《Blood Assimilation》


 Chapter 1 - Loser

    Chapter 1: Loser


    ¡°Randy Smith! Quicklye forward and receive your statistical results!¡± Said an instructor in a loud but disgruntled voice while waving something in his grasp as if he was holding a piece of trash.


    ¡°...¡±


    The student named Randy Smith that was called upon did not rush to get his statistical results nor did he really care about his results- it was always the same results, anyway.


    Therefore, with his head bent over, which hid his lifeless eyes, he slowly got up and walked to the front of the ss under the watchful eyes of his fellow ssmates.


    Some of the students immediately began hurling mocking jeers at him as he walked past them. Their voices were loud enough for even their instructor to hear. Despite that, the instructor never seemed to care enough to stop them.


    After all, everyone in this ss hailed him as their ss¡¯s or perhaps their academy¡¯s-


    ¡°Hahaha! Look at him, that loser is still as trashy as always. He still hadn¡¯t managed to awaken his ability after so long. Even though everyone in this ss had already awakened their respective abilities. What a waste of space!¡±


    ¡°I know right! That loser thinks he can make it in our prestigious academy for special ability holders without any ability. He had better go home and enjoy his mama¡¯s cooking until he dies of old age. How sad it would be for his family when their son bes the first to die in their family!¡±


    .....


    ¡°Hahaha! You are too wicked! What¡¯s wrong with you, man?!¡±


    ¡°The funny thing is that that loser always acts like a diligent and model student. He always ignores everyone except for that girl in the other ss.¡±


    ¡°Oh, by that girl, you mean her? Are you talking about that ¡®girlfriend¡¯ of his in the other ss?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right, I am talking about her. The poor loser always hangs around with her due to them being childhood friends and all.¡±


    ¡°Tsk. Using that rtionship as a way to get close to such a fine woman, what a sly bastard! Such a waste for that girl though. I wish I could switch ces with that loser.¡±


    ¡°Hey man, you are talking like you deserve that chick or something. Are you crazy? Don¡¯t you know who is currently interested in her? Do you want to die?¡±


    ¡°Ah...¡±


    As the students heard thisment, they all turned to look in a certain direction. They saw a handsome young man, who had a stern and indifferent expression on his face as he sat behind his desk.


    However, unbeknownst to the other students, he was furtively looking at the student named ¡®Randy Smith¡¯ with a cold glint in eyes as he walked past his desk.


    Meanwhile, one student pointed surreptitiously at him and said in a low voice: ¡°You mean him, right? That son of- I mean, that rich guy in our ss?¡±


    ¡°Damn right... I thought you had forgotten or something. Anyway, let¡¯s wait for that loser to get his results, so we can have a goodugh over his ¡®good luck¡¯ and ¡®Don¡¯t give up hope¡¯ advice that he always received from the AI as mental support. Hehe.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right, it is better to focus on that trash. I don¡¯t want to get involved with that rich guy. I can¡¯t wait to diss the shit out of our precious loser, Randy. I always enjoy that helpless look on his face.¡±


    ¡°Are you a fucking sadist or something? But you are right, that fucker never fights back or even says anything in response to our ¡®pep¡¯ talks. Heck, the dude never even reports us anymore. He is indeed a handy punching bag, physically and psychologically. Hehe.¡±


    ...


    The privileged and talented students kept calling the student that was just called by their instructor names and ridiculing him. However, the young man ignored their chatter and made his way to the front of the ss. He was already used to this kind of treatment.


    Behind the lectern, the instructor held within his grasp, a parcel. His statistical results had been ced in aputer chip and ced in a parcel just like everyone else¡¯s. He only needed to insert the chip into the slot on his technological bracelet to view his results on the holographic screen that would be projected.


    The young man had always kept his head down, not wanting to attract any attention, but s, it was futile.


    Almost everyone in his school knew about his status within this academy for privileged and talented awakened individuals.


    Why was he looked down on? It is very simple. Unlike the others, he was not one of the privileged and talented individuals in this institution.


    One could say that he was at the bottom of the hierarchy.


    The truth was that no one knew he had tried his absolute best in training every single day through blood and sweat.


    However, hard work did not necessarily mean that there would be hard-earned or fruitful results.


    With many thoughts going through his mind, he gradually approached the instructor with his disheveled curly blonde hair slumping down his face. His hair slumped down hair swayed to cover his vision due to him keeping his head down even as he walked.


    At the moment he was about to reach the instructor¡¯s lectern, the instructor casually used his ability of levitation to pass him the chip with his statistical results in the distance. As he did not n to let him get closer than a meter away from him.


    The ability of the instructor was Telekinesis- the ability to move things with mental energy, without the need to physically touch them.


    He was also very used to this treatment from his instructor. Everyone in this institution shunned him.


    No one wanted to get close to him, but at least one person did not abandon him, no, two people. If he includes people outside of the institution, then three people.


