Since it was already in use, anyone who wants to enter has to go through the dpression room that could help in steadily increasing the gravity to match the gravity in the Hypergravity chamber. That way, the person who is entering could familiarize themselves with the improved gravity without having to suffer from the sudden increase. Instead of directly entering the Hypergravity chamber, Jay watched what was happening inside through the ss wall of the dpression room. In there, Qew and Kay were sparring with each other under the supervision of Moro and Esha. However, it wasn''t just a closebat based spar since they were also using their Innate Talent abilities. The Hypergravity chamber that the Quantum A.I''s created within the Secret Base was even three timesrger than the one in the Earth''s Foothold in Trial World. Jay didn''t guess that they would take advantage of its vastness to use it as a sparring area whilst experiencing higher gravity at the same time. Even though the current amount was set at 10G''s, it''s still harder to spar in such a condition as it expends more stamina due to the heaviness of one''s own body. However, what surprised him was how Kay used his Innate Talent. He was creating transparent walls of rule barriers to defend himself from Qew''s attacks. But those rule barriers were a bit different from the in old ones in the Trial World, as they had transparent chains emerging from them, trying to capture Qew and incapacitate her. Despite being the one who trained to the peak of Stage-3, Jay didn''t try using Rule Mastery the same way as Kay. Jay only used it to enter dome barriers and to cover the gaps in trial zones barriers. Looking at how Kay was using the rule barriers in a fight, a sense of realisation hit him. Since Jay was going around improving Masteries of several innate talents, he hasn''t had the time to focus on a single one of them, leading to his current predicament of not utilising their proper potential. This made Jay realise the importance of focussing on a single Mastery. After all, using an Innate Talent is more important than simply increasing its respective Mastery. Jay decided to go with converging more elements into one powerful higher element and focus on its Mastery. In the spar between his siblings, the one that surprised him the most was his sister, Qew. It was because she was using and to dodge Kay''s rule barrier chains. Those were the skills I obtained by converging a few of my skills. Now, Qew was using them freely, as if they were her own skills. However, what''s even more shocking was that Qew was able to use the skill skill without possessing the Wind Innate Talent and without Darkness Innate Talent. The essential prerequisite of using any skills was that one''s own Innate Talent should have an affinity with the skill to use it. That was why a Fire Innate Talent user could not use a Wind elemental skill by simply expanding Spirit Energy into it. For some reason, was an exception to this concept, as Jay could use any skill without possessing the respective Innate Talent. Back when Jay had used the skill to burn the bodies of the Underworld Syndicate criminals that tortured his brother, he wasn''t yet in possession of Fire Innate Talent. But still, Jay was able to use it. He didn''t understand how Qew was able to do it. The spar between his siblings seemed about to reach its end as Kay surrounded Qew with nearly tenyers of dome rule barriers. Even though each of those dome barriers was not as strong as those used in the Trial World, all ten of thembined were strong enough to hold a Tier-3 Low-Phase monster in it. Qew tried punching and using some other skills, but they weren''t enough to break it as the dome barrier continued to shrink while Kay''s palms looked like they were both pressing down on an invisible basketball with difficulty. "Sister, admit defeat. You can''t escape it. Today will be my win." Kay said to Qew with a gloating look over his face. In thest two days, the spars between the siblings resulted in Qew winning all of them. Qew seemed to have a knack for closebat. Under Moro''s guidance, Qew progress was so fast that even Esha and other core security members were shocked at her learning speed. They believed that it wouldn''t be long before her closebat prowess would exceed them. Recently, Kay came up with a new way of using rule barriers and with that, Kay gained the upper hand in the spar against his domineering bully of a sister; he couldn''t wait to see her defeated expression. "Little Brother, I didn''t want to use this but now that you have forced me into a corner, you have left me with no choice but to use it." Qew said with an eerie smile on her face as a ball of Purple fire with red shed crawling over it appeared on her palm. Everyone, including Moro, was taken aback by the appearance of a powerful element. However, Jay was the one who was shocked the most. It was because the element that Qew was using at the moment was his ''Lightning Fire'' element that he created just that morning. While Jay was under the confusion, MJ chirped in his mind, "Master, it''s actually quite simple; Miss Qew was able to use anything that you use her Innate Talent, to converge, whether it be skills or Innate Talents. Since you created the by converging two of your looted Innate Talents, her Innate Talent left a seal mark on it after the converging process, including all the skills you have converged." Only then did Jay learn how terrifying her Innate Talent was. Meanwhile, the ball of Lightning Fire over Qew''s palm spun rapidly before she pushed it onto the dome barrier. Crackling sounds reverberated in the Hypergravity chamber as her attack broke through all the tenyers of dome barrier before she closed in on Kay, who was exhausted due to expanding almost all of his Spirit Energy from using so many rule barriers in the spar. Even then, Kay tried to give thest try in closebat, but it didn''t take long before Qew held him in a choke lock. After nearly half a minute of suffocation, Kay tapped out, indicating his defeat. Qew let him off, giving Kay a breather and said with a smug smile while dusting her hands off, "Little brother, you were born five minutes after me. You can forget about defeating this Big Sister." Even though Qew was saying that her defeating Kay was prettymon, her thoughts were a bit different from what she was letting out. ''Ooff, that''s a close call. If not for the strange element that I could control ever since this morning, I would have been defeated by that brat. I have to train harder and maybe with this new element, maybe one day I could even defeat my elder brother.'' She then giggled to herself at the thought of defeating Jay and flicking his head like how Jay usually does to Qew. Right then, she heard a voiceing from the entrance of the Hypergravity chamber. "Oh really? Then why don''t we have a spar right now?" Qew''s lips twitched upon hearing Jay''s voice. She then turned towards Jay and yelled, "Heyy!! Don''t read my thoughts! Give me some privacy. Okay?" Jay lifted both his hands above his head before saying with augh, "Alright, alright, I won''t anymore." He then brought his arms down and continued, "But since you are thinking of defeating me by using that element, let me show you this." After saying that, Jay pointed his right hand forefinger towards the ceiling, and the same Lightning Fire element that Qew used a minute ago appeared and danced over his finger. Looking at the shocked Qew, he then asked, "How do you think you could control this higher element and use the skills such as and ?" Once Jay revealed more about it, Qew learned how she was able to use so many skills and such a powerful element. "What do you say about a quick spar with me? Don''t you want to defeat me?" Jay said with a smirk as he flicked her forehead before heading towards Kay, who was lying on the floor from exhaustion. Qew let out a grunt while rubbing her forehead and ambitiously dered out loud, "Just you wait Brother, one day, I will flick your forehead too." Jay ignored her and offered his hand to Kay, and pulled him up from the floor. "Don''t be down; you almost got her. It''s okay if your closebat prowess is not as good as hers. You can instead focus on what you are good at. Like yourprehension of the ''Law of Rule''. Even though I have the same as you, I couldn''t yet do what you just did. It will take some time and practice for me to achieve your proficiency. I believe you could defeat Qew as long as you focus on this path." Jay consoled Kay and motivated him at the same time. Soon after, Jay added, "Oh, by the way, Delegates from a Scottishpany will soon be arriving at the airport, go and receive them. As long as our Enterprise forms a partnership with theirpany, we could soon upscale our Enterprise to international markets." Jay brought out two sets of a Grade-3 Stamina Fruit and Grade-3 Spirit Fruit from the before giving them to Kay and Qew. Once they ate both of them and recovered a part of their Stamina and Spirit Energy, Jay said to Qew, "Sister, you go with Kay as well." While Kay was excited by the aspect that their Enterprise could leap higher, Qewined, "Big Brother, Kay can take care of them. He is good with handling business deals. I will be no good there. I will stay back and train more." Jay clicked his tongue as he shook his head before taking out a ruby coloured ne. "What a pity. If you had agreed to my request, I would have gifted this space storage ne that I recently obtained in the Trial World. Maybe I should give it to someone else." Looking at the gorgeous ne, Qew''s attitude took aplete turn, especially since she pleaded with Jay to get her a space storage item in the past few days. "Hey, Kay, what are you doing there standing there dilly dallying? Let''s go to the airport already." She then snatched the ruby ne from Jay and ran while dragging Kay with her to go to the airport. Moro and Esha nodded to Jay before following Kay and Qew since they were their personal security guards. Left in the Hypergravity chamber alone, Jay smiled, thinking back to Qew''s actions. Soon after, he had MJ improve the gravity to 50 G''s before beginning his training there. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 112 - Siblings’ Pact. ***Qew''s POV*** After freshening up and changing to formal attire, both Kay and I were on our way to the Airport. After all, we can''t go there with how we looked after an hour of training and sparring. Since we had to receive and bring those Delegates to the guest house at our Family Vi, we travelled there in two cars. The same advanced S.E.E.D model cars that my elder brother gifted to Kay and me. Moro and Kay travelled in one car while Sister Esha and I travelled in another one. If it were a normal car, Sister Esha wouldn''t have let me drive at all because I haven''t driven a car before, but since this car could be driven simply by cing my hand over the neural link panel by my seat that could let me control how the vehicle moves with just my thoughts, she allowed me to drive. Even though this car has the function of self-driving by simply giving out a voicemand of the destination location, I still drove the car by myself as I found the aspect of driving a car with thoughts to be exciting. Before long, we reached the Airport, and MJ informed us that the Scottishpany delegates would be arriving at the private nending strip in the next 5 minutes. By the time we got there, we could already see a Private Jetnding on the runway strip. Kay and I were taken aback because it wasn''t a Chartered Airne that could be rented, but it was actually a privately owned jet. Since I was quite interested in aerones from my childhood, I used to read many magazines about various kinds of Airnes. So, with a single look, I could tell the Private Jet in front of us was a World-ss one. We didn''t know that the unknown Scottishpany my elder brother mentioned was such a big one that it has a world-ss private jet that costs more than 250 million dors. Soon, we approached the private jet as its hatch opened before a row of steps paved a way, connecting its entrance to the runway ground. From within, a brte haired woman in a light golden power suit stepped out, followed by a Russian man in a ck suit and shades, who was as tall as Moro. As soon as I saw her, I recognised her right away and to confirm something; I asked MJ by voicing it out into the second wristband prototype on my left wrist. "MJ, is she the same Olivia who is one of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen?" "Yes, Miss Qew." MJ replied. Kay and I usually learn the details about the events that happened in the trial zone through MJ. So, we knew of the events on Day-2, which led to my elder brother making a woman named Olivia, a Major ORIGIN SIGIL holder. I used to think that my elder brother thought high of her Innate Talent for him to do what he did. He could have given her a Rudimentary or even a Minor ORIGIN SIGIL if that was the case. But, now that I found that the same Olivia was the ''Olivia Morris'', everything became clear in my head. I could tell that he did that because of my younger brother. I then turned to look at Kay, who stood in a daze looking at Olivia as she walked towards us. Just like me, he seemed to realise that she was an Alpha Chosen. Other than that, Kay''s pupils dted looking at his crush, Olivia, in reality. I didn''t think my elder brother would one day try to act as a matchmaker. I also began to understand why he asked me toe here with Kay to the Airport. It was because of the pact that we three siblings made when we were 17 years old. It was that when one of us has a love interest for someone, one of the other two always has to be pessimistic about that love interest while the other one has to be entirely optimistic about them. Actually, I was the one who made up this pact after my elder brother''s ex-girlfriend broke up with him because we weren''t rich anymore as our Enterprise went through a rough patch back then. I did it because having a close person in our life who stays uprightly pessimistic about one''s love interest or even a boyfriend/girlfriend it would help in revealing something that the person who was attracted or in love couldn''t see. Likewise, having another one in our life always being optimistic counterbnces the effect brought by the pessimistic view and brings a bnce in our life. At least, that''s what I believed when I was 17, hence making the rather strange pact. It''s more like having a ''Prosecutor'' and a ''Defencewyer'', where one takes your side while the other acts against it. Since my elder brother was ying the matchmaker, he must have believed that Olivia and Kay could get together, making him the ''Defence Lawyer'' for Kay. Meaning that I have to be the ''Prosecutor'' here and find valid points on why Kay and Olivia shouldn''t be together. Soon, she reached us, and this idiotic brother of mine was still in a daze. So, I took the initiative to greet her. "Good Evening Miss Olivia. My elder brother sent us to receive you. However, he failed to mention that thepany we would be trying to partner up with was F.U.T.U.R.E Inc, hence my younger brother Kay''s reaction. Excuse his rudeness." Kay got out of his daze, and taking my hints, with a wry smile, he greeted her. "Where were my manners? It''s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Olivia. Why don''t we head to my family''s Vi, there we arranged for your stay. We can hold a proper meeting at Nav-Yuga Enterprise tomorrow and discuss the terms of the partnership." Olivia nodded at Kay, and right then, MJ popped out of my Wristband prototype and shouted with Joy as he jumped at Olivia and hugged her, "Sister Olivia!! You are here! I was waiting for you." Sheughed and rubbed his head before saying, "Little MJ, weren''t you chatting with me during the flight? You missed me already?" Even though I know that MJ was close with Olivia, I know that they were so close. For some reason, my lips twitched uncontrobly. Maybe I shouldn''t bully MJ from now on. Then, he might be like that with me too. While feeling a bit jealous, I turned to look at Kay, who had a dreamy look over his face with adoration for Olivia, who was smiling while ying with MJ. ''Ah! This idiot Kay is already head over heels for her. This just makes my role as a ''Prosecutor'' tougher than what I thought it would be. First, I had to know her properly before judging her." Once we reached our cars, I invited Olivia and the Russian man, Sergei, to join me in my car. I was worried that Kay would once again daze while looking at Olivia, unintentionally making her ufortable and spoiling his chance to get to know each other before any even begin between them. At that moment, I acted as a sister who was looking after her brother rather than ying the ''Prosecutor'' role. Soon after both of them got in my car, they were taken back by my car''s interior since there was no steering wheel, no gears, nothing but in seats that were ergonomically designed for utmostfort. On our way, I chatted with Olivia. For a while, it was about the Trial World and the System. After that, it was about the S.E.E.D technology. Usually, I am as introverted as my elder brother and talk with only a few close people. Still, I chatted a lot with her because I wanted to know more about her before judging her due to my role as the ''Prosecutor''. As we chatted, I took a liking to her personality. Unlike the cold persona that the media depicts her as. Olivia is quite approachable and friendly to mingle with. We even talked about the funny antics that MJ usually does, and I joked about how I used to pull his cheeks whenever he steals my favourite ice cream. Even the Russian man, Sergei, joined our chatter once in a while. Just like Dante mentioned, he was really a warm-hearted person. However, whenever I asked anything rted to my elder brother, Olivia would barely talk about him. Even when she answered me, she never called him by his name, almost as if she was scared of saying it. I didn''t know what my elder brother did to scare her so much. Maybe it was because she almost died because of him, or due to the fact that all of Olivia''s powers are basically under his control. I heard from MJ that my elder brother gave Olivia his word to not intervene in any of her matters without her consent. Knowing him, I am sure that he wouldn''t go back on his word. As I didn''t want her to see Jay as some kind of scary person, I briefed her about our past and how our Enterprise was unjustly framed, followed by our family friends and rtives leaving us in our difficult times and how that affected Jay''s ability to trust anyone outside of the close family. I didn''t know if what I said had changed her view of my elder brother. I just wanted her to know that Jay is a trustworthy person and no need for her to be afraid of him. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 113 - Origin Glaive Replica (Epic Grade) ***** While it appeared as if Olivia and Sergei were calm during their meeting with Jay''s siblings and throughout the journey, that wasn''t really the case. As they got off the Private Jet, both of them were taken aback by the presence of the four people who were waiting for them at the runway airstrip. Sergei and Olivia then used on all four of them, but since none of them was assimted with the System, they didn''t have any level or tier to be shown. However, the Estimated Level and Tier part showed that among the four of them, three were at Tier-2 High-Phase while the crimson-haired youth in a ck suit was at Tier-3 Low-Phase. Back on Day-1 rest day, Jay used on Kay. It only showed his name and species name since was just amon grade skill. But now that Olivia and Sergei used , an Umon grade skill, they were able to check the level, tier and their corresponding estimated parts, and that was the extent of it. The estimation only depends on one''s overall amount of stats but not one''sbat prowess or their Innate Talent''s abilities. With Jay using mode five times in the span of Day-7 & Day-8, his overall stats in increased from 830 to 930 since 10 Looted Stats were added to his attributes in every time he exits mode. For Minor ORIGIN SIGIL holders like Moro, Esha and other core security personnel, Jay could transfer them each the Undistributed Looted Stats that was equal to 25% of his overall stats. Meaning that each of them would be able to use 232 Undistributed Looted Stats. Due to training at various gravity stages in the Hypergravity Chamber, not only did they use them all but also brought their control over to 90% over their improved stats in just a few days, which should have taken a few weeks or even months to aplish. Even the Earth''s Alpha Chosen or any Alpha Chosen from the Trial World, for that matter, everyone would have at most 60 to 70% of control over their attributes since it''s been just eight days since the start of the Trial Program. Improving that control further would take quite some time unless they have any skills simr to that Jay could use. As for Major ORIGIN SIGIL holders like Qew and Kay, they were allotted 465 Undistributed Looted Stats, but as of then, both of them were only able to use half of those Undistributed Looted Stats because of the restriction that Jay set for them that only by reaching 90% or above control over their own stats could they add more Undistributed Looted Stats. Because of that, both Qew and Kay had the Estimated Tier of just Tier-2 High-Phase once they used all their allotted amount of Undistributed Stats, they would have been equivalent to a Tier-3 life form. Despite not having the overall stats of a Tier-3 life form, Kay could face a Tier-3 Low-Phase monster due to his Grade-10 Innate Talent abilities. In the case of Qew, due to the higher element Lightning Fire that she could use along with Jay, she was on par with a Tier-3 Mid-Phase monster in terms of attack power. Once Kay brings out his Innate Talent''s potential, it wouldn''t be difficult for him to fight monsters that are two phases higher than him. Coming to Moro, he was an exception among the Minor ORIGIN SIGIL holders. Due to Moro possessing a Bloodline, he could use the Undistributed Looted Stats equal to 50% of his overall stats, simr to a Major ORIGIN SIGIL holder. With the War Asura Bloodline that lets Moro gain control over the improved stats at an unprecedented rate, he already used all the Undistributed Stats that were allotted to him and obtained extra stats from using the Spiritual fruits of all five attributes from all three grades. ---------- Reminder Note from Author: Grade-1 Spiritual Fruit increases 2 stats in their specific attribute on consuming it for the first time. Grade-2 Spiritual Fruit increases 5 stats in their specific attribute on consuming it for the first time. Grade-3 Spiritual Fruit increases 10 stats in their specific attribute on consuming it for the first time. ---------- When these Spiritual Fruits of the first three grades were used in proper order, i.e., consuming Grade-1 Spiritual Fruits before Grade-2 ones and so on, they could provide a total of 85 extra overall stats (10+25+50). Combining them, Moro''s overall stats reached that of a Tier-3 Low-Phase life form. So, when Olivia and Sergei used and found that all four of them were so strong even before assimting with the System, it came as quite a shock for them, especially after finding out how strong Moro was. However, they didn''t know that if Moro activates the War Asura Skin and fights with his all, he wouldn''t have a problem standing toe to toe with a Tier-3 High-Phase monster. Among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, other than me, maybe only Olivia has the chance to defeat Moro. Even without joining the Trial Program, Moro could easily rank among the top, already stronger than almost every Alpha Chosen. Olivia was the first one toe back to her senses since she already knew that Jay had the ability to improve one''s Innate Talent grade and make them stronger with Looted Stats. Sergei was a bit slower than Olivia, but he connected the dots and confirmed his suspicions that Jay really had the ability to make someone stronger. The fact that Jay could even strengthen those who weren''t assimted with the System showcases his terrifying means and abilities. The first time Sergei saw Jay was when he dropped off Dante with them. Then he was able to make sense of how powerful Jay might be. But, when he saw Jay for the second time at the Earth''s Alpha Chosen gathering, he rethought the difference in their strengths. Back then, Sergei didn''t understand why Jay didn''t bother to recruit anyone of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. But after his recent realisation, everything became clear to him, and he felt a rush of goosebumps upon realising that if Jay wanted, he could even create his very own personal army, with each one of them being stronger than the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Not just Sergei, but also Olivia believed that Jay would one day tip the power scales of the Earth and that it wouldn''t be far away. ***** Back at the Secret Base''s Hypergravity Chamber, Jay continued to train and improve Lv.15 to Lv.20 till there was just an hour before the Day-8 rest period ended. Jay didn''t go and meet with Olivia because he didn''t want to traumatise her. Ever since she was hit by the Origin Energy shockwave and almost died, an instinctive fear rooted within her. Every time she sees Jay, she is reminded of the same ominous Origin Energy that made her experience having her Innate Talent and Soul almost wither away while a part of their consciousness was aware of everything that was happening to them. That was not something that one could forget easily. It''s a type of pain that even time takes longer to heal. So, Jay didn''t go and meet Olivia to give her the space she needed to ovee her trauma, which he inadvertently was the cause of. While Jay was in his thoughts, MJ excitedly flew towards him while holding a 6ft long Dual-ded ive in his little hands. "Master, I used the Emerald Spirit Metal Ore to create a replica of the Origin ive. Thanks to the Grade-4 Spirit Metal Ore, this is officially an Epic Grade Spirit Weapon." Jay was pumped up looking at the Grade-4 Replica of the Spirit weapon he was longing for. ______________ [ (Epic Grade): A replica that couldn''tpare to its original.] Effect: Strength+38^, Agility+42^ Requirements: 100 Strength, 100 Agility Durability: 100/100 Inherent Skill: (Rare) : Turns the ive as light as a feather and increases shing damage by four-fold. Cost: 60 Spirit Energy per second. ______________ The stats that could be gained from bonding with it were significantly higher than a Rare grade weapon, and so are its requirements. However, all of that didn''t matter to Jay, as his respective attribute stats were nearly double that of its requirements. Soon, Jay bonded with it, but he had MJ to block the Spirit Weapon stats he would receive. If he hadn''t done that, he would have gained extra 80 stats, which would bring his overall stats to 990, and Jay could atmost use mode one more time before it gets deactivated until he breaks through the 1st Universe Limit. Jay still wanted to try his luck on Day-9 and see if he could find the Arch Spirit Fruit in the following 15 trial zones that could enter by the end of Day-9. After bonding with the (Epic Grade), Jay started testing it out right away as he started swinging it in a series of attacks and counters to familiarise himself with it. Jay couldn''t wait to test out the on the Grade-4 Spirit Weapon to see if he could really unleash it within the duration that the Origin Energy takes to destroy the replica. Soon, time passed, and as the rest period was about to end, Jay instructed MJ, "It''s about time, implement RPs in the Earth''s Foothold and introduce their uses and benefits to the Earth''s Alpha Chosen." ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 114 - Three Assessments {(Part-1) Out Of 3} ***** As Day-9 began, Earth''s Alpha Chosen, with the exception of Jay and Dante, were teleported to Earth''s Foothold in the Trial World. When they all were about to go train in the various facility centres within the Earth''s Foothold, MJ gathered them to make an announcement. "Today is thest day before regional Trial Tournaments take ce. You''ve all trained well in the past few days, and made some considerable improvements. However, my master does not only want our Earth trial zone toe out on top among the 1000 trial zones in the uing tournament, but also wishes for our trial zone to be the one to achieve the highest results among each tournament that will be taking ce simultaneously in each of the 1000 Trial Regions in the Trial World. So, for that to happen, each of you have to be even stronger to make the whole team more powerful, since the first tournament will be a team-based one, rather than a one-man job. That was why Master decided to level you all up using the Party function and provide you with Rare Grade Spirit Equipment that''s suitable for each of you." Hearing this, many gasped at Jay''s ambition.. A few like Henry, Kasim, and Gabriel were gleeing in ecstasy at the thought of improving their level and Spirit Equipment. Especially Kasim and Gabriel, as they were the lowest level ones among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. However, their wide smiles were short-lived upon hearing MJ''s next words. "Don''t celebrate just yet. This won''t be for free, as you all have to earn Reward Points, in short RP, and use them to exchange with what I just mentioned and many more. These RPs basically will be the currency within Earth''s Foothold for you all and the Earth''s Beta and Gamma Alpha Chosen. As for the RP, they can be earned by going through assessments. The amount you can earn will depend on how many stages you can pass." Kasim raised his hand, "Great Venerable, what type of assessments?" Instead of giving a direct answer, MJ turned around and said without looking back, "Follow me to the virtual training chamber. I will show you all there." It didn''t take long for them to enter the virtual training chamber where the room was mainly empty, just with tens of one-meter wide disks on the floor, and each of them emitted green columns of light. "Enter the virtual space, we will continue there." MJ said as he disappeared from the spot. Soon, each of them walked onto separate disks. Since they used the virtual training chamber in the past few days, they already know how to enter the virtual space. Once they entered the green light columns, their bodies began levitating in the air before they entered a sleep-like trance. As the Earth''s Alpha Chosen regained their consciousness, they found themselves standing on arge square tform in the middle of a vast grasnd. Soon, MJ''s voice caught their attention and they turned towards the centre, where Baby MJ was floating in the air. He then said, "Alright, about the assessments I will be conducting here. They will consist of three aspects. The first one is about the degree of control you have over your Innate Talent. In this, there will be 10 stages, the higher you reach, the higher the amount of RPs you will earn." MJ waved his hand and tworge screens floated high above the square tform they were standing on. The first screen showed the amount of RPs they would earn for passing each respective stage. Whereas the second one disyed what they could exchange the RP with. ___________ Combat Assessment Stages: Stage-1: 5 RP Stage-2: 10 RP Stage-3: 25 RP Stage-4: 50 RP Stage-5: 100 RP Stage-6: 150 RP Stage-7: 200 RP Stage-8: 250 RP Stage-9: 500 RP Stage-10: 1000 RP ____________ Reward Point Exchange: 1 Level Up: 100 RP Rare Grade Spirit Equipment: 100 to 250 RP Durability repair: 10 RP Grade-3 Spiritual Fruits: 50 RP Grade-2 Spiritual Fruits: 25 RP Grade-1 Spiritual Fruits: 10 RP Slots of Training Facilities: 10 RP per hour. ____________ Among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, Olivia, Andrea, and Min-soo were the only ones who had reached Tier-3 Mid-Phase (Lv.34 to Lv.42) and the remaining ones were at Tier-3 Low-Phase (Lv.26 to Lv.33). Min-soo and Andrea were able to reach there thanks to Jay sharing the Life Energy obtained from killing monsters but once both of them reached Tier-3 Mid-Phase, Jay halted his supply of Life Energy. As for Olivia, she hunted the Tier-3 Low-Phase monsters that were roaming in the Earth''s Trial Zone, increasing her level along with a few of the others. In the same way, Kasim and Gabriel also reached Tier-3 and the only ones that remained in Tier-2 were Dante and Jay. But, it didn''t take long before they couldn''t find monsters anymore and their levels stagnated. Because of that, everyone''s rankings in the fell drastically, till there were none of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen in the top 100 rankings, except for Olivia, who stood at the 95th position. Min-soo and Andrea were at 400''s whereas Brandon and Sergei were barely a few ranks away from being thrown out of the . Not to mention, Jay was not in the top 1000 anymore. Although their overall rankings fell down, they were in no way inferior to those higher ranked than them, due to the special training facilities in the Earth''s Foothold. Nevertheless, they were pumped up now that they were presented with the opportunity to exchange for Rare Spirit Equipment and level-ups using RP to grow stronger. Gabriel walked ahead and excitedly requested MJ, "Great Venerable, please start the 1st Assessment with me." The Baby MJ, who was floating in the air with hands behind his back, nodded at the excited Gabriel and snapped his fingers, causing a huge portal-like entrance to emerge on a side of the tform. From this entrance loud sounds of wind whirling could be heard. MJ then pointed at the entrance and said to Gabriel, "What are you waiting for? Hop in that entrance and you will enter a different part of the virtual space that is filled with raging winds and storms. The first assessment is to test the standard of control over your Innate Talent Mastery. Since you have a Wind Innate Talent, this location is created for you. Crossing every 100 meters there means entering a new stage in the first assessment, and that will grant you Reward Points corresponding to the final stage you manage to cross." As soon as MJ finished, Gabriel ran and leaped into the entrance with a look of confidence. After he passed through the portal-like entrance, MJ spawned a screen to show everything that''s happening in there to the other Chosen. Within that, everyone could see Gabriel effortlessly run against the raging wind currents, usingyers of winds to protect his body. In just a few seconds Gabriel effortlessly crossed the first 100 meters. Once he crossed the 100-meter mark, the intensity of wind currents nearly doubled, slowing down his speed. Nevertheless, that didn''t prevent Gabriel from crossing the 200-meter mark and more. Everyone out on the square tform watched intently and imagined how their first assessment location would be. As time passed, Gabriel''s movement speed slowed down drastically, and by the time he crossed the 600-meter mark, he could barely walk in the wind storms surrounding him. At around 690 meters, Gabriel couldn''t move anymore and it was the least of his worries since his body was on the verge of being torn apart by the cyclones pressing on him. The confident look over his face was long gone and had been reced with agony from the pain he experienced by having his virtual avatar die. With a wave of MJ''s hand, Gabriel''s virtual avatar was brought back to life and he fell on the tform floor with a thud. Kasim approached Gabriel and offered his hand and said after pulling him up, "You could have just given up when your virtual avatar was about to be torn apart. Even though we only experience 20% of the pain here, it still sucks to die in virtual space." Gabriel sighed and said with a dejected face, "Man, I was just a few meters away from crossing the 700-meter mark and reaching Stage-7." With Gabriel, Kasim and Dante being the lowest levelled ones they had grown closer in the past few days. They supported and motivated each other to grow stronger. So, looking at the dejected Gabriel, Kasim patted his back and consoled him. If Dante was there, he would have done the same but at that moment, he was with Jay in a faraway trial zone. MJ then gave an in-depth exnation to everyone, "This Assessment doesn''t depend on how high the grade of one''s Innate Talent is, or the height of one''s Innate Talent Mastery for that matter. The only aspect that matters here is the amount of control you have over your Innate Talent, and how well you can utilize it. The virtual location that Gabriel entered was specifically designed, so that as long as he uses 100% of his Innate Talent potential, he could have crossed the 1000-meter mark andpleted it. Since Gabriel reached 690 meters, it means he has only essed 69% of his full potential." MJ then turned to look at Gabriel, "If you hadn''t trained in the Wind Cultivation grounds and other various facility centres for the past few days, I can assure you that it would have been hard for you to cross even the 500-meter mark. I am not saying this to dishearten you, but to point out that as long as you train hard in the future, it won''t be long before you will be able to cross the 700-meter mark and more." Hearing MJ, Gabriel''s eyes glinted with resolve to improve himself. Whereas others were curious to find what extent they could reach in their respective Assessments. Following that, MJ once again looked at everyone and yawned, before asking, "Well, who wants to go next?" ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 115 - Three Assessments ((Part-2) Out Of 3} Nearly an hour passed since then, and the first assessment almost came to an end, with only one of the 9 Earth''s Alpha Chosen left toplete their first assessment. As thest of them, Kensei stepped into the portal entrance designed specially to match his Sword Innate Talent. Everyone was watching how far he would reach with interest. Because the one just before Kensei had gone as far as 920 meters. No one expected Min-soo to be the one to reach Stage-9 of the first assessment that even Olivia wasn''t able to aplish. Until Min-soo finished his first assessment, Olivia was the one who scored the highest by reaching 895 meters, just five meters away from the 9oo-meter mark. Now everyone was waiting to see if the usually silent Kensei could bring them any surprises. Within the screen that showed everything that''s happening in Kensei''s assessment location, there weren''t any wind storms like how it did for Gabriel or the violent lightning field for Brandon or simr to the deadly darkness waves in Sergei''s case. . Instead, there were a hundred swords of various sizes and shapes stuck to the ground. As soon as Kensei stepped in there, they all began to shake. Just as he was about to cross 10 meters, a sword shot itself towards Kensei with its sharp end pointing at his body, and Kensei used the Sword in his hand to strike it. Still, the Sword that flew towards him only got deflected and once again shot itself towards him, intending to stab Kensei. So, he continued to deflect the Sword whenever it was about to harm him, and with every 10 meters he crossed, an extra sword joined the stray and made it harder for him to pass through. By the time he was at the 100-meter mark, ten swords were attacking him without a rest, but that didn''t hinder his movement at all as he deflected them with ease. After the 100-meter mark, even bigger and broader swords began to attack Kensei, and by the time he crossed the 600-meter mark, he was under a constant restraint of 60 swords, and he could barely move further. Out on the tform, looking at the situation inside, most of them believed that Kensei couldn''tst long before those swords would stab through his virtual avatar. Henry murmured to himself, "Come on, Kensei, weren''t you supposed to be my rival? How could you be defeated in Stage-6 when I was able to enter Stage-7?" Brandon, who was standing right beside Henry, heard him and said while looking at the screen, "You don''t need to worry about him. Didn''t you notice he has yet to use his Sword Aura? If my guess is right, Kensei is using this as an opportunity to test his own limits." Brandon''s words caught the attention of others, and they all seemed to realize that and waited in anticipation for what''s about to happen. It didn''t take long before Kensei began to use the Sword Aura and passed through the barrage of the swords with ease. One by one, he entered higher stages without any hint of slowing his pace. In just a matter of minutes, he crossed the 900-meter mark with more than 90 swords constantly obstructing his path, shocking the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen. It was because other than Min-soo; he was the only one who managed to reach Stage-9 of the first assessment. At the same time, in the virtual sword grave, Kensei struggled while dealing with the 91st Sword that was stronger than the other swordsbined. There was a significant difference in difficulty with every hundred meters. After 900 meters, it was even harder to pass ahead. From the looks of it, Kensei seemed to have reached his limit, but soon, everyone outside noticed the trans-like state that he was in. Kensei didn''t seem to struggle anymore under the barrage of 91 swords and walked ahead at a slow pace while continuing to deflect the sword strikes using his Sword Aura without even looking at any of those swords. Andrea was intrigued and asked MJ, "Great Venerable, what do you think of the strange state that Kensei was in right now?" Others looked at MJ, waiting for his answer as they too were interested to hear about it. MJ then shed some light on what was happening to Kensei, "He was in a Pseudo-state of enlightenment and initiated the process of merging three minor weapon masteries." Seeing that others didn''t understand what he said, MJ began to exin in detail, "You all must have noticed that maxing out a Minor Weapon Mastery was three times easier than that of a Minor Elemental Mastery of the same grade innate talent. That is because unlike elemental innate talent users, who can directly upgrade their element into a higher element, the weapon innate talent users had to merge three minor masteries of a particr category weapon to reach Major Weapon Mastery and turn minor weapon aura into a major one." MJ then further briefed on the two types of enlightenment. The process of upgrading Minor mastery into a Major one can be done through entering a state of enlightenment, and there are two types in it. The first one is ''Immersive Enlightenment'', where one enters a reclusive state of meditation and they wouldn''t be aware of anything around them. The second one was the ''Pseudo Enlightenment'', which typically urs when one is pressured to their limits. However, thetter type of enlightenment was less effective than the former one. Everyone on the tform turned their attention to Kensei, who advanced further at a steady pace while in Pseudo Enlightenment. Kensei''s three Minor Sword Masteries were , & . He merged two of them and managed to cross 960 meters sessfully, but once again, he came to a halt while facing the power of the 96th Sword that joined the attacks of the remaining 95 swords. Kensei tried to merge his third minor mastery to create a Major Sword Mastery while still in the Pseudo Enlightenment, but he had failed to achieve it by a hair''s breadth. If he had seeded, he would have ovee the 1st Universe Limit, just like Akor. However, it''s not so easy to upgrade to Major Mastery. It was already quite impressive that Kensei managed to reach as far as he did in just nine days since the start of the Trial Program. When Kensei gave it his all and barely reached 970 meters, he could take thebined might of 97 swords, and those numerous swords stabbed his virtual avatar before he respawned on the tform. Everyone began to look at Kensei in a new light. Under everyone''s astonished gazes, Kensei maintained his calm face, but underneath that, he was actually quite shy. Ever since he was little, he didn''t interact with people his age, since he trained in the way of the Sword in seclusion most of the time. He didn''t even attend schooling and was only instructed by a private tutor on the basic knowledge required for the modern age. Meanwhile, Henry had his jaw dropped with a dumbfounded expression on his face. He treated Kensei as his rival, and when Kensei was having trouble in Stage-6, Henry wanted him to press on so that Kensei could reach Stage-7, the same stage as him. But, not only had Kensei exceeded Henry in the first assessment, but everyone else as well. Henry usually annoys others by challenging them often and with his self-absorbed attitude. So, Andrea and Kasim took that opportunity and approached Henry before gloating at him, "If this continues in the next two assessments, you couldn''t be Kensei''s rival anymore. You have to up your game." Henry''s mouth twitched due to them making fun of him, but he couldn''t retort and stayed silent. Right then, MJ projected another screen that showed the results. __________ First Assessment Results: 1. Kensei: 970 meters (Stage-9) 2. Min-soo: 920 meters (Stage-9) 3. Olivia: 895 meters (Stage-8) 4. Andrea: 855 meters (Stage-8) 5. Brandon: 820 meters (Stage-8) 6. Sergei: 810 meters (Stage-8) 7. Henry: 760 meters (Stage-7) 8. Kasim: 715 meters (Stage-7) 9. Gabriel: 690 meters (Stage-6) __________ Soon after, MJ announced the details of the second assessment. "In the second assessment, it will be to test your closebat prowess. For this, I will be restricting you all to lv 26, Tier-3 Low-Phase with the same amount of overall stats. Not only that, but you also wouldn''t be able to use your Innate Talent, skills or even your Spirit Energy, for that matter. This will be pure hand-to-handbat." Hearing that, the first one to react was Henry, as his face glowed with excitement. He then looked at Kasim and Andrea before lifting his chin with a newfound arrogance and said with a smirk, "It''s as if this second assessment was tailor made for me. When ites to hand-to-handbat¡­.I am pretty confident in reaching Stage-9 or even the 10th one." While some were shaking their head at Henry''s overconfidence, he requested MJ to start the second assessment with him. Henry''s actions brought Gabriel a sensation of D¨¦j¨¤ vu because an hour back, he was just as excited as Henry, though not so over the head as him. Gabriel justughed to himself and waited to see what would happen. MJ raised his brows at Henry''s request but ignored him and announced, "In this assessment, none of you will be fighting against each other; instead, each of you will be facing a certain someone''s virtual simtion as the opponent. Everyone''s stats will be restricted to match Lv.25, the peak of Tier-2 and usage of your Spirit Energy, Innate Talents and skills will bepletely restricted as well." As MJ''s voice ended, a few seats emerged beside the square tform, and except for Henry, MJ teleported everyone else to those seats. Just after that, someone else appeared just opposite Henry with their eyes closed. Before MJ could further exin the rules, Henry impatiently asked, "Great Venerable, how does this work? Does the stage I could reach depend on the amount of time I would take to defeat this crimson-haired man''s simtion in front of me?" MJ scoffed at Henry, "You are gravely mistaken if you think you could reach higher stages. Hmph! I will be impressed if any of you could even manage to enter Stage-6. The second assessment is undoubtedly much harder than the first one. Also, this isn''t about how long it would take to defeat your opponent, but it depends on the duration it takes for you to survive. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 116 - Three Assessments {(Part-3) Out Of 3} Everyone was taken aback by MJ''s statement because no one recognised the crimson-haired man standing opposite to Henry on the tform. However, Olivia and Sergei were an exception since they knew that it was the same person who guarded Kay when they were received at the airport. Moro''s virtual avatar isn''t just a simtion MJ created using Moro''s fighting style but actually controlled by Moro himself, from Earth. Simr to how my siblings were given a ring tattoo that allows them to enter MJ''s Virtual Space whenever they want, Moro and the other core security members were also given the same. While others use Virtual Space to fight against the simtions of the Trial World monsters that MJ created to let them gain experience, Moro was an exception. He doesn''t use Virtual Space to train but instead relives the simtion of his childhood memories when his little sister and parents were alive, and they were all happy. Jay had MJ create such simtions in the Virtual Space, especially for Moro because what he needed the most was a stable mind that didn''t need Jay''s help to control his hatred. As for training himself, Moro doesn''t need it at all.. Thanks to his War Asura bloodline, Moro has unparalleledbat expertise, and he could also bring out the full potential of his that Jay maxed out for him. When the first assessment was about to end, MJmunicated with Moro using the second wristband prototype and asked him to enter the Virtual Space. Even though there was a difference between how time flows on the Earth and the Trial World, MJ solved the issue by making the second assessment''s condition as restricting people''s overall stats to match that of the peak of Tier-2. MJ did that to make use of a portion of Moro''s time perception to match the time difference between Earth and Trial World, leaving his time perception to be six times that of an average human, which matches a peak Tier-2 and hence the second assessment''s condition. MJ can''t yet manipte time within his A.I Space, but as long as the grade of increases further, it''s possible. While others were still wondering who that was, MJ dered the start of the duel. Moro opened his eyes, and his crimson irises gave off a bloodthirsty vibe, sending chills down Henry''s spine. In the split second that Henry was frozen, Moro rushed towards him and attacked him, directly going for the head. But Henry managed to dodge the iing strike by a narrow margin. Henry pulled himself together and tried to counterattack. To his disbelief, he didn''t even once have the chance to strike back, since he was busy defending against Moro''s punches and kicks. Everyone watching the closebat duel did not expect it to be one-sided, with Henry on the losing end. After all, Henry is a three-time Boxing World Champion and is said to be one of the rarest boxing prodigies that Earth has ever produced. Like a punching machine, Moro attacked without a pause, giving Henry no chance to retaliate, and that continued for some time. At a certain point, Moro sensed that his body couldn''t take any more hits, and he had to make a move. So, sacrificing his left shoulder defence, heunched an all-out attack with his right arm, aiming for Moro''s head. What happened next stunned everyone except MJ, who already knew Moro''s capabilities. Moro didn''t try to defend Henry''s punch, nor did he evade it. He directed his left-hand punch at Moro''s iing right-hand punch. At first, it looked like he was trying to nullify Henry''s strike, but that wasn''t the case as Moro''s punch insteadnded on the inner side of his forearm, and he then used Henry''s momentum to redirect his left fist towards Henry''s face. Since everyone seated beside the tform has overall stats of a Tier-3 life form, their time perception was slightly higher, making it possible for them to watch the duel in detail. The ones that were stunned the most were those who were more proficient in closebat among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, like Sergei, Brandon and Kensei. Because the precision one needed to have to pull off the move that Moro just did was unimaginably high, especially within the little amount of time that Moro had tounch hisst punch. They didn''t know that Moro was able to do that because he didn''t waste any time thinking about the counterpunch but acted under his War Asura Instinct. Once Henry''s defence was broken, Moro took that chance tond a series of punches and chops at the back of Henry''s neck, knocking him out. Once it was clear that Henry was defeated, MJ brought his virtual avatar back to consciousness, and Henry couldn''t help but look up at Moro as if he was some kind of ''God of hand-to-hand Combat''. Because Moro''s every attack was shot in such a way that he could only defend. In terms of pure hand to handbat, Henry can be said to be even superior to Sergei and Brandon as he specialises in that field. So, he was the one who was dumbfounded the most since Henry knew how difficult it was to do that because one has to be able to predict an opponent''s moves with the slightest changes in their postures and body movements. While Henry was still analysing the fight and being amazed by Moro, MJ announced the result of Henry''s second assessment. "I should say, your result is borderline impressive. You managed to stand on your feet for 58 seconds, achieving Stage-5 in this assessment. If any of you wish to reach Stage-10, all you have to do is to stay undefeated for 100 seconds since every stage represents 10 seconds." Without caring about the results, Henry stared at Moro before asking him, "Just¡­.who are you?" For which Henry was only met with Moro''s indifference as he once again closed his eyes, waiting for his next opponent. Soon after, Henry returned to the seats beside the tform. Unlike the first assessment, no one volunteered to go next after watching Moro''s expertise. So, MJ selected them one by one, and the time passed before everyonepleted their second assessment. Following that, MJ projected the results of the second assessment onto a screen. __________ Second Assessment Results: 1. Henry: 58 seconds (Stage-5) 2. Brandon: 52 seconds (Stage-5) 3. Sergei: 51 seconds (Stage-5) 4. Kensei: 45 seconds (Stage-4) 5. Kasim: 33 seconds (Stage-3) 6. Olivia: 25 seconds (Stage-2) 7. Min-soo: 18 seconds (Stage-1) 9. Andrea: 14 seconds (Stage-1) __________ In the beginning, everyone saw how terrifying Moro''s closebat prowess was, but only after experiencing themselves fighting against Moro did they realise what Henry managed to achieve was no small feat. Even though none of them was able tond a single hit on Moro, they weren''t able to defend themselves against Moro''s attacks for as long as Henry did. Brandon and Sergei managed to reach Stage-5 of the second assessment but couldn''tst as long as Henry before Moro defeated them. As for Kensei, he didn''t have hand-to-handbat expertise of a professional standard since he mainly focussed on the way of the sword. Still, he managed to reach Stage-4. Olivia was able tost 25 seconds thanks to thebat training she received from Sergei and the asional use of the Virtual Space Chamber facility at the Earth''s Foothold. In the second assessment, Min-soo and Andrea were the lowest since it had been just a few days since they began closebat training, and they had not ever fought before. From the standard of a human''s learning speed, their improvement could be said to be off the charts, since they were able tost more than 10 seconds against Moro with just a few days of training. However, that''s prettymon, given their high amount of stats in Spirit Attribute, as that increases one''s learning speed exponentially. After announcing the results, MJ exined about the third assessment, "The next assessment is the final one, and it will be even harder than the second one since you all will be facing the virtual avatar of my Master himself. Unlike the first two assessments, this will be a pure power disy, where each of you could use everything at your disposal, with no restrictions on your abilities." Everyone was taken aback by the new revtion, and Min-soo meekly voiced out his opinion and interrupted MJ, "This¡­.Great Venerable, isn''t the third assessment too hard? We couldn''tst even for 10 seconds before we would be defeated by Mr Jay, making it not possible even to reach Stage-1." When Jay single-handedly suppressed the Tier-3 High-Phase monster, Storm Eagle, using mode, it left a deep impression on Min-soo. Even greater than when Jay killed a Tier-3 Ogre in front of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen as a show of power. Others were also having simr thoughts because just a few days back, Jay had the strength to trounce Tier-3 High-Phase monsters, and now that a few more days have passed, they couldn''t imagine how strong he has grown since then. MJ seemed annoyed and threw his Santa cap at Min-soo''s face before yelling in his baby voice, "Just let me finish. Why do you fes keep interrupting me? Ahh!...this is frustrating." No matter how hard they tried to take his words seriously, it looked like a little kid throwing a tantrum. As the only one who was pretty close to MJ, Olivia calmed him before MJ continued, "Of course, I already considered that factor. So, this assessment wouldn''t be based on the amount of time you couldst against my Master, but at each stage, you will be facing a Master''s virtual avatar that has a portion of his power; the higher the stage, the stronger my Master''s virtual avatar will be. Meaning that to reach Stage-1, one has to defeat my Master''s virtual avatar that has 10% of his power and to reach Stage-2, it is 20% and so on." After MJ''s exnation, the conditions of the third assessment became clear to them. While the weaker Earth''s Alpha Chosen were worried if they could even reach Stage-1, the stronger ones couldn''t wait for the assessment to begin so that they couldpare themselves to Jay to see the difference in their strengths. Unknown to themselves, the Earth''s Alpha Chosen set Jay as their goal because from what they had seen, they didn''t yet find anything that''s stronger than Jay in the Trial World. Just as MJ began tomence the third assessment, he paused in silence before saying, "My Master is preupied with something at the moment. Since Master will be personally controlling his virtual avatar instead of a simtion, the third assessment will be postponed for a few hours. Why don''t you all leave the virtual space for now and take some rest or maybe resume your respective training? I willmence the third assessment upon further notice from my Master." Soon after, they all exited the virtual space. They didn''t question MJ about what Jay was preupied with. They knew that Jay took Dante along and entered other trial zones in search of something and that he must have been dealing with an important matter at the moment. It was indeed right because Jay had found something disturbing in the eighteenth trial zone. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 117 - Strange Happenings ***** While MJ''s five corpse integrated monsters were clearing 31st and 32nd trial zones of monsters, Jay reached the 33rd trial zone from Earth''s trial zone and there, he found something that he hadn''t seen in any trial zone. The monsters in that trial zone didn''t attack him directly like they usually do. That was quite strange because the instinct in their mind tells them to kill any Alpha Chosen theye across. At least, that was what Jay learned back when he tried to tame the Storm Eagle monster. Instead, the monsters Jay came across didn''t blindly attack him and retreated, sensing that they weren''t a match for him. Jay didn''t chase after them to find the reason behind their unusual behaviour right away and instead waited for his weakened state to end since he recently exited the mode. He hid in a tree''s shadow using the skill , one of the thousands of skills he had in his possession. It''s not like he had merged with every skill he looted but only a few that seemed helpful.. Jay left aside the remaining ones, and if he were toe across a situation where he had to use a particr skill, he could always merge with that specific skill and use it to his convenience. The rare grade skill was something Jay recently obtained when he converged a few umon grade skills together using Qew''s 1st Innate Exclusive skill, . __________ : Enables the user to hide in any shadow. This effect will be disrupted if the user initiates an attack from within the shadow or if the shadow that the user hid in disappears. Cost: 1 Spirit Energy per minute. Cooldown: None __________ Using this pure stealth-type skill, Jay hid in a tree''s shadow and after a few minutes, the same Tier-2 monsters that ran away brought two Tier-3 Low-Phase monsters with them. They then signalled the Tier-3 monsters, pointing at the location where they hadst seen Jay. This new revtion caught Jay''s attention since it was his first time seeing monsters act as subordinates for other monsters and bring in reinforcements when they were outpowered. The monsters usually coborate with each other against Alpha Chosen but not to this degree. Jay stayed still within the tree''s shadow as those monsters looked for him. He didn''t worry about being found since there weren''t any Darkness innate talent monsters among them. For a while, those monsters searched for Jay, and after not finding any traces of him, they left, but they all dispersed in different directions and continued to search for him. Meanwhile, Jay had already recovered from his weakened state and even summoned the Shadow Leopard MJ to his location and had it secretly nt ''Shadow Markers'' within the shadows of the two Tier-3 Low-Phase monsters to track their movements. The ability to nt ''Shadow Markers'' was from the Spirit Item that was with the Shadow Leopard. ___________ (Rare Grade): Enables the user to imnt a ''Shadow Marker'' in the target''s shadow to trace their location within a 250 km radius. No. of traceable targets: 250 Effect: Spirit+50^ Requirements: 80 Spirit Durability: 100/100 ___________ Thanks to Qew''s second innate exclusive skill, , the once Umon grade Spirit Item was now upgraded to a Rare grade one, and the range increased from 100 km to 250 along with the number of traceable targets. Jay had the Shadow Leopard MJ stealthily follow those Tier-3 monsters and observe their every move. At the same time, he intentionally travelled around, leaving a trail behind, without hiding his presence to catch the attention of the monsters. That was when the third assessment was about to begin, and Jay had MJ postpone it as he was upied. After some time, a few Tier-1 monsters found the traces Jay left and what happened next confirmed his suspicions. The Tier-3 monsters that the Shadow Leopard was stealthily following had changed their path and headed right towards Jay. Since that happened right after they found his tracks, Jay concluded that someone was controlling the monsters. Jay ruled out the possibility of that someone being an Alpha Chosen because he learned that there weren''t any Alpha Chosen alive within the 33rd trial zone through MJ. For a Soul A.I like MJ, who has Tier-4 System ess; it was easy to find this kind of information. Since that someone wasn''t an Alpha Chosen, that must be a Monster. Since that unknown monster could control every monster in the trial zone, MJ concluded that the unknown monster must have a Hive-mind type Innate Talent, which is mainly seen in the Insectoid Race. Dealing with a monster that possesses such Innate Talent would be rather tricky as it stays hidden and controls other monsters to attack its prey as a horde. It was no wonder that the Alpha Chosen in that trial zone died already. When a few Tier-3 monsters caught up to Jay, he didn''t bother escaping anymore and subdued them before using on them to pry out the location of the unknown monster. However, there was no helpful information about that monster''s location in their memories. The puzzling part was that Jay couldn''t find anything rted to the unknown monster within their memories. Jay felt it was a pity that he couldn''t find anything. If they had learned about the exact way the unknown monster used to take control over the monsters, MJ could have browsed through the System records in search of any information regarding the unknown monster. Since that wasn''t possible for now, Jay didn''t bother finding the unknown monster for now and began to kill the Tier-3 monsters in that trial zone, one by one. Whenever the unknown monster tried to send groups of several monsters at him, Jay would escape after killing the monsters in locations where he wasst seen. Time passed, and Jay slew hundreds of monsters but didn''t find even a single clue about the unknown monster''s whereabouts. Even though Jay could fight a horde of monsters in a full-frontal battle, he didn''t want to exhaust himself and be prepared for when his mode cooldown ends as his top priority is to enter as many trial zones as he could to find the Arch Spirit Fruit. Jay didn''t hunt for monsters anymore and reached the other end of the 33rd trial zone. He then hid in a small cave he created in the ground and began to recover his Stamina and Spirit Energy. Soon, the cooldown ended, and Jay entered the mode and made his way through to further trial zones. Themotion Jay caused by breaking the trial zone barrier didn''t escape the unknown monster''s attention, and its intelligent eyes shone with a golden-yellow glow within a dark, gloomy area. Ignorant to that, Jay continued to pass through other trial zones and in the 34th, 35th and 36th trial zones, he didn''t find anything odd about the monsters like in the 33rd trial zone. Two more hours passed, and it has been six hours since the start of Day-9, and the cooldown of ended. Jay made a small cave in the ground, hidden from the monsters there and began converging another element to the Dual-elemental Innate Talent. [You have sessfully converged Grade-3 and Grade-4 , creating a Grade-4 .] [ enters a 24-hour cooldown until it can be usable again.] [Congrattions! You are the 1st Existence in the Entire Universe tobine three elements into one, creating a Tri-Element, ''Lightning me'' while just being in Tier-2.] [Grade-4 (Fire, Water & Lightning) (Elemental Category): Gives Host the ability toprehend the ''Lightning me'' Element without losing the ability to individually manipte Fire, Water and Lightning elements along with their respective skills. Increases itsprehension speed by four-fold.] By using the Water element, the ''Lightning Fire'' turned into ''Lightning me''. Even though it looked like a slight difference, that brought another leap of power for Jay. It was because ''me'' is a higher element, and only Fire and Water dual Innate Talent users could manage to use it upon reaching Stage-4 Mastery. Jay brought out his right palm, and over his finger, the ''Lightning me'' flickered, and the heat it produced instantly changed the temperature in the makeshift cave. The purple me turned denser, and the red shes on it became brighter. Not only had the attack power of the new higher element improved, but also its movement fluidity along with its reach. Soon after he conjured the Tri-element, another series of notifications appeared. [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.1 (Stage-1)] [Lv.1: Lv.1 Lightning me-element training methods will be transmitted into your mind.] [Your Lv.30 ispatible with Lv.1, do you wish to merge it with Lv.10?] By epting it, the improved by a notch. [Lv.30 + Lv.10 = Lv.15] [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.15 (Stage-2)] [Lv.15: Lv.15 Lightning me-element training methods will be transmitted into your mind.] Jay wanted to test out his new element in actualbat. Since killing monsters wasn''t a challenge for Jay at all, he thought of something before calling for MJ and had him analyse the properties of the ''Lightning me'' so that he could simte it perfectly within the A.I space for Jay to test it. Once it was done, he entered the A.I space, and for half an hour, Jay familiarised with the Tri-Element. Following that, he instructed MJ to begin the third assessment so that he could test out the ''Lightning me'' in an actualbat situation and at the same time learn the extent to which Earth''s Alpha Chosen has grown in the past few days. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- I decided to hold the next chapter releases until I stack enough chapters for my Patrons (i.e. 10 advanced chapters), before continuing the usual chapter releases. It might take a week or ten days or even two weeks for that. I hope this won''t inconvenience you all. As an overview of the uing chapters, In Ch.117, there will be a minor introduction of the monster that could be a threat to the Alpha Chosen. However, it was just a vague introduction. The real one will be shown in Ch.121 in great detail. Two to three chapters after that, the Tournament part will begin and I believe it will be quite interesting with the Earth''s Alpha Chosen interacting with a lot more characters from different trial zones. The different rounds that will take ce in the Tournament will be something that you all could undoubtedly look forward to. Also, the Arc-1 would end with quite an intense battle that could even threaten Jay''s life. So, all those who are thinking that Earth''s Alpha Chosen could easilye out on top in the uing tournament would have to rethink their opinions. I am estimating the Arc-1 would end at around Ch.150. Alright, this is it for a short overview. Well then, Stay Safe, see ya. Chapter 118 - Final Assessment. (Part-1) Meanwhile, in the Earth''s Foothold, the Alpha Chosen rested before contemting their losses in the first two assessments and what they should focus on improving their weaknesses. Those who didn''t do well in the first assessment focussed on improving their control over their respective Mastery. In contrast, the others concentrated on training their closebat prowess. Once MJ announced them to enter the virtual space for the third assessment, the Alpha Chosen didn''t dy and did as he asked. Soon, everyone gathered at the same square tform, and a few Alpha Chosen chatted with each other about Moro''s identity. Olivia and Sergei knew about Moro, but they didn''t reveal it since MJ didn''t show any intention of telling them about him. Failing to find anything about Moro, the topic soon shifted as most of them tried to decode the fighting technique that Moro used and shared their own understanding to each other before asking Henry for his insights as he was the best among them in the hand-to-handbat. Seeing the usually talkative and energetic Henry stay silent, Kasim and a few others were worried that his loss against Moro had set him back andmended Henry for ranking first in the second assessment. Henry couldn''t help but drylyugh at himself because he never expected that one day he would be praised for defending himself against an opponent, especially in hand-to-handbat that he specialised in. That too against an opponent who has the same attribute stats as him. Unlike what others were thinking, Henry didn''t face a setback; instead was more motivated than ever. For Henry to reach his closebat standard, he had faced several hitches in his journey to bing a three-time heavyweight boxing champion in a row. He managed to ovee them not just because of his talent but also due to his perseverance and hard work. It was not like he never lost in a boxing match since his debut, but he never gave up training himself to defeat someone whom he lost against. To Henry, it was the same with Moro. So, Henry set his goal to one day defeat Moro despite the vast difference in their closebat capabilities. Henry believed that his self-training wouldn''t be anywhere enough to deal with someone like Moro, who has monstrousbat talent. With that in mind, Henry asked MJ, "Great Venerable, is it possible for me to train under that Crimson-haired person if I use my Reward Points?" Everyone didn''t expect Henry to be willing to exchange the RP he earned for closebat training instead of using them for levelling up or to exchange for Rare Grade Spirit Equipment. MJ replied with a smile while looking behind Henry, "If it''s about Moro, then why don''t you ask my Master yourself?" Henry followed MJ''s gaze to look behind him, and he then took a few steps back in a flurry after finding the virtual avatar of Jay standing there, with an emotionless expression. Henry almost stumbled upon Jay''s sudden arrival. Back on Day-6, when all the Earth''s Alpha Chosen gathered for the first time, Jay''s disy of dominance left a deep impression on Henry. Soon, he tried his best topose himself and respectfully greeted Jay, "Good day, Mr Jay. We all were waiting for you." Jay didn''t respond with a full greeting and instead said ''Likewise'' before continuing, "I overheard your conversation with MJ. Are you sure about using RP to exchange for training sessions with Moro rather than using them to level up?" Henry nodded firmly, showing his determination. After a second of silence, Jay thought of something before suggesting, "For now, use RP to improve your level since there is less than a day before the Trial Region Tournament begins. I want you all to be even stronger for our Earth''s trial zone toe out on top, and score higher than any trial zone in the Trial World." Henry was reluctant, but he didn''t dare to be forthright about it. But, Jay''s following words caused Henry to jump in joy. "Since you are so adamant, I will see to it that you take three training spar sessions with Moro in this virtual space after the 1st tournament. However, beyond that, it will all depend on whether Moro decides to train you. As long as you convince Moro in those three sessions that you are worth his time to train, you don''t even have to use RP." Henry reassured before thanking Jay, "Thanks a lot, Mr Jay. I will not waste this opportunity you presented to me." Jay didn''t say anymore and signalled MJ, causing him to spawn a meter wide circr hologram board floating vertically in the air with an arrow hand at its centre, just like the minute hand in a clock. The circr hologram was divided into nine sectors, with each having an Earth''s Alpha Chosen''s name written on it. With a wave of MJ''s palm, the arrow hand began to spin, and everyone realised that it was to randomly select who would be the first one to face Jay in the third assessment. As it continued to spin, Jay thought to himself if what he intended by having Henry train under Moro would happen or not. The present Moro is almost void of emotions, and Jay wanted to see if letting Moro interact with others would help him socialise. Jay felt Henry would be a good choice for that because, just like Moro, he had experienced the loss of parents at a young age. After all, only those who share a simr pain could genuinely rte with each other. As Jay was in his thoughts, the spinning arrow hand soon came to a halt, pointing at the hologram section that had Brandon''s name on it, indicating that he would be first to face Jay. Before long, Brandon stepped onto the tform, and MJ created a shield surrounding the square tform and separated it from the outside area. While looking at Brandon, who readied himself for the fight, Jay stated calmly, "We will start directly from Stage-3, MJ will restrict my virtual avatar to 30% of my full capacity." Since Brandon was at the peak of Tier-3 Low-Phase with around 550 overall stats, Jay didn''t start with Stage-1, where he could only use 10% of his overall strength. Just as Jay''s words ended, MJplied and restricted Jay''s power, and at 30%, Jay has an overall stats of 300, making him as strong as a peak Tier-2 monster. Even though it seems like there was just one Phase gap between Brandon and Jay, it was quite substantial because there was a total of 250 stats difference between them. With that, Brandon was stat-wise nearly twice as strong as Jay. However, that wasn''t the only thing that determines one''s strength as it depends on how well one could use their Innate Talent abilities and any other ways in their arsenal to defeat their opponents. Even though Jay''s overall stats weren''t good enough to deal with Brandon, his advantage lies in the new Tri-Element, Lightning me. As soon as MJ announced the start of the fight, Brandon closed in on Jay to finish him off without giving the time needed for Jay to initiate an attack. Before Brandon could reach next to him, Jay conjured the Lightning me and made a wall of purple-red mes, sessfully managing to put a distance between himself and Brandon. Since Jay stats were just at 30% of his full power, he has to make sure not to get in closebat with Brandon as that would spell Jay''s defeat due to the apparent difference in their overall stats. Separated by the wall of lighting mes, Brandon didn''t try to pass through it because, as a Lightning element user himself, he could sense how terrifying those mes were. Despite its attack power being reduced to 30% of its full capacity, the Lightning me was still strong enough to defeat a Tier-3 Mid-Phase monster easily. Once Jay distanced himself from Brandon, he stopped casting the wall of mes to efficiently use the little Spirit Energy reserves he had due to his stats being restricted. As soon as the wall of mes dispersed, Jay shot multiple arrows made of lightning mes at Brandon, who tried to evade them, but due to their high speed, he only managed to evade a few while the others reached Brandon. Realising that he couldn''t dodge them all in time, Brandon quickly enveloped the spear in his hand with his Lightning element before swinging it at the iing attacks. With his richbat experience, Brandon managed to defend himself by deflecting all the attacks, but the impact caused during that interaction sent him back, sliding tens of metres, and he had to plunge his spear into the tform to stop himself from being pushed back even further. Not just Brandon but everyone spectating the fight had widened their eyes in shock at the destructive power and the high movement speed of the purple-red element Jay was using. Not just them but even Jay was taken aback by how strong the Lightning me was. Back when he tested out that new element, he didn''t consider the impact factor of his attacks into ount, and now it seemed to y an essential role in its destructive power. With the abnormally high attack power of a me, together with the tremendous speed of the lightning element, the end result produced the strong impact force, and the previous sh even reduced a fragment of Brandon''s health. Even though it was just as low as 3% of his total health, one had to mind that the damage was caused by the impact when Brandon deflected and not a direct hit. That means, even if Brandon sessfully defends more of Jay''s Lightning me attacks, he would continue to lose his health. A few gasps could be heard from where the spectator seats were located as they recollected that what Jay just disyed was just 30% of his full power, and even Brandon, who was one of the strongest among them, was being overwhelmed. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 119 - Final Assessment. {(Part-2) Out Of 3} Despite the overwhelming disy of the Lightning mes, Brandon recovered hisposure in a snap and formted a n to defeat Jay. Brandon saw right through Jay''s intentions of attacking from a distance, and to counter that, he began to close in on Jay by using the best movement skill in his arsenal, the . With that, Brandon''s speed nearly doubled, and in the path he maneuvered, streaks of blue lightning shed with whistling sounds. It was a speed that Jay couldn''t keep up with since his stats were limited at the moment. Thanks to that, Brandon managed to evade the unbelievably fast ranged attacks. However, despite such movement speed, he didn''t achieve his goal as Jay wittily managed to keep Brandon at bay using the explosive impact aftermath of his attacks. As a result, Bradon''s Health slowly dropped due to that and was at around 40%. At the same time, Jay''s Spirit Energy reserve dwindled from the high expenditure of manipting Lightning me. It was a situation where he had to survive till Jay exhausted his Spirit Energy. As long as Brandon manages to do that, he could overwhelm Jay with nearly double the stats he had over Jay and take him down. Jay realized what Brandon was trying to do, and to counter that; he proceeded with an AoE attack that covered the entire tform using all his leftover Spirit Energy. A dark cloud hovered 50 meters above the 100 x 100-meter tform, and deafening sounds rumbled in the green ins as it continued to shoot out purple-red lightning bolts, aiming at Brandon. With so many of those attacks, Brandon could barely evade and was struck by one of those lightning bolts, and his Health dropped directly from 40% to 25%. Everyone watching the fight could see that Brandon was in a tough spot as it would take just two more of those purple-red lightning bolts for him to be defeated. Brandon also understood his situation and couldn''t proceed with his previous n to wait it out. So, he rushed towards Jay with his top speed, intending to finish him off as soon as possible, but on his way, the intensity of those lightning bolts increased, and he was struck by one of them before a few other explosion impacts of the other bolts reduced his Health to less than 5%. Realizing that he couldn''t be near Jay, Brandon shot the Spear in his hand at Jay as ast resort. Like a Javelin throw, it sped onwards towards Jay. Realizing the danger, Jay instantly made use of the Centauri Kavach''s perk, as a chunk of his full body armour morphed into a circr golden-ck shield in front of him. Besides a dent on that shield, Jay escaped without a scratch, and the Spear fell to the ground beside him. To everyone spectating the fight, it became clear that Brandon would lose as soon as they saw several purple-red lightning bolts shot at the spot he was in. Even if Brandon somehow dodges them, their impact would still damage him enough to peel off his remaining Health. However, to everyone''s surprise, Brandon locked his arm in a punching posture and enveloped his fist in blue lightning, and prepared to punch at the iing bolts from above. Everyone, including Jay, didn''t understand why Brandon chose to do that even after knowing the unusually high attack damage of the Lightning me. Just as he was about to be struck by them, Brandon mumbled to himself, "Disce!" The next instant, to everyone''s dismay, Brandon vanished from his spot and reappeared where his Spear was previously at, which was just beside Jay. Before everyone could realise what happened, Brandon''s full-powered punchnded on Jay, and due to the difference in their physical stats, that single punch was enough to chip off Jay''s Health entirely and defeat him. However, that wasn''t the end as Brandon''s Health emptied out as well just as his punchnded on Jay. The Earth''s Alpha Chosen didn''t expect so many turns of events. First, it looked like Jay would win, and then Brandon turned it around by teleporting into the ce where his Spear was at. When they finally assumed Brandon won, he lost his remaining Health, and the match ended up with a draw. Soon after, MJ flew to the tform, and with a wave of his palm, Jay and Brandon reappeared with their Health returning to normal. Jay took a nce at the Spear in Brandon and asked him, "You said right? That''s quite an interesting skill. It could go as far as recing your position with your Weapon without a Space Innate Talent. Is it attached to your Weapon?" Brandon replied with a nod and pointed at the Spear, "Yes, that''s a skill inbuilt to this Rare Grade Spirit Weapon. I saved it as myst resort tounch a surprise attack. This hidden ace of mine worked well but you seem to have your own. I didn''t notice thoseyers of wind covering your body till I was next to you." "Oh, that? I secretly casted that skill as insurance just as the fight began. If you had even a little more than 5% of your Health, it wouldn''t have done enough damage to defeat you and wouldn''t have resulted in this draw." Jay shared how he used the skill as a precaution, and that worked its part when Brandon''s punch was about tond on him as thoseyers of wind around him turned into his wind clones and attacked Brandon, defeating him in the process. When MJ was in the midst of announcing that Brandon didn''t reach Stage-3 since the match was a draw, Jay intervened, "Even though it''s a draw, Brandon still defeated me, it''s only right that he passes the Stage-3 of the third assessment." MJ did as Jay said and rewarded Brandon with Stage-3 and proceeded to ask Brandon, "Do you wish to proceed with the next stage? Do note that in Stage-4 my Master''s overall stats and attack power will be at 40% instead of the 30% in Stage-3." Brandon shook his head and refused to proceed as he could tell that his chances of reaching Stage-4 with his current strength are quite low since he barely made it to draw even after using his hidden ace. Back at the seating podium, most of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen were impressed by Brandon''s strength, especially since they couldn''t possibly do what he managed to pull off. What they don''t know is that if that fight hadn''t taken ce in the virtual space, Jay would have read Brandon''s thoughts beforehand through Olivia''s Innate Talent and would have seen through that surprise attack, and their fight wouldn''t have ended in a draw. Soon after, the third assessment continued, and one by one, each of them fought against Jay only to be defeated within Stage-3. If not for Jay''s new element, maybe they would have had some chance of reaching Stage-3. Even Sergei, who was considered an equal to Brandon if not slightly stronger, wasn''t able to pass Stage-3. For hisbat awareness and capabilities, Sergei should have won, but to his bad luck, Jay was in possession of a Grade-9 Darkness Innate Talent, a grade higher than Sergei. That allowed Jay to see through Sergei''s attacks and have good enough Darkness element resistance, which left Sergei at a disadvantage. But still, he managed to almost defeat Jay in Stage-3. Meanwhile, Jay''s understanding of using the Lightning me element efficiently in actualbat improved by a leap through those several spars. The third assessment almost came to an end with just one more person left to undergo the third assessment. However, that was what the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen anticipated the most since it was Olivia''s turn. They all knew that after Jay, Olivia was the strongest one among them, but they didn''t know precisely how strong she was. Now they could estimate her strength depending on the stage she could reach in the third assessment. Likewise, Olivia was thinking something simr, as she wanted to gauge her full strength byparing herself to Jay. To everyone''s surprise, Jay allowed Olivia to vie for Stage-5 directly. They all guessed Jay must have believed Olivia would be capable enough to face him at 50% of his full power. Jay did that because he was aware that Olivia had looted stats equal to half of his overall stats through the Major Origin Sigil. Combined with her own stats, Olivia''s current stats would be around 850, cing her at the peak of Tier-3 and almost nearing Jay''s overall stats with just a 100-stat difference. Still, Jay only prepared to fight her with 50% of his full strength because of the power of the Lightning me element. Moreover, Jay is entirely immune to Olivia''s soul attacks due to sharing her innate talent. Even if he weren''t, Olivia wouldn''t ever dare to attack his soul after what happened to herst time. Even though Olivia couldn''t use most of her Innate Talent abilities over Jay, she could still make use of her high amount of stats and telekic power to control weapons to fight. Before long, MJmenced the start of the fight between Jay and Olivia. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 120 - Final Assessment. {(Part-3) Out Of 3} It''s already been a few minutes since the sparmenced, but Olivia still didn''t have the upper hand despite having nearly double that of Jay''s overall stats. Mainly because Jay has ess to every ability that Olivia could use and knows their ins and outs, it wasn''t hard for him to counter them without even having to use Lightning me on her. After witnessing the breathtaking speed and power of those mes from the earlier fight, Olivia decided it''s best not to close upon him and use ranged attacks so that she could have a better chance at evading when he uses Lightning me to attack. She then thought to herself, ''It looks like controlling various weapons telekically against him was not enough. To defeat him at this range, I have no choice but to use that.'' Then, a light-golden butterfly tattoo surfaced over the back of her left palm. Soon, that tattoo glowed and a butterfly-shaped de manifested into reality from it, and that single de continued to split until 25 simr looking des were floating around Olivia. Just from the way her tattoo turned into a weapon, Jay could tell that it was a Growth type Spirit Equipment, just like his . Jay knew that she must have gained a Universe Level achievement upon bing an Omega Chosen. Still, he didn''t expect Olivia to be so lucky to obtain a Growth-type Spirit Weapon as a reward. Till then, Jay wasn''t aware of that because he couldn''t see through her thoughts or memories without having Olivia realise that he is prying on her. Since he promised not to control Olivia''s actions or order her around, Jay didn''t invade her privacy. The that Olivia brought out was a Spirit Weapon that perfectly matches her innate talent''s telekic abilities. It''s not surprising that Olivia received such a perfectly suited weapon since the Universe Level Achievement reward would be assigned to match the achiever''s requirements. The name ''Thousand Butterfly de'' was due to its ability to split into thousand des, with every single de possessing the power ofunching the user''s base attack power with each attack. For now, Olivia could only bring out 25 des to control since the was still in Umon Grade. Unlike Jay, who had Dante gathering the exact set of Spirit items to upgrade the using his Fate Stats, Olivia didn''t have someone like that to upgrade her Growth type Spirit Weapon. Nevertheless, those 25 des were not to be looked down upon as they began to trouble Jay upon being attacked by them. Due to Jay being only able to use 50% 0f his abilities, he could only use half of Olivia''s telekinesis ability to deflect some of those des and had to use the skill to control and block the remaining butterfly des. Despite being just at Umon Grade, those des were so powerful and sharp-edged that their every five attacks dropped the durability of by a point. At that rate, it wouldn''t take long before that sword gets scrapped. However, Jay didn''t care about that since it was just a virtual projection of the real and nothing that happens in the Virtual Space obviously would affect the reality. Before the sword deteriorated into scraps, Jay managed to prepare arge of Lightning mes surrounding him, using nearly half his Spirit Energy reserves to keep those des at bay. Still, Jay didn''t have the advantage he previously had as he was caught up in defending himself against the series of attacks from butterfly des without having any room tounch attacks on Olivia. With Olivia bringing out the , the events took a turn, with Jay at a disadvantage. It didn''t take long before Jay used up almost all of his Spirit Energy reserves, leaving him vulnerable. Olivia didn''t let her guard down and intended to directly finish off Jay without giving him a chance to retaliate and used all 25 butterfly des at once. Most of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen that were spectating had their undivided attention on the ongoing fight and were almost sure that Jay would be the one on the losing end. Even if Jay''s stats, abilities and Spirit Equipment were restricted to 50% of their total capacity, they still found it unbelievable to see him on the verge of losing. Brandon was a little sceptical about finding Jay in such a position. As someone who fought with Jay to a draw, at least in Stage-3, Brandon had an impression on Jay that he had countless hidden aces in his sleeve. Even during hisst surprise attack in the earlier fight, Brandon saw the confidence in Jay''s eyes, confidence that he wouldn''t lose. At present, Brandon could see the same look in his eyes. Once all the 25 butterfly des that Olivia shot reached Jay, he didn''t try dodging and took them head-on with his suit armour. Due to the unusual sharpness of those des and the Centauri Kavach''s effectiveness being reduced by 50%, they managed to stab into the suit armour, damaging Jay and effectively taking his Health by a good chunk. However, those des weren''t able topletely pierce through Jay''s armour and stuck halfway through. Jay then looked directly at Olivia''s eyes as if she was his prey, prompting her to realise she had fallen into his trap. Before she could pull out all those 25 butterfly des, Jay used his Centauri Kavach''s perk to morph the armour in suit form to mould around those des, holding them together so that she couldn''t control them for a while. At the same time, Jay activated one of Centauri Kavach''s inbuilt skills, to refill his reserves. Without even a second dy, he activated on Olivia. Since Olivia weighs lower than Jay, she ispelled by a strong suction force towards him. Using her telekic abilities, Olivia managed to counter the suction force acting on her. But, that seemed to be within Jay''s estimations as he used that gap to create apressed spear of Lightning mes beforeunching at her. With that spear attack travelling at breakneck speed, Olivia didn''t give enough time to dodge and could only defend using ayer of telekic force. Nevertheless, the Lightning me spear attack was so strong that it quickly broke through thatyer and hit Olivia on her head, taking everyst bit of her Health in a single go. For a moment, the resting ce and the tform were filled with silence, and only the passing winds on the green in was audible. Everything happened way too fast, from Jay almost losing the Stage-5 fight to defeating Olivia in just a matter of seconds. Other than MJ, the one who was less surprised was Min-soo, since he already saw Jay use the skill that lets him recharge his lost Spirit Energy against the sh with the Storm Eagle. But, he couldn''t help but wonder at the terrifying attack power of the Lightning me element since all that Jay disyed was just 50% of its full capacity. The other Earth''s Alpha Chosen were also thinking the same. As for Olivia, she stood in a daze as MJ recovered her Health, which turned her transparent body back to normal. A sense of realisation struck her as she revisited the spar in her memories and found that it was all along Jay''s n to immobilise all her butterfly des at once by showing that his Spirit Energy was exhausted. If it was anyone else, Olivia could have seen right through their n using her Innate Talent ability to read one''s thoughts, but Jay was an exception due to the Moon Origin Sigil. What Olivia didn''t know was that Jay didn''t use Centauri Kavach''s full body armour form. If he had used that, its defence would have been high enough to block the butterfly des from passing through. Also, Jay allowed everyone to directly enter the following stages without starting with Stage-1 to maintain the undefeated impression that everyone has over him. By the end of the third assessment, Olivia and everyone else reassessed Jay to not only possess extraordinary strength but also exceptional battle awareness. MJ interrupted everyone''s thoughts by announcing the results of the third assessment. __________ Third Assessment Results: 1. Olivia: Stage-4 2. Brandon: Stage-3 3. Sergei: Stage-2 4. Min-soo: Stage-2 5. Kensei: Stage-2 6. Henry: Stage-2 7. Kasim: Stage-2 8. Gabriel: Stage-2 9. Andrea: Stage-2 __________ Those that reached Stage-2 were ranked ording to the duration they survived against Jay. Thanks to the Space Innate Talent, Min-soo survived long enough to be ranked next to Sergei. Soon, MJ disyed a hologram projection of the RPs they received from all three assessmentsbined. __________ Final Results: 1. Kensei: 560 RP 2. Min-soo: 515 RP 3. Brandon: 375 RP 4. Sergei: 360 RP 5. Olivia: 310 RP 6. Henry: 310 RP 7. Andrea: 265 RP 8. Kasim: 235 RP 9. Gabriel: 170 RP __________ While everyone was going through those results, Jay stated, "You could use any spare Spirit Equipment in your possession and exchange them for additional Reward Points. MJ will be looking after the conversion rate. Use the RPs you earned to level up and adjust to them as soon as possible." Soon after that, Jay left the virtual space and resumed his expedition to further trial zones along with Akor and Dante. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 121 - Hidden Threat Looming Over. {(Part-1) Out Of 2} Soon as Jay left the virtual space, MJ brought everyone back to the Earth''s Foothold. Well, they were all already within the Earth''s Foothold all this time; it''s just that their consciousness was sent to MJ''s Virtual A.I Space''. Once they exited the Virtual Space chamber, the ones who gained the least RPs from all three assessments like Kasim, Gabriel, Andrea and Henry grouped around MJ like flies and brought out the Spirit Equipment they weren''t using to exchange for RPs. After all, one could only use seven Spirit Equipment at any given time, and any excess ones in possession wouldn''t be of much use for any Alpha Chosen if all their seven slots are filled. Of course, those Spirit Equipment slots weren''t permanent, so they could be interchanged whenever wanted. While the Earth''s Alpha Chosen were busy exchanging for RPs and using them to level up, Jay had already reached the system barrier between Trial Zone 33 and 34. As he waited for the mode cooldown to end to cross it, Jay thought back to the third assessment. Even if Jay didn''t use the Lightning me element, he wouldn''t lose in any of the third assessment stages because Jay''s real advantage over others lies in the diversity of innate talents and skills in his possession. Against Brandon, he could have used Wood element-rted skills to counter Brandon''s lightning element attacks. Simrly, Jay could have dealt with Sergei using light element skills that counter his darkness element. On top of that, the resistances he gained from having several innate talent masteries would only passively benefit Jay in most of the fights. Jay didn''t reveal any of that to the Earth''s Alpha Chosen to hide about his innate talent, . Even Olivia doesn''t know that Jay could loot others'' innate talents. She only thinks that using ''Origin Sigils'' was his innate talent and that Jay could use any ability of those who be the holder of an Origin Sigil. As for the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, they don''t know about the Origin Sigil and could only guess that Jay could control monster dead bodies and ess those monster abilities. Jay intends to keep it that way. After all, the extent of his innate talent abilities would only raise a sensation in the rest of the universe if it were to be leaked. Jay''s thoughts were interrupted by the end of the mode cooldown. He soon activated it and broke through that barrier before heading for further trial zones. Soon after, Storm Eagle MJ followed Jay''s trail while carrying Dante and Akor on its back. Dante dejectedly asked Storm Eagle MJ why he wasn''t allowed to participate in the assessments like the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen. He seemed to learn everything that happened in the assessments from Kasim, using the Partymunication feature. MJ replied through Dante''s wristband prototype, "First of all, you are far away from the virtual space chamber, which has the equipment to let one''s consciousness into my virtual space. It''s not like you could enter my A.I Space whenever you want like my Master. Secondly, you don''t have to worry about Reward Points; Master will provide you with more than enough for helping him in the search for Arch Spirit fruit. Finally, as of now, the RPs wouldn''t be of much use to you in leveling-up since you are stuck at Tier-2 due to not being able to advance your to Stage-3." Dante nodded after understanding the valid reasons behind being left out and quickly regained his usual cheerfulness. On the way, Akor learned about the assessments through Dante and thought to himself, "I wonder where I would be ranked among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen if I had partaken in those assessments. Anyway, it''s not long before Day-10 starts and I could see how powerful they were with my own eyes." After that, several hours passed, and there was just an hour before Day-9 would end. Jay didn''t encounter any oddities in the trial zones he crossed since the 33rd one, as the monsters didn''t act strangely. So, he didn''t think much about the unknown monster in the 33rd trial zone. Jay believed that he would eventually take care of that monster. Moreover, at that moment, Jay wasn''t in a good mood since even after going through 45 trial zones, he didn''t find the Grade-4 Spirit Fruit he was looking for, and the translucent arrow that was Dante made from using Fate stats was still pointed into further trial zones. If Jay wanted, he could enter mode once more and enter three more trial zones in hopes ofing across that Spirit Fruit, but there was a low chance he could find it in the following three trial zones. Jay would have given it a try if not for his overall stats reaching 990. Due to this, he could utmost use mode one more time before his overall stats reached a total of 1000 and mode bes temporarily locked until he breaks past the 1st Universe Limit. Just in case, he saved the remainingst time for the Tournament. After all, Jay wasn''t omniscient as he doesn''t know if there would be any variables in theing-up Tournament. Unknown to Jay, the decision he took saved him from going through a lot of trouble. Because, in the 47th trial zone, there was a hidden threat looming over every Alpha Chosen in that region due to the existence of the unknown monster, which MJ concluded to be having a Hive-mind type Innate Talent. If it were under normal conditions, that would have been true, but in this case, MJ''s estimation was off by arge margin. ***** In a Tier-3 High-Phase monster dome within the 47th trial zone, there''s a 10-meter tall humanoid monster with a cluster of red, dark green, brown and pale yellow scales covering its body. Simr to its long and sharp ws, ck spikes protruded on the back of its head, shoulders, and forearms. A smaller version of those sharp spikes extended down its spine till the end of its long tail. With teeth resembling that of a shark and a single horn above both its nose and forehead, it looked like an abomination among monsters. Its sinister appearance alone would give anyone chills down their spine. {Author Note: For a better view of this monster, I would suggest you guys scroll down right away and open the pic link I provided at the end of the chapter before continuing from where you left it off.} At the moment, the sinister-looking monster wasmunicating with several Tier-3 Low-Phase monsters that gathered outside the system dome it was in. The surprising part was that the monster spoke in an unknownnguage with an intelligence level that wasn''t seen in any of its peer monsters. Even though the intelligence level of Tier-3 monsters wasparable to early primates, they weren''t at the level of vocalising their thoughts and ideas. For a monster to gain intelligence tomunicate vocally, they either had to be at least at Tier-7, or it must have awakened a Bloodline. Since the monster abomination had such sentience while it was still in Tier-3 High-Phase, it''s evident that it was of thetter case. It then questioned those monster bunch about the whereabouts of whom it called ''Silver Alpha Chosen''. To which, those monsters meekly shook their heads, indicating that they couldn''t find whom the monster abomination was talking about. Their response seemed to anger that monster as it frustratedly waved its w, which was covered in pale-orange energy at the dome barrier, slicing through it like a knife on butter. Despite still being at the Tier-3, just the wave of the monster abomination''s w tore apart the dome barrier that was strong enough to contain any Tier-3 monster. However, if one were to take a peek at the ''Estimated Tier'' part in its , they wouldn''t find its strength surprising since the monster abomination was estimated to have an overwhelming power level of Tier-4 High-Phase. Technically, any monster that manages to reach Tier-4 would be detected by the System and automatically teleported to theter stages of the Trial program. For some reason, the monster abomination seems to have knowledge of that fact and intentionally didn''t evolve to Tier-4 even when it had fulfilled the necessary requirements a long time ago. Due to its current Mastery being at the peak of Stage-4, the monster abomination was so strong despite its overall stats just equalling that of Tier-3 Peak. If MJ were to have a look at its appearance, he could right away tell that this abomination of monster has awakened ''sma Predator'' Bloodline, and the pale-orange energy it was able to manipte was none other than a form of Energy named ''sma Energy''. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- I know, I know...... this chapter might be a little confusing but please put up with it for now, in the next chapter, the details like ''what is sma Energy'', ''what is this sma Predator bloodline'', how and why Jay caught its attention, the monster''s intentions and so on would be made clear. Chapter 122 - Hidden Threat Looming Over. {(Part-2) Out Of 2} Nevertheless being able to draw out just a portion of ''sma Energy'', it was still strong enough to be on par with the power of top higher elements ever recorded. In the first three Mastery stages (Stage-1 to Stage-3), one could just use a standard element and upon reaching the next three stages (Stage-4 to Stage-6), respective higher elements could be essed. Beyond those six stages,ys the path of manipting ''Energies of the Universe''. Among those numerous Energies, one such was the ''sma Energy'', and the prerequisite to ess it was to possess all four of Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth Innate Talents. Still, awakening ''sma Predator'' Bloodline yed a major role in enabling monster abomination to manipte sma Energy while just being at Stage-4 Mastery. Even though it was nowhereparable to Jay''s Origin Energy, sma Energy is still quite deadly enough to be ranked higher among various energies in the Universe. The portion of the dome barrier that was wed due to the sma Predator''s casual wave was big enough for it to leave it. However, the sma Predator willingly chose to stay in there so that it wouldn''t be noticed by the System and be teleported to thetter stages of the Trial Program. Actually, it had eyes on Jay ever since he broke through the 33rd trial zone. Usually, a stronger monster would be utmost able to intimidate andmand lower-tiered monsters but for some reason, the monster abomination had the ability to mentally control monsters within several kilometers around it. If MJ were to learn about this, he would be puzzled because the ''sma Predator'' Bloodline doesn''t grant any such ability. Unlike Olivia, the sma Predator could only control monsters, that too only those are weaker than itself. The range of that mind-control type ability extended as far as the 33rd trial zone even when that monster was still in the 47th trial zone, about 15 km (9 miles). Soon after Jay entered the 33rd trial zone, it sent some monsters to test the extent of his power. But that obviously didn''t go well for those monsters as they were ughtered one after another. The sma Predator didn''t care for the lives of other monsters and sent them in doves, just to test Jay''s strength. Observing how easily those monsters were taken care of, the sma Predator estimated Jay''s power level to be at the peak of Tier-3. However, it still continued surveilling over Jay using monsters in his vicinity mainly because Origin Energy caught its attention. Even though the sma Predator doesn''t know anything about the silver energy Jay used, it''s obvious that the energy Jay used must be equal or higher than its own sma Energy for him to easily breakthrough system barriers. Although it won''t be as easy as how Jay breaks through to other trial zones, the sma Predator too could break portions of system barriers and enter other trial zones. The only thing that''s stopping the sma Predator was that if it were to break a trial zone barrier, it would then be noticed by the System. The sma Predator was wary of Jay at first but calmed after noticing that Jay''s current usage of Origin Energy wouldn''t be enough to deal with a monster as powerful as a Tier-4 High-Phase lifeform like itself. It was able to see through that due to reaching the peak of Stage-4 Mastery and that''s a pretty close estimation. After all, Jay was nowhere near bringing the true potential of Origin Energy as he was just at 3% mastery over it. Other than momentarily solidifying Origin Energy, the only technique that he possessed to effectively use it was the skill. But, for now, that was just a one-time use skill since Jay only has one Epic Grade ive that could sustain a single use of that skill before turning into scraps. That was also why Jay didn''t even try testing skill as he only has one chance at using it. After that, it kept a track of Jay as he passed through more trial zones. For that, the sma Predator intentionally made the monsters in the trial zones in its range act like typical monsters so that Jay wouldn''t find anything out of the ordinary. Its goal was to wait for Jay to enter the 47th trial zone, before trying to kill him. Luckily, the sma Predator''s patience didn''t bring out the result it was looking for as Jay ended his expedition in the 45th trial zone. It only realised that after Day-9 ended and every Alpha Chosen along with Jay was sent back to their respective homes for the Day-9 rest period. Soon after, It sent away the group of Tier-3 Low-Phase monsters and muttered to itself in an unknownnguage, "I didn''t expect an Alpha Chosen to grow so strong in just a few days after the start of the trial program. The longer I wait, the threat posed by that Silver Alpha Chosen would grow high enough to hinder Lord''s n. Since we don''t have any way to contact the Lord, I had to bring forward my role in Lord''s n earlier than expected. It would be worth killing such a powerful Alpha Chosen before he could grow any stronger to lower this Gxy''s rating. With that, my contribution would be high enough for the Lord to make a move and free me from the grasps of the Trial Program." It then looked in the direction l, where the MJ''s corpse integrated monsters were going on a rampage on the monsters of the trial zones within the sma Predator''s control range. It long ago knew that Jay was somehow able to control a few selected monsters to act as scavengers to hunt every monster in the nearby trial zones. But, it didn''t expect they could continue to stay on trial World even when Jay was not present. The sma Predator then reasoned Jay''s unusual strength must be because of the five monsters killing other monsters, which resulted in grinding to higher levels. However, even after knowing that, it didn''t care about them. The main reason is that each of MJ''s five corpse integrated monsters was as strong as a Tier-3 peak monster and the monsters in any trial zone couldn''t escape them especially since the Mid-Phase and High-Phase monsters of Tier-3 in each trial zone were still restricted by their respective dome barriers. Another reason was that the sma Predator doesn''t want to alert Jay by controlling other monsters to attack MJ''s corpse-integrated monsters and intends to take advantage of that surprise to take down Jay before he sees iting. Soon after, the sma Predator returned to its gloomy habitat and began to train in its sma Energy and prepare itself for what it had nned next. ***** Unbeknownst to this, Jay was back on Earth, rxing on bed after a satisfying hot shower. At that moment, he was going through the stats section in his . __________ [STATUS] (Primary) Name - Jay Age - 23 Race - Greater Human Life Energy - 108700/32500 Level - 25 (Tier-2, High-Phase) Estimated Level - 50 (Tier-3, Peak) ~~~ * ? Looted Stats ^ ? Spirit Item Stats ¡ã ? Achievement Title Stats E ? Evolution Stats ~~~ Strength - 203 (33+88*+72^+10 E) Agility - 198 (33+88*+67^+10 E) Vitality - 198 (65+88*+35^+10 E) Endurance - 198 (70+88*+25^+5¡ã+10 E) Spirit - 198 (85+88*+15^+10 E) Luck - 47 (7+25^+15¡ã) Health - 1980/1980 Stamina - 623/990 Spirit Energy - 765/990 Undistributed Stats - 0 __________ After going through the stat values, Jay looked at the unusual amount of Life Energy that was stacked ever since he proceeded to stay behind in Tier-2. It continued to rise since MJ''s corpse integrated monsters were on a monster killing spree in the Trial World. As long as Jay chooses to evolve to Tier-3, he could reach Lv.46 from Lv.25 in one go and im back the first position in Alpha Rankings. One has to keep in mind that Jay also used a portion of the obtained Life Energy to share with the Earth''s Alpha Chosen through the Party function. Still, they had to use 100 RPs to receive enough Life Energy to level up. If not for that, Jay would have enough to fulfil the ''Level Requirement'' for Tier-4 evolution. To most Alpha Chosen, it was an ordeal to level up to such an extent even after a month into the trial program, much less in just 10 days. Following that, Jay closed the status window and went to sleep. Three hours from then, MJ called out for Jay, waking him up, "Master, your Father is on the call, shall I connect it to your wristband prototype?" Jay swiped away his sleepy eyes and nodded at MJ while still resting on the bed. The call connected through and his father''s excited voice entered his ears, "Son,e to Head Quarters, ASAP. An important board meeting is going to be held shortly. This is going to be fate changing for our Enterprise." ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- I hope this chapter made the intentions of the sma Predator clear. I intentionally showed vague details about ''The Lord'' and ''n'' that the sma Predator was talking about.. After all, It would be interesting if you slowly find more about it, rather than dumping a lot of info at once. Chapter 123 - Partnership Proposal. The call connected through and his father''s excited voice entered his ears, "Son,e to headquarters, ASAP. An important board meeting is going to be held shortly. This is going to be fate changing for our Enterprise." Jay knew exactly what his father was talking about, but he yed along. "What''s happening, Dad? What are you talking about?" Jay''s father frustratedly uttered, "Ah! If only they had told me beforehand, I would have been prepared. But no, they had to surprise me¡­..It must be that little girl''s idea or else Kay wouldn''t have gone with it. Hmph, once this is over, I will give her a proper scolding." He then continued in a hurry before disconnecting the call, "Listen, Son, I don''t have time to exin everything. You will understand everything once you reach here." Jay could already guess what happened after hearing his father''s words. It seemed that Qew and Kay didn''t reveal the matter of Olivia''s arrival and about FUTURE Incorporation''s intention to propose partnership. Knowing Qew''s mischievousness, Jay could tell that it was her idea to surprise both their Father and Uncle. Because of that, they only got to know about it recently, leaving them with little time to prepare. Soon, Jay morphed the set of a tank-top and track pants he was wearing back into the golden-ck suit, except this time, he didn''t add an overcoat like how he was recently usually does in the Trial World. Following that, Jay walked out of the house and the S.E.E.D technology model car wheeled itself out of the house garage, and by the time he crossed thewn, the now camouged car halted on the road, right by the road with one of its door open for Jay to get in. It would take at least an hour to reach the Nav Yuga Headquarters because of his house being at the far end of that city. But, thanks to MJ tweaking the traffic signals to Jay''s convenience, it took half an hour to reach there. MJ didn''t go overboard and manipted the traffic signals in a way so that there weren''t any urrences that would lead to traffic idents Before long, Jay reached the conference room, where the Nav-Yuga''s top brass were excitedly going through the details on the proposal Olivia offered. Everyone''s attention turned towards Jay as soon as he entered the room. Ankith was the first one to respond as he introduced Jay to Olivia. "Miss Olivia, this is my eldest son, Jay. He looks after this enterprise''s security. I happened to learn about your arrival at thest moment, making it harder for him to reach here as Jay was far from here by the time he learned about this meeting." Following that, Jay greeted Olivia under the pretense that it was their first time meeting, "Miss Olivia, it''s nice to meet you." Jay did that to avoid giving his father an exnation about how he knew Olivia beforehand if he casually had struck up a conversation with her. For that, he had to reveal about the trial world and the system. Jay intended to keep this matter a secret from his father, at least until after the first tournament. Meanwhile, the executives were looking strangely at Jay. They were a little ustomed to his cold and distant attitude to anyone other than his family over the past few days, but they didn''t expect Jay to greet Olivia with the same attitude. When those executives first met Olivia, they fawned over her, praising her non-stop, after all she is the 5th richest person in the world. They were worried that Jay''s expressionless greeting might displease Olivia, but to their disbelief, Olivia greeted back in response, "Likewise, Mr Jay. Please join the meeting." The executives didn''t see thating because Olivia simply returned their greetings with a casual nod and didn''t pay much attention to them. But it was entirely different when she responded to Jay''s greeting. It was not what she said, but how she said it. A few keenful ones doubted their eyes that sensed respect and¡­.slight fear in her words? If they hadn''t known who Olivia was, they might have assumed her to be Jay''s subordinate. Jay''s father and uncle didn''t notice it as they got back to going through the conditions in the proposal documents after introducing Jay. After that, Jay nodded back at her and took a seat beside Kay, and quietly listened to the ongoing meeting. It continued for two hours and Kay was the one who was most active, as he did most of the work in creating the documents that made up the details of the partnership proposal. ording to that proposal, the Nav-Yuga Enterprise will be the representative of F.U.T.U.R.E Conglomerate in India to sell the new technology products they are going to introduce soon. It''s an offer that not any otherpany would be willing to refuse, much less the Nav-Yuga Enterprise that was slowly rising back to their feet. A part of that deal was that the F.U.T.U.R.E Conglomerate will in return help Nav-Yuga Enterprise in up-scaling their enterprises to other countries and expand their business horizon. So, when they learned about the partnership proposal, the top brass of the Nav-Yuga Enterprise were excited beyond measure at the golden opportunity and epted it right away. The whole meeting was about the terms of the proposal and other necessary logistics needed for the partnership between theirpanies to be made official. At the end of the meeting, Jay''s uncle, Umesh asked, "Miss Olivia, If you don''t mind me asking, what are the products we would be selling? It''s to make some preparations beforehand to smoothen the marketing process." Hearing Umesh''s query, everyone in the boardroom except for Jay and Kay leaned forward in interest to know what those products are. From the beginning of that meeting, Olivia mentioned nothing about what products they would be distributing. As for Jay and Kay, they weren''t as interested as the others since they long ago knew about the S.E.E.D technology products that MJ''s army of quantum A.I''s worked restlessly in the past few days mass producing them. Olivia gently got up from her seat and replied, "It''s everything, Mr Umesh. Every gadget that runs on any energy source like electricity, sr power, etc. Except each of them will be an upgraded version of themselves with a highly advanced technology that''s a few decades earlier than the present age." After a momentary pause, Olivia continued and this time her tone is that of a charismatic leader and entrepreneur, "Soon, this will be the most revolutionary technology development in the history of mankind." Almost everyone in the boardroom was in a daze from Olivia''s words that were filled with unprecedented confidence. "Now that everything is sorted out, let''s end the meeting. Shall we? I will be staying in India a few more days, so we could make the public announcement of our partnership the day after tomorrow." Olivia broke the silence. Jay''s father woke from his daze andughed embarrassedly for his earlier disposition and responded while standing up from his seat, "Of course...Of course, let''s do that and thank you for all the hard work you put in." He then proceeded to see Olivia and Sergei out. Right then, Jay stepped in and suggested, "Father, Miss Olivia had travelled a long way from here to meet us. We should at least see to it that she enjoys the best of Indian Food. Why not have Kay apany them to the best restaurant and show courtesy to our guests?" Jay''s intention behind his suggestion was to have his brother spend more time with Olivia. After all, if he doesn''t even do that, how could he be a ''Matchmaker Brother''. Olivia was oblivious to Jay''s n since she couldn''t read his thoughts or that of Kay''s. Olivia might have been the world''s richest young entrepreneur, but in the matters of Love and dating, she was quite poor. Kay, on the other hand, understood what his brother was trying to pull off and subconsciously blushed, but hid it well on the outside. However, under Sergei''s keen gaze, that didn''t go unescaped and smiled to himself. He turned a blind eye to it as if he didn''t notice it in the first ce. Ankith agreed with Jay but added something more that Jay didn''t expect, "That''s right, we should do our duty as a host. You too join Kay and take them to the best restaurant and make sure to show her the nearby tourist attractions during her stay here." Jay''s lips twitched at his father''s decision. He could tell that his father wanted to apany them so that if they were to encounter any trouble on the way, Jay could take care of it. But who the hell in their right minds would pick up trouble with Olivia, who could control anyone''s minds at her will. Jay reluctantlyplied and followed them to the nearby famous restaurant. By the time they reached there, Qew was standing near the restaurant entrance, waving at them as they were leaving the car. Alongside Qew were MJ in chubby baby form, Dante and her personal bodyguard, Esha. Without even having to read their minds, Jay could guess that Qew must have learned about going to a restaurant from MJ and wanted to surprise them there. Watching his Sister ying the role of a ''Prosecutor'' all too well in their sibling pact, Jay could only suppress his urge to facepalm himself. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 124 - The Sneaky Waitress And Her Pseudo-narcissistic Boyfriend. Within the restaurant''s top floor, a group of 9 members sat around a round table and one by one, waiters brought food starters for those people and soon left them. As soon as they exited the well-decorated luxurious room, those waiters looked at their manager who oversaw the entire process and anxiously waited for his response. For a brief moment, those waiters and waitresses held their breath, worrying that their manager would find faults in their customer services. But when they saw their strict manager giving them a thumbs up, they all let out a sigh of relief. "You all did well. Keep this up the entire session. Next will be the main food items. Let the VIP customers finish the starter items before stepping into the private room. Alright, Chop-chop! Go back to your work now." Those waiting staff quickly resumed their work and once they were further away from the manager, a waiter asked his peer, "Ah, Man, that was intense. I have attended quite some VIP''s but today''s group gave an entirely different pressure. For some reason, it felt harder to breathe under their presence. Sigh, maybe I am thinking too much." The other waiter replied with a surprise, "You felt that too? I thought my asthma red up back then and worried I would drop those dishes. Thank God nothing like that happened or Restaurant Manager would have skinned us. After all, those are VIP customers who reserved an entire floor for themselves." Not just the two of them but the remaining were also having simr discussions while continuing their work. However, one of them went in a separate way before sneakily taking out her phone and calling someone. For the employees in that restaurant, it''s mandatory to ce their phones in their respective lockers before starting their work there so that the employees won''t be distracted from doing their work efficiently. Of course, daily when they are leaving from work, they could take their phones back. Ring...Ring....Ring...Ring..... "Ah, just pickup already¡­." The sneaky waitress frustratedly uttered as the person on the other side didn''t pick up quickly. The sneaky waiter called two more times and when she was about to give up, the other party lifted the call on the third try. "Idiot! I am risking my job for you and there you are, careless enough to not even pick your phone immediately." A male voice stuttered on the other side of the call, "So...sorry babe, when you called, my publisher was on my neck, demanding more celebrity stories for tomorrow''s newspaper. It''s not like I could pull them out of thin air. I am lucky to have my beautiful girlfriend who works in the city''s most famous restaurant, where celebrities often visit. Without my angel what could I possibly do? So, who is it, babe? You used to message me but seeing that you want to talk, some famous celebrities must have visited there right?" The entertainment journalist on the call said in one fell swoop, not giving his girlfriend the room to talk after noticing that she was mad at him for picking the callte. His honey-coated words and praises were to cool down the angry waitress and that seemed to work well. "Alright, enough with your glib tongue. I will directly get to the point. Do you remember a week ago there was a sensation about that retrial case, where an Enterprise won against the Quadnite Conglomerate in Court?" "Yea, Yea¡­..the Nav-Yuga Enterprise, that news blew up back then. Even today, that news is on the trending charts. Is it about that uprising Enterprise?" His girlfriend replied, "Yup, to be precise, it''s about the youngest son of that Enterprise''s CEO, who became famous after that retrial incident. He appeared along with a group, there were even three bodyguards with them as well. The others must be famous as well. If you cane soon, you can get some pictures and possibly take a short interview, that is if you are lucky enough." As if a fuse lit up in his mind, the entertainment journalist bbered, "Oh, wait...wait, I remember his name, it''s ...yes, it''s Kay. He is famous not just as awyer that took down a huge conglomerate and an Enterprise CEO''s son but also for his dashing looks. Apparently, he became a hot topic among girls. Especially, the female coworkers in my office go bonkers for this guy. I admit that he looks handsome but isn''t this too crazy? I mean, If it''s looks we are talking about, I guess I wouldn''t fall far from this guy. right?" The waitress clicked her tongue and said before ending the call, "Peh! Who are you kidding? The fact that you are asking this means you haven''t properly looked at this guy. Anyway,e quick. Bye, I gotta go. Duty calls¡­" On the other end of the call, the Journalist stood in an innocent stupor after his girlfriend''s blunt words and walked towards the mirror nearby andbed his unkempt hair with his hand before saying to himself, "She must be joking right? Aren''t I handsome?" Just then, a colleague of his walked past him and overheard his words. She then scowled at him before walking off. "Who are you kidding?!" The Journalist froze for a second after hearing the very exact words of his girlfriend once again and consoled himself, "Girls these days don''t have good taste." He then gave a flying chef kiss towards his mirror reflection and quickly left from there to the restaurant. *** Meanwhile, on the top floor, Jay learned everything that transpired between the sneaky waitress and her Journalist boyfriend through the skill . He could have just made her forget about them before the waitress could even make a phone call but Jay intentionally didn''t do that. Not just that but he also concealed this couple''s conversation from Olivia''s attention. After all, is her innate talent, to begin with. If she wanted, reading the minds of those that were just a floor below them was pretty easy. It''s just that she doesn''t have the skill , which would run passively in the background and brings awareness of everything that''s happening within a 500-meter radius. It''s a skill that was created from converging two of Olivia''s skills that Jay gained from synchronising with her Moon Origin Sigil. The process of ''Synchronising'' could also be done the other way around. Olivia could learn any new skill that Jay learns using but since the skill was created using , Olivia wasn''t able to gain that skill. Rather, Qew would be able to use since it was essentially created using her innate talent. Typically, one could only use a skill that is relevant to their respective innate talent. However, Jay was an exception for that. He was able to use the skill before he even looted a . For anyone who doesn''t have an Innate Talent that''s rted to fire, it''s almost impossible to use a fire elemental skill. It''s a simr case to every other innate talent user as well. When Jay first learned about it, he attributed it to be either due to his unusually powerful innate talent or because of his ess to Origin Energy. Jay didn''t know which one of them was responsible but it was clear that he could use any skill even if doesn''t have that respective innate talent in his possession. But, recently Jay learned that it wasn''t just him but his sister who also was able to use any skill without having the respective innate talent. The only prerequisite for her to use a skill was that it had to be created using her innate talent''s 1st innate exclusive skill, . Still, whether it''s Jay or Qew, they couldn''t bring out that skill''s full potential without a respective innate talent in possession. It''s a limitation that exceptional innate talent users like Jay and Qew had to face. Jay could simply ovee that limitation by simply looting their respective innate talent but it wasn''t the case for Qew. The difference could be clearly seen in their usage of the skill, . Since Jay could use Olivia''s innate talent, he could bring out the full potential of and use it passively without any expense of Spirit Energy, except for a little increased mental exhaustion rate. Whereas Qew could only use it for a limited amount of time due to the consumption of Spirit Energy and increased mental exhaustion rate and could only use it as an active skill. As a matter of fact, Qew was using at the very moment and was aware of everything that the waitress talked about with her boyfriend and Jay intentionally didn''t intervene in that matter. She already guessed what her elder brother was trying to do. Since the skill couldn''t bluntly let one control others'' minds, Qew wasn''t able to do anything and could only watch it happen. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- I casually came up with this chapter''s title. If any of you guys want to suggest a better title, feel free to tell me about it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.. Pleasement on your opinion as it is valuable to me. Chapter 125 - ‘Master Is Really Cunning!’ A little more than half an hour back, when Qew learned from MJ that Kay and Olivia were going to lunch together at a restaurant, she guessed Jay must have had a hand behind it. So, she crashed their lunch n to disrupt Jay''s schemes. After all, she ys the ''Prosecutor'' role and had to believe that it wouldn''t work out between Kay and Olivia. In order to prevent Jay from creating a private space between Kay and Olivia for a spark to begin between them, Qew went to the restaurant along with Esha, MJ and Dante. She even made sure to not let Kay and Olivia sit beside each other in the restaurant and sat between them along with MJ and Esha. At the sess of the first step in her ''mission'', she cheekily smiled at Jay, who sat at the opposite end of the table to let him know that any of his ns wouldn''t work under her presence. But, seeing that his elder brother was unfazed by her mocking, Qew felt something was off. Usually, Jay would say something in return whenever she acts smug in front of him but watching his confident look, she felt something was off. So, Qew immediately activated to see if she could find what Jay was scheming. Soon, everyone''s thoughts within the 500-meter radius flowed into her mind with an exception of Jay, Kay and Olivia. The sudden influx of information made her feel like she was having a hangover. It was mostly because Qew doesn''t have a mind-rted innate talent and also due to her Spirit Attribute being rather lowpared to Jay. She tested this skill a few times in the past couple of days, making her ustomed to the mild headache due to processing a lot of information at once. Using that, Qew found out about the sneaky waitress and her Journalist boyfriend. From that, she spected that Jay must be aiming for the Journalist to take a photo of Kay and Olivia standing together. For an entertainment channel, who were hungry for celebrity stories, having the recently trending ''Prince Charming'' Kay appear along with a woman at a restaurant would fill their te. By the time it hits social media, and everyone realises that the woman with Kay was the ''Olivia Morris'', the content would be even juicier. Of course, thatmotion would onlyst at most two days before the announcement of the partnership between F.U.T.U.R.E Inc. and the Nav-Yuga Enterprise andizens realise that it was all their misunderstanding before ignoring this topic. But, that will start a little something between Olivia and Kay when they think that the public sees them as a couple. It wouldn''t be much but that just might be the start of something between them and that was what Jay was aiming for. While Qew was thinking of the implications, Jay''s voice prompted in her mind, ''Yes, you have guessed right. That is what I am wishing for to happen.'' Qew then rebutted through the mental link Jay established, ''Hey!! Directly intervening in their matters is a vition of our pact rules.'' Jay lifted his brows andmunicated yfully, ''Oh really? Why don''t we talk about this in more detail? Was I the one who made that waitress call her Journalist boyfriend?'' Qew helplessly whispered in her mind, ''No...'' ''Was I the one who made that Entertainment Journalist to look for Kay as his next celebrity story?'' ''Noo...'' ''So, little sister, where was this direct intervention you are talking about?'' Hearing Jay''s logical words, Qew was at a loss for words. Since Jay happened to go through Olivia''s memories on Day-2, he knew that the qualities of a life partner she was looking for were basically everything that Kay is as a person. Because of that, Jay strongly believed that she would eventually realise that if she crosses paths with Kay. If not for that, he wouldn''t have tried to act as their matchmaker in the first ce. Meanwhile, MJ heard their conversation due to the mental connection he has with Jay. ''Master is really cunning! I should be like that when I grow up.'' MJ thought to himself with determination. Sensing his thoughts, Jay bitterly questioned himself, ''Eh? Just what am I teaching this kid?'' While this was happening, Sergei and Olivia were silently taking nces at Moro, who sat beside Kay. Moro''s performance in the second assessment seemed to leave a deep impression on them. Especially Sergei, as someone who''s well-versed in closebat after honing himself through several fights, he couldn''t help but be intrigued at how tough it was tost 50 seconds against Moro. As for Olivia, she was even more intrigued about Moro since he was able to easily defeat Sergei, who was a world-renowned Assassin. Even though she guessed that Jay must have given Moro an Origin Sigil, she still wondered as to how Jay managed to find someone as powerful as Moro. Olivia and Sergei tried to strike a conversation with Moro but all he did was respond with a nod or by shaking his head. They could only helplessly give up. ''Please don''t take it to heart, Moro is a man of few words.'' Kay remarked from the side. After that, Dante asked everyone, "Now that starters are over, shall we go for the main dishes?" Everyone nodded and he leaned forward and pressed a button on a circr electronic device, which signalled the waiters to bring the food items. Top restaurants use that method so that the customers couldfortably call for anything they need without having a waiter always breathing down their neck, asking if they want something. The waiting staff entered the floor and ced the dishes, one by one in order. Among them was the sneaky waitress, and she happened to serve food to Qew, who continued to look at the waitress as if she wanted to devour her. That scared the hell out of that waitress but she tried her best to maintain herposure. She didn''t know why one of the VIP customers was looking at her like she was their arch enemy. Once the waitress left that room along with the other waiting staff, she couldn''t help but shudder, "Eeeeh! What a scary woman? For a moment, I thought she was aware of what I did. If that is the case, I would have beenined against and most probably been fired by now. After all, what I did wasn''t exactly legal and a famous restaurant like this one does not disclose information of their customers to the media so that they wouldn''t be harassed by paparazzi and news outlets. I have to be careful or even stop leaking information to my idiot boyfriend." Within the private room, everyone was having their meal while chatting with Qew and Dante being the most talkative ones. Olivia patted MJ''s head and asked him with a giggle, "Little guy, could even fit all that chocte cake in your tiny stomach?" MJ nodded with a piece of cake still stuffed in his mouth and Qew narrated the times when MJ emptied several packs of ice cream that were three times the quantity of the chocte cake in a single spree. Everyone burst intoughter upon hearing that. After a while, Kay thought of something and asked Jay, "Brother, how will this Trial Region Tournament be conducted?" Kay''s query piqued everyone''s interest, especially Olivia, Sergei and Dante. From what Jay mentioned during the ''Earth''s Alpha Chosen Gathering'' on Day-6, they only knew that the tournament would be a team-based one. Besides that, they don''t have a clue of what will take ce during the 1st tournament. Seeing that everyone was showing interest, and MJ was busy with his chocte cake, Jay took it on himself to brief them, "With our Gxy trial program scoring a pretty high-performance score, there might be changes in the standard tournament evaluation. So, I will only give a general overview. Basically, there will be three rounds in the Tournament. The first one will be a mass elimination round and by the end of it, 900 0ut of 1000 participating trial zones will be eliminated from the Tournament. By the end of the second round''s Siege Defence, only 25 trial zones will remain out of 100. For the final round, there will be partial ''team vs team'' battles and the 10 trial zones with the highest results among those 25 woulde out as the winners. The System appoints Tier-4 lifeforms from the vast SuperCluster as Tournament Managers to oversee the Tournaments. That''s all for now. Anyway, we will know the exact specifics soon." Even though Jay''s description of the tournament rounds was vague, they got an idea of what would take ce in the tournament. However, none of them seemed to be worried that Earth''s Trial Zone wouldn''t make it to the top 10. After all, the goal Jay set was to have Earth''s trial zonee out on top in the entire Trial World. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- I casually came up with this chapter''s title. If any of you guys want to suggest a better title, feel free to tell me about it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.. Pleasement on your opinion as it is valuable to me. Chapter 126 - Tetra-Elemental Innate Talent. Soon, everyone finished their meals but the only one unsatisfied was MJ, even after eating a cake that was bigger than his size. So, Jay paid for five more chocte cakes and several ice cream packs to be delivered to his home address for MJ to gobble them up whenever he wished. The restaurant manager was bewildered because just the cost of the cakes and ice creams they ordered were nearly ten times that of their lunch bill. It was equal to 6 months of his srybined. After confirming it once again with Jay if he really wanted to buy them all at once, he thought to himself, ''Things that rich people do are really unfathomable.'' Following that, they all exited the restaurant and the Entertainment Journalist was waiting for them nearby with a camera in hand, hiding in a corner. As soon as he saw them, he tried to take pictures but just then, Qew noticed the hidden photographer obstructed his view of Kay by standing in between before giving him a dead stare, scaring the hell out of him. ''Is this the scary woman my girlfriend reminded me of? How the hell did she even find me so quickly and why is she looking at me like I was her blood enemy?'' He thought with a gulp and didn''t dare to go closer nor take any more pictures. Soon, all of them got into the cars and Qew managed to get Olivia and Sergei into her car, sessfully separating Kay from Olivia. Just as she was about to get in her car, she gave a smug smile to Jay andmunicated through thoughts, ''Hehe! How is it? Look at how easily I ruined your n.'' For that, Jay replied with a smirk, ''We will see about that.'' Taken aback by Jay''s confidence, Qew wondered if she really did seed in preventing Jay''s n. Soon, they all left and the sneaky waitress''s boyfriend came out from hiding and muttered, "Uff, that was oddly exhausting. I am a Journalist for god''s sake. Why am I even taking pictures sneakily like a Paparazzi? Anyway, I should see how the pictures came out to be." Before being scared away by Qew, he quickly took three pictures. When he was taking those pictures, he focussed on Kay but other people were also in his camera frame, especially Qew, who blocked his line of view with Kay. However, he still clicked them, to try his luck. But now after going through those pictures, he couldn''t help but doubt his eyes because there was only two people visible in them, Kay and Olivia. For a few seconds, he doubted his eyes but after realising that the pictures came out much better than he expected them to be, the Journalist joyouslyughed to himself. After all, what''s spicier news than having the recently trending ''prince charming'', who was thirsted over by females to be seen together with a woman at a restaurant. Qew wasn''t aware that Jay already knew what she was nning to do and had MJ remove everyone in those photos except for Kay and Olivia. If Qew had known about that, she would have even chased after that Journalist until he deleted those pictures. Unaware of that, she was chatting away with Olivia in her car. Unlike what Jay''s father asked of him, Jay didn''t take Olivia and Sergei to see nearby famous ces in India and instead took them to the Deep Underground Secret Base. There, he instructed Kay and Qew to show them around before taking Olivia and Sergei to the training facilities so that they could train or prepare for the uing tournament. Jay then separated from them and went to his personal training room before activating Qew''s third Innate Exclusive skill, . While he was in the meeting itself, that skill''s cooldown ended but he waited till then to use it. The convergence processsted a minute before a set of notifications filled his vision. [You have sessfully converged Grade-3 and Grade-5 , creating a Grade-5 .] [ enters a 24-hour cooldown until it can be usable again.] [Congrattions! You are the 1st Existence in the Entire Universe tobine four elements into one, creating a Tetra-Element, ''Thunder me'' while just being in Tier-2.] [Due to causing a Universe Level Achievement, you will receive a random grade reward that will be most useful to you at the present moment. The Grade of the reward depends on your Luck Attribute.] [Current Universe Points: 9600.] [You don''t have enough Universe Points to exchange for the weapon you wished for, and till the request proceeds, the Universe Points will be pooled together to satisfy the exchange value for the weapon (Origin ive) you wished for.] [Grade-5 (Fire, Water, Wind & Lightning) (Elemental Category): Gives Host the ability toprehend the ''Thunder me'' Element without losing the ability to individually manipte Fire, Water, Wind and Lightning elements along with their respective skills. Increases itsprehension speed by five-fold.] With the addition of the Wind element, the ''Lightning me'' turned into ''Thunder me''. Jay knew it wasn''t just a slight difference because Thunder is the higher element of Lightning and ''Thunder me'' basically is thebination of two top higher elements into one. He then conjured the new element over his palm and its glow illuminated the entire training room. It wasn''t like the Lightning me that was purple with red shes. Instead, it was violet with dark-violet sparks rumbling over it, making sharp noises. He then tested it on the training dummies MJ prepared for him, which could even sustain the st damage of short-range ballistic missiles. But, upon colliding with a basic attack of Thunder me, the training dummy was sted apart without any resemnce to its previous appearance. It proved that the new element''s attack power was notch above the ''Lightning me'' along with it''s increased attack speed. Soon after he tested its power out, another series of notifications followed up. [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.1 (Stage-1)] [Lv.1: Lv.1 Thunder me-element training methods will be transmitted into your mind.] [Your Lv.30 ispatible with Lv.1, do you wish to merge them?] Jay epted it right away as usual. [Lv.30 + Lv.10 = Lv.15] [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.15 (Stage-2)] [Lv.15: Lv.15 Thunder me-element training methods will be transmitted into your mind.] The relevant knowledge from to surged into his mind, improving his understanding of the Thunder me with better and efficient ways to use it. For the next half an hour, Jay experimented with the Thunder me element until he exhausted his Spirit Energy reserve before giving a break. While taking a breath from the exhaustion, he thought about the Universe Points he had at that moment, which amounted to 9600. Even though a category of Universe Level Achievement has 1000 ranks, not everyone would receive an equal amount of Universe Points. Those who score 101st to 1000th rank in any Universe Level Achievement would receive 10 Universe Points. From 11th to 100th ce, it was 100 points and for the first ten ranks, 1st to 10th, it was a whopping 1000 points. The convergence of Thunder me gave Jay a Universe Level Achievement and since he was the first life form to do that, he received 1000 Universe Points from that, like every other time he converged a new element. Jay really wished 10,000 Universe Points would be enough to exchange for the Origin ive of his Innate Talent''s previous owner. If that were really to be the case, he would just need 400 more Universe Points to obtain the Weapon he was longing for. Once Jay converges another element with the Thunder me, forming a Penta Element and creating another Universe Level Achievement, it would meet the Universe Points requirement. But this was all under the assumption that the Origin ive could be exchanged for 10,000 points. Since he could only wait to find out about it, he didn''t bother storming his brain around it and took out all of his Spirit Equipment before passing them to have MJ restore their durability. After all, any Spirit Equipment only has 100 points of durability. Even though the rate at which the durability decreases would differ depending on the grade of that equipment, at the end, they all have a limited amount of durability and not even his growth-type equipment, was an exception to it. Any trial zone that doesn''t have someone with Spirit Energy Engineering expertise would have to go through the trouble of having to helplessly watch their Spirit Equipment deteriorate before breaking apart eventually. Luckily, Earth''s Alpha Chosen has MJ, who was pretty good at it. With the tournament around the corner, Jay gave the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen a discount, where they use just a single RP to have each of their Equipment''s durability restored, instead of the usual 10 RPs per equipment. After Jay refilled his Spirit Energy reserve using Spirit Crystals, he got back to experiment with Thunder me to be ustomed to it and find more diverse ways it could be in a fight. That way, Jay prepared himself for Day-10''s tournament. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 127 - Country In Panic? ***** 9:00 AM (UTC-5). Guardians Guild Main Base, Washington, DC. It was a secret underground facility used for weapons research purposes before it was handed over to Brandon to operate how he sees fit. He had thatrge underground facility re-arranged so that the Alpha Chosen in the Guardians Guild could live there with everything needed, along with a well-equipped training area. For now, it''s just too big for him, Gabriel and a few other technical staff to live there but after a few months, it would have more members with several Beta and Gamma Chosen joining the Guardians Guild. It''s far in the future but Brandon had ced that in mind for making changes there. While he was advising Gabriel on how to get a proper hold over his newly improved Tier Suppression after reaching Tier-3, he got a call from the Chief of the country''s top Cyber Security division, which was appointed to that base by the President. "Mr Brandon, just like you asked, we used surveince satellite feed of other counties and traced our targets'' whereabouts to an airport in India. Should we send our agents in that country to find their exact location?" Brandon replied immediately, "No, if we do that, they would notice it in no time. These are not any ordinary individuals we are talking about. Even if it takes longer, just continue to use the surveince satellite feed to find them. It''s safer that way." The person on the other end wanted to ask Brandon to reconsider his order because of the immense workload their Cyber Security staff had to go through but bring himself to do it after thinking back to the position of Brandon. He was appointed to a new role, where his authority was just below their Country''s President. After epting the order Brandon gave, the call ended and they went back to their work. Brandon had ced the Alpha Chosen under satellite surveince in the past few days to keep track of their activities. It didn''t matter if they are in Olivia''s group or even a member of the Guardian''s Guild. It was to see if any of them were misusing their powers to harm civilians or illegal activities such as robbing banks and if so, by taking further steps to prevent them. The incident where Sergei went on a spree to kill assassins of a Secret Russian Organisation he used to work in a few years ago caused Brandon to take this step. Although Sergei''s act was still a major criminal offence, it was justified for Sergei to go after the members of the assassin organisation who tried to kill him and his daughter. So, Brandon didn''t meddle in that matter. Fortunately, after that, any such incident didn''t happen. Whether it was Brandon''s group member or Olivia''s, they didn''t even have tomit any crimes for money since they were offered a heavy sum of money for joining either of the group. Recently, his satellite surveince team noticed Olivia and Sergei taking a private jet overseas. But strangely, they seemed to vanish from their surveince. It was simr to how Dante disappeared from the radar when he was leaving Italy. Ever since then, they tried to track Dante''s whereabouts but came out empty-handed except for the information that he travelled to India. So, Brandon believed it must be connected to Jay, whose identity remained a mystery to them even till now. The identities of other Alpha Chosen were easily found using theposite sketches made by Brandon describing their facial features toposite profilers and using that to search in the citizenship database all over the world. However, Jay was the only exception. Brandon couldn''t recall Jay''s facial features or any detail of his appearance no matter how hard he tried, making it impossible to search for him in the first ce. Now that they were able to track down Olivia''s Private Jet, he guessed that it wasn''t a coincidence that they lost track of Dante and Oiliva when they went to India. Brandon could only connect that with Jay, whose identity is still a mystery to him. While he was in his thoughts, he got another call on his burner phone and on the other end was the Chief of Cyber Security division but this time, his voice was shaking uncontrobly. "Mr¡­..Mr Brandon, as per your order, we began to shuffle through loads of surveince satellite feed but¡­.but right after that¡­...we lost connection with the surveince satellite we were using. However, that was just the begi¡­.beginning, one by one, we lost connection with the remaining all...all 122 military spy satellites under our country''s jurisdiction. Intelligence Agencies across the nation were now under full panic, assuming the worse of it being arge-scale terrorist cyber attack." Brandon was bbergasted by the new revtion. He didn''t expect such a thing to happen out of nowhere. Right then, he heard a baby voiceing from behind him, where Gabriel was at and disconnected the call. Brandon recognised the voice right away and turned around to see Baby MJ sitting on top of Gabriel''s head. Gabriel could only wryly smile and helplessly look at Brandon as Baby MJ yed with his brown curly hair. At the moment, Gabriel wasn''t aware of themotion in that country. So, he was thinking it might be MJ''s yful visit. But, Brandon began to connect the dots and widened his eyes upon drawing a conclusion. "Was it¡­...?" Before Brandon could ask, MJ intervened, "Yup, you guessed it right, it was me. Did you think no one would notice if you go poking into others'' business using satellite surveince? This is a warning from my Master. Got it? Brandon nodded with hints of fear evident in his eyes. Seeing that his goal was achieved, Baby MJ waved his hands in the air and severalptop screen size blue screens popped around him. Each of them showed the images of the satellites in space and the next second they changed to the NASA headquarters and disyed the images of space surveince equipment there. Following that, the images changed to the locations of other countries'' Space Agencies before the same process was repeated. After a few seconds, those screens vanished and the Baby MJ made an action that looked like he was cracking his fingers all at once before giving Brandon a carefree warning, "Refrain from trying to find my Master''s identity and whereabouts. It also includes the relentless search for Dante and Olivia. If this happens again, you could say goodbye to all your country''s satellites for real this time." As for Gabriel, he understood the seriousness of the matter after hearing that. But what he was worried about the most at that moment was something else entirely. MJ was rubbing his palm on top of Gabriel''s head ever since he began to talk with Brandon. With the context of that one-sided conversation being a warning, he couldn''t help but gulp in worry about the safety of his head. "Did any tell you that the crown of your skull is way too t?" Hearing MJ''s unexpected question, Gabriel replied with an awkward smile as if he was ustomed to hearing that, "Haha, Yes. I was born like that." "Hmm, Alright, gotta go, I have several ice creams waiting for me." after saying that, Baby MJ turned into a blue steak of light and disappeared into a nearby wire. Soon after that, Brandon got a call, pulling him out of his thoughts. It was once again the Chief of the Cyber Security division. Unlike the previous time, his voice sounded full of relief, "Thank God, Mr Brandon, it turned out to be a false rm. We just received reports from NASA that the satellites were temporarily rendered inoperable due to the maic fluctuations of sr res. Also, fresh intel suggests that it wasn''t just our country but a few neighbouring countries were affected as well." From the beginning of that call, there was no joy over Brandon''s face even after learning that there was no threat to the nation. He disconnected before telling the chief to call him if there are any new updates. Brandon began to rethink his evaluation of Jay''s capabilities, especially of MJ. He didn''t buy MJ''s shback story of being a 10,000-year-old soul and already guessed that MJ is some kind of Artificial intelligence species after witnessing his ability to control and manage the highly advanced technology facilities in Earth''s Foothold. But, he didn''t estimate what MJ could do was something far-fetched as taking away control of their entire satellite fleet. The even more terrifying part was how easily MJ made fake evidence of the sr res affecting the satellites and NASA doesn''t even have a clue that someone orchestrated all of that. With MJ''s ability to infiltrate any digital security, even nuclear weapons would be under Jay''s disposal. Thinking of the implications of MJ''s capabilities, he couldn''t help but have chills running down his spine. The personal assistant of Brandon entered the training room they were in and greeted him before reminding, "Mr Brandon, you have a prior appointment in the White House two hours from now. I have arranged the transportation for you." ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 128 - Secret Meeting In Washington DC ***** Two hourster. 11:15 AM (UTC-5). White House, Washington, DC. In the situation room that was located in the West Wing, a small group of USA''s highest-ranking individuals like Vice-President, Secretary of Defence, CIA Director and a few others were gathered. At the moment, there was a secret meeting being held among them with the President presiding over it. "Let''s begin the 2nd Official Meeting. One by one, bring me up to date on the information gathered on the Alpha Chosen. Please, take the lead, Agent Blue." The President said to others present in the situation room. Everyone''s attention turned towards the blond-haired young man, whose piercing blue eyes had minute streaks of lightning coursing through them from time to time. That gave off a sense of danger and mysteriousness to others present there. However, none of them wasn''t shocked. At least, not as much as when they initially witnessed Brandon''s abilities in the first official meeting that took a few days back. Back then, they almost jumped out of their seats at the disy of his lightning element abilities. Ignoring those that were looking at him, Brandon began, "Mr President, since thest meeting there weren''t any changes in the number of Alpha Chosen on our side. There were still five of us in the Guardian Guild. Henry, Kensei and Min-soo were in their respective home countries. Whereas Gabriel is in the Guardian Guild main base right now." "Oh, Gabriel''s here in Washington? Why didn''t you invite him to join the meeting? As an Alpha Chosen, he has every right to be here." The President asked out of curiosity. "I would have brought him, but it''s just that he recently evolved to Tier-3 and not yet properly ustomed to it. I''m afraid if he''s here, you all would be involuntarily affected by his Tier suppression. I will bring him to the next official meeting, by then he would have gained control of it." The President nodded understandingly, after all, he personally experienced some of the Tier-2 suppression when he first met Brandon in the Oval Office along with the CIA Director. If Gabriel was there, they all would be subjected to some of the Tier-3 suppression he unknowingly exude and that''s not something they could handle well. Noticing that the remaining members in the room except the CIA Director didn''t understand what the Tier Suppression was about, the President signalled Brandon to give a quick demonstration. Although those high ranking individuals learned about the Trial Program and everything rted to that in the previous meeting, that didn''t include details about Tier suppression because it was not something that could be inly described in words as one needed to experience it beforehand to gain a clear understanding. At the President''s signal, Brandon let out some of his tier suppression and enveloped everyone in the room except for the President and the CIA Director. The next instant, everyone froze in their tracks and began to sweat even in a centralised ac room. They were looking at Brandon with terror. They had learned about the supernatural powers of the Alpha Chosen and what they were capable of. They tried to bring their mind around it by reasoning that they were just stronger than normal humans and magically control elements. But, it was their first time, facing such oppressive power. At that moment, to them, Brandon looked like a death reaper, who could take their lives in an instant if he just wished for it. Only then did they realise how wrong they were to underestimate the means and power of an Alpha Chosen. After three seconds, Brandon lifted off his tier suppression over them and calmly looked at them before saying, "Please excuse me, I did this just to show what Tier Suppression feels like under Mr President''s instructions. Since normal humans weren''t considered as Tier-1, the tier difference between us is even greater and because of that just a part of my Tier-3 suppression was able to overwhelm you all." The others wiped the sweat on their foreheads and looked at Brandon in a new light. They believed that Tier Suppression alone was enough to kill them if it was used to its full extent. After that, the meeting resumed and the President asked Brandon, "What about Olivia''s group? Did you invite them to join the Guardians Guild?" "Yes, Mr President, but they rejected it. I believe they will be shortly joining an organisation under Olivia and the resources she provides them aren''t far from ours. Moreover, at this point, it wasn''t just about who could provide more resources but who could gain their trust and confidence. Sergei, Andrea and Kasim now believe in Olivia and her leadership. If I insist them to join us, it would only look like me trying to poach Olivia''s group and eventually lead to an internal struggle between Alpha Chosen. With the uing tournament, where we had to face Alpha Chosen from others, it''s in everyone''s best interests to stay united." The President was a bit disappointed that the other Alpha Chosen didn''t join their side but after hearing Brandon''s exnation, he found it reasonable and couldn''t help but be thankful to have someone like Brandon working under him, who could thoroughly think through before acting on something. Following that, he thought of something and hurriedly asked, "What about ''that'' individual? Did he reject your invitation as well?" Hearing that, Brandon drylyughed, "Mr President, about that¡­.... To begin with, we don''t have anything we could offer that could catch his attention. The previous official meeting was on Day-5 rest day, so you all don''t know what happened on Day-6." Brandon then began to brief them on the details of the Earth''s Foothold and the massively advanced technology used there, they widened their eyes in disbelief. Because based on Brandon''s description, that technology could be centuries if not millenniums ahead of the present age. For a moment, there was still silence in the room. After that, the female Vice President broke the silence and asked Brandon, "ording to the previous report, it was said that this Jay was ranked third among every Alpha Chosen in the Trial World on the first day and then proceeded to 1st position in the next two days but after than began to decline. If I may ask, what is his current ranking in this ''Trial World Alpha Leaderboard''?" Her query garnered everyone else''s attention in the room, especially the President. He was overjoyed that one of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen was strong enough to be at the top among the millions of Alpha Chosen gxy-wide. But when the President learned in thest meeting that Jay''s position in the ''Alpha Rankings'' fell halfway through, he was worried for Earth but that soon vanished after hearing that Andrea, Min-soo and Olivia are in the top 10 positions. Now that the Vice President brought up this matter, he wanted to know if Jay improved his ranking. "He isn''t in the top 1000 rankings anymore but¡­."Brandon proceeded to say but was interrupted before he couldplete. The Secretary of Defence, who was silent till then raised his opinion, "Excuse me for intruding but If he is not so strong anymore, what''s there to be worried about? We could just bring him into custody and extract information on that advanced technology in his grasp. After all, he is just a single person. What could he do against a country?" More than half of the individuals in the meeting nodded in agreement with the idea. It was not just them but also the president was thinking about it. Even though not as violently as the Secretary of Defence put it but instead trying to persuade Jay to share that technology with them. If that''s not feasible, maybe at most try to threaten him into epting their proposal. After all, if that technology was half as good as what Brandon described, it is worth waging a war. For a moment there, Brandon was stunned at how they came to such a conclusion before evenpletely listening to what he had to say. Brandon then thought to himself, ''If they know what Jay is capable of, they wouldn''t even dare to even think of making a move on him.'' He then recollected the memory from two hours before the 2nd Official Meeting began and couldn''t help but feel chills running down his back every time he thought about it. Looking at the Secretary of Defence, who looked as if he suggested something reasonable and obvious, Brandon felt like losing his usual calm temper and wanted to subject the man in front of him with his full concentrated Tier-3 Suppression. But he decided against it, taking the Secretary of Defence''s age into ount. After all, if Brandon were to really do that, he might really die from asphyxiation due to the overwhelming tier difference. Before the President could make a decision they would regret, Brandon spoke, bringing everyone''s attention to him. "Before deciding on anything, I suggest everyone listen to what I was about to say before I was rudely interrupted by someone." If it was before, Brandon wouldn''t have undermined someone as powerful as the Secretary of Defence in front of others so openly but now with the new authority, where he was just below the president of their country, he didn''t hold back. The Secretary of Defense was about to retort something in retaliation but slouched back into his seat after receiving a look from Brandon. It wasn''t a look that gave off Tier suppression but it was enough to make the other party shy away in fear. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 129 - Prelude Of The Trial Region Tournament. Half an hour passed since then and Brandon exined in detail what happened from Day-6 to Day-9. That included the events, ''Gathering of Earth''s Alpha Chosen'' and ''Three Assessments'', where Jay disyed his dominance and overwhelming power. Brandon made it clear that even if the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen gang up against Jay, they wouldn''t have a chance at defeating him. By the time Brandon finished his words, everyone else in the room fell into a silence thatsted for a while. Following that silence, Brandon looked at the CIA Director and asked in a solemn tone, "Director, In my service as a Secret Agent, have I ever made an error in my Judgement or put any mission I have been in jeopardy?" To which the CIA Director understood the point Brandon was trying to make and replied firmly, "Not even once." Brandon''s gaze then passed through everyone in the room beforending on the President before continuing, "I am asking everyone to trust my Judgement and don''t go finding trouble with that man. Everything I said about him was by no means exaggerated and could only have been downyed as there is a high chance he is even more powerful than what I estimated him to be." From the way he stressed, it became apparent how highly Brandon thought of Jay to everyone in that room. He chose not to mention that the recent satellite malfunction was not caused by sr res but just as a warning from Jay. Brandon was worried that if the top officials were to know about that, they might be stupid enough to secretly go after Jay and do something they could only regret in the future. With Brandon''s advice, there wasn''t anyone that suggested going after Jay and the meeting continued for a while beforeing to an end. ***** Once the 18-hour rest period ended, Day-10 began and every Alpha Chosen in the MilkyWay Trial Program was teleported back to the Trial World. However, this time it varied from the usual as they weren''t teleported back to their respective trial zones but to entirely different locations within the Trial World. All the 9196 Alpha Chosen that were alive out of the initial 11,000 from the 7th Trial Continent''s 35th Trial Region were teleported to a vast piece ofnd floating high above in the sky. ------ {Reminder Note: 1 Trial World = 10 Trial Continents 1 Trial Continent = 100 Trial Regions 1 Trial Region = 1000 Trial Zones Since there are 11 Alpha Chosen per Trial Zone, a Trial Region will have 11,000 Alpha Chosen.} --------- Even though it was just one-tenth the size of a Trial Zone, having an ind with an area of 100 sq.km floating in the sky was a sight to behold. To top it off, that floating ind didn''t have a in Forest terrain but was more like a Medival City with numerous three-storey houses lined in perfect order, forming a circr pattern, and at the centre of that ind were a few eye-catching structures. But the one that stood out the most was the enormous oval Colosseum towering 220 meters tall while spanning 800 meters long and 650 meters wide. Including the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, thousands of other Alpha Chosen were teleported right onto the Colosseum''s podium ground, filling it in the process. As soon as everyone realised that they were in an unknown ce,motion spread like a wildfire, and the colosseum bustled with discussions among the Alpha Chosen, trying to deduce the situation. Unlike most of the Alpha Chosen from other Trial Zones, Earth''s Alpha Chosen were pretty calm as they all learned beforehand from Jay that the location they were teleported to was where the Trial Regional Tournament will take ce. Instead of trying to figure out where they were, the attention of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen was on the Alpha Chosen of other Trial Zones around them. Mainly because of their extraterrestrial appearances that werepletely unknown to human knowledge. Other than them, everyone in the colosseum could be basically categorised as aliens. The group of 9 Alpha Chosen standing to their right, who had Beetle-like appearance, with short horns and shiny ck exoskeletons, noticed the calmness on the faces of Earth''s Alpha Chosen and chose to initiate an interaction. The tallest one among them, who was just four feet tall, stepped closer and stopped right before Kasim. In front of Kasim, who was 6 feet and 5 inches tall, the Beetle-like midget had to turn its face upwards just to look at his face. After two seconds of awkward silence, it asked Kasim in Genonian Language, "Hello there, fellow Alpha Chosen, you must be your Trial Zone''s Leader. Do you perhaps happen to know where this ce was?" Their short staturebined with their high pitch voice gave off a strangely cute vibe about them. Kasim pointed at himself and retorted in confusion, "You are talking to me? You really think I am the Leader?" To which, another Beetle-like midget from behind nodded with confidence, "Of course, you are thergest one among your group. Who else would be the leader if not for you?" The remaining Beetle-like midgets repeatedly nodded at those words in agreement and gave strange looks at Kasim as if it was something obvious. Looking at them genuinely believing that being a leader depends on one''s body size made Earth''s Alpha Chosen chuckle at their innocence. Kasim wanted to correct them and say Jay was their Leader but before that Dante giggled and went along with the Beetle-like midgets, "Of course, Of course¡­..this is our Leader, he will answer all your queries." Min-soo, Andrea, Henry, and Gabriel echoed along with Dante, making Kasim helplessly sigh and turn over to look at Jay only to receive approval in the form of a quick nod. Following that, Kasim exined to those midgets that it was a location where the Tournament will take ce and that after the tournament ends, everyone will be teleported back to their respective trial zones. The Leader of the Beetle-like midgets rubbed its chin as if thinking about something and after a few seconds of contemtion its eyes lit up and eximed, "Ohh! I get it now. So we are at the Tournament location." It then turned around and exined the same thing to its subordinates in great detail and only then did that group of beetle midgets understand what Kasim had said. Looking at how long it took for them to understand such a simple thing left most of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen speechless. Noticing the weird gazes of Earth''s Alpha Chosen, The Leader of the Beetle Midgets coughed dryly, "Don''t mind my subordinates. Unlike me, they are a little slow at grasping things. Anyway, thanks for sharing information with us. In the future, if you need our help, don''t shy away from asking for our help." After saying that, they moved away and began discussing something among themselves in their nativenguage. Andrea quietly voiced her opinion, "I can''t believe they were able to survive till now." Right then, Baby MJ appeared beside Andrea and informed her, "Don''t be fooled by their docile appearance and seemingly low intelligence. Their ''Horned Beetle'' Race has an innate strength-enhancing physique and coupled with their Strength-type Innate Talents, each of them could take on a Tier-3 Mid-Phase monster despite being at Tier-2 High-Phase. As for their Leader, it could temporarily burst out strength to match a Tier-3 High-Phase monster. There is a high chance that they coulde out as one of the top 10 Trial zones in this Tournament." Everyone except Jay was shocked upon learning about the capabilities of those midgets. If those words didn''te from someone as reliable as MJ, they wouldn''t have believed such cute-looking midgets could be so powerful. Even though it was his first time knowing about the Horned Beetle Race, Jay stayed unperturbed because he long ago learned about the top races within the System assimted Universe from MJ and the Horned Beetles Race was still far from those pinnacle races. MJ''s words made the rest of Earth''s Alpha Chosen look at the Horned Beetles in a new light. It was at that moment, a wave of Tier-Suppression spread out from the centre of the Colosseum and themotion of the podium ground settled down until there was no noise audible anymore. The Tier-Suppression didn''t apply pressure on anyone and was only released in a way to notify one''s presence to everyone there. Every Alpha Chosen looked above to the centre of the Colosseum, where a middle-aged man with pale-red skin and green eyes slowly descended from the sky and halted when he was 10 meters above the podium ground. Other than his pointy ears and slim physique, what caught the attention of Earth''s Alpha Chosen was his dressing sense. He was wearing a green flowered beach shirt with brown shorts. It was as if he was there on vacation. The only weapon on him was the dagger scabbard hanging by his waist. While levitating there, he casually nced at everyone before saying, "Wee to the Floating Tournament Ind. As a Tournament manager, I will be overseeing the entire tournament process." ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 130 - Trial Regional Tournament (Round 1): [Part-I] "Let me start by stating that the tournament willprise of three rounds with each one evaluating various aspects of your strength. But, all of them are in one way or other are team-based ones, where Alpha Chosen from each trial zone represents a team. Essentially, there should be 1000 teams since 1000 Trial Zones are participating in this Tournament, But there are 24 trial zones that don''t have any surviving Alpha Chosen in them, and as a result, there are only 976 teams present right now. Out of these 976, only 10 trial zone teams wille out as winners by the end of the Tournament will be qualified to participate in the Trial Continental Tournament that will take ce on Day-20. Other than that, bountiful rewards will be given ording to the respective ranks given in the final evaluation. Keep in mind that there will be no bargaining if the results of the tournament don''te out as you nned. After all, the evaluation is directly done by the System. About the first round of the Tournament, it will be a Mass Elimination Round, where only 100 trial zones with the highest evaluation scores will be qualified for the Second Round. Now then, everyone open your Status Windows and you all will find a section at the bottom saying ''Trial Regional Tournament''. There you all find the allotted number to your team and individual numbers to every one of you." Everyone in the crowd listened attentively to the exnation given by the 3rd Prince without as much as little noise. Even though the Tier-4 Suppression he used didn''t apply suffocating pressure on anyone, it was made clear that the difference in power was as wide as a chasm. With that, not even the usually arrogant and gutsy ones among the Alpha Chosen dared to question the Tournament manager''s authority. By the end of the 3rd Prince''s briefing, everyone opened their Status Windows and just like what he said, there was a brand new section at the bottom. Jay did the same as everyone and clicked on the new Section''. ______________ [Trial Regional Tournament] [Round-1] Allotted team number for Earth''s Trial Zone Team in Round-1: ''777'' Indiviaual Allotted Numbers: (Given ording to Levels) Olivia (Lv.40) - 01 Min soo (Lv.38)- 02 Andrea (Lv.37) - 03 Sergei (Lv.35) - 04 Brandon (Lv.35) - 05 Kensei (Lv.31) - 06 Henry (Lv.30) - 07 Kasim (Lv.29) - 08 Gabriel (Lv.27) - 09 Jay (Lv.25) - 10 Dante (Lv.25) - 11 Results of Round-1: Not yet avable [Exchange Market] This function will be Unlocked after the end of Round-1. [Rest House] This function will be Unlocked after the end of Round-1. [Round-2] Further information on this will be avable after First Intermission. [Round-3] Further information on this will be avable after Second Intermission. _______________ Other than Team Allocation, each individual in every team were given numbers ording to their Level. The numbers, [777, 10/11] visibly floated on top of Jay''s head, indicating that he was ranked 10th among a total of 11 Alpha Chosen in Trial Zone Team number 777. It wasn''t just him but every other Alpha Chosen in the Tournament had a simr situation. Besides the First Round, any specifics regarding the other two Rounds was not yet avable. As for the functions, ''Exchange Market'' and ''Rest House'', they were shown to be locked. But with having a Soul A.I like MJ, Jay has long learned about them before even the Tournament began. Not long after, 3rd Prince''s voice once again resounded within the vast Colosseum walls, "Alright, now that everyone found your respective Trial Zone Team numbers, let''s begin the First Round of the Tournament. Everyone except for the first 100 Teams leave the podium ground and go to the Colosseum''s seating area." Since the Earth''s Trial Zone wasn''t among the Teams ''1 to 100'', they left to the Colosseum''s seating area, which can hold 200,000 spectators if they were seated close enough. As the Alpha Chosen in the Tournament didn''t even exceed 10,000, the seating area was more than enough. Min-soo teleported himself to the front row seats and reserved the spot for Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Once they settled down there, a group of Alpha Chosen rushed for the spot beside Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Other than Jay and Dante, everyone else curiously looked at the pale blue-skinned tall humanoids that sat beside them. To their confusion, one of the pale blue-skinned humanoids reached them and knelt before saying joyously, "I have finally found you, My Liege." The Earth''s Alpha Chosen were surprised by this new revtion when they traced back the neer''s line of sight to Jay. Jay waved his hand, "Akor, No need to kneel every time you see me. Rise." Only then did Akor stand up. While sitting beside Jay, Dante casually greeted, "Akor, It''s just been less than 24 hours since west saw each other and you are making it sound like a long time." Akorughed embarrassedly and returned the greeting, "Nice seeing you again, Sir Dante." He then looked at everyone else and spoke excitedly, "It''s an honour for me to meet the great Earth''s Alpha Chosen. I will etch this asion deep in my memory." Henry couldn''t help but blurt, "Why do I feel like I am in some kind of Medival Age y?" Dante then briefly exined to the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen about how Jay met Akor when they travelled to other Trial Zones and also mentioned why Jay allowed Akor to follow him. The Earth''s Alpha Chosen found it disbelieving that the one standing beside then was able to reach Stage-4 Mastery when he was just at Tier-2. Now that he was at Tier-3 Low-Phase, his attack power could even rival that of a Tier-3 High Phase monster. Above Akor''s head floated [620, 1/9] indicating that he was the highest levelled one among the 9 Alpha Chosen from his Trial Zone, exceeding the Sea Lord of their race, Aton. Meanwhile, the remaining Ans who upied the seating spots beside them were looking at the Earth''s Alpha Chosen with reverence. They have personally experienced the overwhelming power of Jay and now watching the same person ranked 10th among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen stumped their minds. In their view, there are 9 more who are even stronger than Jay in the same team, bringing their image of Earth''s Trial Zone Team to another level. Jay saw through their thoughts but didn''t correct the Ans. Only Akor knew that Jay is the strongest one of them all. While this was happening, the Alpha Chosen from the Trial Zones 1 to 100, spread out on the podium ground ording to the 3rd prince''s instructions. Once that was settled, the 3rd Prince opened his Status Window and initiated something, causing grey-coloured cuboids to appear in front of each Alpha Chosen on the podium ground. Each of those cuboids has dimensions of 3 x 3 x 6 (l, b, h) meters. Whether it was the Spectators or those on the podium ground, everyone''s attention was on those strange cuboids that appeared out of nowhere. It was then the 3rd Prince words shed light on everyone''s doubts, "These ''Reality Emtors'' are provided by the System to every Tournament Manager for a limited period. Upon entering them, each of you will find yourself in a separate independent space, where Virtuality meets with Reality. Everything you see there will be virtual other than yourself. It might sound confusing but once you enter them everything will be clear to you. For the First Round, each of you will be facing monsters one on one and every time one kills a monster in the ''Reality Emtors'', they will be awarded points respective to the Tier and Phase of the monsters yed. Do note that there will not be any individual scores as the scores will be evaluated for an entire Team." After saying that, the 3rd Prince said some strange voicemands, and arge hologram appeared above the podium ground, "This here is the list of Points that will be awarded depending on the strength of the monster you face." _____________ Tier-1 Low-Phase Monster = 10 Points Tier-1 Mid-Phase Monster = 25 Points Tier-1 High-Phase Monster = 50 Points Tier-2 Low-Phase Monster = 100 Points Tier-2 Mid-Phase Monster = 250 Points Tier-2 High-Phase Monster = 500 Points Tier-3 Low-Phase Monster = 1000 Points Tier-3 Mid-Phase Monster = 2500 Points Tier-3 High-Phase Monster = 5000 Points _____________ After everyone took a look at that, the 3rd Prince announced the start of the Round-1 and the hundreds of Alpha Chosen on the podium ground simultaneously entered their respective Reality Emtors. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 131 - Trial Regional Tournament - Round 1: [Part-2] As soon as everyone entered those ''Reality Emtors'', the 3rd Prince used another voicemand into his Status Screen and that brought out 100rge transparent screens onto the space above the podium ground. Each of those screens projected what''s happening within the Reality Emtors. But each screen only showed Alpha Chosen that were ranked 1st in their respective Trial Zone. The spectating Alpha Chosen attentively watched those screens to gain a clear understanding of how one will be facing monsters in those grey cuboids. On every screen, there was a 100 x 100 x 100 meters white space visible with an Alpha Chosen in it. Soon, a Tier-1 Low-Phase Monster materialised out of thin air in every white space and a three-second countdown started along with a notification message cautioning every Alpha Chosen to prepare themselves to fight the monster in front of them. Those monsters looked so real that everyone would have taken them for real monsters if the 3rd Prince hadn''t mentioned that everything in there was virtual. Once the countdown ended the monsters pounced aggressively disregarding the Tier difference between them and their opponents. At that exact moment, a timer of 5 minutes started within that white space, indicating the Alpha Chosen in there to y the monster in front of them within that limited time to pass Round-1''s first level of difficulty. For those Alpha Chosen, who were at least in Tier-2, it took just a few seconds to y the Tier-1 Low-Phase monster they individually faced. On the top right of each of those 100rge screens, where it showed ''0 Points'' was then changed to ''10 Points'' after those monsters were in. After that, all the dead monsters in those 100 white spaces faded into nothingness and every Alpha Chosen were presented with a choice to whether proceed to the next difficulty level right away or recuperate for a 10-minute duration. As it didn''t take much effort to take out a Tier-1 Low-phase monster, none of those Alpha Chosen waited for any further and proceeded to the next difficulty level right away. Just like the previous time, a monster materialised in there along with a 3-second countdown and a notification reminding the Alpha Chosen to prepare themselves. This time it was a Tier-1 Mid-Phase monster but that didn''t matter as it didn''t take more than 30 seconds for every single of those 100 Alpha Chosen disyed on the screens to y their respective monster. For the 3rd difficulty level, it was also a simr situation. Except, it took even the slowest of those 100 Alpha Chosen around a minute to y a Tier-1 High-Phase monster. As the top-ranked individuals within their respective Trial Zones, these first three difficulty levels hadn''t been hard to pass. Only in the fourth level difficulty did they find some challenge but then again, that''s all to it. Within three minutes everyst one of those 100 Alpha Chosen slew the Tier-2 Low-Phase monster they faced. However, it was different for the 920 Alpha Chosen who weren''t seen within the holographic screens. 286 of them seemed to fail the fourth level difficulty as the grey cuboid Reality Emtors they were in sent them out and disappeared before disying their final score on them for a brief moment. Since those 286 Alpha Chosen only passed the first three difficulty levels, they should have only been awarded 85 Points (10+25+50). But they also received additional points depending on the damage they inflicted on the Tier-2 Low-Phase monster in the 4th difficulty level, despite not passing it. That way, the points awarded for each Alpha Chosen wouldn''t be identical, making it less possible for two trial zone teams to have the same points by the end of Round-1. All of those 286 Alpha Chosen were at Tier-2 Low-Phase. As they were ustomed to fighting a monster by grouping up, fighting one on one with a monster was hard on them. Most of them could have defeated their respective Tier-2 Low-Phase monsters if they were given extra time. However, since 5 minutes was the time limit, they could only sigh in frustration. Just like everyone in the spectator area, the Earth''s Alpha Chosen were also watching everything happening on the podium ground. Kensei was confused after noticing some details and asked Baby MJ, who sat over Jay''s left shoulder. "Great Venerable, why is it that those Alpha Chosen who just exited the Reality Emtor has bruises and gashes over them?" Andrea chimed in after with him, "Yes, Great Venerable. Doesn''t those Reality Emtors act as the virtual chamber pods, that we use in Earth''s Foothold to create avatars within a virtual space?" Baby MJ shook his head, "Those are a lot more advanced than virtual chamber pods. The white space you see in the Reality Emtors is an ''Augmented Space'', where even the damage received from the monsters in there will be directly inflicted onto the Alpha Chosen to bring forth the highest reality experience possible. Of course, the damage one receives will only be limited to minor injuries and any fatal damage one receives from a monster in the Augmented Space will not be emted for safety reasons." That made everyone gain a better grasp of the situation within Reality Emtors. The Ans also nodded in understanding after hearing Baby MJ''s exnation. Soon after, the Alpha Chosen who were sent out of the Reality Emtors left to the spectator area under the 3rd Prince''s instructions. Looking at so many failing to y a Tier-2 Low-Phase monster within the given 5-minute duration, Henry scoffed, "It seems I have overestimated those from other trial zones. Even if they are the weakest of the bunch, to think they could not even pass the 4th difficulty level. Looks like I got worried for nothing." Baby MJ lifted his little palm and lightly smacked the back of Henry''s head, "Being able to reach Tier-2 within 10 days was still within the top 20% among the Alpha Programs ever conducted. It''s just that you lot are ahead of them. If you keep on looking down on them, it wouldn''t be long before they reach your level." MJ''s words weren''t just directed at Henry but at the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen as well so that they don''t get ahead of themselves. The usually silent Jay joined the conversation as he continued to pay attention to a particr screen, "Don''t judge every other Alpha Chosen based on just a few weaker ones, there are stronger ones too." Everyone turned to look at the screen that Jay has his eyes on. Among the 100 Alpha Chosen shown on the screens, around half of them chose to recuperate their lost Stamina and Spirit Energy in the given 10-minute duration whereas the other half, who were at Tier-2 High-Phase and above had already moved to the 5th difficulty level. During the conversation among Earth''s Alpha Chosen, twenty of them already entered the 6th difficulty level and faced a Tier-2 High-Phase monster each. As those 20 Alpha Chosen managed to reach the 6th difficulty level earlier than others, their screens were brought to the top row and were arranged in an order so that those with the quickest clearance were ced at the front of that row. Out of those twenty, the one that Jay was observing was not even among the first 10 screens and that piqued the interest of every other Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Some wanted to ask Jay what''s so special about that particr Alpha Chosen but with how intently Jay was watching, they didn''t voice it out and instead continued to watch that screen to find out for themselves. Not long after, the 6th difficulty level ended and out of those 20, only 13 managed to pass it. Among them was also the Alpha Chosen that Jay was paying attention to. But, unlike the other twelve who used shy skills to defeat their respective Tier-2 High-Phase monster, his way of fighting didn''t stand out at all. After a quick recovery break, those 13 Alpha Chosen began the 7th difficulty level, where each of them had to face a Tier-3 Low-Phase monster. Unlike in the previous 6 difficulty levels, the Augmented Space expanded five times from its previous size, bringing it to 500 x 500 x 500 meters. Within the first minute into the 7th difficulty level, three of them lost to the monsters they faced and in the next two minutes, that count increased to eight. Out of those 13, just five were barely able to y their respective Tier-3 Low-Phase monster within the given time. The particr Alpha Chosen that Jay was eying upon was also one of those five when most of the spectators believed he would fail in the 7th difficulty level. Even though those five almost had their Stamina and Spirit Energy depleted, they were only given a 10-minute recuperation period. However, since the Augmented Space didn''t restrict one from using Spiritual Fruits or any other resources that could improve their condition, they all used whatever they had in hand. Soon, the 8th difficulty level began and within just a minute, four lost to the respective Tier-3 Mid-Phase monster they faced and were sent out of the Reality Emtors. Everyone in the spectator area watched without blinking their eyes as they looked at thest one standing. From the looks of that, it seemed like he could barely hold on against the Tier-3 Mid-Phase monster and when it looked like he was about to be defeated in any second, an unusual change took ce in that Alpha Chosen. Watching that, Jay said under his breath, "It''s about time you use your other Innate Talent." ////////////////////////// I will be introducing this character properly in the next chapter as that will be better than stuffing it in this chapter. FYI, this character is customised using the ''Alpha-Patron'' benefit. Excuse me for any grammatical mistakes. If you find some, feel free to point them out. I will correct them as soon as possible. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 132 - Trial Regional Tournament - Round 1: [Part-3] Everyone''s attention in the spectator area was on just one screen. On the top left of that screen, it disyed ''[Seath(049, 1/10)]'', showing his name, allotted team number, and level ranking amongst his fellow trial zone members. Within the screen, it could be clearly seen that he was barely holding up against the Tier-3 Mid-Phase monster, Thorn Serpent. It was understandable as he was only at Tier-3 Low-Phase. Using a sword in each hand, Seath defended against the monster''s aggressive advances as he continued to be pushed back. With a height of 7 feet tall, Seath evenly matched the Thorn Serpent''s head size. Still, he looked small in front of the Thorn Serpent that has a 30-meters long body. Realising that he was at the end of the rope, a sharp glint appeared in the eyes of his owl head. Using the hilt of a sword, Seath knocked the coin-sized button, located on his dark-red robe just below the centre of his chest. With that button as a centre, the robe came off as a pair of beautiful white wings unfolded themselves. Without the robe, Seath was bare-chested with only a pair of dark-red trousers that extended a tad bit further down his knees, revealing his bird-like legs in the process. The thin coat of white fur on his well-built body was shaded with his own blood on a few spots. But those white wings that emerged over his back overshaded other aspects. Using them, he flew into the air. However, the Thorn Serpent wasn''t helpless at its aerial prey and coiled its body and lunged at him as if it''s apressed spring. {Author Note: For a better picturisation of Seath, I would suggest you guys click on thisment''s ''paragraphment'' to find a picture attached to it. With that single action, it almost closed upon Seath, who was 50 metres above the ground and was about to bite onto his body. That was when something strange happened. With a p of his wings, he crossed 50 metres in an instant. For every spectator who was in Tier-2, it looked like teleportation but under the perception of those at Tier-3, Seath moved at breakneck speeds. Even Earth''s Alpha Chosen were taken aback upon watching that. Not because of how fast he moved but because of his precise movement. At such speeds, one had to gradually slow down due to the forces acting on us due to the gravity of one''s body and couldn''te to an abrupt halt whenever wished. However, the Alpha Chosen on the topmost screen pulled it off and the way he did that almost looked like Teleportation. Each Earth''s Alpha Chosen came up with their own theories on Seath''s movement ability. Some reasoned that it was due to his wings and others theorised it was because he used the ''Agility Boost'' skill and so on. Compared to the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen, Min-soo noticed something more due to his Space Elementprehension, "He must have used something topensate for his exaggerated movements. It seems absurd but I somehow feel like the time around him was not the same as everything else. What do you think, Mr Jay?" Everyone else looked at Jay, waiting to listen to his theory. Jay spelt out as he continued to watch at the same screen, "You almost got it, Min-soo. However, it was not the time around Seath but rather his own time. Other than his Sword Innate Talent, he also has another Innate Talent. He didn''t use it till now in the hopes of gaining some kind of enlightenment to improve his Sword Mastery under the attacks of a monster more powerful than him but since that didn''t happen, he now he was left with no choice in order to defeat the monster. That was when he started using his Time Innate Talent, the rarest of the 10 Elemental Innate Talents. {Author Note: With those 10 elements being Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Wood, Light, Darkness, Space and Time.} Nevertheless, he doesn''t have enough Mastery to slow down the ''Spacetime Continuum'' that eposites every existence. But, it''s a different matter if it was his own life span time. Under the disguise of using wings, Seath elerated his time making him move faster than the rest of us. Whenever he wants to halt, he just decelerates his time." Min-soo eximed, "Wow, that''s just brilliant! Although elerating his time takes out a fragment of his own lifespan, decelerating his time will help Seath remedy the lost lifespan and perfectly counter the eleration to create fast and unpredictable movement." Seeing that a few Earth''s Alpha Chosen like Kasim, Henry, Kensei and Gabriel didn''t understand the concept of elerating and decelerating lifespan, Baby MJ exined in simple terms. "Basically, Seath is fast-forwarding himself. Let''s say it takes him 10 seconds to cross 1000 metres at full speed, he could activate Time eleration on himself and cross that distance in half the amount of time. However, there are a lot of limitations in doing that. I bet, just to maintain the sessive changes between two-factor Time eleration and Time Deceleration was taking a heavy toll on his body, not to mention the high Spirit Energy consumption." Just like MJ deduced, Seath seemed to be experiencing exhaustion from the follow-up exchanges with the Thorn Serpent. Even after failing to catch him a few times, the aggressive monster didn''t stop even once and once again sprung into the air. However, this time, Seath coated both his swords with Stage-3 Sword Aura and sliced the hinges of Thorn Serpent''s mouth at unbelievable speed before it could bite at him. He didn''t stop and continued to spin deeper as he continued tocerate the indices of its body before killing it and sessfully passing the 8th difficulty level. The gasps of the spectators echoed in the Colosseum upon witnessing the reversal. When Seath was presented with options on whether to directly proceed to the next difficulty level or recuperate for 10 minutes, he chose to give up since he was in no shape to continue as it would take a longer time to recover from that. Soon, Seath too was sent out of his Reality Emtor just like any others. But, when he was, there was only him and the 3rd Prince in the vast podium ground since all the Alpha Chosen from the first 100 trial zones finished their Round-1. Everyone''s eyes in the colosseum, including the 3rd Prince, had their eyes the Evaluation Score disyed on the Reality Emtor he just came out from. [Seath (049, 1/10) - 4435 Points.] Soon after disying that, the Reality Emtor disappeared and everyone''s attention turned onto him. Under such gazes, Seath didn''t flinch at all and appeared as if he had expected it. After all, he usurped an entire Phase difference and slew a monster that was several levels above him. If Seath had enough time to recover, he could put on a good fight against the Tier-3 High-Phase monster in the 9th difficulty level. Although that won''t be enough to defeat it, scoring a few additional points wouldn''t be a problem. But with the way Round-1 was designed, where each Alpha Chosen had to defeat monsters within a set amount of time and short recovery intervals, it was a lot harder to reach higher difficulty levels, despite being powerful enough to face them. The 3rd Prince approached Seath, "That''s quite a show for who started off nine days back. You have got promising potential but don''t overdo yourself. I have known a few Time Innate Talent users myself but most of them died before they could fulfil their potential due to using powers that their bodies can''t handle. Alright, aside from that, Congrattions for achieving a high evaluation score and all the best for the uing Rounds." Seath nodded in understanding, "Thank you for the advice and the wishes, Mr Tournament Manager. I will keep your words in mind." Following that, Seath went to the seating spot where his fellow trial zone''s Alpha Chosen were waving at him with excitement. With their Leader being the one to score highest among the 1020 Alpha Chosen of the first 100 trial zones, pride were visibly evident on their owl-like faces and were just a push away from celebrating on the spot. After a minute, a huge notification window that had several columns and rows filled with information appeared in the air, several meters above the podium ground. Just then, the 3rd Prince''s voice resounded in the Colosseum, "On this notification board, the Trial Zone Teams will be ranked ording to thebined score of each of its Alpha Chosen''s evaluation score. Although there are all hundred of the trial zones that participated in the Round-1 for now, it will change once the other batches finish their part." Among the first 100 Trial zones thatpleted Round-1, the one that was at the top of that notification board was the one that had Seath in it, the Owlite Trial Zone Team with an overall score of 16,000 Points. Meanwhile, the lowest-ranked team had around 1000 points as it only had five surviving Alpha Chosen in it with each of them being just at Tier-2 Low-Phase. Looking at the scores, everyone once again realised how important having more numbers in a team ys a crucial role in the first tournament. The 3rd Prince''s voice once again rang out as he called out for the trial zone teams numbering 101 to 200 onto the podium ground for the same process that took before. ------------- A SHOUT-OUT to''HiltOfdes'', who customised the character ''Seath'' through the ''Alpha-Patron'' customisation-benefit. If any of you wish to customise your own short-term character / Minor Boss / Equipment in Earth''s Alpha Prime, you could be its ''Alpha-Patron''. In the discord link below, you check out EAP''s discord server to find more details about this customisation benefit which was exclusive for ''Alpha-Patrons''. ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ======== Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for paid advanced chapters in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Chapter 133 - Trial Regional Tournament - Round 1: [Part-4] With each batch of 100 Trial Zone teams taking around an hour to finish their Round-1, it took 7 hours by the time the 7th batch''s evaluation score came out. In the previous batches, there were a few that were on par with Seath or slightly stronger than him as they managed to enter the 9th difficulty level but none of them managed to clear it. At least until an Alpha Chosen from the 7th batch aplished that feat. At that moment, everyone''s attention was on that Alpha Chosen, who was being congratted by the 3rd Prince for passing the 9th difficulty level. "You actually managed to reach Stage-4 Water Mastery and use a higher element. No wonder you could defeat a Tier-3 High-Phase monster. Not even 10 days passed since the start of Trial Program and you have already grown this strong, even maybe the strongest of everyone among the Alpha Chosen participating in this Tournament." Despite the 3rd Prince''s praises, Akorughed it off as he shook his head and said while looking at the spectator area, where Earth''s Alpha Chosen were seated, "Mr Tournament Manager, there are still three more batches left. You can never be sure until they finish their Round-1." The 3rd Prince assumed he was gazing at his fellow Ans, who were seated in the spot just beside Earth''s Alpha Chosen and took Akor''s reply as him being humble. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Akor returned to the seating area. The Ans looked excited to have one of them strong enough to defeat a Tier-3 High-Phase monster. But they didn''t act all prideful as they all know that Jay was the reason Akor became so powerful. The female An, Ah''na took a few sneak peeks at Jay as she pursed her lips and wondered, ''If I too had followed him, maybe I could have been as strong as Senior Brother Akor by now.'' It was not just her but the other Ans were also having simr thoughts. As for their Sea Lord, Aton, he hoped for their Trial Zone to maintain a friendly rtionship with Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Along with Akor, he stepped forwards and gave Earth''s Alpha Chosen his best wishes as they were about to make their way to the podium ground to take part in the 8th batch of Round-1. Soon, the Earth''s Alpha Chosen stood in front of their respective Reality Emtor and waited for the 3rd Prince''s instructor to enter them. Although they were pretty confident about bing the Trial Zone with the highest evaluation score in Round-1, none of them was careless. They thought back to Jay''s words from a few minutes ago, "Remember, our goal is not just to score highest in this Trial Region but to be the highest scored Trial Zone of the MilkyWay Trial Program and possibly even the other Trial Programs of the Zephyr Gctic Cluster. Our performance in Round-1 will have to be a step towards reaching that goal. So, give it your best without holding back." Once everyone was in their positions, the 3rd Prince gave a signal, indicating the Alpha Chosen from 701 to 800 Trial Zone Teams to enter the Cuboid Reality Emtors. As soon as they entered, 100 screens appeared in the empty space above the podium and just like the previous batches, each screen disyed the top-ranked Alpha Chosen of each participation Trial Zone. As the one with the highest level among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, Olivia was on one of those screens. Apart from the Ans, not many Alpha Chosen in the spectator area paid attention to her due to how frail she lookedpared to those in the other 99 screens. The ones that talk about Olivia not passed on snarkyments on her thin frame but also on Earth''s Alpha Chosen for having her as their strongest one. One suchment entered Akor''s ears, angering him in the process. Akor rushed towards thementer and held him by the neck, making the one on the receiving end scream in pain as water in thatmenter''s body began evaporating at a visible rate. Seeing their fellow team member being attacked by someone, the other Alpha Chosen of that Trial Zone teamunched themselves at Akor but only to be subdued by the tentacles made of his Vtile Aqua higher element. That scene caused amotion and caught everyone''s attention in the Colosseum, including the 3rd Prince. He then flew to the seating area and learned what happened from the chitter-chatter of the nearby Alpha Chosen and sighed but he still asked Akor, "What seems to be the problem here?" While still angrily staring at thementer, Akor answered, "They disrespected my Liege and I am going to make them pay for it." The 3rd Prince found that situation troublesome since he was supposed to rope in as many Alpha Chosen with high potential to the Red Elven Empire''s side in the Tournament but he also had to see through the duties of a Tournament Manager. "I failed to mention this but as a Tournament Manager, I am responsible to make sure the Alpha Chosen doesn''t kill each other during the Tournament. If things are going out of hand, I have to step in. Even then, if an Alpha Chosen kills another one, they will be automatically disqualified from participating in the Tournament. So, Akor, is there a need for me to be involved?" Akor knew that he has no chance against someone who was at Tier-4 like the 3rd Prince. On top of that, he had no wish to be disqualified over an ignorant nobody. So, after thinking it through, he calmed himself and loosened his grip over thementer''s neck and dropped him back. At the same time, Akor released the Vtile Aqua tentacles that were wrapped around the other Alpha Chosen of that Trial Zone team. But they still showed pained expressions due to having a part of their skin burnt from being in contact with the Vtile Aqua element. "There is no need, Mr Tournament Manager. I''m good." After saying that, Akor moved back to his seating spot and sat down as if nothing had happened. Witnessing everything that transpired, the majority of Alpha Chosen became fearful of Akor and made a note to not aggravate him in any way. As for the 3rd Prince found it surprising that someone as strong as Akor would be so respectful towards another Alpha Chosen. That would mean that certain someone must be even stronger than Akor to earn his respect. So, the 3rd Prince paid attention to the Alpha Chosen, whom Akor respected as his Liege. s, he didn''t know that Akor wasn''t talking about Olivia but someone who was ranked 10th among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. By the time the 3rd Prince resolved the incident, several Alpha Chosen in the 100 screens already crossed the first three difficulty levels. Just from that, it was hard to determine who were the stronger ones among the bunch as it was only Tier-1 monsters they have faced till then. But it became apparent once two of those 100 Alpha Chosen crossed the 7th difficulty level in a really short time. One of them was Olivia, who didn''t break a sweat to y a Tier-2 High-Phase monster. In fact, she cleared each difficulty level with rtive easepared to the other one. The other one was none other than the Leader of Horned Beetle midgets. While the Horned Beetle Leader chose to take a 10-minute recuperation break for the next difficulty level, Olivia directly proceeded to the 8th difficulty level and cleared it in a minute before entering the 9th difficulty level without any care for taking a break. By that time, the screen that disyed everything that was happening in Olivia''s Reality Emtor was moved to the very top of them all. No one in the entire Colosseum even blinked once as they watched Olivia fight toe to toe with a peak Tier-3 monster on equal standing. Their shock didn''t end there as it took her less than three minutes to clear the 9th difficulty level, breaking the record set by Akor. It was when the name ''Olivia'' that was shown on the top left of the screen made a few spectators remember the name of the Omega Chosen, the possessor of a Grade-10 Innate Talent. From each other, the knowledge of Olivia''s identity as an Omega Chosen spread wide until every one of the spectators learned about it. Obviously, that didn''t escape the 3rd Prince''s attention. He was already shocked by the prowess disyed by Olivia but after finding that she was an Omega Chosen, he was at a loss for words. He never expected that out of the 930,000 Tournament Managers assigned for the Zephyr Gctic Cluster, he would be the one toe across an Omega Chosen. If his father, the Red Elven Emperor were to know about that, he would jump with joy, disregarding his majestic stature. He waited for Olivia to exit the Reality Emtor so that he could mention the top-notch resources and the Grand Elder position of the Red Elven Empire to entice the other party. While everyone one''s attention was on Olivia, an Alpha Chosen was sent out of his Reality Emtor. As he was the first one in the 8th batch to be sent out, no one paid attention to him or his evaluation score, except for the Ans. They instantly recognised Jay and when they saw his Evaluation Score on his Reality Emtor, their eyes bulged in disbelief. ////////////////////////// I will show how Jay''s Round-1 went about in the next chapter. And as for those who were worried about Jay holding back or remaining unknown from the rest of the Alpha Chosen in this tournament, you don''t need to worry about that. I give you my word, by the time the first tournament ends, everyone will know who the real boss is. Excuse me for any grammatical mistakes. If you find some, feel free to point them out. I will correct them as soon as possible. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 134 - Trial Regional Tournament (Round 1) - [Part-5] 8 minutes ago, when Jay entered the Reality Emtor, a Lv.3 Goblin materialised within the Augmented Space he was in. Although the Goblin in front of him was a simtion, it looked so lifelike that anyone could barely distinguish it from a real monster. Even if the 3rd Prince didn''t mention that everything else in the Augmented Space is virtual, Jay would have seen through it using the . After all, those monster simtions don''t have soul in them. Just before entering the Reality Emtor, Jay used to limit 5 Strength Attribute stats so that all five of his Attributes would have the same amount of stats. With his Spirit Attribute being at 198 stats, his perception of time was 19.8 times higher than a normal person, meaning that he could experience every second as if it was 19.8 seconds. Since his other four Attributes also have the same amount of stats, he began to experience True Time Perception, where he could passively perceive time as if it was moving 19.8 times slower than the standard measurement. Those that don''t have the same amount of stats in each of the 5 Attributes, could only use False Time Perception, where maintaining the increased time perception statees with increased mental exhaustion. As the True Time Perception would be beneficial to Jay in clearing the difficulty levels as fast as possible, he didn''t mind limiting his Strength Attribute to match the other Attributes. Moreover, doing that also activated the skill , bringing perfect control over his Attribute stats and at the same time, the skill''s effect began to suppress his emotions. Under the influence of True Time perception, Jay was even able to sense his emotions gradually grow distant and the three-second countdown seemed as if it was frozen along with the Tier-1 Low-Phase monster standing near him. Meanwhile, looking at the Lv.3 Goblin made him think back to when he was first teleported to the Trial World. After all, the first monster he encountered was a Goblin. In just a few days, he had grown from cautiously surviving to roaming unhindered within any Trial Zone. However, Jay''s resolve to be stronger than anyone else remained the same ever since he visited hisatosed grandfather on Day-1''s rest period. One such step to reach that goal was to have Earth''s Trial Zone score highest among the Trial Regional Tournaments that were simultaneously taking ce in the Trial World and receive bountiful rewards from that. Seeing that there was a quarter of a second left in the countdown, which was equivalent to 5 seconds for him, Jay pinched in both his right-hand forefinger and thumb as a violet ball of energy the size of a marble at the junction of those fingers. Once the countdown ended, he flicked it at the Goblin and before the monster could react there was a marble-sized hole in its head, instantly killing it. Even before a second could pass in the first difficulty level, Jay already entered the next one and a Tier-1 Mid-Phase monster manifested as another three-second countdown began. Just like the previous monster, it died under the skill, which Jay came up with on the Day-9 rest period so that it could be used with minimal Spirit Energy expenditure. This continued till Jay crossed the 9th difficulty level and all of that took just 36 seconds, including the three-second countdown in each difficulty level. Meaning that Jay took care of each monster in less than a second. Till the 6th difficulty level, Jay used to one shot each monster but from 7th to 9th difficulty levels, Jay personally swung his sword at them, slicing each of them in two. Unlike in the previous two difficulty levels, Jay used and in the 9th difficulty level. After all, the monster in there was an Lv.50 Orc, a peak Tier-3 monster. He could have killed it even without using those, but in order to clear the 9th difficulty level in the shortest time possible, Jay didn''t mind expending a small portion of his Spirit Energy. Since Jay wasn''t ranked 1st in Earth''s Alpha Chosen due to only being at Lv.25, he wasn''t shown in one of the 100 screens in the Colosseum. If not, his performance would have undoubtedly caught everyone''s eyes. Jay right away entered the 10th difficulty level and a random monster was generated. Unlike the massive sizes of Tier-3 monsters, the Tier-4 Low-Phase monster facing him was just two meters tall. Despite having a humanoid physique, it crouched on all fours like an animal. Including its long tail and skinny skeletal wings, its body was covered in stony hide and the grotesque face with short horns over its forehead only made it look more hideous. In Augmented Space, he doesn''t have to use as he could see the monster''s name, level and emted health bar floating on top of its head. [Lv.66 Arch Gargoyle, Emted Health Bar - 100%] {Author Note: For a better picturisation of the Arch Gargoyle, I would suggest you guys click on thisment''s ''paragraphment'' to find a picture attached to it.} In each difficulty level, the monster everyone faced was at the peak of their respective Tier and Phase. So, at Tier-4 Low-Phase (Lv.51 to Lv.66), the randomly generated monster was at Lv.66. A Tier-3 High-Phase monster at its peak would have around 800 overall stats but just after it evolves to Tier-4, it would have around 1200 overall stats. Just that alone was enough to show the vast difference between Tier-3 and Tier-4. Moreover, the Arch Gargoyle was at Lv.66, where each level up from Lv.51 gives 20 undistributed stats. With that in mind, it''s safe to say that the Arch Gargoyle has a little more than 1500 overall stats and that was 500 stats more than what Jay possesses. As if that was not enough, the Arch Gargoyle hasmand over a Major Mastery, making it even more difficult to defeat. Still, Jay didn''t give up and charged his with Thunder me element on top of the Stage-3 as the three-second cooldown trickled. During the countdown, the monster''s movements would be restricted and at the same time, any Alpha Chosen couldn''t attack it during then due to the invisible barrier covering them. In the previous batches, there were a few that tried to take advantage of the countdown but failed miserably. Jay didn''t make that mistake and used those 3 seconds in preparing himself tounch a pre-emptive attack on the Arch Gargoyle. With the Stage-3 and Thunder me element, shone with a mix of dark-blue and violet hue. Jay did his best to charge up and integrate the Thunder me element with Stage-3 to make his attack as strong as possible. Theirbination was not stable and began to deteriorate the sword''s durability, albeit at a slow pace. Jay didn''t worry about that since he could have it restored as long as ''s durability doesn''t fall to zero. As soon as the countdown ended, Jay shot thatbined attack in the form of a curved de projectile at the Arch Gargoyle''s head. Despite the attack''s zapping speed, the monster still managed to move its body from fatal damage but a portion of its left-wing took the hit, sting it apart in the process. Other than crippling the monster''s ability to fly, that attack aggravated it, even more, causing it to attack in a flurry. With a little over 300 stats in Strength and Agility Attributes, its movement speed was nothing to scoff at. Despite using to move at 200 metres per second, Jay barely managed to dodge its sharp ws. With each of his 5 Attributes being at least 100 stats lower than the Arch Gargoyle, Jay could forget attacking it head-on. Jay''s only chance to defeat ity in using the heavy attack power of the Thunder me element. In the 10th difficulty level, the Augmented Space expanded to an area of 1km x 1km x 1km, leaving enough room to manoeuvre but due to theck of suitable terrain in the seemingly endless white Augmented Space, Jay didn''t have the chance to bring out the full potential of . Because of that, even when Jay tried his best to evade, he still received a few of Arch Gargoyle''s physical attacks, which sent him flying across the limited Augmented Space to be crashed into its white wall. Even with the sturdy defence of ''s full body armour form, the Arch Gargoyle''s attacks still chipped away a small portion of Jay''s health. It was not his actual Health but the extra Health Bar given in the Augmented Space to emte his real Health and once it drops to zero, that will be considered as failing the 10th difficulty level and will be sent out of the Reality Emtor. With having to continuously dodge using , Jay expended almost half of his Spirit Energy in just a minute since the fight began. Jay tried using Thunder me to attack but as a monster with little more than 300 stats in all five Attributes, its Time Perception was high enough to see through Jay''s attacks and managed to dodge them sessfully. This continued for another minute and Jay almost emptied his Spirit Energy reserve and his Health Bar dropped to 40%. With his current stats, Jay suspected that he couldn''t defeat the Arch Gargoyle unless he enters mode. However, he only has a single chance left to use mode before it bes temporarily avable until he breaks past the 1st Universe Limit. Jay felt it''s unwise to use thatst chance unless it''s a life-threatening situation. So, instead of using that, Jay used ''s inbuilt skill to refill his Spirit Energy reserve and proceeded to activate a skill that he hadn''t ever used before. _______________ (Umon Grade): To activate this skill, the user needs to choose a lifeform as a target to unleash their inner frenziness. Within that frenzied state, the user''s 5 main Attributes get a 20% increment in Stats. Duration: 3 minutes. Cost: 20% Stamina _______________ ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 135 - Trial Regional Tournament (Round 1) - [Part-6] Even though it was just an Umon Grade skill, the skill was on par with a Rare Grade one. Upon activating it, all of Jay''s 5 Attributes surged by one-fifth, bringing his overall stats to 1200. That made Jay as strong as a monster that justpleted its Tier-4 evolution. Due to the side effect of the skill , Jay''s eye white began to redden as aggressiveness began to take over his body. At that moment, the only thing in Jay''s mind was to rip apart the Arch Gargoyle, disregarding his safety. However, before the frenziness could cloud his conscience, the skill took its effect andpletely suppressed Jay''s urge to go wild. Along with that, Jay also gained perfect control over the improved stats. With that, Jay''s perception of time and reaction speed increased from 19.8 times to 24 times. Although, it was not enough to go toe-to-toe against the Arch Gargoyle, that still gave Jay enough window to lock on to the monster. This time, the Arch Gargoyle wasn''t able to see through the attack path of Thunder me as Jay initialised it and that made it way harder for the Arch Gargoyle to dodge the iing ranged attacks. Under the barrage of Thunder me spears, it was eventually pushed to a corner and even if it sometimes didn''t take a direct hit from the attacks, the Arch Gargoyle still received damage amidst the violent explosions. If the monster hadn''t used its Darkness higher element to protect itself, the damage it received might have been a lot more devastating. As a Tier-4 monster, the Arch Gargoyle''s Darkness Innate Talent mastery was at Stage-4 and its Darkness element has a lethargic property added to it. Anyone that enters the field of darkness that surrounded the Arch Gargoyle, would have their movement speed hindered and their Stamina exhaustion would increase substantially. MJ analysed that in a moment and informed Jay to note in contact with the Lethargic Darkness element. The following minute, Jay cautiouslyunched various Thunder me attacks while maintaining his distance from the Arch Gargoyle and despite the monster''s arduous efforts to defend itself, the Health bar over its head dropped until there was no more than 15%. Meanwhile, the monster didn''t stay empty-handed and engulfed almost the entirety of the Augmented Space with the Lethargic Darkness element. At that rate, before Jay could defeat it, he would be affected by the Arch Gargoyle''s higher darkness element and lose in its hands. Seeing that he was pushed to a corner, Jay coated the with Stage-3 , Thunder me and finally used the weapon''s inbuilt skill over all that. He then took the initiative to jump into the darkness engulfed area before activating and sending several Wind Clones of himself at the monster. To the Arch Gargoyle, that looked like ast-ditch effort and prepared itself to deal with the iing Wind Clones, believing that Jay was in its grasp. Unbeknownst to the monster, Jay used the Wind Clones as decoys and with the Grade-9 Darkness Innate Talent in hand, he was able to take advantage of the darkness-filled surroundings to activate the skill . Using that, Jay basically teleported himself behind the Arch Gargoyle and stabbed at it. Despite the sudden attack, the Tier-4 monster reacted quickly and twirled its tail around the sword and stopped it before the sword couldpletely pierce through its stony hide. Although the monster''s tail was being burnt from the mix of Thunder me and two other forces, it still held on to the sword. It was when 25 Wind Clones collided with the Arch Gargoyle one by one, giving Jay the room to use . From the tip of that sword, a four-meter extension of Stage-3 bined with sharp pressurised wind and Thunder me emerged, piercing through the monster in one fell swoop. Then, Jay let go of the control he maintained to bnce the three entities and with that, they became unstable and ran rampant in the Arch Gargoyle''s body before sting it apart. Just like that, Jay cleared the 10 difficulty level. After that, he chose to take a recuperation break before starting the 11th difficulty level. During then, he didn''t use more than a minute to consume Grade-3 Spiritual fruits and recover the lost Spirit Energy as well as Stamina. Jay wanted to see for himself how he would fare against a Tier-4 Mid-Phase monster despite knowing that he couldn''t defeat it. Since the skill doesn''t have a cooldown period, Jay once again activated it but against a monster that was at Lv.83, with around 1800 overall stats, his efforts didn''t amount to much. In less than a minute, the Health Bar over Jay''s head dropped to zero, sending him out of the Reality Emtor. Although he almost died within the Augmented Space, there were just some minor injuries on him. Thanks to his increased regeneration rate, they healed visibly. Meanwhile, Jay took a look at the evaluation score and was satisfied to see his Reality Emtor disying 24,000 Points blinking beside his name. Jay''s score by the end of the 10th difficulty level was 19,435 Points and the remaining 4,565 Points were given for inflicting a certain amount of damage on the Tier-4 Mid-Phase monster. After looking around, Jay realised that he was the first one to finish Round-1 among the 8th batch. He also found that other than the Ans, no others paid attention to him or his evaluation score and were immersed in watching the screen Olivia was being disyed on. It was understandable since they haven''t seen what Jay was capable of. Moreover, Jay had the passive skill on him at all times, so even if they were to know how strong Jay was, they would have trouble recognising him. The Ans were only able to recognise him since Jay set that skill in a way so that they could recognise him like the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. To Jay, it doesn''t matter even if everyone in the colosseum watched his Round-1 Performance. After all, he didn''t intend to hide his strength in the first ce. It just so happened that he was not ranked 1st among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen due to his low level and because of that, Jay wasn''t shown on one of the 100 screens and no one was able to witness his capabilities. Soon after his Reality Emtor vanished from the podium ground, Jay returned to the seating area under everyone''s inconspicuous eyes and took a seat beside the Ans, who were still dumbfounded after peeking at Jay''s evaluation score. Akor''s expression didn''t hide his worship for Jay as he approached and praised him, "My Liege is unrivalled. Just his evaluation score alone is enough to triumph over any Trial Zone team''sbined score." The dazed Ans nodded absentmindedly while still in disbelief. Jay ignored them and watched the screen that was disying Olivia, who was using Spiritual Fruits to recover her lost Stamina and Spirit Energy. It was obvious that she wanted to try out the 10th difficulty level and fight a Tier-4 Low-Phase monster despite the difference in strength. Jay could rte with her since he himself was curious after crossing the 10th difficulty level and wanted to see how he would fare against a Tier-4 Mid-Phase monster even when the result would be his loss. However, it wouldn''t be all for nothing as that will bring awareness to one''s own strength and limits. While Olivia was recovering, the Alpha Chosen of the 8th batch began toe out of their Reality Emtors one by one. By the time Olivia entered the 10th difficulty level, that scene soon changed to having several Alpha Chosening out in droves onto the podium ground. When they noticed that someone was fighting a Tier-4 Low-Phase monster, they didn''t return to their respective seating spots and instead stood right there on the podium ground as they continued to watch the topmost screen. Although Olivia lost in the 10th difficulty level, she left a deep impression on everyone. When was sent out of her Reality Emtor and her evaluation score was disyed on it, there was still silence in the entire Colosseum. Although Olivia scored just half the amount of Jay''s points, it was still overwhelming for others. One could only imagine how everyone would be like if they were to know of Jay''s performance. Ignoring the jaw-dropped spectators around her, she walked back to the Earth''s Alpha Chosen seating area as every Alpha Chosen on the podium ground gave way to her. This time, the 3rd Prince didn''t approach to congratte and instead decided to inform Olivia of the proposal offer privately, once the Round-1 ends. Contrary to others views, Olivia didn''t think highly of herself for scoring 12,000 Points but instead felt bad that she couldn''t even put up a good fight against the Tier-4 Low-Phase monster she faced. If not for her using the Omega-Chosen''s exclusive ability, to suppress the monster''s Innate Talent abilities by 50%, she knewsting as much as she did wouldn''t have been possible. With such thoughts, Olivia sat a few feet beside Jay and then something she didn''t expect happened. "Don''t beat yourself up. You did well." For a second, Olivia froze in her seat. It was her first time receiving appreciation from Jay. That strangely brought a sense offort to her, almost as if she was craving for his approval. Olivia knew that it was due to the imprinted Moon origin Sigil on her soul but couldn''t help being pissed at the thought of having the urge to please Jay like a little kid seeking approval from their parents. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 136 - Dantes Evaluation Score. Not long after that, the remaining Earth''s Alpha Chosen were also sent out of their respective Reality emtors one after another and reached the seating area before discussing the different monsters they had faced in the different difficulty levels. Soon, they learned about each other''s evaluation scores in the newly added ''Trial Regional Tournament'' at the bottom of their Status Windows. _________________ [Trial Regional Tournament] [Round-1 Results] (arranged in increasing order) Gabriel (Lv.27) - 3,200 Points Kasim (Lv.29) - 3,370 Points Henry (Lv.30) - 4,485 Points Kensei (Lv.31) - 4,520 Points Andrea (Lv.37) - 4,700 Points Min soo (Lv.38)- 4,835 Points Brandon (Lv.35) - 8,475 Points Sergei (Lv.35) - 8,550 Points Dante (Lv.25) - 9,235 Points Olivia (Lv.40) - 12,000 Points Jay (Lv.25) - 24,000 Points _________________ Aside from Jay and Olivia, Dante was the one that stood out the most. While just being at Lv.25, he even reached as far as the 9th difficulty level and almost defeated the Tier-3 high-Phase monster there. Dante''s evaluation score was even higher than Sergei and Brandon, cing him just beneath Olivia''s score among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Other than Jay and Dante himself, no one else among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen saw thating. To them, Jay clearing the 11th difficulty level didn''te as a shocker since they long ago stopped judging him bymon logic. But, Dante almost defeating a peak Tier-3 monster was a different matter. They knew that he could predict his opponents moves beforehand but even with that, defeating a Tier-3 Low-Phase monster while being at Tier-2 High-Phase was hard because of the difference between tiers. Two factors yed a crucial role in making Dante so powerful despite having a meagre amount of 300 overall stats. The first one was his Rare Grade Spirit Weapon, . As thanks for helping him in the search of Arch Spirit Fruit, Jay converged several Umon Grade Bows to create a Rare Grade one that best suits Dante''s abilities. On top of that, MJ upgraded it with the remains of the Emerald Spirit Metal Ore, that was left from creating Jay''s Epic Grade Silver ive replica. With that, the came out to be a top-notch Rare Grade weapon. ______________ [ (Rare Grade): A Long Bow that could even rival a grade above its own. Effect: Strength+28^, Agility+22^ Requirements: 40 Strength, 40 Agility Durability: 100/100 Inherent Skills: (Rare), (Rare). (Active): Upon activating this, the size of the arrow shot will be erged, the longer it travels in its path trajectory. Cost: 50 Spirit Energy per shot. (Passive): Upon pulling the bowstring, an arrow will be automatically spawned into the drawing slot. Daily Limit: 25 arrows (any more would cost 10 Spirit Energy per arrow.) ______________ The skill made up for Dante''scking attack power and his ability to see through everyone''s moves before they could even make them, closing the deficiencies of his low movement speed and time perception. But for him to almost defeat an Lv.50 monster, it wouldn''t be possible with just those two. There was something else that yed a crucial role. It was the growth-type Equipment, that he recently gained. That''s right, other than Jay and Olivia, Dante was the only one who obtained Growth-type Equipment among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. It happened on Day-9 when the Fate stats in his possession reached 100, he caused a Universe Level achievement for having so many Fate stats while just being at Tier-2. Appearance-wise, it looks like a deck of white illusionary cards, stacked on top of each other. Unlike Jay''s defensive-type growth equipment , and Olivia''s offensive-type growth equipment , the was a piece of support-type growth equipment. Each illusionary card in the contains a random buff effect and the card drawn out will give him the buff that''s best suitable to the situation he was in. The number of cards he could draw at once was only limited to just two since the was only at Umon Grade. But, each of those buff effects were not to be looked down upon. Whenever he uses it while facing an opponent, the buffs he receives will be best suited to counter the opponent''s abilities. With that in tow, Dante was able to jump almost a tier above his league to fight a Tier-3 High-Phase monster. Although Sergei and Brandon''s performance wasn''t as dazzling as Dante, their evaluation scores could easily be ranked among the top few Alpha Chosen in the Trial Regional Tournament. Despite being at the entry levels of Tier-3 Mid-Phase (Lv.34 to Lv.41), they both almost defeated an Lv.50 Tier-3 monster each. If only they were given more time, clearing the 9th difficulty level would have been in their grasp. As for Min-soo and Andrea, they had barely managed to defeat a Tier-3 Mid-Phase monster. They were still far from bringing out the potential of their Innate Talents'' offensive side and were only good at using their abilities to provide support, like healing and scouting among other things. In the case of Kensei and Henry, they both used theirbat experience and wits to clear the 8th difficulty level by defeating monsters that were a Phase higher than them. Although Kasim and Gabriel didn''t do as well as the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen, they still cleared the 7th difficulty level. Before long, everyone from the 8th batch finished their Round-1 and the next batch began. Once that was over, the 10th batch began. This time, instead of 100 screens, there were just 76 of them since there were 76 Trial Zone teams among the final batch. The spectators didn''t expect anyone would be noteworthy after watching Olivia''s performance but two particr Alpha Chosen among the final batch proved them wrong by clearing the 9th difficulty level. They both tried fighting a Tier-4 Low-Phase monster but failed to deal the extent of damage Olivia managed to inflict. Once they were sent out, they gave each other cold looks before going in separate ways to their respective spot in the seating area. Their interaction made it clear to everyone that there was some kind of conflict between them. While this was happening, Baby MJ provided Jay with the information he gathered on them through the Tier-4 System ess. Apparently, those two were ranked 14th and 16th in the and the lifes they both hail from were neighbourings in the same ''Star System''. Since the System hasn''t assimted with it yet, there wasn''t any more information avable for MJ to ess. With both theirs being next to each other and technologically advanced, it wasn''t hard to guess that the root of their dispute must have been because of resources. Soon, therge notification board over the podium ground refreshed before disying the new overall evaluation scores of the top 100 Trial Zone Teams. __________ [Top 100 Trial Zone Teams] 1. Earth Trial Zone Team (777): 87,370 Points. 2. Silephe Trial Zone Team (912): 26,030 Points 3. Tilephe Trial Zone Team (913): 25,665 Points 4. Polyphaga Trial Zone Team (789): 22,495 Points 5. Anis Trial Zone Team (620): 18,115 Points 6. Owlite Trial Zone Team (049): 16,000 Points . . . . 100. Falud Trial Zone (262): 9,950 Points __________ After everyone gave it a good look, the 3rd Prince announced, "The 100 Trial Zone Teams remaining on this notification board are the ones that qualified for the next round. So, the remaining 876 Trial Zone Teams could only spectate the next two Rounds. Now that six hours have passed since the Tournament began, there will be a three-hour intermission. Open your Status windows to find the new unlocked content in the section. As you all can see in the ''Rest House'' function, each Trial Zone Team was allotted a Rest House, where you can rest and rx during this first intermission. Other than that, there''s also the ''Exchange Market'' function avable. Read the rules and regtions shown there to learn of its usage and make sure to follow them. Before concluding Round-1, let me say onest thing, killing each other is strictly prohibited during the Tournament. Anyone that vites this rule will be automatically disqualified from further participating in the Tournament. Bear that in mind before acting rashly. That''s all for now. Everyone may leave the Colosseum." After that, several exits opened up, leading to the rest of the floating ind. As everyone was making their way towards those exits like people leaving a movie theatre, the 3rd Prince flew towards the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 137 - The 3rd Prince’s Past. (Part-1) Before the 3rd Prince was forcibly regressed to Tier-4 Low-Phase, he was one of the very few in the Virgo SuperCluster who had the potential to cross the 2nd Universe Limit and reach Tier-7. Once the 3rd Prince reached the peak of Tier-6 and reached a bottleneck, his father, the Red Elven Emperor, sent him to join one of the major forces of Laniakea MegaCluster so that he could receive the guidance needed to break through to Tier-7. (A/N: The Virgo SuperCluster is one of the 1000 SuperClusters thatprises the Laniakea MegaCluster.) If he were sessful, the Red Elven Empire would have be the top hegemony in the entire Virgo SuperCluster. Even the whole empire looked forward to that happening. But to their disappointment, the 3rd Prince experienced a deviation during his ascension to Tier-7 and regressed to Tier-4 Low-Phase without any chance to grow stronger anymore. At least, that was what the 3rd Prince said when he returned to the Virgo SuperCluster with a Tier-4 strength level. Although the part about his Tier regression was genuine, the story he gave as an exnation for that was not. In reality, during the time 3rd Prince joined a Sect-type hegemony of the Laniakea MegaCluster, the Neb Sect, he not only seeded in entering Tier-7 but also reached its peak by the time he was 100 years old. Compared to the 10,000-year lifespan of a Tier-7 existence, even at 1000 years, they would still be considered young. Although the 3rd Prince didn''t have a Grade-8 Innate Talent like the top genius disciples there, he still held a high position in that Sect as its core disciple. He fell in love with a small street vendor''s daughter within the Neb Sect, irrespective of their status difference. After receiving her parents'' approval for marriage, the 3rd Prince married her. A few monthster, he prepared to travel back to the Virgo SuperCluster with his wife and her parents in tow. But on the way, their interster Spaceship was suddenly intercepted and attacked by a group of seven Tier-8 individuals. Before the 3rd Prince could make out what had really happened, his wife''s mother and father dove out of the Spaceship without a Spirit Spacesuit. For anyone who wasn''t at least at Tier-7, surviving in outer space that has streams of cosmic dust travelling together at speeds of up to 70 kilometers per second (44 miles per second) with bare bodies was basically impossible. But his inws were not only perfectly fine but flew in outer space without being hindered by the cosmic dust and fought against the unknown dangerous group. Beyond the 3rd prince''s wildest dreams, his wife''s parents, whom he thought to bemoners at Tier-3, were actually both at the peak of Tier-8, the same as the top powerhouses of the Laniakea MegaCluster. It wasn''t just the 3rd Prince, but his wife was also taken aback by the new revtion. Apparently, she didn''t know her parents were so powerful. Just then, the 3rd Prince received a mind transmission from his soon to be father-inw, urging him to escape along with their daughter as they stalled for some time. Along with that, he has also transmitted that the answers to their questions could be found in their daughter''s locket and the secret word to activate it. While escaping in their Spaceship, the 3rd Prince''s wife activated the locket. It disyed the pre-recorded holographic projection of her parents, revealing a shocking truth about their family background. To the 3rd Prince''s disbelief, his wife and her parents were part of a Top n Hegemony that ruled over nearly 100 MegaClusters in the vast Universe. As a n with one of the most powerful bloodlines in the Universe, it even has a Sovereign, Tier-10 Being overlooking it. Even if a n member''s Innate Talent grade was not high, they could still reach higher tiers as long as they awakened their dormant Bloodline. For that n to prosper, its ancestors prohibited marrying anyone outside the n to prevent their bloodline dilution. Not just that, but they also created a ritual that every newborn baby in their n had to go through. Only those that survived that ritual process would awaken their n bloodline. That was how their n managed to stay as one of the top hegemonies in the Universe for millions of years. But that came at the sacrifice of several newborns in their n. The 3rd prince''s inws escaped from that n despite knowing that it was a major crime in that n since they couldn''t bear to risk the life of their third newborn baby by having her go through the same ritual that took the lives of their first two children. After escaping, they settled down in the Laniakea MegaCluster that wasn''t under the rule of their n and lived as street vendors toy low so that their n couldn''t find them. Since their daughter didn''t awaken the n''s Bloodline and only had a Grade-3 Innate Talent, Tier-3 was her limit. Still, other than her safety, nothing else mattered to them. After their daughter grew up, she fell in love with a core disciple of the Neb Sect they were staying disguised asmoners. After those long peaceful years, that n somehow got wind of their whereabouts and caught up with them. By the time the 3rd Prince and his wife learned all of it through the locket, their Spaceship that was moving at high speeds came to a halt gradually due to an invisible force decelerating it. They found a hunchbacked old man standing in space with a stick in his hand when they looked out. Behind him were the 3rd Prince''s inws, with hands cuffed and bound to magical looking energy ropes connected to the Old Man''s hand. Surrounding them were the seven Tier-8 individuals that they initially encountered. From the way they stood behind with respect and how easily his peak Tier-8 inws were captured, it became apparent to the 3rd Prince that the old man was at Tier-9, a powerful one at that. With a rise of his hand, the old man split apart the Spaceship that even meteors would have trouble leaving a dent on. Using an invisible force, the old man froze the movements of the 3rd Prince and his wife before pulling them towards him. "Sixth Elder, we are willing to receive punishment for our crimes, but please show mercy to them." His inws pleaded with the old man. But those words fell on deaf ears as the old man sensed the unborn baby in the womb of the 3rd Prince''s wife. That angered the Sixth Elder, "How dare a low-life outsider taint our n''s sacred bloodline!!" In a fit of anger, the old man held the 3rd Prince by his neck and began to siphon out the Life Energy in order to kill him painfully. The 3rd Prince could only watch helplessly hold down the pain as his level began to decline rapidly. Even his youthful appearance went away alongside his Life Energy and turned into a middle-aged man. Watching her husband''s life fading away right in front of her, she screamed in agony and with her tummy as the centre, a bright orange glow illuminated the space they were all in. The Sixth Elder froze in his tracks and widened his eyes at the new revtion. His anger was reced with utter disbelief. He then halted extracting 3rd Prince''s Life Energy and approached the wife. After holding her wrist, the Old Man muttered after trying to remember something, "To think an unborn child could awaken a Bloodline, I have never heard of such an urrence. Maybe the n Head might have some insight into it." The Old Man then calmed down and ordered the 3rd Prince''s inws, "Don''t make a fuss and return with me to our m, if my guess is right, your daughter''s unborn child is a genius that has high affinity with our Bloodline. In that ount, the n Head will waive off the death penalty and let you off with just a minor punishment. As for this outsider, if I bring him there, it will only anger the n head; it''s better to kill him here." Then the 3rd Prince''s wife aggressively threatened the Old Man with taking her own life if her husband died. With that, he didn''t try to kill the 3rd Prince anymore and instead damaged his Spirit Pool. "Tch¡­..be d that I didn''t take your filthy life. In the future, don''te seeking for your family if you wish to stay alive." After the warning, the Sixth Elder left along with the 3rd prince''s wife and his inws. But he was left alone in Outer Space without any means of transportation other than flying on his own. Since he wasn''t at Tier-7 anymore, he had to use a Spirit Spacesuit to stay alive there. With enough patience and effort, he could reach a nearby civilization and find his way from there. But, before that could happen, the 3rd Prince was caught up in the space turbulence tunnels and forcibly swept away in that torrent before entering an undiscovered hidden space realm by a twist of fate. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 138 - The 3rd Prince’s Past. (Part-2) Over the past billions of years, only 24 such hidden space realms were uncovered, and each of them had remnants of the great battle that ended the Prehistoric Era. The 3rd Prince happened to identally enter a new one that no one else had discovered. The hidden space realms were basically treasure troves since they were the Prehistoric battlefields with graves of several High Tier Beings. They left behind their Legaciesposed ofplex Skill Circuits, Alchemy, and Spirit Engineering techniques, among many other treasures. But they weren''t without dangers. All hidden space realms were miniature independent worlds, filled with strange creatures that were even more aggressive and deadlier than monsters in the Universe. It was even said to have Tier-10 strange creatures living in them, and even the top hegemonies of the Universe had to carefully venture into the hidden space realms. To his luck, the 3rd Prince didn''t encounter one of them when he identally entered there and instead found himself in a Grave Ruin of a Powerful Being from the prehistoric era. However, to his disappointment, he didn''t find any treasure there. The only thing that stayed perfectlypact in that Grave Ruin was the tombstone over the coffin there. Through the gaps in the dust settled on that tombstone, the 3rd Prince found unrecognisable writing inscribed on it. He tried to wipe the dust off it for a better view, but as soon as his hand came in contact with the tombstone, a notification popped up. [You have met the affinity standards of this Inheritance. Do you wish to ept it?] For a moment, the 3rd Prince stood in silence as he incredulously stared at the System notification. He thought back to something he heard from his master, a Core Elder of the Neb Sect. It was one of the main reasons for Tier-10 Beings to be known as the backbone of the Universe-Level Hegemonies. Besides the apparent overwhelming strength, those at Tier-10 can leave behind their Innate Talent in an inanimate object as an Inheritance when their life spanes to an end or when they are about to die in an unnatural way. Feeling quite lucky to stumble across an Inheritance object of a Prehistoric Being, he epted the Inheritance right away. The tombstone then turned into particles and entered his body, right into his heart. After experiencing a heart-wrenching pain, the 3rd Prince noticed a change in his Soul Space as another notification appeared. [Congrattions!! You have inherited a Unique Innate Talent, .] His previous excitement quelled by a notch after finding that it was a Unique Category Innate Talent. It was understandable for him to feel that way since Unique Category ones were ill-famed for their notoriously slow Innate Talent Mastery progress. Only 30% of Unique Innate Talent users in the Universe were able to cross past the 1st Universe Limit. Among that 30%, barely 3% of them were able to break through the 2nd Universe Limit, but none of them was able to ovee the 3rd Universe Limit and reach Tier-10. However, since the Prehistoric Being in that Grave Ruin was able to leave their Unique Innate Talent as an Inheritance, they must have reached Tier-10. Thinking about that gave the 3rd Prince the faintest hope of reaching Tier-10 one day, giving him the power he needed to bring his wife and child back from that n. With that in mind, the 3rd Prince began to explore the abilities of his new Innate Talent. In the beginning, he was disappointed since his new Innate Talent was not abat-rted one, but his view on it changed the more he learned of its uses. He was able to sense if there was any possible danger ahead just by thinking about the course of action he wanted to take. Whenever the 3rd Prince thought of venturing outside the Grave Ruin, his heartbeat rate would rise significantly, signalling to him about the life-threatening danger he would face if he were to do that. Because of the ominous sensation from his heart, he didn''t overlook the warning and stayed within the confines of that Grave Ruin. After preserving what was left of his damaged Spirit Pool and consolidating it to prevent any further long term problems, the 3rd Prince began to train his new Innate Talent''s mastery level. Thanks to the that was left behind by the Prehistoric Being in that Inheritance, the rate at which he could improve his mastery level exponentially increased. Training in that showed him more diverse ways of using . During the 3 months he stayed in that Grave Ruin, he managed to reach Stage-4 of , bringing his understanding of that Unique Innate Talent to a whole new level. The higher the mastery stage he reached, the more detailed he was able to sense the dangers and fortunes in every decision he made. Since activating that Unique Innate Talent''s abilities don''t require expending his Spirit Energy, the 3rd Prince could freely use them without straining his already unstable Spirit Pool. Instead of Spirit Energy, those Fortune-rted abilities need something else to be activated. Like Time and Space, Fortune and Fate are also interrted Laws but with different functionalities. When one possesses 1000 luck stats, they would have the chance to be recognised by the Law of Fate or Law of Fortune. The 3rd Prince, who had the , was directly recognised by the Law of Fortune and had his Luck stats converted into Fortune Stats even before the Luck Stats on him could reach 1000. In a life and death situation, Fate Stats have the power to save one''s life as long as they expend enough of them. Whereas the Fortune Stats would passively affect one''s life without dwindling. The Higher the number of Fortune Stats one possesses, the better the oue of any situation they face. Just like how Dante''s Innate Talent, converted his Luck stats to Fate stats, the 3rd Prince''s converted his Luck stats into 34 Fortune Stats. After reaching Stage-4 of , he was even able to see through the possible ways of oveing the dangers he would face. That gave him some confidence to venture into the hidden space realm in the hopes of finding some kind of magical medicine that could repair his damaged Spirit Pool. Using his 4th Exclusive Innate Skill, , he exited the Grave Ruin and cautiously travelled around following that skill''s instructions. But to not be perceived by the strange creatures wandering in that hidden space realm, he had to follow the warnings given by his heart and often had to hide at various locations for hours patiently and sometimes it would even take days. That continued for several months, and meanwhile, he came across several Ruins, but each one of them had powerful strange creatures guarding them. Even the weakest of the strange creatures were at Tier-8. Whenever he thought of entering any of those Ruins, he was warned of a 100% death rate. Because of that, he was left with no choice but to use to find an exit to that hidden space realm and leave it. It took the 3rd prince over a year to carefully traverse through the hidden space realm while hiding himself from the strange creatures and safely get out of there. To his surprise, that hidden space realm gateway he just exited was in the neighbouring SuperCluster to the Virgo SuperCluster. The gateway he used was different from the one he identally entered through Space turbulence tunnels. So, after marking the space coordinates of that concealed gateway, he returned to his homnd, the Red Elven Empire. There he didn''t reveal anything to his family about how his wife and child were taken away by a Universe-level n or about him identally discovering a hidden space realm. The Red Elven Empire was not strong enough to deal with either. So, he chose to hide it from his parents and siblings lest they find themselves in trouble because of that information. Instead, he weaved up a story of having experienced a deviation while ascending his Fire and Wood Stage-6 Masteries to Stage-7 and regressed to Tier-4 due to damaging his Spirit Pool. Since it was a rtivelymon urrence among those that try to forcibly reach a higher mastery stage without meeting necessary requirements, the 3rd Prince''s family didn''t doubt his words. However, the Emperor didn''t believe that someone as prudent as him would make such a careless mistake. Albeit knowing that the 3rd Prince was not revealing the entire truth, the Red Elven Emperor didn''t pry on his son and waited to hear it from him someday. Soon, the word got out within the Empire, and the 3rd prince wasbelled as a Fallen Prodigy. But, he didn''t care about that in the least, as his top priority was to find himself a magical medicine that could help him repair his Spirit Pool. Such resources could only be found in possession of Universe-Level Forces and finding something so valuable like that. Althoughing across something so rare and valuable like that was nigh impossible in a lifetime, that didn''t apply to someone like him, who has Fortune by his side. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 139 - [Bonus ]The 3rd Prince’s Past. (Part-3) As long as his Innate Talent Mastery level and Fortune Stats were high enough,ing across a fortuitous encounter that could help him wouldn''t be too far. So, the 3rd Prince cooped himself up in his mansion and incessantly trained his for several years. Due to the that also consisted of the knowledge and insights of his new Innate talent''s previous owner, hisprehension over the Law of Fortune substantially improved. Within 15 years of his seclusion, he managed to bring his from Stage-4 to Stage-7, which was no ordinary feat since improving a Unique Category Innate Talent was mostplex among the 5 Innate Talent Categories. {Reminder Note: Elemental Category, Weapon Category, Martial Category, Variant Category, Unique Category.} Having reached Stage-7, his proficiency over the Law of Fortune reached quite a high standard. With that, the 3rd Prince sneaked his way out of the Empire Capital and hunted numerous monsters of Tier-4 Low-Phase and below to absorb their Luck stats to improve his Fortune stats. Hunting monsters didn''t help him improve his Level since the Life energy he absorbed from them stacked up in his Status Window. The only way to ess the stacked Life Energy was to repair his Spirit Pool, and due to that, he was stuck at Tier-4 Low-Phase without any improvement. Once the Fortune stats reached 1000 after a year of umtion, the 3rd Prince began to roam around the Virgo SuperCluster and the nearby SuperClusters, searching for the fortuitous encounter that could help him. Using his 3rd exclusive innate skill, , he finally tracked one such medicinal treasure in a forbidden zone. Next to the hidden secret realms, the forbidden zones were the deadliest locations with natural phenomenons that ensure the lowest habitable survival conditions in the whole Universe. There were around 100,000 of them in the entire Universe, and each one of those forbidden zones has various elements concentrated to an abnormal degree, making it hard to survive in there. Those at the end of their potential who couldn''t improve their Innate Talent masteries would enter the forbidden zones in the hopes of reaching higher tiers. Among them, only a rare few would be lucky enough to survive and manage to reach their goal there. In the 3rd Prince''s case, venturing into a forbidden zone wasn''t so dangerous since his Innate Talent showed him the possible ways, but the pinch to it was the long duration needed for him to get his hands safely on that medicinal treasure. To pass through all those obstacles in there while being just at Tier-4 Low-Phase, it would take the 3rd Prince tens if not a hundred years. After all, he had to wait patiently to move within the forbidden zone in the path that would be the least dangerous. ording to the instructions provided by , the 3rd Prince entered that forbidden zone and cautiously proceeded onwards for a month before his 7th innate exclusive skill, unexpectedly activated by itself. He received it upon reaching Stage-7 in but wasn''t able to use it ever since, at least until then. The 3rd Prince knew that he needed to reach Stage-8 mastery level to use it voluntarily, but until then, he could only wait for the exclusive skill to activate by itself. When activated, he began to have a vague mental vision where thousands of lifeforms from various races were battling a horde of monsters with their lives on the line. There were casualties on both sides, but that didn''t bother the aggressive monsters in their mad assault. As long as that battle continued further, it appeared as if the monsters woulde out as victors, but that took a turnabout when a burst of massive energy emerged from the centre of the battlefield and engulfed a sector of thend they were battling and obliterated everything along with several monsters on it. Once the dust settled in, the scene in his vision zoomed onto a spot on the battlefield. Unlike the previous vague view, where he couldn''t find anything informative about the battle, the 3rd Prince was able to take a good look at someone who was lying on the battleground with their right arm and a one-third chunk of their chest and stomach missing from their body. That gave the 3rd Prince quite a scare because the one who seemed to be at their death door in that mental vision was none other than himself. Believing that was his future, he tried to find any details he could pick up to identify the time and location of that battlefield in order to prevent that from happening but to no avail. Once that mental vision ended, the 3rd Prince received instructions through the strange connection with his heart, nudging him to be a Tournament Manager for the next Gctic Cluster that begins their Trial Program. Although he didn''tprehend why doing that would help prevent his death, the 3rd Prince still did as he was asked without any hesitation. He made his way back out of the forbidden zone he was in, and after a few months of travel, he returned to the Red Elven Empire. Not long after, a new one named Zephyr Gctic Cluster had started to undergo the Trial Program, and their high Live Performance score stirred quite a sensation in the Entire Universe. Incredibly, one of the Gxies in that cluster, the Milky Way Gxy, was estimated to have an Omega Chosen in it. To the 3rd Prince''s surprise, he was allotted as one of the Tournament Managers assigned for the Milky way Gxy. He believed that the Trial Region he was assigned would mostly have the Milky Way Gxy''s Omega Chosen and the reason why his Unique Innate Talent pointed him in that direction was to acquaint himself with someone who has the potential to reach Tier-10. Although the 3rd Prince once had high hopes of reaching Tier-10, that slimmed down after finding that the he obtained through the Inheritance was no longer helpful in advancing to higher Mastery stages, and he had to depend on himself for that. He was not sure when or even if he would reach Tier-10 in the first ce. After all, there hasn''t ever been a record of someone with Unique Innate Talent reaching Tier-10. That led him to believe that as long as he assisted an Omega Chosen in their growth to Tier-10, they would one-day return favour in the form of helping him reunite with his wife and child. When the 3rd Prince overheard that the leading one in Batch-8 was an Omega Chosen, he measured Olivia''s Fortune using the ''Fortune Path'' technique that he learned through and was overwhelmed by what he saw. He had used that technique several times before but never seen as dazzling a Fortune Path that Olivia was destined to. In his vision, he could perceive an illusionary golden staircase with ten doorways in front of Olivia, where each doorway represents the Tier she could reach in Future. It was apparent to him that as long as there weren''t any twists of Fate, she could reach Tier-10 without a hitch. With those thoughts in mind, the 3rd Prince approached Olivia at the end of Round-1. He then congratted her along with the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, "Saying that you all did well in Round-1 would be an understatement. It''s less likely that any other Trial Zone team in your Gxy could score as much as you all did. With your current capabilities, I could safely point out that winning this tournament wouldn''t be an obstacle for you lot." Even though he put on casual airs while saying that, in actuality, he was still a bit dizzy from finding their overall score to be three times that of the following leading Trial Zone team. By logic, having a score of 87,370 Points would mean almost everyone in Earth''s Trial Zone should be at least at Tier-3 Mid-Phase and have enough strength to hold their ground against a Tier-3 High-Phase monster. The 3rd Prince could peer into their Levels with the identification-type skill in his possession but chose not to since the receiving end would find it offensive. However, he used the technique which lets him peek at their Fortune as that couldn''t be sensed by anyone else. The 3rd Prince did that when he was flying towards them. Beginning with Olivia, he looked at almost everyones'' potential through their Fortune Paths one by one. Even the lowest result among them had an eight doorway staircase Fortune Path, indicating the high possibility of reaching Tier-8 in the future. Their results astonished him without failure, but the one that debuffled him was Dante''s Fortune path, as there wasn''t a fixed one for him but an ever-changing Fortune Path. That made the 3rd Prince connect Dante to be a ''Holy Son of Fate'' who could only be seen once in a few Megaannums. {A/N: 1 Megaannum = 1 Million years.} That revtion shocked him so much that he forgot to peek at the Fortune Path of thest remaining one among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, Jay. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 140 - 140: Holy Son Of Fate. Every once in several million years, during troubled times, the Universe chooses a lifeform to do its bidding and bring bnce. Those fated individuals came to be known as Holy Sons/Daughters of Fate, and with the Universe itself protecting them, they were destined to be one of the greatest Beings ever to roam the Universe. Even the typical Tier-10 beings pale inparison with them. The 3rd Prince didn''t know much about them since thest ever known Holy Son of Fate was said to be seen 9 Million years ago, and only the Universe level hegemonies that existed for such a long time had proper records on them. To the rest of the Universe, they were only known as folklore and as part of legends. Without any concrete proof, the 3rd Prince could only specte Dante to be a Holy Son of Fate due to him not having a fixed Fortune path. Keeping that possibility in mind, the 3rd Prince respectfully greeted the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, especially Dante and Olivia. Following that, the 3rd Prince formally introduced himself to them, "Excuse my manners, I haven''t even properly introduced myself. I am the 3rd Prince of the Red Elven Empire. You can all call me Frial. d to meet you all." Noticing the nk faces on most Earth''s Alpha Chosen, Frial realised that they didn''t know anything rted to the power structure of the Universe. So, he roughly borated it and hinted at the Red Elven Empire''s position as one of the 10 Hegemonies of a SuperCluster Level. Other than Jay, who already knew all that from MJ, the others were awestruck by the massive scale of the Universe and the numerous Hegemonies that were powerful beyond imagination. The 3rd Prince then exined to the Earth''s Alpha Chosen about the harsh reality that the Gxies had to face after finishing their Trial Programs. Almost every Gxy that finishes its Trial Program will be under the mercy of the neighbouring Gxies that were already assimted with the System. If the invading Gxies were merciful, they would only go after the resources. But if it were a ruthless one, the life forms of the newly emerged Gxy would be turned into ves and be sold to various forces across the Universe. Noticing the shaken expressions on the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, the 3rd Prince moved on to the main point after emphasising that only strength could decide their standing in the Universe. "But there was a way for the newly assimted Gxies to escape the grasps of the other Gxies that were hungry for resources and vebour. It was to join a powerful enough force that could deter the advances of invaders and be its subsidiary. However, the requirements to join such a Force was easier said than done. But in your case, that wouldn''t be a problem with the Performance Score your Gxy disyed till now. Hegemonies all over the Universe would fight over themselves to bring your Gxy into their Jurisdiction. Since only those within the same SuperCluster could apply to be the Tournament Managers for the Trial Programs of Zephyr GcticCluster, the ones that were currentlypeting over your Gxy are the Virgo Supercluster''s 10 Hegemonies, including my Red Elven Empire." Before the Earth''s Alpha Chosen could take it the wrong way, Frial continued without a pause and offered the Red Elven Emperor''s Proposal, but he made a significant adjustment to the initial one. "As long as all of you are willing, the Red Elven Empire will be pleased to have you all as its Grand Elders, a position on par with the Emperor himself. If you are worried that you would be bound to the Empire and work relentlessly for it, your worries are for naught. Until you all cross Tier-6, the Empire will offer utmost protection and with the Empire''s resources at your beck and call, reaching there would be just a matter of a few years." The initial proposal was to offer a new Grand Elder Position to the Omega-Chosen. After all, there already exists a Grand Elder for the Red Elven Empire, and it was none other than the Emperor''s Father. But, Frial offered to make them all the Grand Elders of the Empire since he had seen their inexplicably high potential and Fortune. Frial knew that even when the Emperor learns about the new proposal, his father wouldn''t at all disagree with his decision. Meanwhile, the Earth''s Alpha Chosen took in the new information they were bombarded with. One after another, the Earth''s Alpha Chosen looked at each other before turning their heads towards Jay, who stood in silence by the side. Even Olivia and Dante, whom he believed to be the strongest of the bunch, weren''t an exception. Their actions puzzled Frial since it looked like they all were waiting for Jay''s opinion. Until then, Jay didn''t stand out in Frial''s eyes. He remembered watching Jay to be the first one to walk out of Reality Emtors among the 8th batch and assumed Jay to be the weakest among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Frial then used an information-type skill to peek at Jay''s Status. As someone who once had reached the peak of Tier-7, most of the skills in Frial''s possession were at Grade-7 as well. He wasn''t able to use the ones that were fueled by Spirit Energy, but the information extracting skills doesn''t expend Spirit Energy. With the being a Grade-5 Skill, it didn''t hide Jay''s status information from Frial. But, to his dismay, the stats section in Jay''s ''Status'' was filled with question marks as well as anything about Jay''s Innate Talent. _________ [STATUS] Name - Jay Age - 23 Race - Greater Human Life Energy - 124000/32500 Level - 25 (Tier-2, High-Phase) Estimated Level - ??? ~~~ A/N: * ? Looted Stats ^ ? Spirit Item Stats ¡ã ? Achievement Title Stats E ? Evolution Stats ~~~ Strength - ??? (33+??