    He had always thought that he was incredibly lucky to have three people who had continued to support him. Even his parents were disappointed in him after he failed to awaken his ability more than ten times in session.


    The student named Randy Smith grabbed the floating chip with his hand and without making eye contact with the instructor, he turned around, about to leave.


    In the past, whenever he made eye contact with his instructor, he would always receive a disgusted expression from him. He had experienced that look of disgust so many times, on numerous asions, that he had developed the habit of not looking his instructor¡¯s way.


    But as he was turning around, a sudden voice caused him to halt and raise his head involuntarily.


    ¡°Randy Smith! As a student in my ss, you have not awakened your abilities despite attending this institution for four years. What do you have to say for yourself? As a student of this prestigious academy, to not be able to awaken your ability with all the resources supplied is sphemy to the academy that you attend.¡±


    ¡°That is an inconceivable result, to say the least. Even the students whocked talent like you, after attending a prestigious academy for awakeners, they had always awakened something in the end, even if the said ability was a trash ability. And even if they didn¡¯t awaken their ability, they still managed to determine the energy they werepatible with and built their strength on that discovery!¡±


    ¡°But what about you?! Are you negligent or are you just ipetent trash with nopatibility with any of the energy types?! You¡¯re such a disgrace to not only me but the whole institution. As your instructor, I have the right to let you know that in a month¡¯s time if you still haven¡¯t awakened your ability by then, you would not qualify to partake in the university exams!¡±


    ¡°Even if your basic statistical data was better than all of the students in this ss, without an awakened ability orpatible energy, it is pointless to dream of attending a university renowned for raising ability users andbatants for various upations. So, keep that in mind as you make your future ns!¡±


    The instructor said all these words in a cold and indifferent tone.


    He did not like these types of students who wasted the academy¡¯s resources yet still failed to achieve anything noteworthy. Before they could embarrass their academy in the Eastern District any further, pests like him must be weeded out of the institution.


    ¡°I-I understand, teacher.¡± Randy dejectedly replied with a dispirited voice. It was in low sounding voice, almost whispering, but the instructor could still hear him very clearly as if he stood right next to him.


    ¡°Hmph! Such a disgrace to our prestigious academy! Now, hurry up and make your way to your seat, and stop disturbing the other students with your unlucky presence!¡± The instructor chided as he pointed to Randy¡¯s desk at the back of the ss.


    ...


    Randy walked back to his seat, all the while continuing to ignore the other students¡¯ jeers andughter.


    To him, these students were like birds chirping nonstop as they mercilessly peck at worms and bugs, like frogs croaking repeatedly to trick their preys before using their tongues to catch the unsuspecting fly that flew across them, and like snakes hissing to sneer at their prey to make them feel dispirited before they pounced on them.


    Obviously, he was the prey in this case, as they kept looking for some sort of fault with him every single day that he met them.


    The moment he sat down and ced his chip into his bracelet, the information on the chip disyed itself on a holographic screen, which showed his statistical data.


    Normally, one wouldn¡¯t do such a thing as insert their chip into their bracelet in the ssroom since all their information would be on full disy to others.


    However, he had no choice in the matter if he didn¡¯t want to be picked onter for not obeying theirmand.


    In reality, the students of their institution may appear or act like privileged students, but most, if not all of them, were rotten to the core.


    These ssmates of his always ganged up to beat him up whenever he refused toply with their demands. Even when he decided to report them to the academy because he couldn¡¯t take it anymore, no one batted an eye.


    The only response he got was an indifferent statement from the principal that said: ¡°Students fighting amongst each other is normal, as only through fighting and fiercepetitions could they learn to use their abilities.¡±


    Furthermore, the school said they wouldn¡¯t intervene in these disputes as long as the other student did not get hurt too badly by his fellow ssmate or challenger.


    Moreover, the academy had specialized nurses with healing abilities that could heal minor injuries. Therefore, fighting among students has be advocated by the institution on the premise or condition that both parties agreed to the duel.


    Of course, Randy did not consent to any of the fights. However, the other student imed that he did. Furthermore, since they also had an alibi who also said the same thing, then that left him, who said otherwise to be lying about the situation.


    The academy would then admonish him for being unscrupulous and for trying to use the academy to punish ¡®good¡¯ students.


    With things being the way they were, Randy Smith did not have a choice but to give in to these students¡¯ demands from then on, and one of those demands include showing them his statistical data every term and semester.


    The look on Randy Smith¡¯s face right now could be described as clouded or listless. This was because he wasn¡¯t really interested in his statistical data since it was already obvious judging from the way their instructor spoke to him a while ago.


    Nheless, he still had to fulfill these students¡¯ wishes, or he would end up suffering more after school ends. However, that was something he couldn¡¯t afford to let happen since he had his daily routine to fulfill.


    And so, without any suspense, he pressed a button on his bracelet which elicited a buzzing sound from his multi-purpose technological smart bracelet.


    This smart bracelet functions as a watch, a phone, and even as aputer. You could essentially use it for many things unlike the previous era¡¯s devices, where there were only smartwatches that functioned as phones but were limited in their usage.


    Ziish!


    The smart bracelet let out a buzzing sound when the tray on the corner of it opened. That was where you insert theputer chip. The chip functioned like an SD Card or something equivalent in the bygone era, but it was more advanced in terms of technologypared to those.


    That was only natural as the current technology had improved rapidly by leaps and bounds due to the many changes that urred on their earth.


    Ding!


    The bracelet then let out a muffled chime as it took in the chip and started processing the information on it in a swift manner. And the process was indeed noticeably short as the information on the chip was disyed on the holographic screen a few momentster.


    When it did, as if they were programmed robots with specific tasks, every student in the ssroom immediately turned their attention to the direction of Randy Smith¡¯s desk at the same time in anticipation of his test results.


    There was a function on these smart bracelets that allowed everyone to see the information disyed on them from any direction the others were looking from. This was except at the very corner where the window-like screen makes a straight line.


    But that didn¡¯t matter much since Randy Smith, ¡®the loser¡¯, sat at the very back of the ss like an outcast.


    That meant that almost everyone in the ssroom could see his statistical test results if they so much as tilted their heads with enough effort to look in a ¡®surreptitious¡¯ manner. As if they really had to do that when the instructor didn¡¯t even mind their earlier jeering toward him.


    ...


    Name: Randy Smith


    Age: 18


    upation: Student


    Rank: E


    .....


    [PHYSICAL MEASUREMENT]


    Physical Strength: 200


    Physical Resistance: 200


    Physical Stamina: 195


    Physical Agility: 100


    [MENTAL MEASUREMENT]


    Mental Strength: 50


    Mental Resistance: 45


    Ability: None


    Energy Type: Unknown, Unconfirmed.


    Status: Based on his high Basic Statistical Data, this student has an exceedingly high potential to be a skilledbatant. However, he is in danger of failing his ss due to not only failing to awaken his ability but also ipatible with any of the discovered energy types. As such, there is a possibility of this student being excluded from the uing university entrance examination until further notice.


    |Advice: Please try harder! Don¡¯t give up hope just yet! You can do it, Student Smith, Randy!|


    ...

 Chapter 2 - Ability Types

    "Hahaha! It fucking said, ''Please try harder.'' Like hell trying harder is enough to awaken an ability. You are so pitiful that even the AI is taking pity on you." One of the students burst intoughter upon seeing the ''Advice'' section of Randy''s statistical data.


    "Oh, you are fucking right. I didn''t see that as I was focus on this bastard''s ridiculous basic statistics. I mean, how could someone who hadn''t even awakened his ability have those high statistics that is on par with an E-Rank Ability User?''


    "I know right, this fucker is a monster, at least when ites to training but s, that does not mean shit when you face an Ability User."


    "You are right, I had a 60 for my physical strength statistics but when I use my ability, I am still stronger than this loser."


    "Oh, you had a 60? Mine was lower than that. I had a 50 for my physical strength when Ist checked."


    "If you really think about it, this fucker is indeed a monster that reign champion in terms of raw strength but too bad the world doesn''t focus on raw strength when checking for power. They only look at your ability and Energy Type or Energy Compatibilities."


    "That''s right, it is indeed a shame, he was just too unlucky to not be able to awaken his ability even when he had already turn eighteen years old. After all, once you reach that age and you still haven''t awakened it then you would most likely not be able to awaken it for your whole remaining lifetime."


    ¡­


    What these colleagues of Randy were saying were indeed true, once someone fails to awaken their ability at the age of eighteen, they would most likely not be able to awaken in the near future even if they go through the extreme method of exposing themselves to fleshly opened rifts that suddenly appear. One of the pecks of the rifts that desperate people take advantage of was the fact that it exudes otherworldly energy and those close to the rift or dimensional gate would be affected by the energy. If you arepatible with the energy type then you might awaken your ability, if not, then only despair awaits you.


    Due to the slim chance of awakening an ability that way, not many people try this method and also there is a chance that a monster or a beast or whatever creature that is on the other side would suddenly jump out of the rifts and pounce on you ruthlessly. Although there are regtions set on the rifts enacted by the government, but even they cannot be perfect as some rifts appear spontaneously without their notice and citizens would have to report its appearance before they inform hunters and warriors of the government to handle the situation. Of course, the government had a means of detecting some rifts, but they could not keep track of them all, which leads to people with nothing to lose approaching them and trying to expose themselves to the otherworldly energying out of the rift.


    There had been a warning issued by the government about the prohibition of such methods, but not everyone would listen to such a warning and that is how it had been until now. Randy thought about using this method to see if he would awaken his ability but after thinking about it, he decided not to. First of all, there is a risk to doing this and also if he gets caught by a government official or any inquisitive citizen, he would be in a big trouble even affecting his academy''s reputation; so many repercussions will be borne from his actions, so he did not dare to try this method and continued to utilize the academies specialized methods of awakening abilities.