*+72^+10 E) Agility - ??? (33+??*+67^+10 E) Vitality - ??? (65+??*+35^+10 E) Endurance - ??? (70+??*+25^+5¡ã+10 E) Spirit - ??? (85+??*+15^+10 E) Luck - 47 (7+25^+15¡ã) Health - ????/???? Stamina - ???/??? Spirit Energy - ???/??? Undistributed Stats - 0 INNATE TALENT: INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILLS - , ~ [ACHIEVEMENT TITLES] ~ [SKILLS] ~ [RESISTANCES] ~ [SPIRIT ITEMS] ~ [MASTERY] __________ It wasn''t just the Stats, but when Friel went through the other sections in Jay''s , all he could find were those that weren''t obtained through his Innate Talent . As all those would be visible only if Frial could see through Jay''s , but that was not possible since Jay was the only one who could ess it. Although Frial couldn''t find much information in Jay''s , he still caught onto some details that made him look at Jay in a new light. The main one was Jay''s Life Energy, which was stacked at 124000. It was high enough to be at Lv.49, and Frial didn''t understand why Jay didn''t evolve further and chose to stay in Tier-2. It wasn''t like Jay didn''t fulfil the other requirements. After all, the Achievement Titles Jay gained were even good enough to meet the Tier-4 Evolution Requirement. It was Frial''s first time not being able topletely see through someone''s , who was at a lower level than himself. A moment ago, he was pretty confident because the skill he used was a Grade-7 one, something that would take hundreds of years to obtain. Since it was a Grade-7 skill, Frial didn''t worry about Jay noticing his action but soon realised he was wrong when he saw Jay frowning at him with a hint of irritation. Jay then turned around and walked away towards one of the Colosseum''s exits without saying a word to Frial or the remaining Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Frial couldn''t understand how Jay could sense his prying action when the skill he used was a Grade-7 one. While Frial emptily stood there, Dante broke the awkward silence, "Mr Frial, we would like to have some time to think about it. Let us meet after the 1st Intermission." That jolted Frial out of his stupor. He then regained hisposure and politely replied, "Of Course¡­.Of Course, take your time and give me your decision by the end of this Tournament." After that, Frial bade farewell with the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, and they soon caught up with Jay and exited the Colosseum along with him. Friel thought of using the ''Fortune Path'' technique on Jay but decided against that, fearing that Jay might somehow detect it and find it even more offensive. From the look Jay gave him, Frial had a gut feeling that Jay was not someone he would want to offend and didn''t take a peek at Jay''s Fortune. Instead, he used his authority as the 35th Trial Region''s Tournament Manager to look at the video records of Jay''s performance in the Reality Emtor. After watching those records, Frial stood dead-still in the empty Colosseum for a long while. Back when he watched Olivia easily defeat a Tier-3 High-Phase monster and hold well enough against a Tier-4 Low-Phase monster shocked him beyond belief. Frial believed nothing else could top that for the day but upon watching Jay defeat a Tier-4 Low-Phase monster had shattered that for him. From the slight hesitation he saw in Jay''s actions when Jay was about to be defeated by a Tier-4 Mid-phase monster, Frial deduced that Jay didn''t bring out all of his trump cards since it wasn''t life-threatening inside the Reality Emtors. That made Frial wonder if Jay would have cleared the 11th difficulty level if he had used his hidden trump card. His own strength was of Tier-4 Low-Phase, and atst resort, he could utmost match a Tier-4 Mid-Phase monster with his damaged Spirit Pool, but that was all to it. Frial couldn''t help but gulp upon thinking whether he could even stop Jay if he tried to kill another Alpha Chosen in the Tournament. He was d that Jay didn''t find his previous action of prying way too offensively and left without looking for trouble. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 141 - Exchange Market. A while ago, when Friel used his Information-type Skill, a set of notifications appeared in Jay''s view. [You are being scrutinised by a Grade-7 Skill that broke through your Grade-5 Skill to look at your .] [ detected an intrusion and blocked every information rted to itself from the intruder.] Following those notifications, Jay received MJ''s mental emtion on the extent of information that would be visible to Frial. Finding that most of the information in his was hidden from others, Jay was relieved. But still, Jay was a little pissed when Frial pried at his . Jay right away knew that it was Frail. After all, who else could have a Grade-7 Skill from just 10 days into the Trial Program. Although Frial regressed to Tier-4, his Soul was still that of a Tier-7 life form. Because of that, Jay couldn''t see through his thoughts with his current Stage-3 . Still, from the initial confusion on Frial''s face, Jay was able to see that the other party''s prying act was not to offend him but to find how strong he was. Jay still walked away in between the conversation despite being aware of that. Not because he was too aggrieved by Friel''s actions but because he didn''t intend to take up the offer and join the Red Elven Empire or any Hegemony for that matter. Soon after Jay left, the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen caught up to him. They took note of the irritation Jay disyed at the end of their conversation with Frial. So, none of them said anything and quietly followed behind him and moved towards the Colosseum''s east exit. They wanted to ask what happened back there but didn''t voice it out, fearing that Jay was not in a good mood at that moment. Henry, Kasim and a few others signalled Dante with their eyes to talk with Jay since he was the most familiar with Jay out of them all. Dante gave into others'' signals and stepped closer to Jay. However, all that didn''t go unnoticed from Jay, who could read their thoughts. Before Dante could say anything, Jay said without turning his head, "We will talk about this after we are at our assigned Rest House." Once they exited the East entrance, what weed them was bustling streets that weaved deep into the floating ind. There were numerous groups of Alpha Chosen walking up and down the streets. In the Trial Region Tournament section of their respective , it was shown that the ''Rest House 001'' was assigned for Earth''s trial zone team. Before long, the 11 Earth''s Alpha Chosen found their way to their allotted Rest House, a three-storey building, with each storey asrge as a basketball court. Despite theck of any luxuries in there, a soothing sensation hit them all upon entering that building. Jay then called out to Baby MJ, "Brief them on the information pertaining to the Exchange Market." "Yes, Master." Baby MJ then began to exin in great detail as the others listened attentively. Meanwhile, Jay ignored them and opened the Exchange Market section in his . A separate notification window popped up, which had several tabs on ____________ [Exchange Market] Spirit Item Categories: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Search Bar.....(Input the search requirements to narrow down the search results.) ____________ The Exchange Market, in short, wasn''t a shop where one could buy any stuff. Instead, as the name suggests, it was just a means that allows the Alpha Chosen in a Trial Region to register any Spirit Item and exchange it with something equally valuable or using Spirit Crystals. However, it was only avable during the Tournament period. Jay didn''t go through anything else before selecting the ''Spiritual Fruits'' category and searched for an Arch Spirit Fruit. Not finding it didn''t disappoint Jay since he already knew the chances of someone registering a Grade-4 Spirit Fruit in the Exchange Market were pretty low. It was expected since it was just 10 days into the Trial Program, and even if someone were lucky enough toe across a Grade-4 Spirit Fruit, getting their hands on it would be an entirely different matter with a powerful monster guarding it. Besides that, if someone was lucky enough to obtain it, who in the right mind would be willing to trade such a life-saving treasure. Still, Jay didn''t give up on the possibility, despite the minimal chance of sess. Be that as it may, Jay didn''t solely rely on finding it in the Exchange Market. As a matter of fact, he was 99% sure Frial has an Arch Spirit Fruit in their possession. For a Prince of a SuperCluster Level Hegemony, a Grade-4 Spirit Fruit was a rtivelymonmodity. It wouldn''t be surprising even if someone of such high status casually eats them to satiate hunger. For two reasons, Jay didn''t outright ask Frial what he wanted. Firstly, Jay didn''t want to appear desperate. Because if he were to do that, Frial could take advantage of that to strike a deal or contract to work for his Empire. Despite Frial''s friendly appearance and warm words, Jay didn''t trust him one bit. It was not that Jay believed Frial to be plotting against them but hisck of trust for others. That even includes the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Jay didn''tpletely trust any of them. The only reason he kept them next to him was that they couldn''t kill him even if they went all out on him. Moreover, Jay could see through their thoughts and thwart their ploys before they could even make a move on him. Since Jay couldn''t see through Frial''s thoughts and wasn''t sure if all he said was true, he didn''t believe Frial''s proposal offer. Secondly, after learning that Frial could use a Grade-7 Skill, Jay wasn''t sure if he could win a fight against Frial on the off chance the other party decided not to hand him the one thing he desperately needed. Otherwise, Jay would have intimidated Frial back then. Although Jay didn''t keenly believe it would escte to such a situation over a Grade-4 Spirit Fruit, he ced it as an option in the back of his head. If that were to happen, Jay wouldn''t mind using hisst use of mode against Frial. After not finding what he wanted in the ''Spiritual Fruits'' category, Jay visited the remaining five categories to see if there was anything that could catch his eyes in there. When entering the search specifications, he excluded Common and Umon grade ones to avoid going through a load of information tabs. That narrowed down to just a little more than 50 Spirit Items, including all six categories in it. The Rare grade Spirit Weapons, Spirit Armours, and Spirit essoriesbined didn''t exceed more than 20. The remaining were all from ''Spirit Objects'' and ''Spirit Devices''. Spirit Items like ''Monster Camouge Grail''e under the former category. Whereas thetter were technologically advanced devices that were created using Spirit Energy Engineering. After going through them all, the only thing that caught Jay''s attention was a particr Spirit Device. _______________ (Rare Grade) A stationary teleportation device that could create a short-range space gateway with another device of its kind. (Uses Spirit Crystals as a power source.) (Detailed Information on this Spirit Device and its Instation Guide will be provided only to those whoplete the Exchange trade.) Exchange Condition: 1 Grade-3 Vitality Fruit. _______________ Jay didn''t expect to find a teleportation device so early in the Trial Program. Since the System doesn''t give out Spirit Devices among the rewards, it only meant that someone created it. When Jay asked MJ if he could create teleportation devices a few days back, he learned that even MJ, who was proficient at Stage-4 Spirit Energy Engineering, couldn''t make that. That alone showed the difficulty behind creating such a Spirit device. But looking at the ''Space tform''s information tab in front of him, it was clear as a day to Jay that an Alpha Chosen from their Trial Region made it and registered it in the Exchange Market. Jay didn''t wait any longer than a second before taking out a Grade-3 Vitality Fruit from his ring''s storage space to use in the Exchange. But just as he was about toplete his transaction, the information tab of disappeared, meaning that someone else brought it before him. With it slipping right past his grasp, Jay couldn''t help but click his tongue in frustration. Since he knew how significant the role of teleportation devices could y in theter stages of the Trial Program, Jay didn''t give up on it. Jay guessed it would mostly mean one of two things based on the Exchange Condition set for the . Either that unknown Alpha Chosen had many more of those teleportation devices to spare, or the situation was quite the opposite, and the other party was in desperate need of Grade-3 Vitality Fruits. Jay inclined towards the second scenario, considering the effort and materials needed to create a teleportation device. He then called for Baby MJ, who just finished briefing the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, "MJ, use your Tier-4 System ess to find who registered that teleportation device." "Yes, Master." This time, Jay''s goal was not just the but also the one who created it. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 142 - Halbor "Found it, Master. The one who registered was an Alpha Chosen from Falud Trial Zone Team, the one that was ranked 100th in Round-1." After hearing MJ''s intel, Jay instructed MJ to navigate him to that Trial Zone Team''s Rest House. He then called out to Min-soo, who was excitedly watching the less valuable Spirit Items he registered into one by one vanish into thin air. "If you are trying to understand the space elemental configuration behind the disappearance of those Spirit Items in your hand, then don''t bother trying. You need to have at least Stage-7 to do that." Min-soo let out a dryugh after finding it was impossible to see through the inner workings of the Space Law used in with just his Stage-3 Mastery. Jay paused for a second before asking him, "Weren''t you working on creating Warp Technology? How is your progress?" Ever since Jay saved Min-soo from certain death, he has admired Jay from the bottom of his heart. Min-soo didn''t know why Jay asked him about that but before replying, he looked at Bandon for affirmation. After all, the funding for his research was provided by the USA Government. When Jay asked Min-soo if he was working on Warp Technology, Brandon right away understood that he was testing Min-soo. For Brandon, it wasn''t hard to guess that since he was aware that Jay had MJ maintain surveince over all of them. Brandon suspected that it was most likely that Jay already knew the fruits of Warp Technology research, and if Min-soo doesn''t reveal or lie about his research progress, Jay might not bother assisting them or keeping them out of the loop in the important intel that only Jay knows of. So, he nodded at Min-soo, giving his permission. With that, Min-soo answered Jay. "Yes, Mr Jay. I indeed am working on that. Matter of fact, due to myprehension of the space element, I recently made a crucial breakthrough in my research on Warp Technology. But the only limiting factor that''s preventing my research from itspletion were the materials that werepatible with the space element." Seeing Min-soo being open about the results of his research without hiding anything, Jay decided to give him an opportunity. "Follow me. I will take you to someone who could help you with that." Min-soo''s eyes lit up at those words, and nodded vigorously before following behind Jay as he exited the ''Rest House 001''. As for Olivia, she caught onto the conversation between Jay and Min-soo about Warp Technology. It was understandable why Brandon chose to keep that research a secret from her. After all, they were basically separate groups even if they were all from the Earth. She knew that only because of Jay did their two groups unite and work well together without even a minor conflict. Nheless, Olivia was d that Jay was not someone who was power-hungry to cruelly subdue and control them against their will even when he had the power to do so. Among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, she knew the best about how terrifying Jay''s power was. Just the fact that Jay could create an armyprising 10 Omega-Chosen, 100 Grade-9 and 1000 Grade-8 Innate Talent users makes him a force to be reckoned with. With a sigh, Olivia returned to shuffling through the Spirit Items in to see if there were any useful ones to her. Meanwhile, Jay and Min-soo were on their way to the ''Rest House 100'', which was allotted for the Falud Trial Zone Team. Before long, they both reached their destination, where there was amotion taking ce out in the open with a crowd of Alpha Chosen spectating it. Jay and Min-soo passed through the crowd that blocked their view to find what was happening there. "Please, I beg you, give me the promised Grade-3 Vitality Fruit. Didn''t I already hand over the only pair of teleportation devices I created?" A 3-meters tall Rock giant pleaded as he knelt before a group of 5 Alpha Chosen that looked like Werewolves of Earth''s folklore. It wouldn''t be apt to call him a Rock Giant since his body wasn''t entirelyposed of rocks but only the outer shell of the body, more like an exoskeleton that covers the whole body. Through the gaps of that rock exoskeleton that highlighted his bulky physique, a mix of red and orange glow could be seen past his thickyer of transparent skin. That glow was from the magma-like vtile fluid in his body, which was like blood to the human body. Other than his size and bodyposition, his overall features were rather simr to that of a human. Jay used the Rare Grade skill , which recently upgraded from the Umon Grade skill . [Lv.26 Rock Magmoid (Tier-3): Halbor] As for the five Werewolves that had arrogance written all over their faces, they were 2 meters tall with lean muscr builds, grey fur and ragged clothes. [Lv.29 Lycanthrope (Tier-3): Raul] [Lv.27 Lycanthrope (Tier-3): Remus] [Lv.26 Lycanthrope (Tier-3): Rodyn] [Lv.23 Lycanthrope (Tier-2): Reinald] [Lv.23 Lycanthrope (Tier-2): Roth] {For a better picturisation of Halbor and appearances of the Werewolves, I would suggest you guys open this paragraph''sment section to find the pictures provided before continuing from where you left it off.} Raul, the Lycanthrope that stood in the lead, smirked at Halbor''s desperation and took out a dry skin scroll in one hand and the Grade-3 Vitality Fruit in another hand. "Of course, I won''t be going back on my promise, but I am making a slight change to it. You can have this Vitality Fruit as long as you sign this contract." That Lycanthrope then threw the contract scroll in front of the kneeling Halbor. He picked up the scroll and went through the contents of the contract before fuming in anger, "This¡­..This is basically a ve contract!!!" "You can choose not to sign the contract if you are confident in finding another Grade-3 Vitality Fruit by the end of the day. But now that you don''t have those teleportation devices with you, I highly doubt anyone would trade such a valuable Fruit with you." Remus, the other Tier-3 Lycanthrope in that group, snickered. Halbor''s anger soon turned into despair after hearing that. He thought of fighting back, but against three Tier-3 opponents, he had no chance. Although Halbor himself was a Tier-3 individual, his Innate Talent was not suitable forbat. If he relies on the Spirit Equipment that he crafted for himself, he could put up a fight, but his body condition was unstable at that moment. Because of that, Halbor knew that fighting them was out of option for him. Moreover, the ones who he was facing were of the Trial Zone Team that was ranked 7th in Round-1. Whereas his own Trial Zone Team was at 100th position and none of his''s fellow Alpha Chosen were even at Tier-3. At that point, he felt like he had no choice but toply with them. He reluctantly picked up the feather quill that was attached on top of the sheepskin scroll to sign the contract. Meanwhile, Jay was watching all that from the sidelines. A few seconds into their conversation alone gave a rough understanding of the situation. One thing was clear to Jay. It was that the Alpha Chosen he was looking for was the rock-like giant, Halbor. Jay didn''t give another look at the Lycanthropes and instead focussed on the contract scroll. Coming across it in the Trial Program came as quite a surprise to him. Because contract scrolls could only be brought from the System''s Achievement Point Store, which will be avable after the end of a Trial Program. Jay didn''t know how the Lycanthropes got their hands on a contract scroll but was interested to find out. He didn''t focus on that matter anymore and turned his attention to Halbor. Unlike the previous time that Jay used to see an overview of the Level and Species name of Halbor, this time he used it to find more detailed information about him. __________ [STATUS] Name -Halbor Age - 190 Race - Greater Rock Magmoid Life Energy - 34,285/35,100 Level - 26 (Tier-3, Low-Phase) Estimated Level - 33 (Tier-3, Low-Phase) Strength - 122 Agility - 98 Vitality - 100 Endurance - 103 Spirit - 140 Luck - 28 Health - 280/1000 (Affected by Frost Permeation: Loses 10 Health every hour. Failing to detoxify frost will eventually lead to Death.) Stamina - 500/515 Spirit Energy - 670/700 Undistributed Stats - 0 INNATE TALENT: (Grade-8 Variant Category) INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILLS - , , ~ [ACHIEVEMENT TITLES] ~ [SKILLS] ~ [RESISTANCES] ~ [SPIRIT ITEMS] ~ [MASTERY] __________ With being a Grade-3 skill, a grade higher than the information-type skill Halbor possessed, Jay was able topletely see through the other party''s . After going through that, it became clear to Jay why Halbor was desperate for a Grade-3 Vitality Fruit. MJ chimed in Jay''s mind, "Master, his body seems to function purely on a Fire elemental source, but there are concentrated amounts of ice element contaminating his body, acting as a poison. The detoxifying properties of Grade-3 Vitality Fruit could help recover from Frost Permeation, but Halbor''s condition right now has deteriorated to a point he needs at least 10 Grade-3 Vitality Fruits. At the current rate, he only has 28 hours left." With the resources in Jay''s possession, even disposing of 10 Grade-3 Vitality Fruits was a small matter to him, much less using them to save someone who could create Teleportation devices at just Tier-3. Jay then strolled towards Harold, who was about to sign the contract. The crowd''s attention then shifted to him and their noise buzzed upon watching someone daring enough to intervene. Not just the crowd but the Lycanthropes also noticed Jay''s actions. Raul, the strongest one among them, barked at Jay who was halfway through reaching Halbor. "You there, if you take one more step forward, you will be making the Ragath Trial Zone Team as your enemy. Step ahead if you have the guts to cross swords with us." Watching Jay halt in his tracks after that warning, Raul scoffed at him, "Hmph, That''s what I thoug....Hiik" But before that Lycanthrope could finish the sentence, he barely heard the words ''Isted Suction'' and his body was forcibly pulled towards Jay by an invisible force. In the next moment, the crowd let out a series of gasps as they looked at Raul, a powerful Tier-3 individual being grabbed by his neck and suffocating under the palm grab of a random Alpha Chosen. Jay then nonchntly turned his head to the left and said to the whimpering Lycanthrope, "I didn''t catch you the first time, you were saying?" ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 143 - Contract Scrolls For a moment, everyone there paused as if time had frozen. That included the other four Lycanthropes as well. They didn''t expect the other party would dare to make a move against them even after being aware of making the 7th ranked Trial Zone Team as their enemy. What stunned the other Lycanthropes the most was how the strongest one among them, Raul, was incapacitated with a simple palm choke. They soon got out of the daze and rushed to free their fellow team member from Jay''s grasp. They didn''tunch any ranged attacks fearing those wouldnd on Raul, and instead closed in on Jay to attack him in close quarters. As for Jay, he didn''t move an inch from the spot. Although Raul''s body was obstructing Jay''s line of vision, he could clearly sense every movement of those Lycanthropes through the Rare Grade skill, . Rather than preparing himself to face them head-on, Jay adjusted the fingers of his left palm that held on to Raul''s neck in such a way that every finger except his thumb pointed at the iing Lycanthropes. When they saw dark-violet mes that were concentrated to the size of a small marble ball appear on four of Jay''s fingers that were pointed at them, they sensed danger and tried to dodge. But before they could do that, those concentrated violet me marbles hit them like bullets, justifying the name of the self-created skill that Jay used, . The two Tier-3 ones among them had a small chunk of either of their arms missing due to the explosive impact of the Thunder me bullets. As for the remaining two Tier-2 Lycanthropes, they were far worse since one had its right arm sted apart and the other had its left kneecap shattered, and the lower half of the left leg got separated from its body. Jay intentionally didn''t aim for their head or heart so that they didn''t die. He already sensed Frial hovering behind the clouds, 500 meters above their position, and observed the whole thing from there. Jay didn''t kill the Lycanthropes not because he was afraid of dealing with Frial but due to the Tournament''s Rule not to kill fellow Alpha Chosen. If Jay kills any of them, he will be automatically disqualified from participating in the Tournament without Frial having to do anything. Actually, Jay has a way not to be disqualified even after killing another Alpha Chosen, but that needs his to be at least at Stage-5 so that he could alter the Rules set by the System for the Tournament. But his was only at the peak of Stage-3 and reached a bottleneck due to the 1st Universe Limit. With no other way around the situation, Jay didn''t kill and only warned them, "For every step any of you make, you will be losing a chunk of your body. By the time any of you could reach me, you would still be alive but will be something that doesn''t have arms and legs. Step ahead with that in mind." Despite their bodies shaking fervently from the pain inflicted on them, Jay''s words sent shivers down their spine and trembled further with fear. Those Lycanthropes didn''t doubt his words in the least and stayed put in their spots, barely suppressing their groans while applying pressure on their injuries. As for the barely conscious Raul, whose body turned limp from the palm choke, looked at Jay with terror, "J..Just¡­whuu¡­..arrr¡­..you?" Jay''s irises turned golden while replying, "Someone you couldn''t afford to provoke." Jay used the ability of to dive deep into Raul''s memories in order to learn how they obtained a Contract Scroll. In just a matter of seconds, Jay went through all of Raul''s important memories. Through those memories, he learned Raul was only the second most powerful one among their Trial Zone Team and their Team leader; Rex was the strongest one out of them all. That didn''te as a surprise to Jay since he remembered watching an Alpha Chosen with the appearance of a Lycanthrope that stood out in the 6th Batch. Although Rex couldn''t clear the 9th difficulty level, he still managed to hold his ground for some time against a Peak Tier-3 Monster. His performance in Round-1 was by no means inferior to Sergei and Brandon. In fact, he was ranked 192nd in the , just two spots below Sergei''s rank and a spot above Brandon''s rank. In Raul''s memories, Rex was painted as quite a cruel individual. That impression was justifiable since Rex killed three of his own''s Alpha Chosen for not being willing to obey him. But to Jay, it seemed like a foolish move on Rex''s part because that left their Trial Zone Team with just eight members. With Rex at Tier-3 Mid-Phase, three others at Tier-3 Low-Phase and the rest of them at Tier-2 High-Phase, they scored around 17,000 Points. If the rest of their''s Alpha Chosen were alive, their Trial Zone team would have been at a higher position in the Round-1 rankings and would have received corresponding rewardster on. Yes, Rewards will be given to each Trial Zone team corresponding to the System''s Evaluation on each Trial Zone Team at the end of all three rounds of the Tournament. Jay''s aim behind trying to achieve the highest possible Evaluation Scores in each Round was rted to the Achievement Titles among those ample Rewards that would be pretty useful in theter stages of the Trial Program. Within Raul''s memories, Jay found that Rex was the one who gave them the contract scrolls and actually had a bunch of those in his possession. But there was nothing about how Rex got his hands on them. It seemed Rex kept a tight lid on his source of Contract Scrolls, so much so that other than himself, no one else in his team knew about it. The only thing Rex revealed to his fellow Trial Zone team members was his ambition to gain control over as many Trial Zone Teams as possible using the contract scrolls. Before Raul and four others approached Halbor, they had already grasped control over five Trial Zone Teams. Among those, three teams agreed upon the contract conditions despite having to unconditionally follow Rex''s orders and offer half of any resources they find in exchange for protection from the Ragath Trial Zone Team. As for the other two trial zone teams that disagreed to sign the contract, they were forced into submission. Jay didn''t find that as injustice since he was well aware of how the power structure of the Universe works. Only the strong have the right to make rules, and the weak could only bow their heads. After going through Raul''s memories, Jay loosened his grip and dropped the barely conscious Lycanthrope to the ground. While lying on the ground, Raul inhaledrge gulps of air after almost dying from suffocation. He then stammered upon standing up, and two other Tier-3 Lycanthropes quickly supported Raul from both sides. The terror in Raul''s eyes didn''t diminish but instead grew as he continued to look at Jay. Whether it be the raw strength or the Thunder me Jay used, it became clear to Raul that even their team leader, Rex, couldn''t hold a candle against the terrifying individual in front of him. At that moment, Raul knew that the only reason he was still alive was because of the Tournament Rules that prohibit Alpha Chosen from killing each other. Raul then noticed Jay''s gaze fall on the space ring on his right hand and immediately realised what the other party was aiming for in the first ce. Raul then brought out the pair of teleportation devices and two Tier-3 Vitality Fruits from his space ring and offered them to Jay, "Oh Mighty Warrior, Please ept these aspensation for our rude actions." Jay raised his eyebrows, "Those teleportation devices were not yours to offer and as for the Tier-3 Vitality Fruits, I will be taking them along with your ring as my spoils even if you haven''t offered them to me. Hand me your space ring and you all can leave." Raul''s eyes twitched hearing that. He didn''t worry much about losing the Spirit Items in his space ring or even the Tier-3 Spiritual Fruits, but the contract scrolls given to him by Rex. He would be in huge troubleter when Rex finds out about it if he loses the contract scrolls. Raul really hoped Jay would ept them and leave them alone but then understood that was just his wishful thinking. Looking at the hesitation on Raul''s face, Jay added with a straight face, "If you break the bond yourself, it will be just the space ring, but if I have to do it, that will be along with your arm. Although the tournament rules mentioned not to kill each other, there wasn''t any restriction on ripping off an arm or two." Raul couldn''t help but gulp as he didn''t doubt Jay''s words at all. Soon after handing over the space ring to Jay, the Lycanthropes hurriedly left the scene, fearing Jay would change his mind. Jay didn''t bother with the Lycanthropes and ced that space ring in his overcoat pocket. Anyway, he wouldter go to meet their team leader, Rex, to find out about their contract scrolls'' source. So, he pushed those thoughts aside and walked to Halbor, who was staring wide-eyed at Jay. ------------- Note: The ''1st FIFTEEN PEOPLE'' toment for every new chapter release will get ''1 ADVANCED CHAPTER'' for free in Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord server. In the discord server, I opened private channels for those Top 15 candidates, where I post the respective Advanced Chapter. Also, you could find the link for Advanced Chapters in the Earth Alpha Prime''s Discord Server. (within the ''ADVANCED CHAPTERS!'' Category.) ------------- Discord Link for ''Earth''s Alpha Prime'' : https://discord.gg/maQC7xDBYZ ------------- Chapter 144: Recovering Halbor’s condition. After that one-sided fight, one among the crowd seemed to remember something before crying out to others around him in shock, "Wait, don''t you guys think the appearance characteristics of that Alpha Chosen look simr to those of the Earth Trial Zone Team. Another one among the crowd reacted, "You mean the Trial Zone Team that was ranked at the very top of Round-1? Now that I think about it, this individual indeed looks simr to them." From there, the discussions spread like wildfire until the topic of Earth''s Trial Zone Team became the centre of attention to everyone in the crowd. Min-soo put on his hoodie to avoid bringing attention to himself. The one that stood to his right with blue skin and deer-like antlers on her head asked Min-soo as she amazedly stared at the scene of Jay single-handedly defeating the Lycanthropes, "Oh my, is everyone else in the Earth Trial Zone Team as monstrously strong as this guy?" Min-soo rolled his eyes and thought to himself, ''Trust me, Lady, what you see now was him taking it easy on them.'' Following that thought, an associated memory surfaced in Min-soo''s mind, where Jay single-handedly overwhelmed the Storm Eagle after turning into a titan. Just like every time, he experienced goosebumps upon recollecting that scene. While Min-soo was shaking his head at their ignorance, the Snakehead humanoid standing on his left answered the blue-skinned female Alpha Chosen, "Isn''t that obvious? Didn''t you see that Team''s evaluation score? It was more than three times higher than the 2nd highest score of Round-1." That female Alpha Chosen widened her eyes, "Really?! It was that high?! I was busybing through the final notification board to see if my own Trial Zone Team made it in the Top-100 and didn''t pay attention to the top scores." The Snakehead Alpha Chosen asked her, "Oh? So your Team made it into the Top-100?" "We did, but barely squeezed ourselves into the Top-100, ranking at 99th position. If our evaluation score were even short by ten points, we wouldn''t have qualified for Round-2." The Snakehead Alpha Chosen nodded in understanding since his Team was ranked 97th in Round-1, "Yeah, tell me about it." After those two shared their borderline disqualification from Round-1, they turned their attention to Min-soo, who stayed silent with a hood covering his head. The female Alpha Chosen asked Min-soo about his Trial Zone Team out of curiosity. Choosing not to stand out, Min-soo answered with a dry cough, "Ahem¡­..my own team''s situation was more or less the same." The other two nodded their heads gently upon finding another Alpha Chosen in a simr situation as them. Meanwhile, at the centre of the crowd, Halbor looked at Jay with astonishment since he didn''t take more than a minute to resolve what he deemed as a dire situation. The seemingly powerful Lycanthropes had to run away with their tails tucked between their legs, fearing the unknown Alpha Chosen that saved him. Although Halbor was relieved for not being enved by a strange contract, he still feared if Jay had the same intentions as the Lycanthropes. His thoughts didn''t go unnoticed under Jay''s , and he could only sigh at Halbor''s anxiety. Jay didn''t n to treat Halbor the same as the Lycanthropes and just wanted to recruit him. Throwing a calm gaze at Halbor, Jay''s irises emanated a golden glint as he activated and mentallymunicated with him, "I have a way to resolve the Frost Permeation. Of course, that won''t be free of charge. In exchange for saving your life, I want you to work for me to create more teleportation devices. You don''t have to worry; I won''t make you do something against your will. Trust me. It is way easier for me to control you rather than to strike a deal with you." Halbor was agitated when he heard Jay''s voice in his mind and doubted that the other party could read his mind. At the same time, hearing that he could be saved from imminent death, Halbor couldn''t help but feel excited, especially when those words came from such a powerful individual as Jay. Halbor didn''t doubt Jay since he could feel an undeniably strong mental power grasping down his consciousness and that the other party most probably needed just a single thought to dictate his life and death. After a moment of silence, Halbor epted the deal as he could not think of a better scenario he could find himself in. Although Jay expected Halbor''s decision, he still nodded in satisfaction before announcing aloud to the onlookers while pointing at Halbor, "From this moment onwards, he is under Earth Trial Zone''s protection. Anyone that goes after him will be facing us, and when we are done with the troublemakers, the oue won''t be as pleasant as it was with those Lycanthropes." The crowd surrounding them thought back to a few minutes when the group of Lycanthropes had parts of their bodies missing and felt shivers when Jay described that as ''pleasant''. Soon after, under everyone''s watchful eyes, Jay took out 10 Golden Fruits before passing them to Halbor and signalled to him to eat them all. However, Halbor was stuck in a daze from having his sights on so many Grade-3 Vitality Fruits at once. After all, he was willing to exchange his most priced possessions, the teleportation devices, in exchange for a single Grade-3 Vitality Fruit, and when Jay took 10 of them out without even batting an eye, it made Halbor look at Jay in a new light. Even the noisy crowd dropped dead silent from that sight. They could only reluctantly watch as Halbor began to pop each Grade-3 Vitality Fruit into his mouth like candies. In front of Halbor''s giant stature, those Fruits were at the size of golf balls in his hands. No one in the crowd dared to snatch the Grade-3 Vitality Fruits from Halbor with Jay watching over him. Before long, Halbor ate all ten fruits, and Jay had to add in three more of them in order for Halbor to recover from Frost Permeation thoroughly. Those 13 Grade-3 Vitality Fruits didn''t amount to much for Jay but for Halbor, that many were not something he could gather in the next 28 hours, regardless of whatever he does out of desperation. Halbor knew that he probably would have died the next day if not for Jay. Because of that, he was determined to work hard under Jay and give his best in making as many teleportation devices as possible. Jay sensed the other party''s unbridled admiration that didn''t even contain a hint of malice, leaving a positive impression on Halbor. "Let''s head in; I want to know more about the ''Space tforms'' and the raw materials you need to make more of them." Halbor broke out of his stupor and nodded heavily before inviting Jay into his trial zone team''s Rest House. Jay then turned around to look at Min-soo and signalled to follow behind him with his palm. The ones that reacted the most were the blue-skinned female Alpha Chosen standing to the left of Min-soo. She shyly twirled her fingers, "Oh my, is he calling for me? Does he find me attractive and is inviting me over to be his life partner?" Min-soo''s mouth twitched at her farfetched assumption. After all, he was well aware that Jay''s signal was meant for him. Unlike the female Alpha Chosen, the Snakehead Alpha Chosen on Min-soo''s right was smart enough to guess whom Jay was pointing at. He then widened his snake eyes and asked Min-soo, "No way! are you from that Trial Zone?!" Since his cover was blown, Min-soo didn''t hide his face anymore and pulled down his hoodie before rubbing his nose embarrassedly. He quickly paced himself towards Jay and soon entered Halbor''s Rest House, leaving behind the stunned female Alpha Chosen and the Snakehead Alpha Chosen. It wasn''t just them but the others in the crowd as well. After all, no one knew that there was another Earth''s Alpha Chosen standing among them. Chapter 145: Black Sheep Upon entering ''Rest House 100'', Jay''s eyesnded on seven others that looked almost simr to Halbor. As soon as they saw Halbor, they gathered around him and ushered him with a series of questions regarding what had transpired with the Lycanthropes. With the Rest House being apletely closed space, those seven Rock Magmoids weren''t aware of everything that happened outside. Other than acting as recuperation areas for the Alpha Chosen, the ''Rest Houses'' has a pretty useful function that restricts anyone else''s entry other than the allotted Trial Zone Team members. The only possible ways to enter any Rest House were if they were assigned to it or through the permission of the highest levelled individual among the allotted Trial Zone Team members of that respective Rest House. That was also why the Lycanthropes could only causemotion outside Halbor''s Rest House instead of intruding into it. When Halbor realised that the Lycanthropes were up to no good, he discreetlymunicated with his fellow Alpha Chosen and asked them not to leave the Rest House, lest he implicates them and endangers their lives. Halbor could have hidden inside their Rest House to avoid trouble, but with just 28 hours to live, he had to try his best to gather Grade-3 Vitality Fruits. Because of that, he had no choice but toe out and interact with the Lycanthropes, who had something he desperately needed. Fortunately for Halbor, everything went way better than he expected. Under his fellow team members'' queries, Halbor briefed them on everything that happened outside. In the beginning, they all had worried expressions on their faces from hearing that their leader was almost forced to sign a ve contract. Later on, their worries were reced with utter shock as Halbor''s briefing continued. Once in a while, the Rock Magmoids would sneak nces at Jay, wondering if he was as strong as Halbor described. Sensing the reverence in Halbor''s tone, none of them doubted their leader''s words. Soon, Halbor introduced each of his team members to Jay and insisted them on bowing as a show of respect. They hesitated but still went ahead ording to Halbor''s instruction. All except one, the other six bowed to Jay. Halbor could only sigh at Holt''s stubbornness, who was the second strongest in their trial zone team. He wished Jay wouldn''t take offence to Holt''s actions, but that was his wishful thinking since Jay shot out four Thunder me bullets that sted apart Holt''s arms and legs into smithereens in the blink of an eye. The other six Rock Magmoids were terrified by Jay''s actions. Hearing his shrieks of pain, they couldn''t help but shiver upon looking at Jay and didn''t dare to make eye contact with him. Although they have heard from Halbor that Jay defeated the Lycanthropes, that didn''t bring much of an impact on them but watching Jay single-handedly incapacitate the second strongest member in their trail zone team left them speechless. Contrary to the others, Halbor wasn''t shocked by Jay''s strength but by his ruthlessness. Halbor began to fret if he really made a wise choice by following Jay. After all, mutting others'' bodies just because they didn''t show respect was a sign of ruthless dictatorship. Even Min-soo was taken aback by Jay''s sudden attack. From what he knew, Jay wasn''t someone who would do something like that without a valid reason. He waited longer to see for himself before making any wrong assumptions. Then, Jay used to telekically lift what was left of Holt and brought him closer under the apprehensive gazes of Rock Magmoids. The previous confidence and stubbornness were nowhere to be found on Holt''s face. Instead, it was smeared all over with utter fear. Jay raised his brows and looked down at Holt with disdain, "You see, I despise backstabbers the most. Whenever I encounter one, I uproot them even if I have to go out of my way to do it. Now tell me, do you still think I did this just because you didn''t bow to me?" Holt right away understood what Jay was talking about, and his pupils shrunk as terror crept onto his face. Jay then side nced at Halbor and asked casually, "Have you ever wondered how the Lycanthropes get to know that it was you who ced ''Space tform'' on the ?" Hearing that, realization dawned upon Halbor. After all, any personal information of the Alpha Chosen wasn''t revealed while showcasing the Spirit Items ced in the . However, Jay was an exception since he could have MJ ess information directly from the System itself as long as it was within his Grade-4 System ess level. Since Halbor wasn''t aware of that, the only possibility that came to his mind was that someone among his team members must have leaked information about his possessing a teleportation device. Before Halbor could specte, he saw a floating baby appear beside Jay and projected a screen that disyed a series of memories. By the time the projection of those memories came to an end, Halbor and the other Rock Magmoids widened their eyes in disbelief because those were the memories of Holt. They didn''t know how Jay did that but watching those memories was an eye-opener for them since it revealed Holt''s true colours. The first one-third part of those memoriesprised of Holt''s extreme jealousy of Halbor, and he wished nothing more than to defeat Halbor and be the strongest among their Trial Zone Team. But Halbor reached Tier-3, leaving a wide power gap between them, which budded Holt''s jealousy into hatred. The two-third part of those memories was about Holt scheming against Halbor, either to dethrone him or kill him in the process. Although most of Holt''s schemes didn''t go as he nned, one worked out in Holt''s favour. It was Holt, who lured a pair of Tier-3 Low-Phase snow monsters, the same monsters that inflicted ''Frost Permeation'' upon Halbor. Although Halbor and the other Rock Magmoids managed to defeat them in the end, that came with a cost. After all, Two Rock Magmoids died in the process, and Halbor was inflicted with the condition that would eventually lead him to death in just a matter of days. Actually, the condition that the snow monsters inflicted upon Halbor should have been ''Snow Permeation'', but Holt secretly used his second Innate Talent Grade-4 on Halbor. Aside from Holt himself, no one else knew about his other Innate Talent aside from the Grade-6 . Although Holt''s Variant Category Innate Talent was just at Grade-4, its lethality was not something that could be looked down upon. After all, using that, Holt upgraded the not so dangerous ''Snow Permeation'' debuff into the deadly ''Frost Permeation''. In the final one-third portion of those memories, Holt instigated Halbor to use the teleportation devices to exchange for Grade-3 Vitality Fruit despite knowing that just one or two won''t be enough to recover from ''Frost Permeation''. He then reached out to the Lycanthropes, who became the talk of the area since they began to take control over other Trial Zone Teams domineeringly. With the description of on the as the evidence, Holt sold out intel on Halbor to Lycanthropes. With that, Halbor looked like a golden goose to the Lycanthropes, and they wanted to enve Halbor using a Contract Scroll. That was also what Holt hoped for since he could use that situation to his advantage and take control over their Trial Zone Team while Halbor would work as a ve for Lycanthropes. But what Holt didn''t ount for was Jay stepping in and resolving such a problematic situation in a matter of minutes. On top of that, Jay even revealed all his schemes to everyone in a way that Holt was left with no way to raise an argument to defend himself. Chapter 146 It took a good while for the Rock Magmoids to digest the new revtion and the shock that came with it. The information they learned in the past quarter-hour was against everything they thought they knew about Holt. Never did they expect Holt to stoop too low just to rece Halbor and be the highest-ranked individual among his trial zone team members. Soon, their expressions changed to obvious anger and resentment, but none of them took action to beat Holt up, who was defenceless with no arms and legs. Among them, Halbor was the one who suffered the most emotional toll. After all, he treated Holt as his own brother. Never in his wildest dreams did Halbor expect Holt to harbor such hatred towards him. Although he didn''t say even a word, the pain in his eyes was clear to everyone in that room. It took a while for Halbor to regain hisposure from the emotional turmoil. He then took a deep breath before saying to the Rock Magmoids, "Being the strongest one in our trial zone team doesn''t mean I could hold power over you all. Instead, I bear the responsibility to bring our team and our to the greatest possible heights in the Alpha Program, within our capabilities." Halbor made a short pause as he looked at Holt and continued after a sigh, "But one of us interpreted my intentions as control of power and schemed behind my back. With a taste of power, it wouldn''t be long before some of you would do the same if the opportunity presents itself. You all might think I am being pessimistic, but truthfully, at this point, I don''t know whom to trust. So, I have made a decision. Once the 1st Tournament ends, I will step down from being the Leader." Halbor''s statement brought a round ofmotion among the rest of the Rock Magmoids. The most loyal ones to Halbor hurriedly requested him to reconsider his decision and continue to lead them. But none of them was able to change Halbor''s mind. Jay nonchntly watched without interfering as all that unfolded in front of him. It didn''t matter to him if Halbor stayed as the Leader of their group or not. All that mattered to him were the teleportation devices. Meanwhile, Min-soo stood by Jay''s side, but his attention was fixated on the storage ring worn on his right hand. It was the same ring Jay extorted from the Lycanthrope, Raul. Since Jay already has as a storage item, he gave Min-soo the newly obtained storage ring. But as a Space Innate Talent user, Min-soo''s insight into the inner workings of a storage ring was rtively high. He was fascinated by how a portion of space was torn from reality and stored in something as small as a ring. Other than that, Min-soo also inspected the pair of teleportation devices stored there through his bond with the space ring. He was impressed by how Halbor spirit engineered the materials used for to bepatible with the Space element. After all, it was the one thing missing in his research on Warp Technology. After inspecting it for a while, Min-soo did as Jay asked him to do and brought out the pair of Space tforms from that Space ring. The appearance of two circr stages with a 3-meter radius each and an iplete arch over their centres caught the attention of the Rock Magmoids. With that, what was left of theirmotion came to an end. {For a better picturisation of , I would suggest you guys scroll down to find the pic link in this chapter''s author note before continuing from where you left off.} At the same time, Jay used the upgraded version of , on those teleportation devices to find detailed information on them. (Rare Grade) A stationary teleportation device that could create a short-range space gateway with another device of its kind. Transmission Range: 100 Kms. (62 Miles) Power Source: Spirit Crystals (Charging it with 5 Grade-1 Spirit Crystal allows a single teleportation jump to any other Space tform within the transmission range.) (Charging it with 5 Grade-2 Spirit Crystal allows 10 teleportation jumps to any other Space tform within the transmission range.) (Charging it with 5 Grade-3 Spirit Crystal allows 100 teleportation jumps to any other Space tform within the transmission range.) (Charging it with 5 Grade-4 Spirit Crystal allows 1000 teleportation jumps to any other Space tform within the transmission range.....and so on.) Installing this device in any location requires 100 Grade-1 Spirit Crystals or 10 Grade-2 Spirit Crystals, or 1 Grade-3 Spirit Crystal. The information Jay could see was much more detailed than what he found on . As someone who has loads and loads of Spirit Crystals in possession, Jay didn''t flinch at the expenditure of using Space tforms. The only problem was the short Transmission Range of 100 Kms. Meaning that if one needs to make a teleportation jump from one Space tform to another, those Space tforms have to be within the transmission range of each other. On the scale of typical short-range teleportation devices that weremonly used across the Universe, the range of ''Space tforms'' was on the lower end of the spectrum. But Jay wasn''t dissatisfied with that because as long as there were more Space tforms, they could be used as awork of teleportation portals. So, he right away said to Halbor, "I will provide you with all the necessary materials you need to mass-produce these Space tforms. How long will it take you to create one hundred of them?" Halbor was taken aback by that since the materials required to create a single were so rare that he only found enough materials to make just two teleportation devices. Reading Halbor''s thoughts, Jay replied, "You don''t have to worry about that. Just give me a number." "Sir, refining the raw materials and using them to create well-proportionedponents is quite a lengthy process and takes three-fourths of the entire process. All around, it would take me a day to create a single Space tform." Jay then looked at MJ, waiting to hear something from him. "Master, as long as I once observe the refining process and the exact proportions used, I can replicate it with utmost precision in the least amount possible." Jay then turned his gaze to Halbor, "You heard MJ. Demonstrate everything he needs, leave the time-consuming part to him, and focus solely on configuring the space element to the teleportation devices. Also, I have brought someone who could assist in the configuration aspect." Min-soo then stepped forward and introduced himself while extending his arm for a handshake, "Nice meeting you, Halbor. As a space innate talent user, I admire your work a lot. With my understanding of the space element, I believe I could help improve the ''s efficiency and learn from you simultaneously. Let us get along well." However, Halbor and the other Rock Magmoids gave him awkward looks. Not for what Min-soo said but for his hand-shaking gesture. On their, Falud, only male or female prostitutes use that gesture when searching for their customers. Jay, who had been through their memories, could read the situation with ease. He could onlyugh inwardly at the awkward situation before walking off from there. They would soon learn that Min-soo was just greeting them, so he didn''t bother to rify it. Leaving MJ and Min-soo there, Jay returned to the Earth Trial zone team''s Rest House. Whilst rxing in their respective rooms on the three floors above themon room on the ground floor, most of Earth''s Alpha Chosen were still busy going through in the hopes of finding anything useful to them. As for Rex, the leader of Lycanthropes, Jay nned to go meet him after Round-2 since he had more important things to do. Jay entered his respective room among one of the four rooms on the 3rd floor and sat cross-legged on the floor before opening his to look at the cooldown on Qew''s third Innate Exclusive skill, . Actually, the cooldown should have 6 hours left in it since it was just 18 hours ago that Jay had used to create a tetra-elemental Innate Talent but strangely, that skill''s cooldown clocks back into action every time it ends, even if it was not activated. At that moment, the cooldown had less than 10 minutes before that skill could be used again. Once the wait was over, Jay activated chose Darkness Innate Talent to merge with Thunder me Innate Talent and watched as the notifications rained in his vision. Chapter 147 [You have sessfully converged Grade-3 and Grade-5 , creating a Grade-5 .] [ enters a 24-hour cooldown until it can be usable again.] [Congrattions! You are the 1st Existence in the Entire Universe tobine five elements into one, creating a Penta-Element, ''Thunder Miasma'', while just being in Tier-2.] [Due to causing a Universe Level Achievement, you will receive a random grade reward that will be most useful to you at the present moment. The Grade of the reward depends on your Luck Attribute.] [Current Universe Points: 10,600.] [You don''t have enough Universe Points to exchange for the weapon you wished for, and till the request proceeds, the Universe Points will be pooled together to satisfy the exchange value for the weapon (Origin ive) you wished.] [Grade-5 (Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning & Darkness) (Elemental Category): Gives Host the ability toprehend the ''Thunder Miasma'' Element without losing the ability to individually manipte Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning and Darkness elements and their respective skills. Increases itsprehension speed by five-fold.] Without even any dy, Jay conjured the ''Penta-Element'' into Existence. Unlike the ''Thunder me'' element, which resembled a burning fire, the ''Thunder Miasma'' looked simr to dark clouds before a thunderstorm. With Jay as the centre, ink-ck fog spread within his room. Within that fog, traces of grey thunder could often be seen crackling to and fro. Whether it was the bed or the furniture, they corroded uponing in contact with ''Thunder Miasma'', leaving behind charred spots in their ce. If Jay hadn''t retracted it right away, even the room walls and floor would have been eroded away. His brief interaction with the new element triggered another set of notifications. [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.1 (Stage-1).] [Lv.1: Lv.1 Thunder Miasma-element training methods will be transmitted into your mind.] [Your Lv.30 ispatible with Lv.15, do you wish to merge them?] As usual, Jay epted it right away. [Lv.30 + Lv.24 = Lv.20] [Congrattions! You have gained Lv.20 (Stage-2)] [Lv.20: Lv.20 Thunder Miasma-element training methods will be transmitted into your mind.] All the relevant knowledge from Lv.1 to Lv.20 flooded into his mind, improving his understanding of the Thunder Miasma with more efficient ways to use it. It took Jay a few minutes to digest loads of information. With the improved knowledge and control, he let out just a wisp of Thunder Miasma and began to study its properties. After some experimentation, it was evident that the Thunder Miasma''s highly corrosive nature is strong enough to erode even the Spirit Items. However, the time it takes to erode varies ording to the grade of the Spirit Items. If it was a Grade-1 Spirit Item, it could be eroded in just a few seconds. A Grade-2 Spirit Item takes around a minute, and for a Grade-3 Spirit Item''s durability to hit zero, it takes a couple of minutes. Still, all that wasn''t even the important part of Jay''s discovery because Thunder Miasma could even erode other Elements and Auras. Whether it be any Weapon Aura or Martial Aura or any Element, as long as they aren''t stronger than Thunder Miasma, they will be eventually eroded upon being in contact with it. Although it sounds pretty powerful, its practical use in abat situation couldn''t meet Jay''s standards since the prerequisite for Thunder Miasma to show its prowess was to be in contact with the target. Moreover, the movement speed of ''Thunder me'' and ''Thunder Miasma'' elements could be corrted to a Rabbit and a Tortoise, respectively. Forget about surprise attacks; with how slow the Thunder Miasma element was, Jay''s opponents could see his attacks from miles away. Although that was quite a setback, Thunder Miasma still had a positive side that makes it quite powerful if used in a certain way. After experimenting for a while, Jay caught on to that point and focused on remedying its weakness. Before long, Jay found a way for that. It was to spread the Thunder Miasma in the space around him, submerge everything in it, and then use the grey thunderbolts within the ink-ck miasma to attack those who stepped within that space. Within the ink-ck miasma, the grey thunderbolts'' attack power and attack speed were twice that of ''Thunder me'' and that too without any extra Spirit Energy consumption to maintain the grey thunderbolts. Jay named that ''Thunder Miasma Field'', and to improve his new move, he wished to practise more, but since the room, Jay was in was a bit small for testing around with his new Innate Talent, he moved downstairs to themon room for more space. The only ones there were Kasim and Henry. The rest of Earth''s Alpha Chosen were in their respective rooms. Jay asked them both to leave themon room for him to test something, and they did as he asked. But they both didn''t leave the ground floor and watched while standing on the stairs connecting to the first floor. Whether it be Henry or Kasim, they both were curious as to what Jay wanted to test. Jay sensed them sneaking but didn''t bother with them and expanded ''Thunder Miasma Field'' to the confines of themon room without touching the room''s floor or walls. As for the furniture caught within the field, they were eroded into dust or charred into ash uponing in contact with some of the thunderbolts that were continuously coursing through the miasma. As the owner of the Penta-Elemental Innate Talent, his own body wasn''t affected by Thunder Miasma''s corrosive properties nor once got hit by the grey thunderbolts within. For the next hour, Jay focussed on improving his control over the grey thunderbolts and using it as a barrage of attacks in any direction or orientation he wished. Once Jay got a hold over it, he moved on to improving the speed at which the Thunder Miasma Field could expand. That continued for another half hour, and the initial spreading speed of 5 meters per second improved to 6 meters per second. Although that wasn''t a considerable improvement, it was still better than nothing. With less than half an hour left before the 1st Intermission ended, Jay decided to halt his training and retracted the Thunder Miasma Field from themon room. Once the room was cleared of the ink-ck fog, there were three more people other than Henry and Kasim standing on the stairs connecting to the first floor. They were Brandon, Sergei and Gabriel. When Jay began training ''Thunder Miasma Field'', they felt an odd sensation as if something superior was calling out for their respective elements. They followed the traces and came downstairs only to find that it was from the strange fog under Jay''s control. It was because, among the five elements that converged to create the Thunder Miasma, Lightning, Darkness and Wind elements were included. Every new element that Jay had converged since the beginning gave off a sense of superiority to the respective individual elements used to create that said element, and that sensation only grew as time passed. Upon bing a Penta-Element, the sense of superiority it gave off had a qualitative changepared to its predecessor, the Tetra-Element, Thunder me. To Brandon, Sergei and the others, it was clear that Jay had be even stronger with the new strange ability and widened the gap between them. Jay didn''t bat his eye at their shocked expressions. He just walked past them and returned to his room without saying anything. Although the new element improved Jay''s overall power, he wasn''t all that happy because the excitement from converging a new Innate Talent wasn''t able to triumph his disappointment from not being able to get his hands on the Origin ive despite having more than 10,000 Universe Points. That made Jay wonder just how many Universe Points does he need to obtain it¡­.25,000? 