    Randy waited until all the students got their fill of his statistical results before putting it away. He had already be numb to it all. The instructor did not bother to stop the students from harassing him, in fact, it seems like he was also enjoying it deep down as he turned a blind eye and proceeded to call various names of students and they received their parcel just like he did. Very soon, a name was called which elicited a quietness in the room. One could hear the breathing rhythm of the student opposite them due to the sudden quietness. The instructor called the name again with his expression full of respect for the teenager in from of him.


    "Jeremiah Zhang, as expected you have improved drastically in controlling your ability. Very well done, Good job. You are the role model of every student in this ss who are still struggling to control their abilities." The praise from the instructor did not elicit any reaction from the teenager in front of him. He only had a cold expression as he nonchntly walked and grabbed his chip without saying anything. He knew very well that his teacher was only polite because of his family background, and not actually impressed with his ability or his ability to control it wellpared to the others with different abilities.


    ¡­


    Randy only nced at this colleague and then bend his head down again. This guy was one of the people who bullied him in and outside of the institution. Most of the time, he only sends his men to deal with him, so he rarely dealt with him himself. This Jeremiah Zhang''s father is the director of the Ministry of Education for the Ability Users. In this Sky Rise City in the Eastern District, there were only a handful of things that he could not do. So, even the instructors of this academy were afraid of him, more precisely his father.


    ¡­


    Just like that, all the other students received their parcel containing their statistical results. Some were happy about their improvement in their ability control, while others had a not so contented expression on their faces since they were still struggling with their ability. One needs to fully understand their ability if they wish or want make use of it in the future, so there were training grounds where you can test out your ability and depending on the type of ability, the room for the training ground would be different as there are a variety of abilities just in this academy alone.


    But ultimately, they are ssified into two: The Physical and the Mental abilities. The physical ability would be any ability that rely heavily on your body like enhancement abilities, and the mental abilities are abilities that rely heavily on your mental strength like telekinesis. It was debatable whether elemental abilities are physical or mental as they tend to rely on both physical and mental strength to utilize, but in the end, it was ce under the physical ability category since casting spells rely on the energy in your body and not that of your mind.


    ¡­


    After school.


    Randy did not go home like the rest of the students and instead, proceeded to head to the academy''s special gymnasium since today was Friday, and it would be the weekend the following day, so he would not be able toe here to train. He always goes to the gymnasium of the academy before going home. He wanted to increase his strength as soon as possible even if it is only his physical strength. Randy made his way to a highly sophisticated building that was in a form of a triangle with three equal sides. There were three sections to this building. The first section was the first floor where most of the student who wanted to train their physical bodies frequented; most of these people had physical abilities like [Physique Enhancement] so they needed to be in top shape to maximize their abilities.


    The second floor were where those who awakened an elemental abilities or other simr abilities go to train their abilities, of course that section is also split in many room types based on individual ability types.


    The third floor were where those that had fully mastered the control of their abilities go to further improve or step into a next stage of their ability through the guidance from the instructors who had experience with said abilities; the amount of people who goes to the third floor are few and far between as not many could fully control their abilities until they partake in the university entrance examination. Those who aplish such feats were hailed as geniuses and Randy knew one such person. She was his childhood friend. They lived in the same neighborhood and since their parents knew each other, it was not easy for them to get to know each other. They even went to middle school together and now they were in the same high school or perhaps it is better to call it an academy instead, since they focus heavily on training abilities.


    ¡­


    After going through security and the verification of his Identification Card at the entrance to the Training Center of the academy, Randy made his way into the sophisticated building. When he entered the building, he was met with gazes of curiosity and those of pity. Most people working in this training center knew about this diligent youth who had frequented the training center of the academy almost every day ever since he came to the academy four years ago. They knew very well how hard this youth had been trying when ites to physical training, but none of that matter if he cannot awaken his ability before the university entrance examination. Randy saw their gazes and he ignored them. He was already used to their ''pity'' towards him by now.. He did not need their pity, it is not like if they feel pity towards him, he will suddenly awaken his ability or something.

 Chapter 3 - Endless Torture

    Randy walked past the gazes of the people after giving them a slight bow as a greeting. Right now, is the only time that he can fully enjoy himself and forget about his miserable life. That is, by immersing himself in physical training. He found out that he could only release his stress by working out extra harder in the training center. Although, it was not enough to change his fate, since no matter how harder he went at it in the gymnasium nothing happens, but it was enough to forget for a moment, that is right, just a moment of bliss is enough for him.


    Randy walked up to an elevator and tapped the monitor on the wall with his student identification card and proceeded to wait. It did not take long for the door of the elevator to slid open, and he entered shortly after. The bottom floor was the reception area, so it does not count towards the number of floors this building is divided into. As such, the first section required one to take the elevator in the building to the first floor.


    A couple secondster, Randy walked out the elevator and looked around for a bit before heading toward a room that was unupied at the moment. There are different kind of rooms, some amodates multiple people to be in it and some only for individual training hence they would be alone. Randy always picked the individual training room whenever he can, as usually those rooms are upied most of the time. Today he was very lucky to find room that was not upied yet, so he hurriedly moved his legs and tap his student identification card on it before anyone elsees.


    "Wiish! Identification confirmed. Wee Randy Smith. You currently assigned as the upant of the Training Room RM-1C." A feminine voice of the AI resounded from the monitor next to the door.


    With a buzz sound, the door to the training room opened with him registered as the upant. Randy took off his backpack from his back and proceeded to head to the dressing room to change into a morefortable attire for training. After changing, he pondered for a while, about which training he should do for today. He could run on a specialized treadmill to check his stamina or improve it. He could also lift weights to increase his upper body''s strength, but he chose not to because these kinds of training had little effect on his current body, he needed a holistic training session. And so, he ended up deciding on using the Graviton Room specialized for training one''s body holistically.


    The Graviton room was a room created utilizing science and magic technologybined. The whole process was so intricate with no clue as to how it was made, and only magic engineers are privy to such information regarding its creation. Well, that does not matter. What really matters is that he can use this graviton room to increase his body''s limits. The entire process was unbearably painful and if you do not take care and use too much gravity, your entire body would crush under the weight.


    Despite this, Randy did not mind it at all, this was not his first time using such a room. He had been using it ever since he found out two years ago that he still cannot awaken his ability. With a resolute expression, Randy pushed a button on the room in front of him and the door slid upward, and he proceeded to walk in, and the door slid down behind him immediately after walking in. One can operate this room using their voice as a regtor or sort. And so, using his voice to start up the room, Randy shouted in the silver sheen room.


    "Start up with 200 Pounds!"


    Ding!


    Immediately, there was chime as the system registered his voice and right after the weight inside the graviton room started changing. Randy could feel that the pressure in the room started changing as if a boulder weighting two hundred pounds had been ced on his back, but this kind of weight was nothing to Randy as he yelled out again.


    "400 Pounds!"


    The weight in the room was increased again. Randy could feel his muscles tingling in his body as he felt the pressure of more than twice his own weight.


    "Grrgh!!" Randy gritted his teeth as he bore with the weight that seemed as if it wanted to crush his bones. But this was not his limit. He wanted to go farther, he wanted to see how much his current body can take him before it cannot handle it anymore. Although, his body''s weight was about two hundred pounds, his explosive power from his fist reached about 400 pounds when he goes all out. But when dormant, his muscles always had less power umted. So, they cannot exert any force higher than his body''s weight without him flexing his body and channeling all his strength into his fist to release a powerful punch that is equivalent to four hundred pounds strike.


    This is one of the perks of the current era; most people are born with strong bodies naturally, especially if their parent also had abilities. Of course, Randy''s parents were ability users, but for some reason, he could not awaken his ability despite his siblings being able to awaken theirs. With these thoughts, Randy shouted again, his voice sounding hoarse due to strain on his body.


    "500 Pounds!"


    Hum! Buzz~


    "Kukk¡­ Argh!"


    The moment Randy uttered these words of order to the system, there was a muffed buzz sound as he felt like a whole mountain had been dropped on his body and he scream uncontrobly, this time he could not take it anymore. He wanted to give up¡­ How could he handle this much weight when he does not have any energy source like everyone else who had awakened their ability. He only managed to not get kicked out due to his high basic statistics whenpared to the others. But at this moment, he wanted to give up after all this time? No! He cannot give up now. If he does not raise his body''s potential, how could he know whether he could awaken his ability that way or not.


    The reason why every student was required to do basic body training is because some abilities needed you to have a better constitution. And so, the academies required their student to at least reach a hundred in their Physical Strength and or stamina. That way, when they awaken their ability, there would be less problems. Randy went to one these institutions dedicated for awakening one''s ability, but he failed every single time to the point of despair. Right now, his only hope was to make his physical strength break through its limit and maybe, just maybe he might awaken his ability that way. With that in mind, Randy''s voice bellowed in the graviton room as he endured the bone cracking pain.


    "Argh! 600 Pounds!"


    "Kak!"


    "Kahk!"


    The sound of bones making cracking sounds and joints dislocating reverberated throughout the graviton room. If anyone was in the same room with him right now, they would have felt goosebumps all over their body, sending a chill to run down their spines, which would elicit an involuntary trembling from anyone due to the disturbing sounds Randy''s body was making at this moment. Nheless, Randy continued enduring the pain by cussing out loud in the lonely graviton room.