50,000? or 100,000? Chapter 148: Round-2 Begins!! While Jay was training his new element, the news about an Earth''s Alpha Chosen single-handedly thrashing the Lycanthropes was spread to almost everyone on the Tournament Ind. That didn''te as a shock to most since the Earth''s trial zone team''s score was indisputably high, thrice that of the second trial zone team. But when everyone learned that the one who did all that was not even among the top Earth''s Alpha Chosen, the reputation of Earth''s trial zone team soared ever high. Other than the Tilephe trial zone team that was ranked third in Round-1, the rest of the Top-10 trial zone teams didn''t even entertain the thought of ranking first in the Tournament. If not for the fact that the third trial zone''s team leader, who was ranked 16th in the had improved his Minor Innate Talent Mastery to a Major one during the First Intermission, they wouldn''t have ced hopes on winning the Tournament. Still, they were well aware defeating the Earth trial zone team that had an Omega Chosen in it was no easy feat to aplish. But they didn''t know that the strongest one among the Earth trial zone team wasn''t the Omega Chosen, but someone who was still in Tier-2. And that certain someone had grown even stronger during the First Intermission. Before long, the 3 hours long break came to an end, and each Alpha Chosen was notified to return to the Colosseum for Round-2. The trial zone teams that couldn''t make it into the Top-100 were allowed to spectate if they wished, or they could stay back in their respective Rest Houses. However, no one chose to miss witnessing the Top 100 teamspete against each other in Round-2, and the crowd gushing in through the Colosseum gates was proof of that. Two trial zone teams were waiting beside the crowd at the Colosseum''s east entrance gate. One of them was Halbor''s team, and the other was the Ans'' team. Min-soo was also there along with them since he stayed at Rest House 100 to work on improving the teleportation devices with Halbor. So, when the first intermission was over, he tagged along with Halbor''s team. As for the Ans, they recognised Min-soo and approached before greeting him. Min-soo introduced the Ans to the Rock Magmoids and vice versa. All the Rock Magmoids, including Halbor, were stunned to meet the Anis trial zone team that was ranked fifth in Round-1. After all, the difference in their team rankings and the Team Evaluation Score was quite wide. As for the Ans, like everyone else, they came to know of themotion that had taken ce a few hours back. But through Min-soo, they had an in-depth idea of what had happened and why Jay saved and recruited Halbor. Hearing all the details visibly angered Akor, "Those dogs dared to bark at my Liege?! They better note across me or else.....Hmph!" Halbor and the Rock Magmoids were even more shocked by those words since they came from someone who was considered one of the Top-5 strongest individuals in the Tournament. Soon, the Rock Magmoids caught sight of the Earth trial zone team heading in their direction. As soon as they approached, Akor was the first to act as he kneeled in front of Jay before asking, "My Liege, should I take care of those Lycanthropes and make them an example for others?" With a light wave of his hand, Jay controlled the Wind and lifted Akor to his feet, "No need, I will personally deal with their team leader after Round-2. I have ns for him." Akor nodded and gave way to Jay as he headed towards Halbor. The Rock Magmoids including Halbor were under the impression that Jay was moderately strong among the Earth trial zone team since a few other Earth''s Alpha Chosen were ranked among the Top-200 of the but witnessing Akor''s respectfulness, Jay''s position in the eyes of Halbor and the rest of the Rock Magmoids grew to a new height. "How did it go? Were there any new developments?" Halbor stood still at Jay''s query for a second before answering in a hurry, "Ye¡­Yes, Sir, there are some significant improvements. Thanks to the Great Venerable''s outstanding efficiency, the raw material refining process andponent creation were cut down from an overall 18 hours to as low as 3 hours. The space element configuration would have taken me 6 hours, but the overall process was halved with Mr Min-soo sharing his knowledge and expertise. On top of that, there were considerable improvements to the ''s functions. The Transmission Range of Space tforms was more than doubled from the original 100 Kms (62 Miles) to 250 Kms (155 Miles), and the energy expenditure was reduced from 5 Spirit Crystals to 3 Spirit Crystals." Not to mention the increased Transmission Range, just the expenditure reduction alone would save some a lot of trouble in the long term. Besides those, another noticeable improvement was that the time taken to create a single was shortened from 24 hours to 6 hours. That means if Halbor worked all day without rest, he could create four Space tforms in a single go. Learning of the improved results satisfied Jay, "Good Work. Once this Tournament ends, keep working on creating as many as possible. For every you create, I will reward you with 25 RP. MJ will fill you in on the details pertaining to the Reward Point Exchange." After saying that, Jay added Halbor to his ''Party'' and walked to the Eastern entrance gate at a nonchnt pace as the Alns, Rock Magmoids and rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen followed behind. Within the Colosseum, only the Alpha Chosen from the Top-100 trial zone teams were gathered on the podium ground, and the rest of the Alpha Chosen were the spectators in the seating area. As they entered the Colosseum and walked towards the respective seating area, the chitter-chatter all-around toned down as everyone''s attentionnded on the group of Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Followed by a brief period of silence in the Colosseum, noise abruptly rose as topics rted to the Earth''s trial zone team circted among the audience. Some of those exaggerated the strength of Earth''s Alpha Chosen and even depicted them as some sort of demigods. It wasn''t just them, but the Rock Magmoids were also dragged into the spotlight for staying by the side of Earth''s trial zone team, who became the center of attention. The Rock Magmoids were overwhelmed by all the attention but watching the Ans stay cool about it; they calmed down. Thanks to Akor''s disy of aggressiveness towards someone thatmented on Earth''s trial zone team in Round-1, it becamemon knowledge for everyone there that the Ans were already under the protection of Earth''s trial zone team. Meanwhile, another trial zone team began to interact with Earth''s trial zone team within the podium ground. It was none other than the Horned Beetles. The Leader of the Horned Beetle muttered frustratedly at his team members, "Alright¡­.Alright!! Don''t push me! I will ask them." Facing the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, the four foot tall Midget cleared his throat awkwardly and spoke in embarrassment, "Ahem¡­..You see, from the very dawn of civilisation on my home, the one with arger body was undeniably deemed as the strongest, and that turned into a custom everyone on my followed blindly. Now that these little fes learned of Miss Olivia''s strength, they believe she must be your team''s Leader despite not being thergest one among you. They keep on annoying me to ask about it. If she is your team leader, that will shatter their core beliefs, and they would rebel against me." He then faced Olivia and asked her earnestly with a hint of anxiety, "No offence to you, Miss Olivia, but please tell me you aren''t the team leader." Looking at the group of three-foot-tall midgets intently waiting for Olivia''s reply from behind their Leader made Olivia and the others smile at how silly the situation was. Olivia replied to the Horned Beetle with a slight smile on her face, "Don''t worry, I am not the leader, but he...¡­." Before Olivia could say it was Jay, the Horned Beetle Leader joyously hopped around towards his subordinates, "See? What did I tell you? Only thergest ones could be the Leader. To think you all almost gave up faith in our''s ancient tradition. Shame on you!!" He bbered around for a while at his team members until they felt guilty for questioning their Leader. Only then did the Horned Beetle Leader quieten up and gave a nod of satisfaction to himself before thanking the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Noticing Jay didn''t say anything, Olivia and the other Earth''s Alpha Chosen didn''t correct the Horned Beetle Leader and let the Beetle Midget enjoy his moment. Right then, everyone on the podium ground lifted their head to look at Frial, who was floating several meters above the ground level at the center of the Colosseum, and his arrival alone was an unofficial announcement for the start of Round-2. Chapter 149: Strategize While gazing past therge crowd of participants, Frial''s attention paused on the Earth''s trial zone team. He wanted to know their decisions regarding his proposal but didn''t approach and push them for answers believing the saying ''Haste makes Waste''. So, he waited patiently for the Earth''s Alpha Chosen toe up to him when they eventually make a decision. In his presence, the noise in the Colosseum soon settled down, and Frial began giving details on the uing Round of the Tournament. "Now that the wait is over let us begin Round-2. This Round will also be taking ce in Reality Emtors. Since there are only a hundred trial zone teams left, this will be done in one go without having to separate you all into batches like in the previous Round. Out of the participating 100 trial zone teams, only the teams with the top 25 scores will be qualified for the Final Round." Frial gave a short pause before ncing around, and as if he read some of their thoughts, he said, "This Round will mainly focus on Survival and TeamWork. So, those who were worrying if you had to fight another trial zone teams outright, you all can be at ease...at least for this Round." Before that piece of information could let most of the trial zone teams breathe a sigh of relief, Frial''sst few words plucked their heartstrings. After all, his words indirectly suggested the 25 teams that proceed to Round-3 will have to fight against each other rather than face emted monsters. Most of the top trial zone teams in Round-1 began to assess the strength and weaknesses of other teams in preparation for the future. The leading teams in the Top 10 subconsciously turned their heads to look at Earth''s trial zone team members. After all, in Round-1 itself, the Earth''s Alpha Chosen established their dominance with the vast Evaluation score difference. Soon, many began to use the information-type skills in possession to pry at the of Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Although Jay''s blocked others from viewing anything other than his Name and Tier, he still found it annoying since it wasn''t subtle anymore, with a lot of them using their skills at once. Just as Jay was about to use to block them off entirely from bothering him, several Alpha Chosen fell to their knees and wailed as they tightly held their heads. This revtion stunned the others on the podium ground and the audience in the seating area as well. They wondered who had the power to drop so many Alpha Chosen to their knees, especially since most of them were from the top-10 teams. Meanwhile, Jay turned around to look at Olivia, whose irises emanated a bright golden glow as she frustratedly eyed those who were wailing in agony. He right away understood the situation without having to read the thoughts of anyone around. Just like how Jay was on the receiving end of the information prying skills, Olivia faced a simr situation, except she was the main target of those skills. Since Olivia''s information-type skill wasn''t a high-grade skill like the one Jay has, she felt like hundreds of needles pricked her mind at once. That exasperated Olivia. So as retaliation, she used her Innate Talent to sp onto the souls of those that targeted her, leading to their miserable conditions. Jay didn''t meddle in and folded his arms as he stood there and watched that go on. Only those who were at Tier-3 Mid-Phase and exceptional ones like Seath fared better but still couldn''t escape from Olivia''s grasp. Due to expending most of his time on exploring ''Thunder Miasma'', Jay didn''t pay attention to Olivia''s , but upon noticing the scale of her powers, he was pleasantly surprised since it was just a slight push away from turning into a Major Mastery without her even having to enter the state of enlightenment. Jay knew that the higher the grade of one''s Innate Talent, the easier it was to cross the mastery bottleneck but to think those with Grade-10 Innate Talent could attain Major Mastery with little to no effort had overtaken his estimation. Anyway, it was a piece of good news for Jay since he could at any time synchronize with Olivia''s Mastery using the to share the progress she made. He chose not to do it right away as that process would take some time toplete. So, he decided to wait till the 2nd Intermission to synchronize. Asides from Jay, Frial caught onto the situation as well. Since that wouldn''t lead to their deaths, he chose not to interfere, especially since the one responsible was Olivia. The wails continued nearly for half a minute before she let go of them, and all those who suffered under Olivia''s power were scared to the point they didn''t even dare to look at her. Many around the Earth''s trail zone team moved away from them out of fear. From the prowess Olivia disyed when fighting emted monsters in the previous Round, everyone had assumed her strengths lie in her high stats and psychokinesis ability. But experiencing the crushing pressure on their soul left them aghast and, at the same time, made them tremble at Olivia''s ability. Their reactions gave away clues to the spectators, who soon connected the dots and were astonished beyond belief upon realizing that it was Olivia, who had temporarily incapacitated close to a 100 Alpha Chosen with just a look alone. They began to pity those who would have to face Earth''s trial zone team in Round-3. The other participants on the podium ground had no different thoughts from them. The lower-ranked teams among the Top-100 just hoped to score well enough in Round-2 even if they couldn''t make it to the Final Round. Soon themotion settled down, and Frial made hundreds of Reality Emtors appear on the podium ground. "Each Reality Emtor here was assigned to a particr team number. Only enter those respective to your allotted team number, or you would enter an independent virtual space along with another team. In this round, each team will be facing hordes of monsters and the longer you survive, the merrier the Evaluation Score. Do mind that the monster horde in each ''Wave'' will be stronger than thest. You will all learn further details on Round-2 in the Reality Emtors. If there are any preparations left, be quick with them. The Reality Emtors will open in three minutes. Good Luck to you all." After announcing that, Frial brought a Throne chair out of nowhere and sat onfortably it as it floated in the position he previously stood. The participating 100 trial zone teams began to discuss with each other, trying to form strategies for Round-2 in the little time they had left. The Ans and Rock Magmoids weren''t an exception, as they did the same. But Akor didn''t join his group''s discussion and instead asked Jay for a suggestion. Both groups halted what they were doing and expectantly waited for Jay''s reply. Even the Earth''s Alpha Chosen wanted to hear what Jay would say since he somehow had prior knowledge of the details of the Tournament. Jay didn''t answer and instead called out for MJ, who appeared with a pop as the jingle bell at the corner of his little Santa hat on his head rang cheerfully. "MJ, Calcte the best possible strategy based on the strength of various monster hordes and thebat capabilities of each individual An." MJ''s voice followed suit before a second could pass by, "Master, it is done." Before instructing MJ to exin the strategy to them, Jay created a barrier of wind and enveloped the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, Ans and Rock Magmoids to block others from eavesdropping. Baby MJ exined the strategy, where the Ans would be divided into two groups. Instead of attacking the horde of monsters all at once, the two groups will take turns. The Sea Lord will be the lead attacker within the first group, and the other five in that group will have to support him. Whereas the second group only consisted of two members, with Akor as the main attacker and the female An, Ah''na as the supporter. When a group attacks, the other group should focus on recovering Spirit Energy and Stamina or support thebat-active group if the situation demands it. The Ans paid utmost attention to words rolled out of MJ''s baby mouth. Once MJ was done with his exnation, Jay concluded with some important points, "Although this Round focuses on survival, doing just that wouldn''t be of much help in achieving a high Evaluation Score. Only killing as many monsters as possible is the way to go, and if you could clear the entire horde, the final score would be even better. Using the strategy MJ just exined will only let you all sail smoothly till the 7th Wave, but from then on, it will be a struggle for survival. So, try to clear all the monsters before that." The Ans nodded in understanding, and Akor repeatedly thanked Jay for his advice. After all, Jay didn''t have to reveal anything to the Ans but still helped them just because of Akor. Observing this, the Rock Magmoids nudged forward Halbor in hopes of receiving something helpful. Halbor, on the other hand, hesitated. After learning from Min-soo that the barriers separating each Trial Zone within every Trial Region will disappear after the First Tournament, Halbor was well aware that the Tournament''s final rankings will unofficially determine the power structure of the 35th Trial Region. Halbor would have asked for it if it was just a strategy, but with their limited overall team strength, any strategy couldn''t help them ce in the Top 25. Requesting anything more would be too much to ask. So, Halbor fell into a dilemma, whether to ask Jay for help or not. All this didn''t go unnoticed by Jay, who read all his thoughts. Instead of waiting for Halbor to ask, Jay himself took the initiative to approach the Rock Magmoids, "At this point, no strategy could help your team qualify for Round-3. But fortunately for you lot, I can present your team with two choices that could resolve the problem at hand. Although the cost you would have to pay will be different for both choices, either of them could make your team qualify for Round-3." Hearing that didn''t just pique the interest of Rock Magmoids but the Ans and the Earth''s Alpha Chosen as well. They all wanted to know how Jay could make a team that was ranked 100th enter the Top-25 in Round-2. Chapter 150: The Two Choices. Silence prevailed within the wind barrier as everyone in it waited for Jay to shed light on those two choices. When the tension there reached its peak, Jay unveiled the first one to the Rock Magmoids. "By selecting the first choice, I will grant your team the strength that will assure your ce in Top-25, but in return, you all will have to swear loyalty to me. Not just as individuals but as an entire team. Through this, your trial zone would be a subsidiary of the Earth trial zone. From following my orders to paying taxes, everything will be included. Keep in mind that even if one of you refuses to ept this, then the first choice will be off the table for the rest of the team as well. So, think it through before giving a reply." The Rock Magmoids discussed the pros and cons among themselves. Although the power they could receive from Jay was tempting, having to follow Jay''s every single order made them hesitate. A Rock Magmoid named Hart, who stood beside Halbor, mustered up his courage and asked Jay, "Great Sir, cou¡­could we hear about this second choice?" After Jay crippled Holt, he came to be the second strongest in their team and with Halbor deciding to step down from his position, he became the de facto Leader. But that didn''t get over his head. When talking to Jay, he showed utmost respect. Jay found it quite funny when he looked at the Rock Magmoid, whose feet trembled whilst talking to him. Without showing it on his face, Jay continued, "Alright, but if you all find restrictions in the first choice to be extreme, then hearing the second one will clear your hesitation. Because the power you shall receive by going for the second choice will ce your team at least among Top-10, if not on Top-5, by the end of the Tournament. However, the price for this will be your very lives themselves. Once you select this choice, I will practically own you." That brought out gasps not only among the Rock Magmoids but also from everyone within the wind barrier. Among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, Olivia and Dante were the only ones who didn''t show exaggerated reactions since they were well aware of the ''power'' Jay just mentioned. Brandon was shaken up from learning of Jay''s ability to make an entire team stronger to the point they could skip so many ranks to being among the Top-5. Noticing Jay be casual about making an entire team powerful in a short period, he roughly guessed Jay''s ability to make others stronger wasn''t limited to just a handful. Brandon''s imagination grew wilder the more he thought about it. Then his eyes widened as realisation dawned upon him, ''If Jay could grant such power to a hundred or even a thousand? Wouldn''t that mean he could create his own army? At that point, who could even challenge his authority?!'' The way he looked at Jay once again changed substantially, and this time, fear and respect were more evident on his face. Meanwhile, the Rock Magmoids talked among themselves and finally came to a decision. The de facto Leader of the Rock Magmoids, Hart, stepped forward and spoke representing his team, "Great Sir, after careful consideration, we decided to opt for the First Choice. Please don''t take this against us." Hart stepped back after bowing to Jay and anxiously waited for Jay''s reply along with the remaining Rock Magmoids. They found it hard to believe Jay could even make them as strong as he mentioned. After all, to make their seven-member team reach the Top-10 seemed like a pipe dream to them. Moreover, the price they had to pay in return was the same as selling their soul, which didn''t sit well with them. After learning of the second choice, the first one appealed a lot better to them. Although they would have to follow Jay''s every order, bing a subsidiary has its perks. Under the protection of the Earth trial zone, the Rock Magmoids wouldn''t have to fear other trial zones. Such was the reputation of the top-ranking trial zone team. They just hoped not to fall off Jay''s good books for not selecting the second choice. With Jay standing in silence, the atmosphere grew tense. When their hearts were about to burst from anxiety, Jay''s voice sounded, "Halbor, What about you? Everyone there turned to look at whom those words were intended. Halbor was taken aback. He didn''t expect Jay to ask him, especially? He just lowered his head and hinted at his decision instead of outright rejecting Jay in front of everyone. As someone who could read the thoughts of others, Jay could see that Halbor didn''t find the price needed to pay in return to be worth the power he would gain from selecting the second choice. Jay maintained a poker face as he concluded, "So be it." But deep inside, he felt it was a pity. Because by ''Second Choice'', Jay meant to give six out of 1000 Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGILS to the Rock Magmoids and one of the 100 Minor ORIGIN SIGILS to Halbor. When the other Rock Magmoids rejected it, he didn''t even bat an eye, but when Halbor did the same, Jay found it to be a waste of talent. After all, by bing a holder of Minor ORIGIN SIGIL, Halbor''s Innate Talent, would have stepped into Grade-9 and further enhanced his abilities. Moreover, that would let Jay use as well, turning his arsenal of Innate Talents into a well-rounded one. s, that didn''t go as he had hoped for. But in no way did Jay pressure Halbor. He invited Halbor and the remaining six Rock Magmoids to his Party. Once they epted, Jay transferred them his stacked Life Energy and upheld his end of the ''First Choice Deal''. Since Jay didn''t n on evolving to Tier-3 anytime soon, transferring his stacked Life Energy wasn''t a big deal for him. Meanwhile, those Rock Magmoids were ecstatic from finding that they had reached Lv.25. Before that, even half of them weren''t at Lv.20. But after that, they were on the verge of the next evolution. How could they not be joyous? Halbor was the only one who stood in silence. He found it hard to believe his own eyes because the Lv.26 in his was reced by Lv.44. In an instant, he went from Tier-3 Low-Phase to Tier-3 High-Phase. It was a whole 18 Levels of increment!! With that, his Undistributed Stats count went from ''o'' to ''270''. Then, Halbor suddenly thought of something and clicked on the section with trembling palms. Upon finding his ranking, Halbor was gstabbered to the point he forgot to breathe. Never did he dare to expect that one day he would be ranked first in the entire Trial World. He then looked at Jay and wondered, ''If this is just the power received from selecting the First Choice, just what would have be of me if I selected the second one?'' Jay ignored the onlookers and checked the top portion of his . [STATUS] (Primary) Name - Jay Age - 23 Race - Greater Human Life Energy - 32500/32500 (2480 Life Energy stacked till next evolution.) Level - 25 (Tier-2 High-Phase) Estimated Level - 50 (Tier-3 High-Phase) Almost all his stacked Life Energy was depleted. But with the continuous killing spree of MJ''s corpse integrated monsters, more Life Energy continued to stack up every passing second. It would take a day or two before Jay could regain all the Life Energy he transferred to Rock Magmoids. The reason for Jay raising Halbor to such a high level has to do with the other six Rock Magmoids being at Tier-2. If Jay instead had distributed his stacked Life Energy equally among them, then all those in Tier-2 couldn''t make use of it until theypleted their Tier-3 Evolution. By the time theyplete their evolution, the Tournament would be long over. Therefore, to make up for their overall team strength, Jay sent most of his stacked Life Energy to Halbor. He stopped caring about the Alpha Rankings long ago, so Halbor ranking first in the Alpha Rankings didn''t mean much to him. Chapter 151: Minor ORIGIN SIGIL - XII While everyone in the wind barrier was observing the bunch of cheerful Rock Magmoids, Akor approached Jay with burning eyes. He then kneeled in front of Jay before speaking his heart, "My Liege, Please let me have this opportunity. I won''t disappoint you." Jay understood his intentions, but to be sure if Akor knew what he was getting into, Jay asked, "Are you sure? If you ept this, then there will be no going back. Your life and death would be at my mercy." Akor replied while kneeling, "I have already dedicated my life to following you, and if doing this would allow you to trust mepletely, then I shall dly oblige." Jay went through Akor''s thoughts and was satisfied to find the Genuity behind his words. So, without saying any more, Jay pointed out his forefinger and shot a silver streak at Akor''s forehead. Then the roman letters ''XII'', which indicated the number 12, had emerged on his be. Along with those letters, the white in Akor''s eyes also emitted a silver glow for a couple of seconds before fading away. {Author Note: Only now did I realise that the practical use of Periodic Table elements for naming the Minor ORIGIN SIGILS makes it moreplicated than it needed to be. So, I have changed the representation of Minor Origin Sigils from ''Periodic Table Elements'' to ''Roman Numbers'' and did the same in ''Chapter-61'' as well.} Those roman letters represented his position as the 12th Minor ORIGIN SIGIL holder. Meanwhile, Jay sensed Akor''s Grade-7 Innate Talent upgrade into a Grade-9 one by the Minor ORIGIN SIGIL-XII. Once that was over, shot out a pir of Origin Energy and pulled in a million kilometer wide blue sphere into his Spirit Space. (1 Million Kms = 620,000 miles) As soon as it entered, several chains of Origin Energy encased it and made the gigantic blue sphere revolve around on the 9th outer circr orbit. Following that, a series of notifications popped in Jay''s vision. [500 Undistributed Looted stats were expended to engrave a Minor ORIGIN SIGIL.] [248 Undistributed Looted stats were automatically assigned to the ''XII'' ORIGIN SIGIL holder.] [You have gained absolute control over Grade-9 .] Other than the basic cost of engraving an ORIGIN SIGIL, the Undistributed Looted Stats equaling 25% of Jay''s overall stats were also expended. But with several thousand Undistributed Looted Stats sitting around to be used by Jay, those didn''t amount to much. Soon after he gained absolute control over Akor''s Innate Talent, another notification appeared, making Jay pause for a second. [Do you wish to synchronise with Lv.33 and obtain Vtile Aqua Element?] Jay didn''t choose to postpone synchronising with it until the end of Round-2 like how he nned to do with Olivia''s new mastery improvement. Instead, he right away initiated synchronisation to test out something. If that goes as he hoped, Jay would practically be unstoppable, and just his Evaluation Score alone could set an all-time record that no new trial zone could ever dream of reaching. At that point, Jay would be so strong that even the Tournament Manager, Frial, would be helpless in front of him. But all that will be just a fleeting thought if it didn''t happen the way he hoped. Upon epting to synchronise, pieces of Akor''s memories that contained his overallprehension of the and the experience of using the Vtile Aqua Element flowed into my mind like an unending stream. [By forced absorption of Stage-4 Mastery memory fragments, your mind will go into a long-term Spirit paralysis state.] [Due to your Unique Innate Talent''s protection, you are invulnerable from the damage caused by forced absorption of Masteries.] As usual, prevented him from receiving any direct damage but the mental pain inflicted in the process was by no means filtered. To the others, it looked like Jay stood still with his eyes closed, but that was him trying hard to swallow down the tide of pain that engulfed his mind. [Lv.47 ? Lv.54] [Lv.54: Resistance towards Mental Pain increases by 54%.] Only when the pain came to an end did Jay open his eyes. He ignored the improvement in and opened his in a hurry and checked the ''Elemental Mastery Section''. STAGE-1 Mastery = Lv.1 to Lv.10. STAGE-2 Mastery = Lv.11 to Lv.20. STAGE-3 Mastery = Lv.21 to Lv.30. STAGE-4 Mastery = Lv.31 to Lv.40. ... [ELEMENTAL MASTERY] : Lv.30 {Max} (No changes) : Lv.30 {Max} (No changes) : Lv.30 {Max} (No changes) : Lv.30 {Max} (No changes) : Lv.30 {Max} (New) : Lv.10 ? Lv.26 (New) Lv.30 ? Lv.33 (New) {Author Note: Here, ''New'' shows something that wasn''t shown in the Mastery Section that appeared in s.} Once Jay made sure his Water Mastery reached Stage-4, he flipped to his and tried adding Undistributed Looted Stats to the attributes. But to his disappointment, the overall Looted Stats didn''t exceed 1000, indicating to Jay that he didn''t break past the 1st Universe Limit even after getting hands over a Major Mastery. It made Jay realise that the Mastery Requirements for crossing the 1st Universe Limit were the same as those he had to follow for evolving to higher tiers. Either he had to bring every mastery in his possession to Stage-4 or raise hisprehension over Origin Mastery to 4%. Since the first way was not feasible any time soon with the number of Innate Talents he possessed, Jay could only aim for improving hispression over the Origin Energy. To him, breaking past the 1st Universe Limit was of great significance since that could bring a tremendous increase in power. After all, that would allow Jay''s overall stats in to go triple that of his overall stats in , meaning that when he enters mode, his overall stats could reach up to 3000. The sheer amount of stats alone would make him stand on par with a Tier-5 Low-Phase life form. Although Jay could only use such strength during the limited duration of mode, that would be more than enough to sweep away any problem in the early stages of the Trial Program. But all that became wishful thinking, and Jay could only sigh at raising his hopes. He wiped away all those thoughts to the back of his mind upon noticing the three-minute preparation time came to an end, and the grey-cuboid Reality Emtors opened up. The hundreds of Alpha Chosen began to enter the Reality Emtors allotted for their respective trial zone teams. The Earth''s Alpha Chosen separated with the Ans and the Rock Magmoids, and each team went their way. But before separating, Jay advised Halbor and the rest of the Rock Magmoids to not add all the Undistributed Stats at once and instead add them progressively as they face the first few monster hordes. That way, they could gain quicker control over the sudden increase in overall stats. Jay didn''t give the same advice to Akor since the 248 Undistributed Looted Stats he received will be automatically distributed based on the adaptability of his overall stats. Instead, Jay mentallymunicated with Akor and told him not to reveal anything about his Innate Talent''s improved grade. In the future, his ability to make others stronger will eventuallye out once he begins expanding his influence, so instead of hiding it till then, Jay took the initiative to showcase ORIGIN SIGILS. But, to others, Jay made it look like the ORIGIN SIGILS would make others stronger by increasing their stats. As for the information about the ability to upgrade Innate Talents, Jay decided to keep it under a tight lid. No one else would know about it other than the ORIGIN SIGIL holders. Akor nodded gratefully at Jay and vowed not to leak any information about it. While leaving to his allotted Reality Emtor, he gave Halbor, and the rest of the Rock Magmoids looks of pity and thought to himself, ''Those ingrates didn''t know what''s better for them. To think they rejected such an opportunity. If they learn what they had missed, there wouldn''t be any tears left to cry for them.'' Chapter 152.1: Monster Waves (Part-1) Since the Reality Emtors opened, all the 100 participating trial zone teams entered them in less than a minute. When the Earth''s Alpha Chosen entered their respective Reality Emtors, they entered a shared virtual space. Unlike Round-1''s pure white space, the shared virtual space simted a in barrennd as the battleground. However, that space wasn''t too vast as its dimensions were only that of 1 km x 1 km x 1 km, and beyond that border, everything was empty. As soon as the Earth''s Alpha Chosen set foot on the barren battlefield, the details on Round-2 appeared in front of them. [1. Survive under the onught of monster hordes, where each 10-minute long Monster Wave consists of a hundred monsters. 2. Followed by 10-minute consecutive breaks, the monsters in each passing ''Wave'' will be a Phase higher than thest one. 3. The only two ways to proceed further were to either clear the monsters in each Wave or survive until the Wave duration ends. 4. The Round-2 Evaluation Score will mainly depend on surviving a higher number of Monster Waves.] That gave an understanding to them of what would happen in Round-2. Soon, those details were reced by a 60-second countdown, indicating the time left for the 1st Monster Wave to begin. Ever since they entered the virtual space, Jay stood at the very center of the barren battlefield and stood with his eyes closed as he said nothing. The Earth''s Alpha Chosen followed his suit and stood nearby in silence as the countdown trickled. Twenty seconds passed, and Dante couldn''t take the silence anymore and initiated a conversation by asking Jay, "Shouldn''t we also work on developing a strategy? After all, it is better to have one nned than facing the Monster Waves empty-handed." The rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen looked at Jay and waited for him to say something. However, Jay didn''t open his eyes, nor did he say a single word. The awkward silence continued for ten more seconds before a cluster of dark clouds manifested above them in session. Those clouds diffused into the ink-ck fog in the next fifteen seconds and engulfed the entire battlefield except the 100-meter radius around Jay. The appearance of ominous-looking fog confused and worried half the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, but when the other half, who knew it was Jay''s ability, exined it to the others and calmed them. Despite not being to extend their senses into the ink-ck fog, they could still sense the terrifying power it contained. That was even more so for Henry, Gabriel, Brandon, and Sergei, who possess Fire, Wind, Lightning and Darkness Innate Talents. They felt as if the ink-ck fog was an unstoppable force of nature. Ever since Jay learned of the Thunder Miasma element''s weakness, he came up with the idea of spreading out the Thunder Miasma in the area around him to make up for its slow movement speed, which created the skill . When Jay entered the Reality Emtor, he closed his eyes and began to sense the maximum range he could extend the ''Thunder Miasma Field''. Jay estimated that he needed to expend 95% of his entire Spirit Energy reserve to cover the entire battlefield. Other than the initial cost of using the , it would need a constant expenditure of Spirit Energy to maintain it. So, when spreading out the field, Jay excluded the top three-fourths of the battlefield and a dome of a 100-meter radius so that the maintenance costs tied off with his regeneration of 19.8 Spirit Energy per Minute. Due to that, the Thunder Miasma Field didn''t cover the area 250 meters above the ground level and the 100-meter radius around him. Since his Spirit Energy Regeneration and the maintenance expenditure for the were at a bnce, Jay wouldn''t have to continue providing extra Spirit Energy, which makes it easier for him to control the grey thunderbolts within the ink-ck Miasma. By the time he was done with the preparations, there were ten seconds left for the 1st Monster Wave and only then did Jay open his eyes. He then announced, "For now, we don''t need a strategy. Just kill any monster that manages to cross past the fog. Like I said before, clearing the Monster Waves results gives us a higher Evaluation Score than simply surviving. But there is something that I didn''t even mention to the Ans and the Rock Magmoids. Clearing each Monster Wave as quickly as possible will result in an even better Evaluation Score. So, aim to finish the monsters as soon as possible but don''t expend more Spirit Energy and Stamina than needed." Jay hid this information from the other two teams not because he didn''t want them to score higher but because following that method would only affect them adversely as they reach higher Monster Waves. If it weren''t for the , Jay wouldn''t even have mentioned to the Earth''s Alpha Chosen about clearing the Monster Waves as soon as possible. Upon noticing some of Earth''s Alpha Chosen bex about Round-2, he gave them a pep talk in his own right, "Don''t let our ranking in Round-1 get into your head. I am reminding you all once again, our target was far from just ranking 1st among this Trial Region. I expect you all to give it your best shot. If it motivates you, I would like to add that at the end of the Tournament, you all shall receive RP (Reward Points), based on your individual Evaluation Scores." Thosest words excited the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Among them, the ones at the low-end level spectrum like Gabriel, Kasim and Henry even exchanged nces at each other as if they werepetitors. They desperately needed more RP to level up and wanted to escape from being the bottom feeders of their team. Dante wasn''t clubbed together with them anymore. Ever since Dante''s shocking disy of burst in overall attack power, he was considered one of the team''s strongest members, despite being the lowest levelled one. As fuel to the fire, Jay''s words ignited their fighting spirits, and they wished nothing more than to kill as many monsters as possible during the initial Monster Waves. Soon, the countdown ended, and 100 Tier-1 Low-Phase monsters were spawned uniformly at the four borders of the barren battlefield and frantically ran towards the center from all directions. There were all kinds of monsters among them, and that included Aerial-type monsters as well. But no single monster was of the same race, and each of them was at Lv.3, i.e. the peak of Tier-1 Low-Phase. Three seconds had already passed since the countdown ended, but the Earth''s Alpha Chosen could hear no roars or growls from the monsters. There wasn''t even any noise disturbance from the stampede of the monster horde. They even doubted if the 1st Monster Wave began or not. However, their doubts were answered by the bunch of notifications that appeared on the fourth second. [Congrattions! Your team have sessfully cleared the 1st Monster Wave.] [Due to clearing the 1st Monster Wave within the first five seconds, a 100% bonus Score was added to the Round-2 Team Evaluation.] Individual Contribution Score: Olivia (Lv.40) - 0 Min soo (Lv.38) - 0 Andrea (Lv.37) - 0 Sergei (Lv.35) - 0 Brandon (Lv.35) - 0 Kensei (Lv.31) - 0 Henry (Lv.30) - 0 Kasim (Lv.29) - 0 Gabriel (Lv.27) - 0 Jay (Lv.25) - 1000 Dante (Lv.25) - 0 Team Score: 2000 (1000+1000{Bonus}) Looking at their individual contribution, Gabriel, Kasim and Henry didn''t know what to say. Those three ced their hopes on the initial Waves because only then would they have leeway to score more kills. When they recollected the memory of Jay telling them to kill any monster that manages to cross past the ink-ck fog, their lips couldn''t help but twitch involuntarily. Their best chance for that was the first six Monster Waves because any beyond that would be increasingly harder, and they had to fight together with the entire team, which would limit their contribution. Meanwhile, Jay chose to skip the 10-minute break after the 1st Monster Wave and proceeded with the 2nd one. A simr situation was repeated with the 2nd and 3rd Monster Waves. They both were cleared in five seconds without them having to move a finger. Those three began to wonder if they could even see monsters from the initial waves pass through the strange fog. Chapter 153.2: Monster Waves (Part-2) Meanwhile, on the Colosseum''s podium ground, Frial summoned 100 screens, where each one showed a team''s situation within their respective virtual battlefield. Among those 100, the screen that floated on top of them all was five timesrger than the rest. It was none other than the screen that showed the Earth trial zone team. Frial made that screen appear big after noticing that almost the entire Audience had their eyes attached to the first screen. They wanted to personally witness how powerful the Earth''s Alpha Chosen really were. However, to their surprise, the screen turned ink-ck just before the 1st Monster Wave began, blocking them from seeing anything. The Audience was confused and looked at Frial as they waited for some kind of exnation, but Frial himself was no different from them. However, he could tell the problem wasn''t with the screen but due to the presence of the strange fog. Before Frial could make something out of it, three seconds passed from the start of the 1st Monster Wave, and the ''Round-2 Evaluation Score Leaderboard'' that floated beside the screens had refreshed the Earth trial zone team''s score from ''0'' to ''2000''. It was disyed ''2nd Monster Wave'' on the top right corner of their screen, making it clear to the Audience that after clearing the 1st Monster Wave within a couple of seconds, the Earth''s Alpha Chosen skipped the 10-minute break and proceeded with the next Wave. As time passed, the disbelief on their faces didn''t fade but deepened. Because by the time the first thirty seconds were over, the Earth team cleared the first seven Monster Waves, whereas just a few trial zone teams passed the 1st Monster Wave. The Audience wanted to glimpse how the Earth''s Alpha Chosen cleared those monsters. s, what could they do even when the Tournament Manager was helpless. At the same time, within the Earth trial team''s shared virtual space, Gabriel, Kasim and Henry felt like crying upon looking at their newly refreshed individual contribution score. [Congrattions! Your team have sessfully cleared the 7th Monster Wave.] [Due to clearing the 7th Monster Wave within the first five seconds, a 100% bonus Score was added to your Round-2 Team Evaluation.] Individual Contribution Score: Olivia (Lv.40) - 0 Min soo (Lv.38) - 0 Andrea (Lv.37) - 0 Sergei (Lv.35) - 0 Brandon (Lv.35) - 0 Kensei (Lv.31) - 0 Henry (Lv.30) - 0 Kasim (Lv.29) - 0 Gabriel (Lv.27) - 0 Jay (Lv.25) - 193500 (1000+2500+5000+10000+25000+50000+100000) Dante (Lv.25) - 0 Team Score: 387000 (193500+193500{Bonus}) Ever since the Monster Waves began, those three waited for the monsters to cross past the ''Thunder Miasma Field'' but to no avail. During the 7th Wave, they hoped to find monsters since the horde of the 7th Monster Waveprised 100 Tier-3 Low-Phase monsters. However, to their bitter disappointment, not a single one of the monsters managed to set foot across the foggy border. Once the 7th Monster Wave ended, Jay didn''t skip the 10-minute break right away and instead called out to Olivia, "Use and share my senses with the rest of the team." She gave a strange look at Jay as if saying, ''Don''t you have ess to my abilities? Why don''t you do it yourself?'' Nheless, she didn''t dare to voice it out andplied with his instruction. As soon as Olivia activated that skill on the entire team, a strange connection linked their minds together, and they were able tomunicate with each other with just their thoughts. Besides that, everyone could not only perceive through their own senses but through the senses of others as well. They could even sense each other''s position without having to look around. Jay didn''t wait any further after Olivia used her skill and initiated the 8th Monster Wave. Unlike the previous seven Monster Waves, where the Earth''s Alpha Chosen couldn''t sense the presence of monsters within the ink-ck fog, their perception of the 8th Monster Wave was quite the opposite. They were able to sense the horde of 100 Tier-3 Mid-Phase monsters approaching them through the fog from all directions. At the same time, they were able to observe how deadly the fog Jay deployed around them was. The emted health bars above the heads of those monsters disyed the gradual deterioration of their health, and that was just from being in contact with the fog. On top of that, the monsters had to face the onught of several grey thunderbolts, each chipping away arge portion of the monsters'' overall health. By the time they were 300 meters away from the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, their numbers had gone down to 68. Beyond the 200-mark, that number reduced to 31 and the monsters that managed to cross the amounted to a measly four. All those four were Aerial-type monsters, and none of them had more than 10% in their health bar. The first ones to react were the ''desperate trio'', Gabriel, Kasim and Henry. They attacked those four monsters like there was no tomorrow. As a Wind-elemental user, Gabriel was the fastest one with his ranged wind-de attacks and scored two kills. In contrast, Henry and Kasim finished off one monster each. [Congrattions! Your team have sessfully cleared the 8th Monster Wave.] [Due to clearing the 8th Monster Wave within the first ten seconds, a 90% bonus Score was added to your Round-2 Team Evaluation.] Individual Contribution Score: Olivia (Lv.40) - 0 Min soo (Lv.38) - 0 Andrea (Lv.37) - 0 Sergei (Lv.35) - 0 Brandon (Lv.35) - 0 Kensei (Lv.31) - 0 Henry (Lv.30) - 225 Kasim (Lv.29) - 240 Gabriel (Lv.27) - 495 Jay (Lv.25) - 442540 (1000+2500+5000+10000+25000+50000+100000+249040) Dante (Lv.25) - 0 Team Score: 840826 (442540+398286{Bonus}) The contribution of the individual score depended on the amount of damage dealt rather than who finished off a monster. Since thest four monsters didn''t have more than 10% of health, the contribution they received was just as low. Regardless, Gabriel was excited to score higher than Kasim and Henry. From the beginning of the trial program, he had always been at the very bottom of any rankings among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, and Gabriel was the only one who wasn''t in the Alpha Rankings asides from Dante. So, when he was ranked second only to Jay in terms of the individual score, Gabriel became even more excited and wished for nothing more than to score even higher in the next Wave. Kasim and Henry more or less had simr thoughts about scoring higher in the 9th Monster Wave. But unlike Gabriel, they didn''t see it as ranking near Jay because even if all three of their individual contribution score wasbined, it didn''t amount to 1000, much lessparing themselves to the Goliath of a man, whose individual score neared half a million points. Meanwhile, Jay thought back to the details about the bonus score that MJ informed him right before Round-2 began. Only by clearing a Monster Wave in the first 5 seconds would a team obtain a 100% bonus. If it were dyed by even a second, the System would categorize it as under 10 seconds, and the bonus received would be lowered to 90%. Likewise, for every five seconds down the line, the bonus received will be reduced by 10%, with the top 50 seconds as the endpoint and clearing a Monster Wave any beyond that wouldn''t result in a bonus score. {Author Note: For a better idea on this, I suggest you guys scroll down to find the pic link in this chapter''s author note before continuing from where you left off.} All the first seven Monster Waves till then were cleared within five seconds, which gave the entire team an 100% bonus score. But when it came to the 8th Monster Wave, it took them 8 seconds to clear it, and that was categorized as under 10 seconds, resulting in the 90% bonus. Before skipping the 10-minute break, Jay mentallymunicated with the entire team through the , "Beyond the 9th Monster Wave, it will be quite hard even to survive and obtaining a bonus score is nigh impossible. So, if you all want a good enough Individual Score, the 9th Wave is your chance. Finish off the monsters as soon as possible, even if you all had to expend more Spirit Energy and Stamina." Soon after his words, the 9th Monster Wave began as 100 Tier-3 High-Phase monsters galloped towards the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Chapter 154.3: Monster Waves (Part-3) Out of the 100 Tier-3 High-Phase monsters, a quarter of them managed to pass through the , but their health bars were emptied by half in the process. While Jay stood still at the centre, the remaining Earth''s Alpha Chosen stood around him in a formation and coordinated with each other as they rained down an array of skills at the monsters. With the , none of their attacks ovepped or cancelled each other''s attacks. One by one, the monsters fell at a noticeable pace before they cleared the remaining monsters. Besides assisting Andrea once with the when she was in danger, he didn''t interfere with their kills. [Congrattions! Your team has sessfully cleared the 9th Monster Wave.] [Due to clearing the 9th Monster Wave within the first 25 seconds, a 60% bonus Score was added to your Round-2 Team Evaluation.] Individual Contribution Score: Olivia (Lv.40) - 10890 Min soo (Lv.38) - 3630 Andrea (Lv.37) - 3030 Sergei (Lv.35) - 7260 Brandon (Lv.35) - 7860 Kensei (Lv.31) - 6050 Henry (Lv.30) - 5675 (225+5450) Kasim (Lv.29) - 4470 (240+4230) Gabriel (Lv.27) - 4125 (495+3630) Jay (Lv.25) - 882040 (1000+2500+5000+10000+25000+50000+100000+249040+439500) Dante (Lv.25) - 8470 Team Score: 1640826 (942540+698286{Bonus}) Olivia''s performance didn''t bring injustice to her position as the second strongest among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. As for Dante, his score was second only to Olivia, which didn''t surprise the others anymore. Never once did he miss a shot. To those who weren''t aware of Dante''s ability, it would appear as if the monsters threw themselves into the path of his arrows. Although they knew of Dante''s ability to predict anyone''s movements, it still felt magical for them to gain first-hand experience watching Dante shoot down monsters with gigantified arrows. That solidified his position as the third strongest one among the hearts of the rest of the team. Coming up next to Dante were Sergei and Brandon. Though it was Brandon, who scored higher than Sergei, that didn''t mean he was the stronger one. As a matter of fact, it was Sergei who obtained a higher Evaluation Score than Brandon in Round-1. Their performances kept on often varying, making it harder to dere who was the strongest one out of those two. Following them down the line were Kensei and Henry. While Kensei consistently maintained a slight edge over Henry in the past few days, Henry continued to see Kensei as his rival and wished nothing more than to score higher than him in Round-2. For that, Henry nned to use the ace up his sleeve in the 10th Monster Wave. Next to them were Kasim and Gabriel, with the former in the lead. Gabriel''s previous excitement evaporated without a trace when his individual contribution score within the team was pushed down to the bottom three. If Gabriel''s score from the previous Monster Wave was not included, he wouldn''t be any different from Min-soo and Andrea, whose scores were the lowest in the team. Rather than outright attacking the monsters, those two supported the rest of them since that wasn''t considered a contribution in Round-2, which led to their low scores despite being at higher levels. Jay didn''t even look at his Individual Contribution Score, unlike the others. Instead, he focussed on recovering Spirit Energy to his peak before the 10-minute break could end. Since anyone could bring the Magical Fruits and Spirit Crystals to the Reality Emtor, using those within the Reality Emtor will also apply the respective effects in the shared virtual space. Jay used a bunch of Grade-3 Spirit Crystals to recover the lost Spirit Energy and not the Spirit Fruits. He did that to save those forter. With so many Grade-3 Spirit Fruits in his possession, Jay could eat away as many as he wanted without worrying about using them all up. However, if he uses a bunch of those at that moment, he would have to wait an hour or so before using them again to avoid receiving temporary attribute debuff. Whereas the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen directly used the Spirit, Vitality and Stamina Fruits without worrying about saving them forter. After all, they had to face 100 Tier-4 Low-Phase monsters in the uing Monster Wave. Not to talk about a hundred, other than Jay, no one else in the team could defeat even a single monster. Even for Jay, it would be pretty hard to survive against a horde of such powerful monsters. If Jay hadn''t briefed them on his brilliant n, they wouldn''t have believed it would even be possible to survive the 10th Monster Wave. When there were three minutes left before the 10-minute break, Jaymenced his n and began to extend the area of ''Thunder Miasma Field'' until it enveloped the rest of the barren battlefield. Other than the five-meter radius around them, the entire battlefield space was filled with Thunder Miasma, including the area 250 meters above the ground level. When it was ten seconds before the break ended, Jay opened door-sized tunnel pathways within the ''Thunder Miasma Field''. A total of ten tunnels, one for each member of the team. As soon as Jay created them, the Earth''s Alpha Chosen dispersed into those tunnels ording to the n. In just a few seconds, they all reached the spots Jay had designated for them and then he closed up those tunnels with Thunder Miasma. Although the Earth''s Alpha Chosen were separated, they couldmunicate through Olivia''s . Except for the ten small area spots, the entire barren battlefield was submerged in the Thunder Miasma Field. As for Jay, he didn''t stay there itself since the emted monsters were always keen on reaching the center of the battlefield. However, for himself, Jay didn''t create any tunnels to traverse through the Thunder Miasma Field. After all, unlike the others, he didn''t have to worry abouting into contact with Thunder Miasma. Soon, the 10th Monster Wavemenced, and despite being able to sense nothing around them, the 100 Tier-4 Low-Phase monsters rushed through the Thunder Miasma Field to the center of the battlefield. However, not one of those monsters passed through the spots where the Earth''s Alpha Chosen stood. It was no coincidence but a part of the n. Besides Jay, Dante yed a crucial role in that n. With Dante''s ability to sense their attack and path trajectories for the next minute, Jay could create more tunnels within the Thunder Misama Field in such a way that they could avoid the monsters and their attacks. It wouldn''t be wrong to say that Dante was the heart of the n. When the monsters reached the center and hadn''t found their supposed targets, they let out enraged roars and rampaged their surroundings with AoE attacks. However, the effectiveness of those skills was cut down by more than 25% within the ''Thunder Miasma Field''. Thanks to Dante''s ability, everyone was already out of the major impact range of those barrage of attacks. However, most of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen didn''t go unscathed and lost a small portion of their emted health bars. Since it was impossible to evade everything within the limited area of the battleground, they already knew something like that would eventually happen. So, they intended to keep the damage received as minimal as possible. That continued for the next five minutes as the sense-deprived monsters roamed around, attacking blindly in retaliation for the unending stream of attacks from palm-sized grey thunderbolts. Other than creating more tunnels to allow his fellow team members to escape from the rampaging monsters, Jay divided his attention to direct the grey thunderbolts onto the monsters. With the speed and attack power double that of the Thunder me, 28 monsters sumbed to them, and the rest lost a good chunk of their emted health bars. That made Jay think of something crazy. He saw hope, the possibility of finishing the rest of the monsters by the end of the 10-minute duration and clearing the 10th Monster Wave. If they managed to pull it off, the score received would be even more substantial. After weighing the risks and benefits, Jay decided to go with it and shared his improvised n with the rest of the team. Chapter 155.4: Monster Waves (Part-4) That improvised n was to have the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen attack the monsters. Of course, it wasn''t a frontal confrontation butunching sneak attacks. Since the rest of the team shared Jay''s senses, they perceived the live location of each monster within the ''Thunder Miasma Field''. Instead of each attacking a different monster, they all focussed on attacking a single monster at a time. One after another, theyunched projectile attacks from different directions while sneaking off from a safe distance. After each attack, they would simultaneously change their previous spots to avoid the targeted monster''s attacks of retaliation. Meanwhile, Jay supported them from far away by creating brief passages for each attack of his team members. That way, their projectile attacks wouldn''t directly contact the Thunder Miasma, which could deteriorate their lethality. On top of that, he continued the concentrated use of the grey thunderbolts on the singled-out monsters. Next to Jay, Dante and Olivia, Min-soo and Andrea''s role was quite vital to their survival as a team. There were several instances where the Earth''s ALpha Chosen couldn''t escape the range of the monsters'' attacks and nearly died. But it was Min-soo who used Reverse-teleportation to save them before their emted health bars could empty out. Compared to when he first met Jay, Min-soo could be said to have significantly improved his understanding of the Space Element along with his Spirit Energy reserves, which in turn increased the number of times he could use Reverse-teleportation. Every time he did that, he sent them to Andrea, who healed them back to full health using her Light Element. Half the team would have died on the barren battlefield if not for them both. The Earth''s Alpha Chosen repeated the same process with the remaining monsters; one after another, more than three-fourths of the Tier-4 Low-Phase monsters were wiped out. At their rate of progress, it seemed as if all the remaining monsters could be cleared within the 10-minute duration. However, in thest 2 minutes, some of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen exhausted their Spirit Energy reserves and couldn''t attack anymore. That brought down their team''s overall firepower by a notch. To make up for that, Jay expended even more Spirit Energy and increased the number of grey thunderbolts within Thunder Miasma Field. As seconds trickled by, the burden on Jay grew heavier. It wasn''t long before he was the only one who continued to deal damage to the monsters. Maintaining such high attack power had brought an excessive mental toll on Jay''s mind, but he pressed on with it. 25 seconds left.....8 monsters alive 18 seconds left.....7 monsters alive 11 seconds left.....6 monsters alive 4 seconds left.....5 monsters alive At that point, it became clear to Jay that if he didn''t bring out his hidden cards, they couldn''t clear the 10th Monster Wave. So, Jay decided to use the iplete skill that he identally came up back when he triedbining all grey-thunderbolts within to enhance their attack power. Although it exceeded his expectations in terms of the damage output, the Spirit Energy consumption was way more drastic than anything he had seen before. Despite not using it even once, Jay was pretty confident its attack power to be the highest among the skills in his possession, second only to the mysterious unknown grade skill, . With four seconds left before the 10-minute duration''s end, Jay didn''t hesitate and activated the iplete skill, . Every grey thunderbolt within therge area of ''Thunder Miasma Field'' amassed a few meters above Jay''s position. Jay then used his both palms and made apressing gesture as thousands of those palm-sized thunderbolts fused into one enormous dark grey thunderbolt, about the size of an average fighter jet. While doing this, he opened up paths between the remaining three monsters and gathered them in one ce before bombarding them with the massive thunderbolt. The attack power was so immense that it killed off four Lv.66 Monsters in an instant. Nevertheless, that didn''t bring any joy to Jay since thest monster managed to survive the attack by flying up at a critical juncture. There was just a second left, and a little over 5% of the aerial-type monster''s health bar remained. Despite hardly engaging in any physical activity, Jay was exhausted to the point he found it hard to stay awake. His Spirit Energy reserves were emptied out from using ''Mega-Bolt'', drowning his consciousness in lethargy. However, he didn''t waste thatst second. At that point, he could have used one of Centauri Kavach''s inbuilt skills, to refill his Spirit Energy reserve to the brim, but he chose to save it for the next Monster Wave. Instead, he went for an economical approach by activating the most potent Umon grade skill in his arsenal, a skill that solely expends Stamina, . (Umon Grade): To activate this skill, the user needs to choose a lifeform as a target to unleash their inner frenziness. Within that frenzied state, the user''s 5 main Attributes will receive a 20% increment in Stats. Duration upper limit: 3 minutes. Cost: 20% Stamina As soon as Jay activated it, his muscles bulged visibly, and the white in his eyes was changed to a darker red shade. He simultaneously activated and neutralised the frenzied state. With less than half a second at hand, he leapt towards the flying monster at his fastest speed and pulled out the from the Limiter Ring''s storage space in mid-air. If it were a real monster, it would have in the least tried to escape from sensing the danger but being the emted monster it was, the Aerial-type monster flew straight towards Jay. He didn''t miss the opportunity and exerted everyst bit of his strength before shooting the ''Origin ive Replica'' at the iing monster like a javelin. The Earth''s Alpha Chosen held their breaths at that sight. Thest few seconds felt like an eternity for them. Especially, the attack that Jay used to take out four Tier-4 Low-Phase monsters at once had marvelled them. But still, a monster survived that. They were all reluctant to fail aftering so close to clearing the 10th Monster Wave. They hoped with all their hearts for Jay''sst attack tond on the monster in the nick of time. To their euphoria, a bunch of congrattory notifications appeared in front of them when the 10-minute duration was just a few milliseconds shy ofing to an end. [Congrattions! Your team has sessfully cleared the 10th Monster Wave.] [Due to clearing the 10th Monster Wave and creating a new record, a 250% bonus Score was added to your Round-2 Team Evaluation.] Individual Contribution Score: Olivia (Lv.40) - 44890 (10890+34000) Min soo (Lv.38) - 15630 (3630+12000) Andrea (Lv.37) - 13030 (3030+10000) Sergei (Lv.35) - 31260 (7260+24000) Brandon (Lv.35) - 29860 (7860+22000) Kensei (Lv.31) - 26050 (6050+20000) Henry (Lv.30) - 25675 (225+5450+20000) Kasim (Lv.29) - 20470 (240+4230+16000) Gabriel (Lv.27) - 18125 (495+3630+14000) Jay (Lv.25) - 1601270 (1000+2500+5000+10000+25000+50000+100000+249040+439500+719230) Dante (Lv.25) - 37240 (8470+28000) Team Score: 5140826 (1942540+3198286{Bonus}) Chapter 156.5: Monster Waves (Part-5) Other than theposed ones like Olivia, Sergei, Brandon and Kensei, the rest of the team jumped around joyfully. Although some maintained their calm, their hearts still raced with excitement from achieving the impossible. Apanying their sense of aplishment was awe and admiration for Jay. They were well aware that if not for Jay, not to mention clearing the 10th Monster Wave, even surviving for a minute would have been out of the question for them. They looked at Jay to see his reaction, only to find his usual poker face. That made them wonder what would it take for him to react in the same way as them. Contrary to their thoughts, Jay was thrilled, but since he was still in the ''State of Harmony'', all his emotions were suppressed and couldn''t be seen on his face. He continued to stare at the Bonus Score. It came as a surprise to him. Even MJ didn''t know of that since there weren''t any records on clearing the 10th Monster Wave in Round-2. Ever since the beginning of the System''s assimtion with the Universe, the 1st Tournament always took ce on Day-30, which would give them more time to grow stronger by the start of the 1st Tournament. Although the Milky Way Trial Program''s duration was cut short to one-third of its original span, that didn''t change the difficulty of the Tournaments. Even then, no trial zone team managed to defeat 100 Tier-4 low-Phase monsters in the given duration like the Earth trial zone team. Because of that, the Bonus Score they received for clearing the 10th monster Wave was as high as 250%. Combining that with the score from previous Monster Waves, their Team Score reached 5.1 million, out of which the overall Bonus Scoreprised 62%. Out of the remaining 38%, Jay alone contributed to 31% of the entire Team Score, whereas the rest of the team''s score altogether summed up to just 7%. Although Jay was in a good mood for scoring a mind-numbing 5.1 million points, he was not content with that. His aspirations lie even further. Without wasting any more time, he began using Spirit Crystals to recover Spirit Energy and suggested his team members do the same. By the time there was just half a minute left before the 10-minute break ended, Jay had managed to bring his Spirit Energy back to its peak. It wasn''t possible with just the Spirit Crystals alone; he also had to use the Spirit Fruits. The lost Stamina from using was recovered with just his Stamina Regeneration alone without needing to consume Stamina Fruits. As for the rest of his team, they couldn''t use the Magical Fruits since they had a surplus of those fruits not too long ago and consuming any more would be toxic to their bodies and temporarily debuff their overall stats. Meanwhile, Jay caught sight of bitterness on Min-soo and Andrea''s faces and went through their thoughts. They felt down for scoring the least Individual Contribution Points in the entire team. After all, their role was to save others, and that didn''t give them enough leeway to deal much damage to the monsters. Just before the 11th Monster Wave began, Jay ensured them that he would give RP ording to their actual contribution instead of the System calcted one, which was purely based on the contribution score on the amount of damage dealt. Smiles crept up onto the faces of those two after Jay''s assurance. Following that, Jay briefed everyone on the strategy for the 11th Monster Wave, "If clearing the previous Monster Wave brought any hopes on clearing the 11th one, then don''t even entertain such thoughts. The 100 monsters we will soon be facing are peak Tier-4 Mid-Phase monsters. So, our previous ''Hit-and-run'' tactic wouldn''t work on them. At Lv.83, the overall stats of those monsters count up to 1900. Almost all of you just have around one-third of that. If youunch attacks on them, escaping will be unlikely with the vast difference in stats. With Dante''s ability and a little luck, we could survive this. Give your best." Everyone nodded in understanding and once again moved to the spots Dante had informed them. Soon, the 11th Monster Wave began, and the 100 Tier-4 Mid-Phase monsters rushed to the center of the barren battlefield just like the monsters in the previous Wave. Due to the Thunder Miasma Field, their senses were cut off from their surroundings and a simr pattern repeated as the monsters wandered around blind while spawning attacks everywhere around them. The range and