    "Fuck! It fucking hurts! Arghh!!" Randy screamed the moment the weight increased on him again. At this point, he was lying on the ground unable to move a single muscle as he endured the increase in gravity on his body. Despite the disturbing sounds of his bones rubbing against their joints, they were not broken, he only felt slight paining from his joint. That was due to his already strong physique that stem from being born from two ability users. Randy had always noticed that he had strong bones and durable muscles which enabled him to push his limits every time in training center.


    "Arghhh!!!" Randy''s screamed reverberated throughout the graviton room due to the pain his body was suffering at this moment, but he did not give up just yet. He wanted to maintain the six hundred pounds on his body a little more to temper his muscles. After a while, he increased the weight again followed by an agonizing scream louder than the other. Randy kept this up for a while. He would endure the different weights and then when he adjusts to the pain that an increase in weight brought on his body, he will increase the weight again, repeating this process over and over again, all the while screaming from the excruciating pain.


    "Ahhhh!!"


    "Kakk!!"


    "Arghhhhh!!!"


    "Kakkk!"


    "Gahhhh!!!!"


    Bones were making cracking sound and an ear-piercing scream followed after that. It went on like this for about two hours non-stopped. Randy increased the weights gradually and the pain that he felt each time made him feel like he would die any time soon, he could also feel his brain being pressured by the weight. It was a really agonizing experience that no one with sane mind would ever try. The endless self-torture ended when he increased the weight to thousand pounds. At that time, Randy could tell that if he stayed in that state for a couple more seconds, he would have really died and so, he ended the experience with a hoarse voice full of exhaustion.


    "S-S-Stop¡­" Randy barely managed to utter these words but, luckily the AI system was design to stop the gravity from pressurizing the room when the trainee utters the word ''Stop.'' Even if it was in low voice, with the amplified voice recognition built in system, the AI could easily pick up the voice of the trainee and bring an abrupt end to the training session. At this moment, Randyid t with his face on the ground panting heavily as if his life depended on it, it was so ragged that one would feel disturbed just listening to his audible pants.


    "Huuk! Haak!" "Huuk! Haak!" "Huuk! Haak¡­"


    After panting like that for about five minutes, Randy finally turned his sweaty body around and proceeded to stare at the ceiling while controlling his breathing. He was sweating profusely at this moment with all his training attire soaked in sweat as if he had purposely jumped into a swimming pool with his clothes on.


    "T-That really hurts¡­ I don''t think¡­ I can do this too often¡­ Otherwise, I would really die before even awakening any ability¡­" said Randy barely with a bitter smile on his otherwise weary face.

 Chapter 4 - Emilia

    After staying in the graviton room for about an hour, Randy moved his weary and tired body off the floor as he struggled to get out of the graviton room. One may wonder what is this guy was thinking when he decided to torture himself just to get a little stronger? But you would be wrong if you thought he was just being reckless and power craze. In fact, beforeing to the academy today, Randy went out and bought some cheap potions that can heal fatigued or wounded body such as healing bruises, muscle rxant, and different type of energy recovering potions.


    Even though he had no way of telling whether he had an energy or not at the moment, but he bought them anyway as he always felt refreshed whenever he drank an energy potion, and it does not matter which type of energy potion at all. Whenever they checked his energy on the energy measurement device, it always shows a glitch and then after a while it show nothing. The only conclusion they could draw was that he had no energypatibility, and with him not awakening his ability, it became even more apparent that he really did not have any energy at all.


    After reaching the dressing room and grabbing his backpack, Randy proceeded to grab the potions and chug them down his throat with much difficulty. His hands were currently trembling from the training session just now. If not because of his willpower, he would have fallen asleep or even fainted by now. After drinking the potions, Randy could feel his muscles rxing from the muscle rxant potion and then his internal injuries were healed by one of the potions albeit only relieved some of the pain, since there was still lingering pain throughout his entire body. Those were just the physical body healing potions. After checking his body, he realized that he could move betterpared to before. After that, he then chugged down the energy potions of different kinds; one of which was a mana potion.


    "Hmm¡­ That felt really good. I don''t know why I feel this way despite not having any energy in my body, but this feeling is so good. This is the only thing that is close to manipting a type of energy that I have discovered. How I wish I had an energy too." Randy said after relishing the feeling of energy coursing through his veins. Even though it was only for a brief moment, he still appreciates the fact that he can feel the energies contained in the potions that he drank. He had spent his entire allowance to buy these potions, but he does not regret it, after all what is money for, if not for spending.


    "I have to get home as soon as possible before my parents start worrying and calling the academy regarding my whereabouts." Randy dragged his exhausted body and after taking a quick shower at the training room, he left in hurry. Although he tried to move faster, but he was still really slow due to the intermittent pains felt each time he took a step forward.


    "Ah¡­ Ouch! I really shouldn''t do this again. I feel like my muscles will get damage if I do this again." Said Randy with a pained face as he continued to move with gritted teeth despite the pain felt through each step he took.


    Soon, he came down to the reception area with the elevator. When he came out of the elevator, everybody in the reception area noticed his worn-out body and expression of pain as he walks to the door leading out of the training center. Randy ignored their gazes as he stepped out of the door and made his way out. But when Randy was about to step out of the door, he noticed a familiar face in the distance with a group girls and guys as they seem to be making their way home from the academy. They seemed to be chatting about something, probably about the uing university entrance examination.


    Although it waste, some student still stayed and dealt with their own things before heading home, so it was not unusual for students to be going hometer than required. Randy steps out of the door and he approached the group of students in the distance.


    ¡­


    "Emilia, You really are genius to have mastered your ability this quickly. I wish I was a genius like you and get to at least an intermediate level with my ability. I just can''t get grasp it no matter how hard I try." A female student eximed as she praised another female student who was called Emilia.


    "It''s nothing really, I was just lucky. You guys can do it too if try hard enough. From what I heard everyone had to spend different amount of time to master their abilities since we all had different abilities." Said Emilia humbly to her friend.


    "Still, you had one of the rare elemental abilities, the ice attribute element; the super rare ice element that is difficult to master, yet you still mastered it before I did with my verymon earth attribute element." The female student then said to her.


    "Well¡­ I kind of had a mentor that why¡­ Didn''t I tell you guys about?" Emilia had a confused expression as she asked.


    "You did tell us, but I think she was not here when you told us about Miss Liu¡­ that''s not right, I think she is Miss Smith now." Another female student interrupted as she exined the situation.


    "Oh¡­ Are you talking about the ''Angelic Ice Mage''? She is my role model. I want to make my earth golems into angels just like she did with her ice golems." The female student from before was excited upon hearing the other female student.


    "That''s right, she is the mother of my childhood friend. She really knows a lot about ice elemental maniption. Although we both had different energy type, since I use Spiritual energy and she uses Mana, but the concepts are still the same in terms element, so it wasn''t hard for me to understand her. She is the reason why I progressed faster in understanding my ice ability." Emilia confirmed and she exined to her friend how she was able to gain control over her ability fasterpared to others.


    "That''s so lucky, I wish I had a mentor like you." The female student expressed her jealousy at not having a mentor with more knowledge who would teach her how to control her earth ability.


    "Haha¡­ Don''t worry, you will surely master your element if you practice hard enough, it is only a matter of time." Emilia let out an awkward chuckle as she encouraged her friend.


    "I wonder if I can make it into one of the top universities with my basic control of my ability." Said the female student.


    It was at this moment that a figure suddenly approached them, arousing everyone''s attention including the boys who were also engaged in their own conversation at this moment.


    "Emilia¡­ Are you just heading home now?"


    As the figure approached them, a voice followed shortly after. The female student called Emilia noticed the figure in the distance and she was instantly startled. She knew the owner of the voice; it was none other than her childhood friend¡­


    "Randy! What are you doing here?" Emilia suddenly asked.


    ''What is he doing here? Was he waiting for me?'' She wondered.


    "What do you mean? I was just in the training center as usual" Randy said with a frown. He was confused by her reaction. She sounded like she got caught doing something bad.


    "Oh... So that''s it?" Emilia let out a sigh under her breath. She opened her mouth to say something, but she was suddenly interrupted by one of the guys walking with them.


    "What is this loser doing here?" One of the male students noticed Randy and said out loud so that everyone could hear him.


    And as expected, the attention of the girls with them were aroused.


    ''Loser? He can''t be that guy, right?'' All the female students thought almost at the same time.


    Randy who heard what the male student said was not bothered at all and still approached Emilia. He knew how everyone thought of him in the academy, but at least, Emilia did not treat him like that.


    "Brother Zhang, don''t tell me this guy is trying to steal your woman?" One of the blunt male students said after he realized Randy''s unperturbed behavior as he continued to approached them.


    "Hahaha!! Does he think that he deserves her?" Another male student said with a loudugher.


    "Jeremiah! When did I ever im to be your woman?!" Emilia suddenly rebutted when she heard what that male student said just now.


    "Emilia, it was not me who said it. But I really do like you, I have told you this multiple already¡­ It is just you who never reciprocated my feelings." Said Jeremiah Zhang. He was that son of the director of the ministry of education for ability users.


    Emilia frowned upon hearing Jeremiah Zhang, and she spoke, "You already knew that I don''t like you, yet you keep following me around. Can''t you just leave me alone?"


    She never liked this guy who only used money to get whatever he wants. She had been told multiple times by this guy that with his help, she would not have to worry about resources during her ability cultivation and she would be guaranteed a spot in one of the top universities. But she did not want to rely on anybody to achieve her goals hence why she readily refuted when Jeremiah wanted to date her.


    "Just why don''t you like me? I have money, and everything else that you might need and yet¡­ " Jeremiah narrowed his eyes at Randy who was about a meter away from them and then continued, "Don''t tell me that you really like that loser? I don''t even want to say his name, afraid I will receive his bad luck."