destructiveness of their attacks exceeded what the Earth''s Alpha Chosen experienced in the previous Wave, but they held onto their lives. Meanwhile, Jay continued to shower those monsters with a torrent of grey thunderbolts and deal as much damage as possible. Once in a while, when it was hard for Min-soo to save multiple ones at once, he would send Wind Clones onto the monsters and divert them, allowing the Earth''s Alpha Chosen to escape certain death. That continued till the 10-minute duration ended with a bunch of congrattory notifications. [Congrattions! Your team has sessfully survived the 11th Monster Wave.] [Due to surviving the 11th Monster Wave with the entire team, and setting a high record, a 125% bonus Score was added to your Round-2 Team Evaluation.] Individual Contribution Score: Olivia (Lv.40) - 44890 (10890+34000+0) Min soo (Lv.38) - 15630 (3630+12000+0) Andrea (Lv.37) - 13030 (3030+10000+0) Sergei (Lv.35) - 31260 (7260+24000+0) Brandon (Lv.35) - 29860 (7860+22000+0) Kensei (Lv.31) - 26050 (6050+20000+0) Henry (Lv.30) - 25675 (225+5450+20000+0) Kasim (Lv.29) - 20470 (240+4230+16000+0) Gabriel (Lv.27) - 18125 (495+3630+14000+0) Jay (Lv.25) - 2239270 (1000+2500+5000+10000+25000+50000+100000+249040+439500+719230+638000) Dante (Lv.25) - 37240 (8470+28000+0) Team Score: 6576326 (2580540+3995786{Bonus}) Other than Jay, the others didn''t evennd a single point of damage to the monsters. It was not that they couldn''t, but if they did, it would be harder to survive the monsters, which were thrice as fast as them. So, ording to Jay''s instructions, they poured everything into surviving the 11th Monster Wave. Although Jay was the only one who dealt damage to the monsters, he alone killed one-fourth of the monsters by ''damage-grinding'' them till thest minute. If not for the Thunder Miasma Field, forget about taking out so many; even a single Tier-4 Mid-Phase monster would force Jay into using his ace skill, . Despite scoring nothing in the 11th Monster Wave, the Earth''s Alpha Chosen were excited for their Team Score to reach a stunning 6.5 million. Among them, Henry was excited to the point he let out an optimistic remark, "It wasn''t so hard; maybe we could survive the next Monster Wave as well andnd another bonus score." That influenced some into thinking it might be possible, but their thoughts were interrupted by Jay''s harsh words. "Don''t get ahead of yourselves. The monsters in the 12th Monster Wave will all be at the very peak of Tier-4, Lv.100. Other than the overwhelming 2200 overall stats, their respective Mastery will be at the peak of Stage-4, which will make their attacks far more devastating than the previous Wave. It is hard to tell if even I could survive this." A still silence befell upon the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. If even Jay finds it hard to survive, what about them?! Chapter 157.6: Monster Waves {(Part-6) out of 6} A few dozen seconds into the 12th Wave made the Earth''s Alpha Chosen wonder if they could survive for even a minute. Such was the overwhelming devastation caused under the siege of 100 Tier-4 High-Phase monsters. Even with Dante providing beforehand information on the live locations of the monsters, the health bars of Earth''s Alpha Chosen gradually deteriorated at a pace that far exceeded what they had experienced in the previous waves. A minute had passed, and almost everyone in the team was at their wit''s end, with just scraps left in their health bars. Noticing that, Jay instructed everyone to form upon Min-soo. Since it was part of the n, they all knew it was time for thest survival measure. Min-soo right away dived into his role and opened up a Space Pocket. Everyone, including Jay, followed Min-soo into the small room-sized pocket in space. Although it was a little crowded with all eleven of them in there, no oneined. Instead, they all looked at Min-soo, who stood with his eyes closed as he focussed on maintaining the Space Pocket. From within, it was like a one-way mirror, making it possible for them to see everything on the barren battlefield. However, they couldn''tunch attacks from within the Space Pocket since it was an entirely isted space. Other than maintaining the Thunder Miasma Field, Jay wasn''t able to manipte the grey thunderbolts into attacking the selected monsters. Without Jay''s control, the torrent of grey thunderbolts randomly bombarded the monsters. That continued for six more minutes before Min-soo''s Spirit Energy reserves were emptied, shoving everyone out of the Space Pocket. Once again, everyone spread out and tried their best to survive under the monsters'' blindrge-scale attacks. From then on, it didn''t take more than a minute before the emted health bars of Earth''s Alpha Chosen fell to 0% one after another. Kasim, Andrea and Min-soo were the first ones to be eliminated from the barren battlefield. Gabriel, Henry and Kensei followed shortly after them. Next were Sergei and Brandon. As for Olivia, she held out a little longer, but she followed suit as well. With two minutes left, the only ones that remained were Jay and Dante. The was broken without Olivia, but Jay established a new one himself since he could use all of Olivia''s skills. If not for Jay carrying Dante on his shoulder while escaping around, it would have been next to impossible for him to survive for so long with Dante''s agility being at the bottom among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. At the same time, it was the other way around as well. Without Dante foreseeing the monsters'' movements and the core impact range of their attacks, it wouldn''t have been possible for Jay to survive till then, even after using , , and covering himself with simultaneously. (Umon Grade): To activate this skill, the user needs to choose a lifeform as a target to unleash their inner frenziness. Within that frenzied state, the user''s 5 main Attributes will receive a 20% increment in Stats. Duration upper limit: 3 minutes. Cost: 20% Stamina Lv.21 (Stage-3): Boosts user''s Strength, Agility and Endurance Attributes by 15%. Cost: 21 Spirit Energy per second. (Rare Grade): Increases Strength Attribute by 25% for a duration of 3 minutes. Cost: 30 Spirit Energy peruse. Cooldown: 30 minutes. (Rare Grade): Increases Agility Attribute by 25% for a duration of 3 minutes. Cost: 30 Spirit Energy peruse. Cooldown: 30 minutes. By stacking all four of them together, Jay''s overall stats jumped from 990 to 1440. An improvement of 450 stats ced Jay at the initial part of Tier-4 Mid-Phase. After the four-stack boost, his Strength and Agility attributes exceeded the other three and were on par with a monster that had just reached Tier-4 High-Phase. But the downside to having so many boosts stacked on each other was the Stamina consumption that was several times higher than that of the Stamina regenerated per second. With 343 stats in Strength and Agility attributes, his top speed hit a stunning 230 meters per second, even exceeding the speed achieved through . Combined with the Thunder Miasma Field and his top movement speed, he evaded most of the fatal attacks. That continued for some time before there was just a minute left before the 12th Monster Wave could end. However, that didn''t bring forth any joy to Jay since, at the current rate of the damage they received, Dante''s emted health bar would empty out in the next couple of seconds, even with Jay morphing a part of Centauri Kavach''s full body armour to shield most of the damage Dante received. Dante''s role was vital because, without his navigation, Jay''s chances ofsting till the end of the 12th Monster Wave would plummet. So, Jay improvised and brought out the and had Dantetch onto it before sending it to a corner on the very top of the battlefield, whereas Jay stayed on the ground and used and shrunk his body size as much as possible. From being 6 feet tall, he minimized to a height of 5 inches (12 cms). pressed itself to fit Jay''s diminished body size. Although the reduced size negatively impacted his agility by a bit, the damage inflicted on his body was reduced by several folds due to his minute body surface. Besides moving from one spot to another, Jay manipted grey thunderbolts to attack certain monsters, whose attacks would inflict critical damage to Dante in the next few seconds. That way, he distracted monsters into directing their attacks onto himself and sneaked around within the Thunder Miasma Field while bearing most of the burnt of their attacks'' impact. Seconds continued to dwindle away, and so did Jay''s emted health bar. Whenever he had the chance, he ate Grade-3 Vitality Fruits to refill his health bar disregarding the temporary debuffs he could be shortly be inflicted with. That continued till Jay''s health bar dropped as low as 6%, and then a series of notifications rendered in front of Dante and him. [Congrattions! Your team has sessfully survived the 12th Monster Wave.] [Due to surviving the 12th Monster Wave, and setting a top record, a 150% bonus Score was added to your Round-2 Team Evaluation.] Individual Contribution Score: Olivia (Lv.40) - 44890 (10890+34000+0+0) Min soo (Lv.38) - 15630 (3630+12000+0+0) Andrea (Lv.37) - 13030 (3030+10000+0+0) Sergei (Lv.35) - 31260 (7260+24000+0+0) Brandon (Lv.35) - 29860 (7860+22000+0+0) Kensei (Lv.31) - 26050 (6050+20000+0+0) Henry (Lv.30) - 25675 (225+5450+20000+0+0) Kasim (Lv.29) - 20470 (240+4230+16000+0+0) Gabriel (Lv.27) - 18125 (495+3630+14000+0+0) Jay (Lv.25) - 3328270 (1000+2500+5000+10000+25000+50000+100000+249040+439500+719230+638000+1089000) Dante (Lv.25) - 37240 (8470+28000+0+0) Team Score: 9298826 (3669540+5629286{Bonus}) Chapter 158.1: The score that broke apart common logic. {(Part-1) out of 2} Within the Colosseum, thest of the Reality Emtors in the section allotted for the Polyphaga Trial Zone Team opened up and sent out a Horned Beetle onto the podium ground. He was none other than the Team Leader of the Horned Beetles, Pompa. As soon as he got out, Pompa held his chin high and waited for his team members to surround him with cheers and exhration for sessfully clearing the 8th Monster Wave and single-handedly making it quite far in the 9th Monster Wave. However, not even the barest of his expectations were met. Instead, the bunch of Horned Beetles seemed to ignore him as they stared at the top screen floating several meters above the center of the podium ground. It wasn''t just them, but every single one within the Colosseum was the same. Even the Tournament Manager, Frial, wasn''t an exception. To find what everyone was staring at, Pompa turned his attention onto the ink-ck screen only to narrow his eyes right away and watch the ck screen with even more keen eyes as if he was trying to understand somethingplex. A few seconds from then, the still silence in the Colosseum was broken by ripples of gasps followed by noises from various heated discussions. Whereas Pompa still continued to stare at the ck screen with his bead-like eyes. For some reason, he seemed to grow irritated as time passed on. After another few seconds, he couldn''t take it anymore and approached his fellow Horned Beetles. Pompa smacked two of them on the back of their heads before grunting, "Ahh!! Just what is there on that ck screen other than boredom. What is all this fuss about?! " The two Horned Beetles that took the hit stumbled on their feet and almost fell to the ground. When they found that it was Pompa, they felt wronged andined for a while before one of them pointed out, "Leader, we aren''t looking at the ck screen but the narrow column above that. It contains the information on the Earth Trial Zone team''s performance in Round-2. Look at it, and you will know what themotion was about." Pompa''s ears burned in embarrassment from learning that he didn''t grasp such a simple detail, and his subordinates had to point it out to him when it was usually the other way around. He shamelessly covered it up with a scoff, "Hmph!! Did you all think I haven''t already seen their Sco¡­..." However, Pompa''s words were stuck in his throat as he took a clear look at the information over the top screen. [Earth Trial Zone Team - (13th Monster Wave-ongoing) (Current Score: 9298826.)] He eximed in disbelief, "What the Bell!! They managed to reach as far as the 13th Monster Wave?!" Before Pompa could utter anything else, the Score on the top screen once again refreshed, and thest two Reality Emtors in the section allotted for Earth Trial Zone Team opened up. Everyone''s gazesnded on Jay and Dante, who had just experienced the 13th Monster Wave and stepped onto the podium ground. Jay didn''t even take a look at the refreshed Leaderboard and made his way to the Earth team''s seating area along with Dante. There, he sat without as much as a word, whereas the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen were curious to know how Jay and Dante scored a million points when they barely survived the 13th Monster Wave for just a few seconds. Noticing that Jay wasn''t in a mood to speak, they turned to Dante for answers. As for Dante, he kept looking at the sky as if he had seen something he couldn''t forget. Dante got back at them, noticing their piercing gazes as he massaged his forehead. "Alright¡­Alright, enough with that. I will brief you all on what happened there. Jeez, facing 100 Tier-5 Monsters was already overwhelming enough; now, having to relive that memory is too much to handle. Just give me room for a breather." After a few deep breaths and a soft sigh, Dante shared his experience with the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. "After barely surviving the 12th Monster Wave, Jay and I recovered our Health, Stamina and Spirit Energy as much as possible in the 10-minute break. We initially nned on hiding at one of the Barren battlefield''s top corners, but just a second after the 13th Monster Wave began, we realised our n wouldn''t work." "Why? Were they really huge and terrifying?" Kasim impatiently cut in half. Andrea knocked on his shoulder, "Oii, Meat Head! Just listen¡­.will ya?" Kasim scratched the back of his head and wryly smiled at the others, "Sorry¡­sorry. I''ll stay silent." After that, Dante resumed, "The Tier-5 Low-Phase monsters were terrifying? Yes, but not huge. They were at most our size. However, don''t be fooled by that. Even the word ''terrifying'' is an understatement to the power they had disyed." He took a deep breath and recalled a memory as he subconsciously shivered before continuing, "The sheer destruction they unleashed was off the charts. In terms of power, they made the Tier-4 High-Phase monsters look like little children. Their presence alone suffocated me to the point my body froze in fear. If not for Jay carrying me on his shoulder, I would have died within two seconds after the 13th Monster Wave began." While Dante continued exining to the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, Jay recollected his memories and analysed some crucial details. The first one was the Tier-Suppression. Although the emted monsters weren''t able to use direct Tier Suppression, the oppressive effect took ce when they faced Tier-5 monsters. It was due to the vast difference in Tiers. Dante was affected by that but not Jay. Ever since the beginning, the Tier-Suppression showed no effect on him. Every time that happened, Jay would contribute it to his abnormal amount of stats, which ced him on a Tier above his own. But facing Tier-5 monsters made Jay think otherwise. After all, the overall stats of peak Tier-5 Low-Phase monsters sit around 3500, and that was more than thrice that of his overall stats. {Author Note: Tier-5 (Lv.101 - Lv.250) Tier-5 Low-Phase (Lv.101 - Lv.150), Tier-5 Mid-Phase (Lv.151 - Lv.200), Tier-5 High-Phase (Lv.201 - Lv.250)} Due to that, Jay concluded that he was pretty much immune to Tier-Suppression and believed his Unique Innate Talent, , has something to do with it. But since he was not 100% sure, Jay didn''t give further thought to it and moved on to scaling the attributes of Tier-5 Low-Phase monsters. With 3500 overall stats, that would mean each of the five attributes would have 700 stats on average. Then it all made sense to Jay as to why he heard several ear-deafening noises whenever those monsters moved. It was due to their phenomenal movement speed that exceeded the speed of sound, and the loud noises were none other than the sonic booms heard from breaking the sound barrier. {Author Note: Speed of Sound = 343 meters/sec (1125 feet/sec)} If not for the ''Thunder Miasma Field'' blocking their senses, the monsters would have caught Jay and Dante in a sh. That showed Jay the extent of Thunder Miasma''s capacity. At just Lv.21 Mastery (Stage-3), the Thunder Miasma was almost on par with Lv.41 Mastery (Stage-5). But under the siege of the Stage-5 Masteries of 100 Tier-5 monsters, even the seemingly all-powerful ''Thunder Miasma'' slowly lost its potency. When Jay realised that the Thunder Miasma Field couldn''t hold and hide his location for much longer, he gave it his all and used up his entire Spirit Energy reserve into a single full-powered attack, . Since Jay used the skill during the 10-minute break, he recovered his Spirit Energy to the full extent, and expending all of that into made it even more powerful than when Jay used it thest time. However, not even a single monster died under the full-on collision of such a powerful attack. But that enraged the monsters even more, and before Jay could move further away from them, a Raven-headed Humanoid monster dashed towards them before shing Jay and Dante in half with its de-like arms. That was how both of their emted health bars dropped to zero and were sent out of the Reality Emtors. Chapter 159.2: The score that broke apart common logic. {(Part-2) out of 2} Listening to Dante exin what happened during the 13th Monster Wave, the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen went wild with their thoughts and gulped unconsciously. Especially, picturing how overwhelmingly powerful the monsters were ording to Dante''s description and how even Jay was helpless against those monsters had made them wonder if they could havested even a second in the 13th Monster Wave. Whatever confidence they had procured from being the most powerful team in the Tournament and outweighing the other teams'' Evaluation Scores by a lot was drained right out of them. After all, when facing a Tier-5 or higher-tiered individuals, it doesn''t matter even if the Earth''s Alpha Chosen stood at the very top among the million trial zone teams in the Trial Program. Although experiencing a virtual death under the hands of Tier-5 monsters had left quite an impression on Jay, he wasn''t as overwhelmed as the rest of his team members. Instead, his thirst for power grew even further. More trial zone teams were sent out of their allotted Reality Emtors as time passed. The ones who came out couldn''t help themselves from staring at the Earth''s Alpha Chosen in disbelief after learning their Round-2 Evaluation Score. As soon as thest remaining one, the Anis Trial Zone Teampleted their Round-2, the Round-2 Evaluation Score was refreshed for onest time before finalising the results. [Top 100 Trial Zone Teams] 1. Earth Trial Zone Team (777): 10,315,540 Points. 2. Anis Trial Zone Team (620): 993,810 Points 3. Silephe Trial Zone Team (912): 849,290 Points 4. Tilephe Trial Zone Team (913): 836,830 Points 5. Polyphaga Trial Zone Team (789): 798,980 Points 6. Owlite Trial Zone Team (049): 731,700 Points 7. Ragath Trial Zone Team (573): 704,250 Points . . 15. Falud Trial Zone (262): 492,500 Points . . 25. Zapwa Trial Zone (124): 293,130 Points Compared to the trial zone team rankings in Round-1, there were just two changes in Round-2 rankings. They were the rank advancements of Anis and Falud trial zone teams. While the former rose from 5th to 2nd position, thetter leapt all the way from 100th to 15th position. Rather than the improvement shown by the Anis trial zone team, the abrupt rank advancement of the Falud trial zone team led most of the audience to focus on them. The keen ones caught onto instances when the Falud trial zone team moved together with the Earth trial zone team. It didn''t take long for them to guess that the Earth trial zone team had something to do with the sudden rise of the Falud trial zone team. But no one dared voice their opinions lest they offend the Earth trial zone team in the process. An overwhelming score of 10.3 million was more than enough to make everyone fear the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. The vast difference in Score between the first and second-ranked teams had fortified the Earth trial zone team''s position as the undisputed ''No.1''. The other teams in the Top-10 lost whateverst bit of hopes they had in ranking first in the Tournament. Unlike the others, the Ans fared better after learning of the Earth team''s immense Score. Still, it shook them at the thought of someone reaching the 13th Monster Wave in Round-2. When all other Ans died at the beginning of the 9th Monster Wave, it was Akor who single-handedly cleared it. Although he couldn''t survive for more than a few seconds against 100 Tier-4 Low-Phase monsters in the 10th Monster Wave, Akor gave his all in the hopes of Jaymending him. When Akor learned of the Earth trial zone team''s performance in Round-2, he immediately guessed it was Jay that contributed most to the team Evaluation Score. From the 10-digit Score, it became apparent to him that Jay had grown even stronger than before. Realising that he was still nowhere at Jay''s standard, Akor sighed, but the glint in his eyes indicated his will to grow even stronger and be the strongest follower under Jay. As for Halbor and the rest of the Rock Magmoids, Akor didn''t see them aspetition since they missed their chance to obtain Origin Sigils. Whereas the Rock Magmoids were still in disbelief for ranking among the top 25 teams, that too at the 15th position. When Jay first guaranteed they would reach Top-25, the Rock Magmoids found it to be a bit exaggerated, but only after the results came out did they realise it was an understatement. With them watching Akor''s performance disyed on one of the screens in Round-2, it didn''te as a surprise when the Anis trial zone team ranked second. However, they guessed Akor''s improvement must have had to do with the power he received from Jay. That made the Rock Magmoids wonder what would have happened if they hadn''t rejected the Second Choice Jay had presented them. The chit-chatter andmotion within the Colosseum subsided with Frial''s announcement. "Only the Top-25 teams are qualified for Round-3. As for the rest of the teams that participated in Round-2, join the audience seating area if you wish to spectate. The subsequent Round shallmence after a 3-hour intermission. I rmend the Top-25 teams to rest well in that time because, unlike the previous two rounds, Round-3 won''t be held within the Reality Emtors but on this very podium ground itself. Moreover, each team will have to fight every other team by the end of Round-3 to decide the final rankings. Alright, enough with this for now. I shall announce the specifics after the 2nd Intermission. Let us end Round-2 here." With that, everyone in the Colosseum began vacating through the four exit gates. This time Frial didn''t approach the Earth''s Alpha Chosen and watched them leave along with the Ans and the Rock Magmoids. He didn''t ask them for their decisions and decided to wait till the end of the Tournament. Another reason for not approaching them was to do with Jay. Frial didn''t wish to antagonise Jay anymore than he did at the end of Round-1. If he had prior knowledge of what would happen upon using an information-prying skill on Jay, he would never have done that in the first ce and stumbled onto Jay''s bad side. Jay''s performance back in Round-1 made Frial cautious in his presence, but after going through Jay''s individual Evaluation Score in Round-2, he couldn''t help but be fearful. Excluding the Team Bonus Points, Jay alone scored 4.3 Million Points!! Frial knew it had to do with the ink-ck fog Jay used to cover the barren battlefield to blind the senses of monsters. Even with such a method, reaching the 13th Monster Wave was next to impossible, but somehow the Earth trial zone team aplished it. With a total of 10.3 million points, Frial didn''t believe any other team in the Milky Way Trial Program could beat the Earth''s team. His thoughts weren''t without grounds; after all, the highest ever recorded Team Score for Round-2 in the Trial Programs conducted in the System-assimted Universe was 7.7 million. One must remember that the 1st Tournament of almost all those Trial Programs took ce on Day-30, whereas the Milky way Trial Program had it on Day-10. That would mean the Alpha Chosen from the Milky Way Gxy only had one-third the time for growth. Despite those odds, the Earth trial zone team came over the top with a score that broke apartmon logic. If you have noticed, I am basing the first letters of the names of Alpha Chosen depending on the first letter of their home. Example-1: Anis (Akor, Aton, Ah''na...etc) Example-2: Polyphaga (Pompa....etc) Example-3: Ragath (Raul, Rex, Remus, Rodyn, Reinald, Roth....etc ) Of course, I didn''t do the same for Earth''s Alpha Chosen. There are a few exceptions like the character ''Seath'' from the ''Owlite'' and ''Halbor'' from the ''Falud''. I am thinking about changing the name of Rock Magmoids from ''Falud'' to ''Halud'' so that it would be easier to keep track of which Trial Zone Team they belong to. What is your opinion on this? If you wish to let it be the same, type ''Falud'' in the chapterment section. If you want me to change the name of Rock Magmoids, then type ''Halud''. Based on which side most readers are inclined, I will make the final decision. Chapter 160: Declaration!! Once they all exited the Colosseum, Jay brought Ans and Rock Magmoids along with the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen into ''Rest House 001''. There, everyone gathered on the ground floor. It was a bit crowded with so many in one room, especially with the mini-giant-sized Rock Magmoids upying half the space. But none of them made a sound and waited for Jay to say something. Noticing the solemn look on his face, they all guessed it must be pretty important. After a few seconds of silence, Jay cut the tension in the room and brought up the topic he left off at the end of Round-1. "Although what I am about to say is mostly intended for my fellow team members, this will also benefit you all. It''s regarding one of the most important decisions you eventually have to make by the end of the Trial Program and will impact the future of your." Dante raised his hand like a ss student and asked Jay, "Is it regarding the proposal offered by Frial?" Jay nodded at him and shifted his eyes onto the Ans and Rock Magmoids, "My team members have an idea of what I was talking about and why it was important, so before I start, let MJ fill you up on some crucial information." After saying that, Baby MJ appeared beside Jay''s head and began his lecture to Ans and Rock Magmoids regarding the proposal Frial offered to Earth''s Alpha Chosen and the harsh reality the Gxies had to face after finishing their Trial Programs. The fact that they would be under the mercy of the nearby System-assimted Gxies after the Trial Program distressed them. Jay picked up from where MJ left off, "I didn''t bring this to your notice to see you all pull long faces but to make you aware of the eventuality. Of Course, there is a way to escape the fate of bing ves to the invading Forces of System-assimted Gxies. It is to join one of the top 10 powerful Factions of the Virgo SuperCluster like the Red Elven Empire and be its subsidiary to deter the advances of invaders. As a representative of the Red Elven Empire, Frial will most likely offer a proposal to both your teams by the end of the Tournament. Although it would be different from the one he offered us, the terms wouldn''t be bad." Jay then proceeded to say that it wasn''t just Frial, but the Tournament Managers that were conducting the Tournaments in the other 999 Trial Regions would be doing the same and try to recruit the teams that perform well into the respective Faction they represent. He further emphasized it doesn''t mean that they have no choice but to join the Red Elven Empire, as the recruitment into a powerful Faction wasn''t limited to the 1st Tournament. After all, two more Tournaments would take ce before the end of the Trail Program, and the Tournament Managers allotted for those would try to recruit the most promising trial zone teams into the Faction they represent. Jay then turned towards the Rock Magmoids, "Since this is a decision you all have to make for the safety of your entire Race and, I won''t mind you all joining another Faction. But remember that once you join any Faction, we will be walking separate paths after the Trial Program. You all wouldn''t be under my protection anymore after that, and your life and death wouldn''t be of my concern." With the same intensity in his eyes, Jay looked at the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, "This applies to you lot as well. If you wish to join any Faction, I won''t stand in the way, but you will have to join as an individual and not as a representative of our. Onest thing. I have long decided to create a Faction of my own, so joining another Faction was never in my interest, nor do I need to. I won''t let Earth, my home fall in the hands of any Faction to be a ything." Whatever little noise in that room disappeared without a trace. If someone from the System-assimted Universe were to hear his words, they would undoubtedly mock such a grand deration. To them, Jay would only seem like a naive and rebellious Alpha Chosen from a budding Gxy, but whether it be the Earth''s Alpha Chosen or the Ans or the Rock Magmoids, none of them doubted his words. After all, they had first-hand experience of what Jay was capable of. Besides his ability to make others stronger, Jay''s power alone exceeded the standard of the 1st Tournament. One has to keep in mind the time it took for Jay to be as strong as he was only short of 10 Trial Program days. None of them dared to guess how strong he could be by the end of the Trial Program. Somehow, the thought of Jay forming a faction on par with the hegemonies of the SuperCluster level didn''t seem far-fetched to them. Not long after Jay''s deration, the Sea Lord of Ans, Aton, approached Jay, breaking the utter silence in the room. Once he was a meter away from Jay, he knelt on one knee and picked Jay''s palm before cing it on his forehead. The only ones that understood the meaning of Aton''s actions were the Ans and Jay. As someone who had been through the memories of Ans, he knew that it was a custom used on Anis to show one''s submission. Jay lowered his gaze to meet Aton''s eyes and asked, "Do you represent your entire team or just yourself?" Whenever the Ans returned to their home during the 18-hour rest period, Akor used to indulge them on the adventure he set on with Jay to other trial zones. Through that, Aton learned a lot about Jay and how he dealt with matters at hand. On ount of Akor, Jay even helped the Ans by providing valuable information regarding the Tournament, which brought his admiration of Jay to new heights. Later, when the Falud trial zone team received a surge in power from Jay and ranked 17th in Round-2, he entertained the thoughts of bing a subsidiary to the Earth trial zone team. Hearing Jay''s deration of creating a Faction of his own had cleared that sense of uncertainty for Aton. He didn''t wish to miss the opportunity of being the very first team to join Jay''s Faction. While still kneeling on the floor, Aton replied with conviction, "Sir Jay, I speak for the entire An race with my title ''Sea Lord'' on the line." Following that, the rest of the Ans followed suit and knelt on the floor. Chapter 161: ORIGIN SIGIL Synergy A hint of smile could be seen on Akor''s face as he watched his fellow team members decide to join Jay''s Faction. He kneeled alongside them and cried out, "Long live Liege!!" The next second, the rest of the Ans loudly chorused along, "Long Live Liege!!!" Jay didn''t bat an eye and gazed past each of them before saying, "Consider it carefully. Joining my Faction is the same as picking thetter of the ''Two Choices''. Your lives won''t be yours anymore." The Ans didn''t move one bit from their positions and once again shouted ''Long Live Liege'' as those sounds reverberated in that room. They believed in the decision made by their Sea Lord, Aton. Learning of the harsh reality they have to face after the Trial Program made them realise the imminent need for power. The kind of power Akor received from Jay, which outright brought their Trial Zone Team to rank second in Round-2. Jay was able to see through their thoughts. As long as they were sincere, he didn''t care about their motivations to join his Faction. Following that, Jay tapped Aton''s forehead, and a silver-coloured number ''1'' emerged on his be. The number ''1'' represented his position as the 1st Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL holder. Yes, Jay didn''t grant Aton a Minor ORIGIN SIGIL like how he did with Akor. After all, there were just 100 of them, among which 12 were already in use. As for the Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGILS, there were as many as 1000 of them. Sparing a few of them was within moderation. Since Aton already possessed a Grade-8 Innate Talent, the ''Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL-1'' didn''t bring any improvement to the Grade of his Innate Talent. Aside from that, he received Looted Stats equaling 10% of Jay''s overall stats. Meanwhile, a series of notifications flowed in front of Jay''s vision, and thest few surprised him. [100 Undistributed Looted stats were expended to engrave a Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL.] [99 Undistributed Looted stats were automatically assigned to the ''Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL-1'' holder.] [You have gained absolute control over Grade-8 .] [Two simr Innate Talents are detected. Creating synergy between them to amplify their grades.] [The Innate Talent of ''Minor ORIGIN SIGIL-XII'' Holder is amplified from Grade-9 to Grade-9.1] [The Innate Talent of ''Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL-1'' Holder is amplified from Grade-8 to Grade-8.1] It was the first time Jay hade across such a thing. After all, there weren''t any ORIGIN SIGIL holders with simr Innate Talents before then. Jay then mentallymunicated with MJ to learn about the new revtion in Innate Talent Grades. ''Master, there wasn''t any System record of Innate Talent Grades being in decimals. This must either be the very first urrence of such a thing, or my Grade-4 System clearance was just not enough to ess information on it.'' Jay inclined towards thetter of the two possibilities MJ had pointed out. Because if it really were the first time for such a thing to happen, Universe-Level Achievement notifications would have popped up with a barrage of congrattions. To see if the decimal improvement in Grade had brought any actual improvement in effectiveness, Jay sent his consciousness into his Spirit Space. In there, Akor''s Innate Talent didn''t shift from the usual revolution path of the 9th outermost circr orbit. Instead, Akor''s Innate Talent expanded more than its usual size. Due to the absolute control over that Innate Talent, Jay was able to sense the initial 9-foldprehension of Water Element had improved to 9.1 times. It was a simr case with Aton''s Innate Talent. His initial 8-foldprehension of Water Element had improved to 8.1 times. Jay then exited his Spirit Space and approached the female An, Ah''na, to test out something. He made her a Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL holder and waited for another set of notifications to pour in. [Three simr Innate Talents are detected. Creating synergy between them to amplify their grades.] [The Innate Talent of ''Minor ORIGIN SIGIL-XII'' Holder is amplified from Grade-9.1 to Grade-9.2] [The Innate Talent of ''Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL-1'' Holder is amplified from Grade-8.1 to Grade-8.2] [The Innate Talent of ''Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL-2'' Holder is amplified from Grade-7 to Grade-8.2] Going through those notifications made a few things clear to Jay. The first was that an ORIGIN SIGIL holder''s actual Innate Talent Grade doesn''t matter in determining the Grade amplification. Another point was that the type of ORIGIN SIGIL didn''t matter, whether it be the Minor or Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGILS. The only factor to be considered was the number of ORIGIN SIGILS holders with simr Innate Talents. When two ORIGIN SIGIL holders'' Innate Talents were synergised, then their Grades would be amplified by 0.1. The same decimal amount would be amplified whenever another ORIGIN SIGIL holder with a simr type of Innate Talent appears. The addition of another Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL holder with a simr Innate Talent had once again amplified their Grades. Following that, Jay proceeded to grant Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGILS to the rest of the Ans. Once Jay was done with it, he opened the ORIGIN SIGIL section in his . (3/10) - Olivia (MOON): (Grade-10) Kay (EARTH): (Grade-10) Qew (VENUS): (Grade-10) ... (12/100): I. Storm Eagle MJ: (Grade-9) II. Hobgoblin MJ: (Grade-9) III. Shadow Leopard MJ: (Grade-9) IV. Venomous Scorpion MJ: (Grade-9) V. Earth Wyrm MJ: (Grade-9) VI. Moro: (Grade-9); VII. Esha: (Grade-9) VIII. Rahu: (Grade-9) IX. Kethu: (Grade-9) X. Jon: < Spear Innate Talent> (Grade-9) XI. Ravan: (Grade-9) XII. Akor: (Grade-9.7) {New} ... (7/1000) : 1. Aton: (Grade-8.7) {New} 2. Ah''na: (Grade-8.7) {New} 3. Acix: (Grade-8.7) {New} 4. Arae : (Grade-8.7) {New} 5. Auv''il: (Grade-8.7) {New} 6. Alvek: (Grade-8.7) {New} 7. Arnun: (Grade-8.7) {New} (Max. Number of ORIGIN SIGIL holders with simr Innate Talents: 10) Aside from Akor, the rest of the Ans'' Innate Talents were amplified to Grade-8.7. As for Akor, his Innate Talent was amplified to Grade-9.7, nearing theprehension efficiency of an Omega Chosen. But ording to the new information disyed at the bottom of the ORIGIN SIGIL section, there could at most be 10 ORIGIN SIGIL holders with simr Innate Talents. That would indirectly mean the maximum Grade Amplification a Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL holder could receive was 8.9, just a little short of bing a Grade-9 Innate Talent. Whereas for a Minor ORIGIN SIGIL holder, it would be 9.9, just shy of reaching a Grade-10 Innate Talent. Jay didn''t know what would happen if he granted a Major ORIGIN SIGIL to a Water Innate Talent user, but he didn''t wish to find it out for the time being due to obvious reasons. Other than the fact that Jay had just 10 Major ORIGIN SIGILS, out of which he already used 3 of them, Jay didn''t wish to risk shortening the Trial Program period even more by another one into an Omega Chosen. Chapter 162: Unfriendly visit to a troubled Wolf. The Ans felt theirprehension towards Water element rise substantially and checked their respective windows to discover the changes in their Innate Talent Grade. Albeit the appearance of a decimal number in their Innate talent Grade, their sheer excitement triumphed over the oddity. Their exhration stemmed not from that one aspect but also due to the fact that they could use a new type of stats to improve their overall Attribute Stats. However, their astonishment didn''t end there as they learned of the ORIGIN SIGIL''s ability to synchronise their Masteries with the other Water Innate Talent users. The admiration Ans held for Jay had outright transformed to reverence. Not to mention their enhanced potential, just from the ability to share each others''prehension, the possibility of the Ans having to face bottlenecks in improving ''Water Mastery'' went down by several notches. On top of all that, they even had extra stats allotted for them in their respective ORIGIN SIGIL. As for Akor, he had his eyes closed as he felt his affinity towards the Water element rise to heights he had never experienced before. Unlike his fellow team members, whose Innate Talents almost reached Grade-9, Akor''s control andprehension towards Water element took an even more qualitative leap upon nearing Grade-10; the pinnacle Grade of Innate Talents in the vast Universe. With the ever so slight improvement in his Innate Talent Grade, Akor sensed the huge chasm that differentiated Grade-9 from Grade-10 shortened by arge extent. It seemed he wasn''t far from reaching the other end of the chasm, but Akor realised it wasn''t something he could cross. After all, the maximum his Innate Talent could reach was Grade-9.9, which would be possible only if Jay grants ORIGIN SIGILS to two more Water Innate Talent users. Besides the Grade Amplification, the other feature that deeply moved Akor was the ORIGIN SIGIL function that allowed simr Innate Talent users to partially Synchronize their Masteries. It allows simr Innate Talent users to share the Masteryprehension, which in turn hastens the progress of reaching higher Mastery stages. As for the Earth''s Alpha Chosen, Jay''s actions of mass granting ORIGIN SIGILS made it apparent to them that their team leader''s ability to make others stronger wasn''t limited to just a few. After all, who in their right mind would casually use ORIGIN SIGILS if there were just a few in hand? Meanwhile, the Rock Magmoids were having the hesitation of their lifetimes. They had witnessed Akor obtain a strange silver symbol from Jay and grew strong enough to drag up their Trial Zone Team to rank 2nd in Round-2. The same happened with the rest of the Ans, and they could hardly imagine how powerful they had be. Jay sensed their hesitation but didn''t say anything to resolve that. Instead, he walked past everyone and paused at the Rest House main door before dismissing the crowd, "I have some things to attend to. You all rest, let the auto-regeneration do its thing, and wait for your Stamina, Health and Spirit Energy reserves to fill back up. Round-3 is gonna be a long one." Akor tagged alongside Jay while the rest left to their respective Rest Houses. On the way, Akor subtly asked Jay from the side, "Liege, are we going to visit Lycanthropes?" Jay replied as he continued to walk, "Indeed. But it''s not going to be a friendly visit. Their Leader got his hands on something that''s rare to find so early in the Trial Program. I am going to ask for his source politely." When Jay confirmed it was the Lycanthropes he wished to meet, Akor gritted his teeth and thought, ''Those filthy mutts better not trouble Liege, or I wouldn''t mind roughing them up.'' Jay saw through his subordinate''s rather aggressive thoughts but kept quiet as he was pretty used to Akor''s over-protectiveness towards him. As the very first ''Follower,'' Akor felt obligated to protect Jay, and that sense of duty was amplified even more so after Jay granted him a Minor ORIGIN SIGIL. Jay highly doubted there would be any need for Akor to step in. Unless the Lycanthropes were blockheaded, they wouldn''t dare cause him trouble, especially after the Earth trial zone team''s magnificent performance in Round-2. As the 7th ranked trial zone team in Round-2, the Rest House allotted to the Lycanthropes wasn''t far from ''Rest House 001''. It didn''t take long before Jay and Akor reached their destination. Jay knocked on the door as if visiting a neighbourhood house, and soon someone from the other side opened it. As soon as the other party recognised Jay, he mmed the door back before pushing his back on it and obstructing it by spreading his arms and legs all over the door. The one who opened the door was the same Lycanthrope that led a bunch of werewolves to force Halbor into signing a ve contract and, in the end, had his ass handed over to him by Jay. Raul''s breathing roughened up to a point it looked as if he was panting. The act of mming the door on Jay''s face was done by Raul out of instinct. An instinct that purely stemmed from fear. Raul really wished never to meet Jay again. But there he was, blocking the door with all his might in the hopes of not having to see death in its eyes. Back when Jay almost squeezed the life out of him, Raul felt closer to death than he ever had been in his entire life, leaving a trauma scar on him. If not for the Rest House System protection, which doesn''t allow other trial zone team members in without residents'' permission, Raul would have long scrammed from there without looking back. Raul''s actions left Jay at a loss for words. The other party''s reaction seemed a bitical. Without knocking on the door anymore, Jay used to weaken the protection over their Rest House before activating and seizing control over Raul''s mind. Meanwhile, as someone who holds control over who goes in and out due to being the highest levelled one among their team, Rex received notifications saying that the Rest house protection weakened. Rex hurried downstairs to find the root of the problem, and there he found Raul opening the door for an Earth''s Alpha Chosen and an An. He recognised them both at first nce itself. One was the strongest An, and the other was the mysterious individual among Earth''s Alpha Chosen, whose information was hidden entirely. That made Rex realise it was the same individual who thrashed his subordinates during the 1st Intermission. After he learned about Jay''s overwhelming strength from Raul, he paid attention to Jay in Round-2. Although Rex couldn''t find anything on Jay''s performance in Round-2, he caught onto the Earth team members'' asional respectful gestures and looks of approval directed toward the low-key individual in their group. From there on, it wasn''t hard to put the pieces together and see who was pulling the strings. That only made Rex regret sending his subordinates after Halbor even more. After learning that Jay had confiscated Raul''s storage ring, he was pretty sure the Contract Scrolls were exposed. Anyone in power with a bit of ambition wouldn''t let go of an opportunity when it presents itself, and the Contract Scrolls just fits the role. Rex knew that it was just a matter of time before crossing paths with the mysterious Earth''s Alpha Chosen. However, he wished to dy it as long as possible, at least until he found a way to remedy the transgression. But that didn''t go as he nned. Somehow, the Rest house System protection weakened, and Raul was halfway through opening the door with zoned-out eyes, like a mindless puppet. "Noo!! Raul! Don''t open it!!" That didn''t change the result as Jay swished past the opened door entrance and halted just a few feet away from Rex. "Toote for that now. Why don''t you have a seat? We have much to chat about, whether you are willing or not." Chapter 163: Source of Contract Scrolls. Rex didn''t understand how the Rest house System protection weakened in the first ce. Moreover, his most loyal subordinate had opened the door and disobeyed his direct order. Rex was so mad at that point he wished nothing more than to behead Raul right on the spot, buting face to face with the mysterious Earth''s Alpha Chosen had made him fear for his own safety, much less bother punishing Raul. He tried using < Analyse> on the mysterious individual, but other than the name ''Jay'', he couldn''t find anything else, not even the Level or Tier. From the way Jay nonchntly stood in front of him, it became evident to Rex that the other party wasn''t the least bit cautious of him; as if he wasn''t perceived as a threat to begin with. Although Rex couldn''t estimate Jay''s strength, he was well aware of the prowess disyed by Akor in Round-2. Not to mention the menacing-looking An, Akor, who continued to stare at Rex like chancing upon a long-lost enemy; for some reason, Rex has a feeling that the individual in front of him could single-handedly thwart any move he makes. Despite his cruel nature, Rex''s judgement wasn''t clouded, and he was smart enough to see when cards were not in his favour. So, he decided to stay put in the spot and not do anything reckless, lest he aggravates the other party, whose strength wasn''t something he could trifle with. Under his cautious eyes, a torrent of ink-ck fog emerged from Jay''s hands and formed a thick bubble around them with only Jay, Akor and Rex in it. Anything outside the dark fog bubble was cut off from Rex''s senses. His sense of hearing, vision and smell became limited to the small area within the bubble. Jay''s voice woke Rex from checking his narrowed senses, "Think of this as an interrogation. I expect you to answer me as truthfully as possible." Jay leaned in before continuing, "Of course, you could lie as well, but that would pan out like those little flunkies you sent after Halbor. You know¡­one limb at a time." Rex maintained hisposure on the shell, but within, he was metaphorically sweating his face off. He didn''t doubt the other party''s capabilities or see those words as empty threats. Rex vividly remembered the tragic conditions his underlings returned with after failing to finish the task he gave them. While two of hisckeys lost flesh chunks from their arms, one had an arm missing, and another even lost a leg. If not for their racial skill regenerating his team members'' lost body parts before Round-2 began, their team wouldn''t have ranked among the Top-10 with the cut-throat performance scores of other teams. Standing there, Rex faced Jay''s first question, "Why don''t you start by revealing to me your Innate Talent?" Rex paused for a second since giving away detailed information on one''s Innate Talent was akin to hinting at others about his weakness. But under the other party''s scrutinising gaze, his hesitation didn''tst long, and he answered truthfully. Rex''s Grade-8 didn''te as something new to Jay since he already knew about it. Usually, one could only see the name of others'' Innate Talent or ability if they have a higher grade information-type skill but not the detailed information such as the particr ability''s exact effects, duration and cooldown. However, MJ, who has ess to System Information, can find every little information on anyone in the Milkyway Trial program. The only limitation was that Jay had to be at a close distance with whom he wished to have MJ see through theplete information on Innate Talent''s abilities. Seeing Rex waiting for another inquiry, Jay smirked as he added, "and the other one?...." Rex widened his eyes in disbelief since he had never mentioned his other Innate Talent to anyone else. Meanwhile, Jay went through the detailed information about Rex''s Innate Talent that MJ had brought up in his vision. (Grade-7 Variant Category). - Grants passive movement speed bonus per every Stage. Stage-1: 7%, Stage-2: 14%, Stage-3: 21%¡­......so on. Total movement speed bonus: 42% (7+14+21) INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILLS: , , . : Increases Time Perception by three-fold for 1 minute. Cooldown: 30 minutes. Cost: 25 Spirit Energy : Allows the user to cast a buff to double movement speed for 1 minute. Cooldown: 30 minutes. Cost: 50 Spirit Energy : Allows the user to cast a debuff to half movement speed for 1 minute. Cooldown: 30 minutes. Cost: 50 Spirit Energy Jay raised his eyebrows from how impressive Rex''s Innate Exclusive skills were. When used all three at once on top of the passive movement speed bonus, the effect they could bring would bring a massive speed advantage. In terms of speed, Rex could even go toe to toe with Jay, but that was all there to it. Even with his high movement speed, defeating Jay was a different matter altogether. Since the other party knew he possessed another Innate Talent, Rex revealed its details begrudgingly. Noticing the indifferent look on Jay''s face, Rex realised that the other party somehow knew all about his second Innate Talent. "Good thing you haven''t lied, or I would have resorted to violent means." Jay added. Rex was d he didn''t falsify his second Innate Talent''s abilities. "All this was to see if you would be honest with your answers. Now that''s out of the way, let us move on to the main dish. Where did you get these Contract Scrolls?" Jay asked as he brought out a bunch of Contract Scrolls from his storage ring. Unlike his previous replies, Rex didn''t show much hesitation in his answer, "That¡­I can''t reveal it." This time, Jay stayed silent, and Akor retorted instead, "Filthy mutt, just so you know, you didn''t have a choice in the first ce. You either answer willingly, or we can rip it out of you." Rex stood still with his head down, gritting his teeth without answering back. Jay joined in, "Since you aren''t answering that, let me put it this way. Who is this source of Contract Scrolls that you fear so much that you are willing to risk making me an open enemy?" At the mention of that someone, sweat rolled over Rex''s face, which had terror written all over it. But all of a sudden, the yellow in Rex''s eyes was reced with the ck of his pupils, and a hideous smile emerged on his face. Chapter 164.1: A Faraway Enemy (Part-1) Ever since Jay gained a hold over Olivia''s skill , everyone was an open book to him since even their thoughts couldn''t escape him. Of course, Olivia and Frial were an exception to that. While the former was the shareholder of , thetter has a powerful soul despite regressing from Tier-7. When Jay entered the Lycanthropes'' Rest House, he added Rex to that shortlist. However, it was not like Rex''s thoughts were entirely out of reach; rather they were audible once every few seconds, simr to a buzzing signal interrupting a Television show. While conversing with Rex, Jay noticed the thoughts going around in Rex''s head weren''t just his but also had another voice. That brought Jay to the conclusion that there was someone else controlling Rex to do their bidding and that someone had to have a Soul-type Innate Talent to be able to interfere with Jay reading Rex''s thoughts. Jay ruled out the possibility of that someone being within his 500-meter range after discreetly going through everyone''s minds within the range of the skill, , meaning that the unknown individual has the means to spy on others from far away. He could try forcibly going through Rex''s mind, but that would alert the culprit behind the scenes. If Jay doesn''t handle it with caution, the hidden party could be a thorn in his side. Especially with there being a high chance the other party knows of his identity whereas he didn''t. So, Jay yed along and waited for the culprit to slip up and make a mistake. Before long, his patience was rewarded with an opportunity. With a devious smile, Rex shot himself forward as his right palm reached out towards Jay. But before Rex''s palm could reach, Jay caught him by the wrist and stopped him dead in his tracks. However, that only made Rex erupt in delirious shrillughter, "Kihkihkihh...Now you too are mine." Then Jay was greeted by a couple of notifications. [ detected a foreign entity trying to imnt ''Possession Seed'' in your Soul.] [Due to the invading Innate Talent being a grade lower than , you can counter as you see fit.] Then the whole picture became more evident to Jay as things fell into ce. First, he learned that the culprit has a Grade-9 Innate Talent, . The ''Possession Seed'' was something that was used to take control over a target''s body, like how Rex was being controlled. The culprit''s goal behind closing in on Jay was to make physical contact with Jay in order to ce a ''Possession Seed'' in his Soul, but that presented Jay with the opportunity he was patiently waiting for. A while ago, Jay only had a vague sense of the culprit''s presence within Rex, but after possessing Rex''s body, the other party''s presence became as clear as day to Jay. The wide grin on Rex''s face faded upon realising the ''Possession Seed'' that was sent to take over Jay''s Soul was out of control. With that, a sense of foreboding dawned upon ''Possessed Rex'', and he instinctively tried to pull back, but his right wrist was stuck within Jay''s firm grasp. Even iling around at full strength was deemed to be of no use. To free himself, ''Possessed Rex'' swung his left fist at Jay''s face only to miss it by a scratch as Jay nudged his head to a side. Before the other party could throw another punch, Jay activated and squeezed the wrist in his grip, crushing Rex''s wrist bone in the process. Jay then pressed down the wrist, bringing ''Possessed Rex'' down onto his knees as his face distorted with pain. The culprit failed the moment ''Possession Seed'' didn''t work on Jay. The other party realised that and reasoned staying in Rex''s body any longer would only make his situation even worse before making a wise choice to leave Rex''s body. s, that didn''t pan out as the culprit hoped. While still holding onto the crushed wrist, Jay used his other hand to grab over Rex''s head and entered the other party''s Spirit Space. In there, Rex''s Soul was shrouded within dark green root vines and at its very centre was a verdant green seed, throbbing and pulsating like a human heart. But the intensity at which the ''Possession Seed'' pulsated suddenly changed, and it began to wear down, causing the dark green root vines attached to it to shrink at a visible pace. "Trying to leave so soon? Not without consequences." Jay sniggered upon sensing the culprit''s intentions to escape and shot out a pair of golden light rays through his eyes. Those rays entered Rex''s eyes, reaching all the way through to the Soul within his Spirit Space. Once the pair of light rays entered Rex''s Spirit Space, they converged into onerge golden light beam beforending on Rex''s Soul. As soon as the root vines came in contact with the golden light beam, they withered away like ash to wind. No more than a few secondster, all that was left over Rex''s Soul was a shrivelled verdant green seed. Thecklustre seed was then sucked into the golden light beam before vanishing from Rex''s Spirit Space and appearing within Jay''s own. Through that seed, a croaked voice entered Jay''s mind, ''If you release me, I will let go of this and not interfere in the matters of your Trial Region.'' Despite the rather mindful words, the culprit''s tone gave away their intentions. Jay snorted, ''It seems you haven''t realised the situation you havended yourself in, Urzo.'' At the mention of his name, Urzo faltered, ''How did you¡­.?!'' A few seconds ago, Jay used to infiltrate the other ''Possession Seed'', the same one Urzo had sent over as a means to possess Jay. Through that, Jay learned everything he needed about his assant. Although Jay didn''t show it on his face, he was pretty stumped to learn that the other party was from another Trial Region. Especially the means Urzo used to reach out to other Trial Regions intrigued Jay even more since that involved a Unique Innate Talent user. Chapter 165.2: A Faraway Enemy (Part-2) Urzo was not just any Alpha Ranker but was the 4th Alpha Chosen to evolve to Tier-2, right after Jay. Such fast progress on Day-1 itself was thanks to his Innate Talent . (Grade-9) (Variant Category) - Able to imnt a ''Possession Seed'' in any living being''s soul and possess them as long as the host has a higher Spirit Attribute and soul more powerful than the target. - Able to leech 1/10th of Life Energy obtained by the possessed lifeforms. - Max. number of Possession Seeds at Stage-3 : 100 Innate Exclusive Skills: , , . {Author Note: The next few paragraphs will be info on the above three ''Innate Exclusive Skills''; if you wish to skip them, feel free to do so without worrying you would miss anything. I will make sure to give a brief on each of these Innate Exclusive skills when the story calls for them.} : Allows the user to create a contract on any dictated terms, and as long as the other party consents to the contract, it can be used as a medium to imnt Possession Seeds on them covertly. - Requires 10 Life Energy to create a Grade higher-1 Possession Contract Scroll. It costs ten times more for each higher grade. : Allows the user to create a set of 3 absolutemandments for the Possession Seed carriers to follow unconditionally. - The Possession Commandments couldn''t be used to inflict self-harm on the Possession Seed carriers. : Allows the user to take over the body of any Possession Seed carrier for a short duration every day. Duration: 30 mins. Cost: 90 Spirit Energy. Urzo used Possession Seeds on his fellow trial zone members and snatched a portion of the Life Energy they received from killing monsters. With the rest of his team members gathering Life Energy for him, it would be a wonder if his levelling speed didn''t ce him among the Alpha Rankers. Later on, as his Innate Talent Mastery reached Stage-3, the number of life forms he could possess increased from 10 to 100. Adding monsters to the list of possessed life forms had fortified his ranking in the Top-10. If not for a few abnormally high-levelled Earth''s Alpha Chosen popping out of nowhere, he would have ranked 3rd, only next to Regaz and Drogor. Urzo wasn''t satisfied with possessing his fellow Trial zone team members and dreamed of possessing all the 1000 Alpha Rankers and eventually rule over every Alpha Chosen in the Trial World. Of course, for such a possibility, his Innate Talent Mastery should reach Stage-4 so that the number of targets he could possess at once would increase to 1000. With his 1st Innate Exclusive skill, Urzo''s ambition didn''t seem so far-fetched. Using , he created Contract Scrolls, which seemed like the genuine ones on the surface but other than functioning as a ''Contract Scroll'', its hidden aspect was to act as the carrier of ''Possession Seeds''. As long as anyone came in contact with those fake Contract Scrolls, Urzo would be able to imnt a Possession Seed in them unless they had a higher Spirit Attribute or powerful soul than Urzo. He was pretty confident that no one in the Trial World had more Spirit Attribute stats than him. Urzo''s confidence in that regard was not without any basis. After all, he stacked his Spirit Attribute as high as 300 at the cost of his remaining Attributes being way lower than his level. With the System barriers dividing the Trial World, his n of world dominationing to fruition was a faraway dream. But the existence of his fellow Trial zone team member, Zeix, had opened a way for him. To be precise, it had to do with the peculiar ability of Zeix''s Unique Innate Talent. (Grade Unknown) (Unique Category) - Able to amalgamate broken ''Space-Time'' chunks into a personal storage space that''s only essible by the host. - Inventory Space Dimensions: 100 x 100 x 100 (meters) Next upgrade requirement: 10 Tier-4 storage space Spirit Equipment. Innate Exclusive Skills: , , {Author Note: The next few paragraphs will be info on the above three ''Innate Exclusive Skills''; if you wish to skip them, feel free to do so without worrying that you might miss something. I will make sure to give a brief on each of these Innate Exclusive skills when the story calls for them.} : Allows the user to immaterialise for a short duration. Duration: 10 mins. Cooldown: 2 hours. Cost: 120 Spirit Energy. : Allows the user to perceive the hidden Inventory Realm. : Allows the user to impose a part of personal Inventory Space upon the target to lock them in ce. Duration: 5 seconds. Cooldown: 50 minutes. Cost: 500 Life Energy Zeix''s ability basically made him a living Space Storage but what was even more baffling were his first and second Innate Exclusive skills, especially when they both were used in conjunction. The skill allows Zeix to sense the hidden intangible ne where every storage space in existence was located. Whereas the lets him temporarily enter an incorporeal state, excusing him from any corporeal damage and granting invulnerability for a short duration. In that form, Zeix could enter the ''Inventory ne'' and ess any storage space Spirit Equipment on the Trial World. But with the limited duration of his ''Phantom Form'', the distance he could cover within the ''Inventory ne'' was limited. Even then, Zeix''s range was so massive it could envelop two-thirds of the 7th Trial Continent, which includes the 35th Trial Region, the one Earth''s Trial Zone was located at. Chapter 166.3: A Faraway Enemy (Part-3) As his first step towards his scheme, Urzo intended to take over all the 67 Trial Regions within the essible range of Zeix''s ''Inventory ne''. For that, he had Zeix send ''Possession Contracts'' into the storage space of the strongest individuals in each Trial Region. The way Zeix differentiated who was the strongest in each Trial Region depended on the resources gathered in their respective storage space Spirit Equipment. Those who managed to obtain a storage Spirit Equipment were elites, and amongst them, those who had gathered the rarest collection of resources were considered the best in each Trial Region. Under Urzo''s control, Zeix transported ''Possession Contracts'' into the storage space Spirit Equipment of those they deemed the strongest of each Trial Region. That way, Urzo imnted a Possession Seed in Rex and used him to expand his control over Jay''s Trial Region. When he learned about the Earth''s Alpha Chosen and their performance in Round-1, Urzo turned his attention toward them and intended to possess them all by the end of the 1st Tournament, especially the Omega Chosen, Olivia. But to Urzo''s surprise, an Earth''s Alpha Chosen came knocking at Rex''s doorstep, and the opportunity he was waiting for had arrived sooner than he expected. Little did he know about Jay, who had a hold over Olivia''s Innate Talent was an absolute counter to his abilities. If Urzo had known beforehand, he would never have taken over Rex''s body to confront Jay. s, there wasn''t any medicine for his regret at that point. Urzo could only hope to talk Jay into releasing the pair of Possession Seeds because the cost of losing them was adamant to losing two 1/100th portions of his soul forever. Although it didn''t amount to much at a glimpse, the loss will grow substantially at higher Innate Talent Mastery stages. Since two of the 100 Possession Seeds were destroyed when he was at Stage-3, it would lead to losing 20 Possession Seeds at Stage-4 due to the partial damage to his soul. At Stage-5, that would amount to losing 200 Possession Seeds, and the loss would be 10 times greater for every higher stage. At that rate, if Urzo were to reach Stage-9 in the future, he would have a massive loss of 2 million Possession Seeds. Keeping that in mind, he tried to negotiate but unfortunately for Urzo, he wasn''t in a position to do so when facing Jay. While Urzo pondered how the other party knew about him, Jay contemted what to do with his assant. There were three options in front of him. The first and rather forthlooking option for Jay was to obliterate those two Possession Seeds for trying to possess him. But doing so would only damage a minor part of Urzo soul and wouldn''t kill him in the process. That would only lead to making an irreconcble enemy out of one of the top Alpha Rankers, who has the ability to mass-possess living beings. The second one was to offer Urzo an ORIGIN SIGIL and bring him under control. But it was a long shot since Jay needs the other party''s consent to make them an ORIGIN SIGIL holder. Due to Urzo possessing a Grade-9 Innate Talent, Jay''s offer wouldn''t be appealing enough for him to ce his life in others'' hands for just some extra stats unless Jay was willing to give a Major ORIGIN SIGIL. With only seven of them left, Jay was inclined towards saving the Major ORIGIN SIGILS for the right candidates. Moreover, if Urzo were to reject the offer after Jay revealed the ORIGIN SIGILS, it wouldn''t be long before Jay''s ability to improve Innate Talent''s Grade would spread wide, and that would spell nothing but trouble to Jay. As for the final option, it was to let Urzo''s consciousness go unscathed and stand on neutral ground with him. Although that wasn''t what Jay desired, he knew that letting go of Urzo would be a wise choice. After all, once the Tournament ends, the system barriers among the Trial Zones in each Trial Region would be lifted but not the ones that separate Trial Regions. For those to be lifted off as well, it would take ten more days after the 1st Tournament, which would also be right after the 2nd Tournament concludes on Day-20. If Jay were to outright make an enemy out of Urzo, the other party would have enough time and resources to amass Alpha Chosen by taking control over several other Trial Zones. With only one chance left to use mode, travelling through several Trial Region barriers and taking care of this faraway enemy in one fell swoop was out of option for Jay. After self-debating on how to deal with his assant, Jay left the choice to Urzo. He used the skill on Urzo''s consciousness, the same skill he used on Moro a few days ago. Leaving the part about ORIGIN SIGILS, Jay presented Urzo with the three options he had in mind and waited for the other party''s genuine answer. Under the skill''s effect, Urzo revealed his real intentions in a monotonous tone, ''It doesn''t matter whether you leave me unharmed or not. With how strong you are, it is just a matter of time before you hinder my ambition to rule over the Trial World. Whether it be underhanded methods or immoral ways, I will use them all to cut you down before you can grow even stronger.'' Urzo''s wild ambitions made it clear there was no room for the second and third options. Jay let out a long sigh as he dispelled skill''s effect, and Urzo''s consciousness regained normalcy without any recollection of his previous conversation with Jay. Jay''s voice resounded within his Spirit Space, ''Since you are so adamant about bing my enemy, let me be the one to strike first.'' As soon as Jay''s words ended, one of the two Possession Seeds was sted apart by a golden beam from Innate Talent, leaving Urzo to wail in pain. Although that was just a hundredth part of his Soul, it still was excruciatingly painful, not to mention the permanent setback of his possession abilities caused by the irrecoverable damage to his soul. Urzo''s previous facade wore off as he roared at Jay with hatred, ''Just you wait; I shall make you feel 100 times the pain you have inflicted on me.'' Right before Jay destroyed the other Possession Seed, he retorted, ''I doubt you could bring me pain I haven''t already experienced before.'' Chapter 167: Akor vs Rex. Rexunching himself towards them and Jay subduing Rex all happened so suddenly that Akor couldn¡¯t react in time. Akor stepped ahead only to find a golden glow in his Liege¡¯s eyes as both Jay and Rex froze in their spots. Seeing that his Liege had everything in control, Akor stood by and guarded Jay against any unforeseen attacks. However, with the Thunder Miasma around them, none of the spectating Lycanthropes had any idea of what happened inside. Before long, Jay opened his eyes, and so did Rex. But the calmness on the former¡¯s face could not be seen on thetter. During the duration Urzo had possessed him, Rex was aware of everything that had transpired in the past few minutes. While flinching from the pain brought by his broken wrist, Rex took a few steps back as he gazed at Jay with palpable fear. Rex really hoped not to fall on the wrong side of the one standing in front of him, who didn¡¯t even shy away from making a tant enemy out of Urzo, much less dealing with someone like himself. Just as Rex was about to extend his apologies to Jay, who was absorbing back the ink-ck fog, Akor dashed towards him. ¡°Filthy Mutt, you dare attack my Liege?! Burn!!¡± Akor shouted as heshed out several whips of Vtile Aqua element that extended from both fists. Sensing the iing danger, Rex felt threatened to activate his 1st Innate Exclusive skill, . The two-fold improvement in his time perception made it feasible for Rex to dodge the barrage ofshes. Akor brought his attack intensity up a notch in exasperation. To keep up with it, Rex activated his 2nd and 3rd Innate Exclusive skills, and at once. While the former skill was used on himself to double his movement speed, thetter skill did the opposite for Akor. Those two skills brought the one-sided fight to a stalemate. Rex breathed a mouthful before yelling at Akor for the third time, ¡°Rotten Fish!! When will you realise this is a misunderstanding? It was someone else that took over my body.¡± ¡°Hmph!! As if I would believe yourme excuse. Now that you pushed me to this extent let me see if you can handle my new skills.¡± Ignoring Rex, Akor pulled out a Trident and thumped on the floor as he uttered ¡®Vtile Mist¡¯ and . Then a thick translucent shell made of Vtile Aqua element manifested and enveloped them like a miniature dome. Through that membrane, numerous fine droplets diffused into the cavity within. Simr to the mist phenomenon, those Vtile Aqua droplets were suspended in the air and spread to every corner within the shell. No matter where Rex moved, he wasn¡¯t able to outmanoeuvre the ¡®Vtile Mist¡¯, and due to the acidic nature of the Vtile Aqua element, it started burning his fur. Even the regeneration of his racial skill was barely able to keep up with the damage. Rex slid his gaze onto Jay, who stood idly by the side and spectated without saying a word. Several possibilities spiralled in Rex¡¯s mind, out of which two stood out the most to him; either Jay still med him for what happened and intended to finish him off, or it was some test. If it was thetter, he had to put up a good fight and look promising enough for Jay. He didn¡¯t mind bing a subordinate to someone as powerful as Jay. After all, it was the best he could hope for in that situation. The rise in the Vtile Mist density made Rex push those thoughts to the back of his head. Rex¡¯s regeneration wasn¡¯t able to keep up anymore, and he activated his best Wind elemental defence skill to envelop his body. Although doing that blocked off the mist, it came at the cost of heavy Spirit Energy expenditure andbined with his three Innate Exclusive skills in usage; there were not many seconds left before his Spirit Energy reserve would dry out. With that in mind, Rex decisively closed in as he coated his ws with sharp wind before shing at the second shell that enclosed Akor. But his attacks weren¡¯t able to breach Akor¡¯s aquatic defensive skill. That continued for a few more seconds, and despite Rex¡¯s relentless attacks, that shell remained imprable. ¡°In here, speed advantage wouldn¡¯t do you any good unless you possess a higher element or substantially higher Spirit Energy than me. If not, forget your futile attempts to break my ¡®Aqua Shell¡¯ and just be a good dog and wait until the ¡®Vtile Mist¡¯ sumbs you.¡± Akor sneered. Although Akor¡¯s words irked Rex, they helped him realise bringing out his best offensive move was the only way to go. But using that would deprive him of Spirit Energy in one fell swoop and leave him vulnerable. ¡®Ahh!! Screw it! What choice do I have?¡¯ Rex cursed in his mind and stretched out his arm as wind began whirling over his right hand at a breathtaking speed. With a hard swing, the conical tip of his strongest offence skill, , collided with the surface of . The attack pierced one-third of the shell beforeing to a standstill. However, Rex didn¡¯t give up and squeezed out all his strength as he pressed on with a thunderous roar. Despite the slow progression, his attack drilled past two-thirds of the shell, but that ended with Rex exhausting his Spirit Energy. The dent left by Rex surprised Akor enough to acknowledge his opponent¡¯s strength. Within the entire Tournament, those who could aplish that can be counted on two hands. If Rex had enough Spirit Energy, he would have pierced through the ¡®Aqua Shell¡¯. But at the same time, it was also because Akor allowed that to happen. He had ways to interrupt whilst Rex used but chose not to do so out of curiosity. Looking at Akor, who was huffing out ragged breaths and in no state to continue the fight, Akor deactivated both and . He then put away his Trident before walking towards Rex while cracking his knuckles. ¡°I will give it to you, thest attack was pretty good, but that won¡¯t stop me from beating you ck and blue today.¡± Akor¡¯s smug grin sent shivers all over Rex. With the Tournament rules prohibiting Alpha Chosen from killing each other, he wasn¡¯t afraid of whether Akor or Jay would kill him. But there wasn¡¯t any rule saying about crippling others. If his entire arms and legs were chopped off, then even with his over-the-top regeneration skill, it would take several hours to regrow them. Meanwhile, he would miss Round-3; without him, the Ragath Trial Zone team couldn¡¯t make it to the Top-10. As a keen one, Rex didn¡¯t miss the emphasis Frial had ced on ranking in the Top 10. Without it, they wouldn¡¯t have the qualifications to participate in the 2nd Tournament and miss out on golden opportunities in the future. His worries were interrupted by Jay¡¯s words, ¡°Akor, that¡¯s enough. Leave him alone.¡± Rex turned his head to the side, only to find Jay pointing at him, ¡°You, let¡¯s have another chat. Shall we?¡± Chapter 168: A New Innate Talent. On the way back to ''Rest House 001'', Akor tagged alongside Jay with his head hung down. Jay broke the silence and reassured Akor, "Don''t beat yourself up. There wasn''t anything you could have done against a soul attack." Akor shook his head with a heavy sigh, "Liege, not only was I unable to protect you, I didn''t even realise someone else was behind all that." "Don''t you think, given your current strength, protecting me from something even I can''t handle was a bit of a stretch? Besides, Rex now possesses two Grade-9 Innate Talents. If you don''t want to be surpassed by him, you must put in more effort." At the mention of Rex, Akor''s glum mood was reced by an intense fighting spirit. Never did he expect the Lycanthrope he had defeated a while ago would be hispetitor. However, Akor didn''t dare question Jay''s decision to make Rex a Minor ORIGIN SIGIL holder, just like him. Instead, Akor steeled his resolve to train harder so Rex couldn''t catch up to him. Meanwhile, Jay''s thoughts drifted elsewhere. The 2nd Tournament will take ce amongst the Top-10 Trial Zone teams of all the Trial Regions in each respective Trial Continent. Among the 100 Trial Regions in the 7th Continent, Jay was from the 35th Region, while Urzo was from the 62nd one. Meaning that there were just ten days before Jay would once again encounter Urzo, who would have put good use of his ability to amass an army of his own by then. To deal with Urzo''s mass possession ability, Jay had no choice but to hasten his recruitment n. As the system barriers that divide the boundaries within the Trial World elevate, it would only be a matter of time before factions emerge and vie for the Trial World resources. It was amon urrence in the previous Trial Programs, and theirs wouldn''t be any different. When that happens, Jay hoped to be at the top of the hierarchy, not at the mercy of others. For that, Jay had long decided to create a faction of his own. Previously, he intended to take it slow, but the circumstances deemed him to pick up the pace. After all, there was a high chance he had to face an army of Alpha Chosen in just ten days. Despite the confidence in his prowess, Jay wasn''t blind to tell when the odds were against him. So, he didn''t hold back and started actively recruiting, beginning with the Lycanthropes. As for granting a Minor ORIGIN SIGIL to Rex, who disposed of his own teammates for not obeying him, it didn''t matter to him. It wasn''t his ce to judge what was right or wrong, good or bad. There was only the order set by the strong. Until the day he bes an entity that could stand above all, Jay didn''t intend to draw a line between them. Because, if¡­..or rather when that dayes, everything would be in his hands to decide with no one to defy. With that ideology, Jay didn''t mind recruiting Rex, disregarding his cruel personality. The possibility of Rex''s possible betrayal was the least of his concerns. After all, from the moment Rex became an ORIGIN SIGIL holder, he lost the ability to harm Jay whatsoever. Just the fleeting thought of harming Jay would put him in pain he had never experienced. If not for the liking Jay took on Rex''s variant category Innate Talent, he would have granted Rudimentary ORIGIN SIGIL, just like he did with the rest of the Lycanthropes. (Grade-9 Variant Category). - Grants passive movement speed bonus per every Stage. Stage-1: 9%, Stage-2: 18%, Stage-3: 27%¡­......so on. Collective movement speed bonus: 54% (9+18+27) INNATE EXCLUSIVE SKILLS: , , . : Allows the user''s Time Perception to quadruple for 1 minute. Cost: 10% Spirit Energy. : Allows the user to cast a buff to quadruple the target''s movement speed for 1 minute. Cost: 10% of the user''s Spirit Energy, 10% of the target''s Spirit Energy. : Allows the user to cast a debuff to quarter the target''s movement speed for 1 minute. Cost: 20% of the user''s Spirit Energy. The collective movement speed bonus improved from 42% to 54%, but by no means could that be looked down upon. Upon reaching Stage-4, the passive speed bonus would jump to 90%. At Stage-5, it would be as high as 135%, and that would only continue to rise exponentially for every higher Mastery stage. Aside from that, the three avable Innate Exclusive skills also had some significant improvements. While the skill duration remained the same, the Spirit Energy expenditure for those three skills changed to percentage consumption. Jay would have already tried those skills if they weren''t out in the open. To avoid unnecessarymotion, he chose to wait till he got back to Rest House 001. On the way, Jay stopped by ''Rest House 005'', which was allotted for Ans and left Akor there so that he would waste time following him around and rest well in preparation for Round-3. Soon, Jay reached his destination, and just as he entered Earth team Rest House, he was greeted with a rather odd sight. Chapter 169: Trust Issues. By the time Jay reached, the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen had gathered on the ground floor, chatting and cheering as Dante cooked for them. The intense atmosphere that was supposed to be there before the Tournament''sst Round was nowhere to be seen, and instead, it looked more like they were on a holiday trip. "Oh man!! How is this soo good?! I have to give it to Dante; his cooking is the best I have tasted so far." Henry eximed while licking his oil-greased fingers. Even the usually silent Kensei chimed in, "Indeed." It wasn''t just those two; the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen enjoyed the food Dante prepared for them, everyone except Andrea. With a chunk of meat in his mouth, Kasim garbled, "I am telling you, Andrea, you are missing out on something your tastebuds would thank you for." "No thanks. I am a vegetarian and do not wish to change that. You guys proceed without me." Andrea replied with a straight face, but deep inside she wondered if the monster meat really tasted as delicious as the others made it look. On the side, Dante was done with the starters and went on to cook the main dish. Although Dante didn''t show it on the surface, the glow on his face didn''t hide the happiness from their praises. Still, he didn''t take all the credit for himself, "If it weren''t for this Cookware that allows Spirit Energy infusion, the food I made wouldn''t taste so other-worldly no matter how skilled I am." Back when Dante travelled to other Trial Zones with Jay and Akor, they used to eat monster meat, and he was the one who cooked for them. They resorted to monster meat not because they didn''t have any other food on them but due to the boost in recovery and the nourishment it brought to maintain one''s body in a top-notch condition. Later, MJ made a set of cookware for Dante based on the onesmonly used in the rest of the System-assimted Universe. The special cookware uses Spirit Energy to bring out temperatures high enough to cook monster meat. Due to the characteristic of absorbing Spirit Energy and the enriching taste, monster meat was the most sought out food choice. The higher the monster''s Tier, the greater the Spirit Energy its meat can absorb, the tastier the meat, and so were the benefits to the consumer. Although the Earth''s Alpha Chosen knew about that, they still praised Dante for his effort. At that moment, Jay walked in on them, and none of the Alpha Chosen said a word, except for Dante, "Come on, Jay, join us." Among them, Dante was the one who would casually talk like that to Jay. A few peeked at Jay, waiting for his answer. "I have other matters at hand. You guys continue without me." Jay''s reply didn''te as a surprise to them as they were long used to his stern and aloof behaviour. "Alright, when you are done, feel free to have a bite." Although Dante put on his usually cheerful face, there was a tinge of sadness in his voice. That didn''t escape Jay, who was privy to all their thoughts. He paused by the stairs and hesitated before flicking his finger at a meat kebab skewer, which flew into hand. Jay took a bite at it and called for Dante before resuming his steps, "Pretty good, but with Tier-3 High-Phase monster meat, it would taste even better. No need to reserve that for me anymore; use it for everyone without any qualms." To others, it was a rare moment to see Jay interact the way he did with Dante. From the way he was from the beginning, it was evident to them that Jay built walls around himself. It wasn''t hard for them to guess Jay must have had a bitter past when it came to trusting others, but when it came to Dante, those walls weren''t as high as they did for the rest of the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Jay''s words wiped the bitterness on Dante''s face and brought back his usual cheerfulness, if not even more. Dante brought out arge lump of Tier-3 High-Phase monster meat from his storage ring and eximed, "You guys are in for a treat. In terms of taste, if I have to rate the Tier-3 Low-Phase monster meat we just had as ''1'', then this would be a ''10''!!" Meanwhile, Jay made his way to his room and started testing Akor''s Exclusive Innate skills one by one, starting with . As the user, it would cost him 10% of his Spirit Energy to cast it and another 10% for being the target of the buff. At a total expenditure of 20% Spirit Energy, the skill activated, but there wasn''t any change in his stats. The only discernible difference was the azure film that nketed Jay''s entire body, simr to the one Rex had when he fought against Akor. Aside from that, a lithe sensation washed over him, making his body feel lighter than ever. Jay tried taking a step, but he crossed over four steps unbeknownst to himself despite any extra effort. He tried the same again with a single long stride, and his feet whizzed past four meters. Jay then went with a quick jog, but that ended up with him almost bashing into a wall. So, instead of tuning his speed up, Jay kept his movements as minimalistic as possible to get a hang of the newfound movement speed. If Jay had to get used to it by himself, that would take several hours, if not days, to master it. But to him, there was a way to hasten the process. Using the ''XIII Minor ORIGIN SIGIL'' he had granted to Rex, Jay synchronised with Lv.30 . Chapter 170: Overwhelming Speed. [By forced absorption of Stage-3 Mastery memory fragments, your mind will go into a long-term Spirit paralysis state.] [Due to your Unique Innate Talent''s protection, you are invulnerable from the damage caused by forced absorption of Masteries.] [Lv.54 ? Lv.59] [Lv.59: Resistance towards Mental Pain increases by 59%.] With no surprise, his rose again by a few levels. Shaking off the disorientation from absorbing all of Rex''s knowledge and experience on , Jay took a few seconds to digest everything he needed to effectively use . Apparently, the key was to use in conjunction with . He did just that, and his control over the enhanced speed improved by leaps and bounds, along with his Time-perception. With those two in bnce, Jay was no longer troubled with controlling his movements. Only when he noticed the metal meat skewer fall off his hand did he realise how high his Time-perception and movement speed really were. Jay stood there and watched as it slowly drifted downwards under gravity at a pace slower than a feather floating in a gentle breeze. After what seemed like a lifetime, he gently tapped his right foot at the meat skewer''s tip, which was about to hit the floor. The force Jay used should have been just enough to propel it back to his hand, but the result far exceeded his expectations as the meat skewer shot past him with such speed that it pierced into the ceiling. He couldn''t help but take another look at the azure energy that covered his body as MJ''s voice rang in his mind. ''Master, this is a pseudo version of a high-ranking Energy, Speed Energy. Due to this, you were able to produce such momentum despite little to no movement and no stat improvement whatsoever.'' {Author Note: (The sentence below is from ''Chapter 122''. Hope this would be enough to jog your memory on what differentiates a standard element, a higher element and an Energy.) - In the first three Mastery stages (Stage-1 to Stage-3), one could only use a standard element, and upon reaching the following three stages (Stage-4 to Stage-6), respective higher elements could be essed. Beyond those six stagesys the path of manipting ''Energies of the Universe.} Jay wished to try out the Pseudo-Speed Energy and test the extent of its limitations, but since it wasn''t possible within the limited room space, he had MJ emte the Pseudo-Speed Energy so that he could explore to his heart''s content within ''A.I Space''. However, the entire process needed Jay to use 30 times, recovering his Spirit Energ Pool twice, once with the assistance of Grade-3 Spirit Energy Fruits and the other with the skill . For a skill of such calibre, there should have been side effects like reduced movement speed for a certain period ensuing the skill''s usage, but since the Pseudo Speed Energy was the one in y and not his stats, there was no such urrence. If not for that, 30 short minutes would have been far from enough for Jay to activate 30 times in a row. Compared to that, the time it took for MJ to emte the Thunder Miasma element was almost negligible. From that alone, the superiority of Speed Energy was quite evident despite just being a Pseudo version. Still, it was far less significant in contrast to Origin Energy, which MJ failed to emte despite his best efforts. Once the exhaustive process concluded, Jay ceased casting on himself anymore and sent his consciousness into a part of the ''A.I Space'' that MJ had prepared beforehand for training purposes. Within the A.I Space, Jay''s Virtual Avatar could use the buff effect without a duration limit. So, he started testing his speed with no reservations. It took him another half an hour to gain a good enoughmand over the overwhelming speed. Without any skill effect, Jay''s base top speed was marked around 130 meters per second, and with the additional 54% movement speed bonus, his top speed went up to 200 meters per second. When the was used on top of that, his new top speed quadrupled to an astounding 590 meters per second, long crossing the sound barrier. {Author Note: Here, it should be => (130+70) x 4 = 800 m/s, equaling the speed of someone at Tier-5 High-Phase. But that would be too powerful of a buff, wouldn''t it now? That''s why I didn''t include the 54% movement speed bonus (70m/s) in quadrupling his base top speed. => (130 x 4) + 70 = 590 m/s. Speed of sound = 343 m/s or 1125 feet/sec. } At 590 m/s, his movement speed was by no means inferior to the Tier-5 Low-Phase monsters he encountered in the 13th Monster Wave, but in terms of attack damage, he was miles apart from them. Still, Jay''s attacks under were on par with a Peak Tier-4 Low-Phase lifeform without the assistance of stat-boosting skills such as , , , . He tried to use them on top of , hoping for another power boost, but any skill that could further improve his Agility Attribute failed to take effect. {Author Note: (Umon Grade): + 20% to all 5 Attributes Lv.21 (Stage-3): +15% to Strength, Agility and Endurance Attributes. (Rare Grade): +25% to Strength Attribute. (Rare Grade): +25% to Agility Attribute.} Amongst them, was the only skill that didn''t add stats to his Agility Attribute. When he used it on top of the , the 25% boost in his Strength Attribute pushed his attack power to that of an initial Tier-4 Mid-Phase lifeform. Such attack power was previously achieved when Jay used those four skills in conjunction, but with just and , he could aplish a simr feat, not to mention the movement speed of a Tier-5 Low-Phase lifeform. Jay wondered if his new ace move could be used during mode, doubting whether he could use Pseudo-Speed Energy along with Origin Energy. Although thetter was vastly superior to the former, Jay''s mastery over it was nowhere near enough to bring out its potential, limiting to a few ways to use Origin Energy. He didn''t try to find if they could be used simultaneously since he had just a single use left before mode temporarily seals away. With an hour left before the start of Round-3, Jay pushed those thoughts to the back of his head and continued to better his hold over the improved movement speed brought by . Chapter 171: Significance of a higher Grade Physique. Once Jay grasped a firm control over his movement speed, he had MJ calibrate gravity to 1.6 times that of Earth''s gravity to match the standard set for the Tournament Ind. To maintain fairness, the System set an average of 1000 Trial Zones gravities for every tournament Ind in the respective Trial Region. Each Trial Region would have a different gravity average since the gravity in each Trial Zone corresponded to the gravity of the allotted life. The 35th Trial Region in the 7th Trial Continent was adjusted to 1.6 times the Earth''s gravity. It was the same with the atmosphere as well. The higher one''s Physique Grade, the easier they could adapt to their environment and the greater the survivability. The Grade of Physique Grade depended on the Tier one evolved. Since Jay was still in Tier-2, he possessed a Grade-2 Physique. Due to that, it took him more effort to adapt than those with a Grade-3 Physique. Another magical aspect of a Physique was that the change in gravity wouldn''t affect their movement speed despite the varied body weight, but the catch was that it had to be within the adaptability range of the Physique. Among the Alpha Chosen, those who reached Tier-3 had it the easiest due to the three-factor adaptability range of a Grade-3 Physique. As long as the gravity wasn''t 3 times their home''s gravity, a Tier-3 Alpha Chosen wouldn''t be impeded by the gravity change. As for Jay, the two-factor adaptability range of Grade-2 Physique allowed him to move unperturbed under the increased body weight since the adjusted gravity was 1.6 times that of Earth. But the rise in gravity in turn escted the speed of sound. Due to that, only when Jay moved at speeds higher than 549 meters/sec did he break past the sound barrier instead of the usual 343 meters/sec. {Author Note: Within this book, asides from the fantasy elements, I try to implement Earth''s physics as much as possible. So, I did the same with gravity. The increase in gravity would indeed increase the air density, which in turn improves the speed of sound in the air. This is a verified fact, but I couldn''t find the exact rate at which the increase in gravity would impact the speed of sound. So, for the story''s sake, I am going with a 1:1 ratio for Gravity and Speed of sound. As long as gravity increases to 1.6 times, the other would grow the same.(343 x 1.6=~549 m/s)} If measured by Earth''s standards, his top speed of 590 m/s would be Mach 1.7, simr to a fighter jet. After exploring his new speed for some more time, Jay returned from the Virtual Space and rested while going through the ORIGIN SIGIL section within his . (3/10) - Olivia (MOON): (Grade-10) Kay (EARTH): (Grade-10) Qew (VENUS): (Grade-10) ... (12/100): I. Hobgoblin MJ: (Grade-9) II. Shadow Leopard MJ: (Grade-9) III. Storm Eagle MJ: (Grade-9.8) {New} IV. Venomous Scorpion MJ: (Grade-9) V. Earth Wyrm MJ: (Grade-9) VI. Moro: (Grade-9); VII. Esha: (Grade-9) VIII. Rahu: (Grade-9) IX. Kethu: (Grade-9) X. Jon: < Spear Innate Talent> (Grade-9) XI. Ravan: (Grade-9) XII. Akor: (Grade-9.7) XIII. Rex: (Grade-9.8) {New} ... (7/1000) : 1. Aton: (Grade-8.7) 2. Ah''na: (Grade-8.7) 3. Acix: (Grade-8.7) 4. Arae : (Grade-8.7) 5. Auv''il: (Grade-8.7) 6. Alvek: (Grade-8.7) 7. Arnun: (Grade-8.7) 8. Raul: (Grade-8.8) {New} 9. Remus: (Grade-8.8) {New} 10. Rodyn: (Grade-8.8) {New} 11. Reinald: (Grade-8.8) {New} 12. Roth: (Grade-8.8) {New} 13. Rika: (Grade-8.8) {New} 14. Runch: (Grade-8.8) {New} (Max. Number of ORIGIN SIGIL holders with simr Innate Talents: 10) Simr to the Ans, the Innate Talents of Lycanthropes were amplified due to their synergy. Although Ans and Lycanthropes had eight members in their teams, thetter had a 0.1 Grade higher than the former. It has to do with Storm Eagle MJ, who possessed an Innate Wind Talent like the Lycanthropes. Due to that, the total number of ORIGIN SIGIL holders with simr Innate Talents went up to 9, and the synergy amplified their Grades by 0.8. Since there were 9 ORIGIN SIGIL holders with Wind Innate Talents, there was room for just one more with a simr Innate Talent. Beyond that wouldn''t amplify Wind Innate Talent''s Grade anymore. After going through that, Jay closed his eyes for a nap, and not long after, he was interrupted by an announcement alert. [# Round-3 willmence in 30 minutes. All the participating teams are required to return to the Arena by then. #] Jay didn''t scurry to the Arena immediately and instead resumed his nap. Only when there were five minutes left for the three-hour interval to end did he wake up and go downstairs. Min-soo''s voice broke the silence, "It''s gettingte. Shouldn''t we go and call him?" Kasim followed after him, "Indeed, someone should call him. Henry,e on, man up and go upstairs." Henry scoffed at him, "It''s easy for you to say. Why don''t you go? Aren''t you a man as well?" Kasim awkwardly cleared his throat and suggested, "Ahem! Maybe, Dante should go." Everyone looked at Dante, who replied with a casual shrug, "Sure." But before he could go upstairs, Brandon spoke, "I don''t think there is a need for that." Everyone followed his line of sight only to see Jay strolling down the stairs. That was the most leisurely they had seen Jay be in the entire Tournament. Dante said, "Jay, we don''t have much time left. Let''s go to the Arena before Round-3 begins." Jay replied while walking at the same pace, "We have what, four minutes left? It is more than enough to reach Arena''s East entrance. Besides, our Evaluation Score in the first two rounds alone cemented our ce at the top. The way Round-3 is set, our team ranking 1st in the Tournament is a certainty." Chapter 172: Round-3 Commences. Before long, the Earth''s Alpha Chosen reached the Arena''s East entrance, whereas the Ans, Lycanthropes and Rock Magmoids have been waiting for quite some time. With just a minute left before Round-3 began, most of them were agitated, but they didn''t show it on their faces when Jay and his team arrived. Among them, the first one to approach Jay was none other than his hardcore follower, Akor. Next to step forward were the strongest of the other two teams, Halbor and Rex. While the former respectfully bowed to Jay, thetter greeted him with an inviting gesture, "Liege, Please take the lead." Hearing Rex use ''Liege'' to call Jay, Akor''s mouth twitched uncontrobly. Rex''s actions were an indirect promation to vie for Akor''s position as Jay''s top follower. Akor scoffed in his mind, ''Hmph! It seems like bing an ORIGIN SIGIL holder made that Filthy Mutt overestimate himself. Want my position? In his dreams!!'' That didn''t escape Jay, but he chose not to meddle in their rivalry as long as it didn''t impact him. With a quick nod, he walked past them towards the East gate entrance. Meanwhile, Earth''s Alpha Chosen were surprised to see another Trial Zone Team join their ranks. When they recalled the time Jay wasn''t in the Rest House, they connected the gaps and realised what Jay was busy dealing with. The Rock Magmoids were a bit ufortable being allies with the Lycanthropes, who almost brought them to their knees. But they didn''t voice their opinion and quickly tagged behind Jay. As soon as the Earth''s Team entered with the other three teams, themotion in the Colosseum Arena settled down as everyone''s attentiontched onto theters. Whether it be the audience or the participants on the Podium ground, there wasn''t anyone who didn''t know of the Earth Trial Zone team and their unparalleled performance in the first two Rounds. Other than a few teams, the rest believed Earth Team''s position as the 1st ranking team would remain unhindered. It was no different than a fact to them since there was an Omega Chosen among the Earth''s Alpha Chosen. Their only doubt was how high the Earth Team would score in Round-3. The ones next to share the spectators'' attention were not the Ans or Rock Magmoids but the Lycanthropes. Those who paid heed to the previous two Rounds would know Anis Team and Falud Team were associated with Earth Team. Watching the Lycanthropes, who were known for their notoriety, obediently follow behind the Earth''s Alpha Chosen brought a sense of irony to the spectators, even more so to the few teams that were forced into signing a ve contract. Under everyone''s watchful eyes, the Earth team and the three teams behind them had stepped onto the 300-meter long and 300-meter wide stage that was especially elevated at the centre of the podium ground for Round-3. The presence of the Earth team made the other participating teams on the stage move aside, paving the way for them. It wasn''t just them, but the Tournament Manager, Frial, waited for the Earth''s Alpha Chosen to settle as he levitated five meters above the stage. Only then did he begin the announcement, "Now that all participating teams arrived, let us start Round-3. As I previously hinted, this Round will be all about teams facing each other. This Roundprises two Sections. Within the first one, the 25 teams will be randomly divided into five groups, where every team in each group will fight each other once. The winning team in each match would receive 50% of their umted Evaluation Score as the reward. As for the losing team, there wasn''t any penalty, but that was only valid for the first Section. I will go into the details in the second Section once the first one finishes. Now, let us move on to allotting groups. This will bepletely random, so don''te to me requesting a group change." As soon as Frial''s words ended, arge white screen appeared with five rows in it. From top to bottom, they ranged from Group-A to Group-E. One after another, each Trial Zone Team was allotted to one of the five groups. They were depicted on the screen ording to their names and rankings in Round-2. Group A: ~Vatruter (Rank-10), Falud (Rank-15), ~Zudars (Rank-17), ~ra (Rank-21), ~Auclite (Rank-24) Group B: Silephe (Rank-3), ~Geigawa (Rank-11), ~Cremonope (Rank-18), ~Thyria (Rank-20), ~Relnara (Rank-23) Group C: Earth (Rank-1), Owlite (Rank-6), ~Pizion (Rank-9), ~Nuenia (Rank-14), ~Zapwa (Rank-25) Group D: Ans (Rank-3), Ragath (Rank-7), ~Saphus (Rank-8), ~Cegriea (Rank-12), ~Muitis (Rank-22) Group E: Tilephe (Rank-4), Polyphaga (Rank-5), ~Viogawa (Rank-13), ~Phudaclite (Rank-16), ~Bucille (Rank-19) {Author Note 1: Here, ''~'' represents the teams which weren''t introduced before. Giving them a casual nce is enough. There is no need to invest those names into your memory. I just gave them names because it would be a bit off to call them just by their ranks within Round-3.} While a few teams cheered, a fewmented about being allotted to the same group as some top-ranking teams. Shortly after, Frial briefed the rules for the 1st Section. Unlike what many expected, Round-3 wasn''t precisely a ''Team vs Team'' format; rather, it was going to be a ''1 vs 1'' format, where each team could select whom to send first from their side, and the first team to win against three opponent team members will win that match. Another change was that Round-3 wouldn''t be taking ce in Reality Emtors but on the stage itself. To give enough room for Spirit Energy and Stamina Recovery, each group will take turns fighting on the stage, starting from Group-A. With each match in their respective group taking ce one after another, thest Round was destined to be a long one. After all, there were 12 hours left before the end of Day-10. Soon after Frial was done with his briefing, two teams appeared on the white screen. [Group-A, 1st Match: ~Vatruter Team (Rank-12) vs Falud Team (Rank-15)] {Author Note 2: In case any of you found the briefing on Round-3 to beplicated, don''t worry; it will be made clear as the rules are put to practical use in the uing chapters.} Chapter 173.1: First Segment. (Part-1) Except for those two teams, the remaining participating teams left the stage and moved to the freshly built seating rows on the four sides of the stage. {Author Note: For a better idea of how it looks, go through the picture I have attached at the chapter''s end.} By the time they upied those seats, the Vatruter Team (Rank-10) and the Falud Team (Rank-15) sent their firstbatant onto the stage. The ones who stepped on the stage were the strongest individuals in their respective teams right off the bat. Under normal circumstances, the best course of action would be to test the other team by sending a moderately strong team member at the start, but that was not applicable due to one of the rules of Round-3 that allows the winner of each Bout to choose his next opponent. The opponent Halbor faced was the strongest member of the Vatruter Team, a Tier-3 Low-Phase Centaurides, Vral. Despite her towering figure, the female horse-humanoid was half a meter short in front of the 3-meter tall, rocky hunk, Halbor. When facing her opponent, who was at the initial Stage of Tier-3 High-Phase, the sombre look on her green-skinned face became more apparent. The only obstacle in her team''s way toe out on top within Group-A was the individual she was about to fight. Other than the Falud team, the rest were lower-ranking ones, with just a single member barely reaching Tier-3 Low-Phase. Vral and her team members were pretty confident in defeating them, but they couldn''t say the same for the team that climbed all the way down from 100th to the 15th ranking. As long as she defeats the Rock Giant in front of her, the rest can''t put up a fight with her team, which has two other Tier-3 Low-Phase members. But within defeating that single individualys the pinch. After all, to win the first Bout, she had to defeat a Lv.44 Alpha Chosen, who was a whole 15 levels above her. Unlike Vral, Halbor wasn''t much worried about winning that match. During the three-hour-long 2nd Intermission, he worked on adding more Undistributed Stats and getting used to them. Although his control wasn''t perfect, Halbor could say he had a firm grasp over his strength, confident enough to defeat his opponent without much effort. Soon, barriers began to rise on each side of the stage and formed into a cubical barrier that tightly bound the edges of the stage. Within the enclosed space were the twobatants and the Tournament Manager. While both were on the Stage, Frial was floating hundreds of meters above the ground. When he saw them looking at him instead of beginning their fight, he informed them, "Don''t mind me. As long as anyone''s life isn''t in danger, there won''t be a need for me to intervene. Of course, that would mean the one I save among you two will lose the Bout... That''s all, you both can start any second now! There are many matches ahead of us." Once Ferial''s words ended, the first one to attack was Vral. She leapt at Halbor and plunged her spear at him,unching a wave of Spear Aura. Although he didn''t expect an abrupt attack, he didn''t falter and cast an Earthen shield over his double-handed Hammer to block her attack. After sessfully defending her heavy attack, he tried to counter with an attack of his own but was instead faced with a series of several other projectile attacks until he was engulfed in a barrage of attacks with no room to show his offensive side. That didn''t just take Halbor by surprise but the spectators as well. They hadn''t expected such an aggressive approach, especially from a weakerbatant amongst the two. The rate at which Vral used her ''Spear Aura'', her Spirit Energy would onlyst for a couple of minutes before bing defenceless to her opponent. While many shook their heads at Vral''s impulsiveness, her fellow team members watched all that with indifference since they knew about her cheat of an ability. Vral''s opponent had 225 stats more than she had. Not to mention the additional stats from the several Rare Grade Equipment Halbor had adorned himself with. Considering all those, the odds of Vral winning were pretty slim, but her 1st Innate Exclusive Skill coupled with their racial skill gave them hope. (Active): Allows the user to ess the umted reserves of Stamina for a limited duration. Duration: 30 minutes Cooldown: 3 hours. (Passive): Allows the usage of Stamina as a substitute for Spirit Energy. The way Stamina worked for any typical individual was that when it was filled to the brim of one''s capacity, the Stamina wouldn''t regenerate anymore. But with the skill, Vral''s base Stamina Regeneration operates without limit, and the produced additional Stamina was perpetually stored for her to use whenever needed within the bounds of Skill duration and cooldown. When used with , she would be no different from a skill spamming machine for half an hour. If it weren''t for the three-hour-long cooldown, they would have scored better in Round-2 and ranked 6th or 7th in Round-2. It was different for Round-3. They believed even if Vral couldn''t defeat her opponent, she could at least drag it out to a draw since each Bout''s maximum duration amounted to 15 minutes, which was more than enough for her to continue her onught of attacks. Once Halbor was dealt with, it wouldn''t be a smooth sail for the other two Tier-3 Low-Phase Vatruter team members to lead their team to victory. Chapter 174.2: First Segment. (Part-2) Halbor waited for Vral to exhaust herself and slip up so that he could use that opportunity to defeat her in one fell swoop. It had been three minutes since the Bout began, but there were no signs of her slowing down anytime soon. Just as Halbor was pondering whether to continue defending or risk attacking head-on, Jay''s voice resounded in his mind. "If you go for a Battle of attrition, it would be no different from losing to her. Rather than wasting what''s left over your Spirit Energy on defence, go full-on offensive." Jay''s discrete action didn''t miss Frial''s keen senses. External assistance such as Buff and Debuff skills were prohibited unless thebatant themselves can use them. Usage of Spiritual Fruits and Spirit Items was restricted as well. {Author Note: Spirit Equipment and Spirit Items are different. While the former are equipable on one''s body and provides additional stats, thetter onlyes with a skill or two. in Ch.104 is an example of a Spirit Item. Also, Check out the picture attached at the chapter''s end to have a better idea of Vral''s appearance.} Although Frial couldn''t tell what Jay hadmunicated with Halbor, it still could be rounded up to external assistance. As the Tournament Manager, he has the authority to warn those who break the rules. If they repeat it twice more, he could disqualify the Alpha Chosen responsible for viting the rules. But, Frial did no such thing. He had already offended Jay once; he didn''t wish to repeat that. From everything he had noticed the Earth''s Alpha Chosen behave, it became clear to him that Jay was the one who called the shots. The rest would follow as long as he could rope Jay into the Red Elven Empire. So, he turned a blind eye to that and shifted his attention to the ongoing fight. Vral''s incessant usage of her Spear Aura caught his eye. The Spirit Energy expenditure to do that for so long had far exceeded the capacity of someone at a Tier-3 Low-Phase. In terms of Stamina, she didn''t pale inparison with a Tier-4 Low-Phase lifeform. Moreover, that wasn''t even her limit as she continued her barrage of attacks without a hint of exhaustion. However, her flow was interrupted when Halbor ceased his defensive measures and pressed head-on, disregarding the damage from her attacks. From there on, her hold over the fight went downhill as she was pushed back by Halbor. Against the impact amplification effect of the two-handed hammer, Vral''s countenance changed to that of helplessness. Although she has ess to almost boundless Stamina, that didn''t help her Endurance Attribute in any way, and due to that, her defence was no different from a Tier-3 Low-Phase individual. Before long, Vral was left with just 5% of her Health and critical injuries all over her body. Only when one of thebatants epts their defeat or was in no state to fight would that be considered a loss. Seeing that she might copse anytime soon, Halbor didn''t fight her anymore and advised, "There is no point in continuing this anymore. It''s better you yield now. I don''t wish to harm a female over her stubbornness." Halbor''s considerate words didn''t reason with her; instead, they red her temper. In her home, Vatruter, females were heavily oppressed, and all her life, she suffered for it. Vral was a nobody with no power to change anything but all that changed after she became an Alpha Chosen. Her Grade-7 Variant Category Innate Talent, , made her unrivalled within the Vatruter Trial Zone. In a non-modernized, which wasn''t assimted with the System, her Tier-3 powerbined with her ability to fight for abnormally long periods was more than enough to thrash the medieval age military force. After that, Vral became someone akin to a God within her, and her words were no different from a holy edict there. She first broke the corrupted male hierarchy and made it into something the females of her would no longer suffer the same as her. For someone with her experience, Halbor''s words were nothing but tant contempt towards females. With a blood-smeared face, Vral roared at Halbor, "Don''t you look down on me just because I am a female?!!" Before Halbor could exin and clear the misunderstanding, Vral shot onest Spear Aura Projectile at Harbor before falling to her knees. It was no ordinary Spear Aura Projectile since she used her 2nd Innate Exclusive Skill, , on top of it. (Active): Allows the user to augment any attack using the stored Stamina. The attack''s damage depends on the number of times it is augmented. Current Base Endurance: 120 Current Base Stamina: 600 Stamina needed for a single Augmentation: 6,000 (10 times the Base Stamina) Current Stamina Regeneration: 12 per minute. Total Stored Stamina: 121,780 (Possible number of Augments: 121780/6000 = 20.3 ~ 20 times.) Under 20 times of Augmentation, the dark-blue shade of the Spear Aura grew intense to the point it turned violet, imitating the Stage-4 Aura. Although the difference between a Lv.30 and Lv.31 Weapon Aura was just a single level on the surface, there was instead a wide chasm between them. It was the difference between a Minor Weapon Aura and Major Weapon Aura. A Lv.31 was 10 times more powerful than a Lv.30. From there on, each level increment would increase its strength twice that of a Lv.30, meaning that a Lv.32 was 12 times stronger than a Lv.30. For Lv.33, it would be 14 times and so on. Simrly, 20 times the Lv.30 resulted in a damage output of Lv.36. It was strong enough to take out a Tier-4 Low-Phase monster or heavily damage a Tier-4 Mid-Phase monster. The pressure her attack exuded didn''t just shock Halbor but everyone off Stage as well. At that moment, almost everyone had the same thought: if the attacknded on Halbor, it would be his sure demise. Whereas Frial darted towards Halbor at breakneck speed, screaming in his mind, ''Just what is wrong with these Alpha Chosen?! How are they so strong after just 10 days into the Trial Program?!!'' Chapter 175.3: First Segment. (Part-3) Under Frial''s high Time Perception, everything appeared to move in slow motion to him, whether it be Vral''s ragged breaths or the outrageous attack sheunched. Although the attack was way too powerful, the speed at which it traversed was not to the point Frial couldn''t snatch Halbor out of the way. But contrary to Frial''s expectations, Halbor didn''t seem to be dodging the deadly attack; instead, he tilted his body so that the chest te mirror of his armour was in line with the attack path. Frial couldn''t tell if Halbor was brave or in stupid to think he could defend an attack that could even end a Tier-4 Low-Phase monster. Either way, he intended to drag Halbor off the path before the attack could collide with him. Just then, Frial heard Jay''s voice in his head, ''He has a way to survive it. If you save him now, he will lose the Bout, which would be the same as their team losing the Match.'' After a momentary hesitation, Frial chose to believe Jay and ceased in his tracks. That Match was equally important to both teams since it was the deciding factor for cing first in Group-A. In the subsequent second, the attacknded on the center of Halbor''s armour, but no explosion or a deafening boom was associated with it. The only thing the attack left was silence, dead silence. Not just on the stage but in the entire Colosseum Arena. Everyone couldn''t fathom how such a deadly attack vanished as soon as it hit Halbor''s armour. Soon, their questions were answered as a single crack opened on the chest te mirror, from which several other cracks extended till they covered every corner of the chest armour before breaking it into unrecognisable junk. To those who watched that, it appeared as if the armour somehow absorbed that attack. But, other than Halbor himself, only Jay and Olivia knew what exactly happened as they were able to read his thoughts. The chest armour was a prototype Halbor crafted using the spatial mechanism of the . Although its in defence capabilities werecklustrepared to a standard Rare Grade Spirit Armour, the chest armourpensated with a life-saving skill that could transfer any attack to another point in space, provided it was supplied with enough Spirit Energy. Despite charging the armour with 6 Tier-3 Spirit Crystals, it drained almost every bit of his Spirit Energy to transfer the Stage-4 Spear Aura Projectile. However, being a prototype, itcked neither the spatial stability nor material durability to sustain transferring such a powerful attack and broke apart. Meanwhile, Vral stared at Halbor with disbelief. To apply 20 Augmentations over her final attack, she used seven days worth of stored Stamina, which was all she had, and such an expensive attack disappeared just like that. Then, her stare was met with an intense re from Harbor, who gritted his teeth and yelled at her. "Don''t you know the Omega Chosen, Miss Olivia, is a female as well?! So, Why would I look down on you because of your gender? Do you have any idea how much effort and hard-earned resources it took me to make this armour?! All that went to waste just because of your petty stubbornness. You don''t want to admit defeat, right? If I have to beat you unconscious to win this Bout, I shall dly do it." Watching the infuriated Halbor approach her, Vral shuddered and shouted meekly, "I¡­¡­I¡­.concede." She was then saved by Frial, who announced Halbor as the winner before removing the cubical barrier and let Vral leave the stage. Then, Frial informed Halbor, "As the winner of the first Bout, you may now choose your next opponent from Vatruter Team unless you wish to rest and send your team member in your stead. In that case, your opponent team could send whomever they wish." Halbor''s Spirit Energy was pretty much exhausted from the previous spectacle. So, if he were to continue fighting, he could only rely on physical attacks and limited Stamina. If he were to face a Tier-3batant, it would be troublesome, but since the choice was in his hands, Halbor chose a Tier-2 Centaur as his opponent. "You, get your ass over here!" {Author Note: ''Centaurides'' is a Female horse-humanoid, whereas ''Centaur'' is a Male one.} The Centaur, whom Halbor pointed at, had chills run down his spine. He wished nothing but to admit defeat right then and there, but under their Queen, Vral''s orders, he was left with no such choice. "Vyrin, your opponent doesn''t have much Stamina left. As long as you exhaust him out, even if you lose the second Bout, we could win this Match." To which, the scrawny Centaur reluctantly agreed, "My Lady, I will tr¡­.try my be¡­best." Although he said that, he eximed in his mind while climbing the stage, ''It''s easy for you to say. Just look at him. How scary!!'' Meanwhile, Halbor''s team members wore wry looks on their faces. Even when Holt, their fellow team member, schemed against him, Halbor was nowhere near as angry as he was on the stage. But that didn''te out as something new to them since they were well aware of how over-protective Halbor behaved towards his crafts and creations. Soon, Frial announced the 2nd Bout to begin, and as soon as he did it, Halbor rushed towards Vyrin even more aggressively than Vral in the 1st Bout. Before the Centaur could do anything, the Heavy Hammer in Halbor''s hands kissed his head and left an oversized swelling. That continued until his body was beaten ck and blue. Halbor controlled his strength in each hit, just enough to not leave severe injuries on his opponent but inflict as much pain as possible. The fight continued for another five minutes before appeasing Halbor''s anger, and only then did he let go by knocking out his opponent. Even the audience could only shake their heads and sympathise with Vyrin. That incident left many to fear Halbor and strictly noted never to anger Halbor. The Vatruter team didn''t send another member and directly acknowledged their defeat. If not, the thirdbatant would suffer the same fate as Vyrin, if not worse. Just like that, 1st Match concluded with the Falud team''s victory. You might think the first Match is too long, but I had to make it that way to bring a good understanding of the rules rather than dumping all the info at once before the Match even began. From here, only important matches will be this long, and there were not many in the First Segment. I am gonna take my time with the fights and interactions between Alpha Chosen as that is needed to let you guys familiarize yourself with the top Alpha Chosen, their characters and their abilities. All of this is me steering and nting everything needed for the Final Fight of the 1st ARC. Simply, Lay back and Enjoy the ride. Chapter 176.4: First Segment. (Part-4) The previous Match allowed everyone to register Halbor among the Tournament''s high-end Alpha Chosen. Those who kept track of the noticed that Halbor was ranked 1st in the entire Trial World with Lv.44. Only a few keen ones knew Halbor wasn''t there before Round-2, not even at the bottom rankings. Since there were no monsters on the Tournament Ind, increasing one''s Level was not feasible. For Halbor to level up even under such circumstances pointed towards exploiting a loophole in the System. That was what most of the spectators believed and the most discussed topic. When the racket reached his ears, Frialughed at their foolishness because, as someone who roamed half a Mega Cluster, he very well would have heard about it if there was such thing as a ''loophole'' in the System. Unlike those greenhorn Alpha Chosen, he was well aware of what or rather who was behind Halbor''s meteoric rise in Level. Back when he used an information-type skill to peek at Jay''s Status, he noticed the steady inflow of Life Energy. That alone was enough for him to deduce that Jay must have possessed a Scrounger-type ability, which allows one to gain Life Energy through others'' efforts. Urzo''s was one such Innate Talent as it lets him leech off 10% Life Energy earnings of whom he nted Possession seeds on. Such abilities were rare in the System-assimted Universe but not scarce. Frial himself came across a few who had such abilities. His guess was not far off, but little did he know that Jay has a Soul A.I, which allows not a share but the entirety of the corpse-integrated monsters'' Life Energy earnings. Upon winning a Match, the Falud Team''s prior Evaluation Score of 492,500 grew to 738,750. That was a whole 50% increment. If they were ranked ording to the new Score, their rank would have climbed nine positions and reced the 6th ranking team. But no such change urred since the rank shuffling would only take after the First Segment. Soon, the second Match began with the top two teams of Group-B, the Silephe Team (Rank-3) and the Geigawa Team (Rank-11). While thetter team sent their strongest, a Tier-3 Low-Phase member, the former team did the same despite that being unnecessary. After all, the one who climbed the stage was ranked 14th in the . Despite being at Tier-3 Mid-Phase, Vorqen hasbat power that exceeded the Tier-3 High-Phase. For someone like him to be the firstbatant was overkill. After all, their opponent team only had three Tier-3 Low-Phase members, whereas their team had two at Mid-Phase and two at Low-Phase of Tier-3, and that was after excluding Vorqen. With a count of five, their team has the highest number of Tier-3 members, second only to the Earth team. Even then, they didn''t take it easy on the weaker team. It had to do with the rewards for winning matches. With five teams in every Group, each team will have four Matches. Winning each Match would grant them 50% of their umted Evaluation Score. As long as any team wins all four Matches, their Score would rise by four-fold. With that in mind, Vorqen didn''t want to give any chance to the opponent team, especially after watching Vral almost take down Halbor. Soon, the 1st Bout began and before his opponent could do anything, Vorqen snapped his fingers once, and his opponent shrieked with his palms tightly pressing down on his ears. The second snap brought his opponent to his knees, and with the third one, his opponent screamed his lungs out before falling unconscious. The entire Bout didn''t take more than ten seconds before ending with a one-sided victory. From Vorqen''s performance in the previous two Rounds, everyone had some clue of his ''Sound-type Innate Talent'', but watching the Geigawa team''s leader fall without even putting up a fight had left quite an impact on the spectators. That was even more so for the Geigawa team members. They didn''t continue with the 2nd Bout and directly admitted defeat, allowing Silephe Team to win the 2nd Match. Before climbing down the stage, Vorqen looked towards the leader of the Tilephe team and threw a taunting gaze at him. To which the other end responded with a scoff and a spit to the ground. None of that came as a surprise to the onlookers since the feud between those two teams was an open secret. As the technologically advanced lifes that hail from the same ''Star System'', Silephe and Tilephe had their share of disputes over the resources, to the point that neither was willing to reconcile with one other. The appearance of a brand new resource in the form of the Trial World had once again ignited their already vtile rtionship. Shortly, Frial announced the two teams from Group-C for the 3rd Match. Earth Team (Rank-1) vs Owlite Team (Rank-6) The order in which the Matches were held, the pattern became apparent to all. The first matches in each Group were between the top two teams in their respective Groups, making them the most important ones among all the 50 Matches in the First Segment. That implied the first five matches would be the major deciding factor in revealing the Top-10 Teams of the Tournament. Thest nine teams, to be exact, since to everyone, the Earth team reserved the 1st position. Everyone knew which team would win the 3rd Match, but they looked forward to the fight the Owlite team could put up against the top-ranking team. /////////////////////////////////// Author Note: I intentionally didn''t go into details about Vorqen''s Innate Talent and abilities. I will go into it when an intense fight unfolds between him and the Tilephe team leader. And, After Earth vs Owlite, there will only be two big Matches left. Group-D: ''Tilephe Team vs Polyphaga Team'' and Group-E: ''Anis Team vs Ragath Team''. Chapter 177.5: First Segment. (Part-5) The firstbatant to step on the stage was the strongest member of the Owlite Team, Seath. With a sword in each hand, he waited for the Earth team to send his opponent. He didn''t back down despite knowing that his team had little to no chance of winning the Match. For a prideful individual like him, admitting defeat before even putting up a fight was a disgrace. As a warrior at heart, Seath always enjoyed a good challenge and what could be more challenging than a face-off with an Earth''s Alpha Chosen? Meanwhile, within the seating area of the Earth Team, Henry stood up and excitedly volunteered to fight Seath. To which, no one paid attention to and looked at Jay for his decision. Instead of answering, he turned to his right and asked Brandon, "Other than Olivia, Sergei, yourself and myself, who do you think would be the best to send?" The other team members didn''t see thating. Ever since the beginning of the Tournament, Jay was the one who made the decisions without the others having a say in it. As someone who had prior knowledge of the Tournament and how it was conducted, they didn''t question his decisions, not even once. Upon scoring so well in Round-2 just by following everything Jay said, that turned into a blind trust. To them, one thing was made apparent; as long as they do everything Jay instructs them to do, winning the Tournament would be in the bag. When Jay asked Brandon for his opinion, they contributed it to his confidence in winning the Tournament; if not, there was no way the usually stern Jay would do that. It wasn''t just the others; Brandon didn''t expect that either. Although the Earth team members were united the whole time during the Tournament, each of them knew that there was a division among them. While Sergei, Kasim, and Andrea sided towards Olivia, the rest were on Brandon''s side, except for Jay and Dante, who were neutral to both sides. Although Jay didn''t take either side, Brandon believed he would likely side with Olivia and make her the next-inmand for the Earth team. After all, he noticed the strange dynamic between them. He long ruled out the possibility of a romantic rtionship since just the mention of Jay brought waves of fear in Olivia. From everything he had observed, he connected the dots with the silver shockwave incident on Day-2 to the time Olivia awakened a Grade-10 Innate Talent and Jay''s ability to make Ans stronger without raising their levels as he did with Rock Magmoids. The conclusion he came up with was that Jay has the ability to increase the grade of others'' Innate Talents and have them under control. That was a massive revtion for Brandon. Even though he found it hard to believe, everything pointed towards the inevitable truth. Jay''s power alone was something to be feared, and with a heaven-defying ability in tow, he would remain insurmountable. Only when he learned that did he realise why Jay didn''t care if they formed groups or established Organisations because nothing they do would make a difference to him. In the end, they would all have to be under him. So, when Jay suddenly asked for his opinion on whom to send first, he fared better than the others. Before answering, he deliberated to himself, ''Since Seath has a Time Innate Talent, a Space Innate Talent user such as Min-soo would be a good choice. But hisbat awareness iscking in dealing with someone as skilled as Seath. With Dante''s ability to predict his opponent''s moments, he would be a wise choice. However, if the opponent chooses attrition over a direct approach, he wouldck the Spirit Energy and Stamina to hold the ground. That leaves only Kensei and Henry. Kensei was the best option among those two since he has a just like Seath.'' After careful consideration, Brandon replied to Jay, "For the 1st Bout, Kensei would be the best choice, followed by Dante and Min-soo." Jay didn''t inquire about Brandon''s reasoning and just nodded before turning to Kensei, "Go; even if you can''t win, make sure to exhaust your opponent." As a man of few words, Kensei replied with a simple head-bowing gesture and walked onto the stage with a sheathed sword in hand. Jay then called out to Dante, "Carefully observe the way Seath fights and his attack patterns. You will be facing him next." Dante was puzzled by Jay''s words and asked, "From what we had seen in Round-1, that Owl man barely defeated a Tier-3 Mid-Phase monster, whereas Kensei is almost as strong as a Tier-3 High-Phase monster. There shouldn''t be any suspense, right?" "Indeed. That would be the case if only Seath didn''t grow stronger since then." Jay''s reply made them look at Seath in a new light. But many still wondered if he could really defeat Kensei. After all, Kensei''sbat awareness was second only to Brandon and Sergei, if not the same. Just as Frial announced the start of the Match, Jay''s voice rang in Brandon''s mind. ''You are quite a bright one, aren''t you? Yes, I do in fact have the ability to increase the Innate Talent Grade. Not just that, doing so allows me to use the Innate Talent of whom I use that ability on. For a brilliant tactician like you, I could offer an upgrade to Grade-9 along with other benefits in exchange for your absolute loyalty. This offer is valid till the end of the Alpha Program. Whether you take up the offer or not, keep what you know about this ability to yourself. Because if you don''t, I will know and trust me, you don''t want that for yourself. Got it?'' It took Brandon a few seconds to fall out of the daze and nod at Jay, with shock still evident in his eyes. Never did he expect Jay''s ability to be more heaven-defying than it already was. Whether it be Jay''s diverse skills or his often rise in power, everything began to make sense to Brandon. While the offer was tempting, he didn''t wish to lose his free will over more power. But he didn''t outright say that, nor did he need to with Jay seeing through his thoughts. Chapter 178.6: First Segment. (Part-6) The 1st Bout began, but thebatants on the stage made no move and instead, they peered at each other in a sword-drawing stance. Seconds passed, but they remained unmoving in their positions. Only the Sword Innate Talent users in the audience could see the tension between Seath and Kensei. In a sword fight, the first strike ys a far more important role as it dictates the momentum of the battle. {Author Note: Check out the reference picture of Seath I have attached in this chapter''sment section. The one I used for Seath before in Chapter 132. Along with that, I have added a reference picture for Kensei as well.} Soon, the staleness was first broken by Seath as he made the first move by coating both his swords with and dashed towards Kensei. When Seath was close enough, he extended the Sword Aura on both his swords to as long as 10 meters with andunched himself at Kensei with a twist of his body. With a sword in each hand, his body spun around like a spinning top, increasing the reach of his attack to a diameter of 20 meters. Kensei didn''t try to block it and instead evaded the range of the attack. Even though the attack failed tond on his opponent, Seath didn''t seem to worry about it. Instead, he continued attacking Kensei the same way, and Kensei dodged them all. To everyone watching, Seath''s actions seemed rash since using and at once consumes a lot of Spirit Energy, and he used them both repeatedly despite failing tond them on Kensei the first time around. The Sword Innate Talent users among the audience, who anticipated an intense sword battle were disappointed at Seath''s performance. After all, for a Tier-3 Low-Phase individual like Seath, his series of heavy attacks were no different than losing half his Spirit Energy, that too, over nothing. Kensei would have thought the same if he hadn''t known about his opponent''s abilities. Before he climbed the stage, Jay transmitted information on Seath''s abilities to Kensei. Because of that, he knew that the ability of