    Jeremiah Zhang had never had to worry about getting what he wants, especially when ites to women. The women were the ones thate to him for things due to his money. He never had to beg any of them, and he would be able to easily get any woman that he wants and yet this girl kept refusing him no matter much he had tried, whether with money, connections or resources, she refused it all.. But the more she refused his gifts the more he wanted her to be his woman.

 Chapter 5 - Your Time Is Up

    "Just why don''t you like me? I have money, and everything else that you might need and yet¡­ " Jeremiah narrowed his eyes at Randy who was about a meter away from them and then continued, "Don''t tell me that you really like that loser? I don''t even want to say his name, afraid that I will receive his bad luck."


    "I never said I liked him. He is only my childhood friend and that is all." Emilia readily refuted the im that she was into Randy. She did not want anyone else to misunderstand their rtionship. They only spend time together because they lived in the same neighborhood when they were kids and although her family moved, they are still not that far away from each other.


    Randy listened to this, and a bitter smile appeared on his face. They used to spend time together due to their parents. She evenes to his house for a visit, and sometimes even gets mentored by his mother regarding her ice ability. Throughout that time, they got closer, and it was obvious they both had feelings each other. But now, she said they were only childhood friends, and that was all there was to their rtionship. Randy felt hurt, he even thought about confessing to her when he awakens his ability someday, if even that day would evere. Nheless, Randy ignored these emotions and continued to ask.


    "Emilia, Are you going somewhere else with your friends? If not, we can go home together." Randy said ignoring the other students next to Emilia, including Jeremiah Zhang.


    Jeremiah was pissed off when he noticed that Randy was ignoring his existence as he continued to speak to Emilia. Despite feeling anger bubbling up within him, he did not let it show, afraid it would leave a bad impression on Emilia.


    On the other hand, Emilia was troubled when she heard Randy''s question. She did not know how to answer. Due to Randy''s inability to awaken his ability, her parents warned her to not get close to him as it would affect her reputation and so, she tried to avoid him, but he always approaches her like this. Lately her parents were more adamant that she should not get involve with Randy as the university entrance examination was approaching. And today, she did not leave school right away and decided to stay until the evening to head home. All this was in order to avoid Randy, yet he still managed to find and approach her. He usually leaves around six o''clock in the evening, but today he was leaving around seven o''clock instead. Just why was that?


    After a while, Emilia finally spoke after collecting her thoughts.


    "I am actually heading somewhere with my friends today, so I cannot go home together with you." Emilia said shocking everyone, including her own friends who had no idea they were going to somece else besides heading home until just now.


    "What?!" Jeremiah was confused when he heard what Emilia said just now.


    ''They were going somewhere? Howe I did not know about it?'' Jeremiah wondered.


    Jeremiah checked and found out that Emilia did not have anything else to do today, so he was very confused when she decided to stay in the school for a while longer. But he did not mind it at that time when he heard she changed her schedule and decided to stay in the institution for a while. But now, she said they were going somewhere? Was his information source wrong or¡­


    Jeremiah had a puzzled expression on his face at this moment, he thought of using today to impress Emilia and finally win her favor by walking her home and maybe spending some time together along the way. Now all his ns turned into nothing. He wasted his time stayingte in the academy when he could be somewhere else having fun instead.


    Emilia ignored Jeremiah who had a questioned look on his face at this moment and spoke again.


    "Anyway, that is how it is. Tell Auntie that I say hi. Get home safely." Emilia said as she turned around and continued walking with her friends who had a dazed look on their faces at this moment. They had no idea what was going on, but they felt like they had to y along with the situation. One was the loser of their academy, and the other was the rich Jeremiah Zhang. These two are pr opposites of each other and if they had to pick, they would rather Emilia go out with Jeremiah instead that loser of their academy, but that is not their decision to make.


    Randy Smith listened to Emilia''s nonsense with a serene look on his face almost as if he was not bothered by her response. In fact, he was well aware that Emilia had been ignoring himtely, but he thought that maybe he was just thinking too much, but this situation just proved his suspicion that Emilia really was gradually abandoning him too. He might only have two people who believed in him now if she also stopped associating with him. Randy knew Emilia very well, so how could he not tell these simple habits she makes when she was lying? Even so, he decided to y along with her and so, he responded.


    "Okay, have fun. And I will let my mother know. I will be taking my leave now." Said Randy as he also turned in a direction and walked away with his tired body. The guys with the girls were confused about what was going on, especially Jeremiah who had his ns ruin just now.


    Jeremiah wanted to let out his frustration. He could have just forced that girl to be with him. However, with her talents, if something happens to her, not only will the police investigate, but the school will also get involve, so he did not force her. Instead, he tried to coerce her with his status as a rich boy, but he ultimately failed using that method and so, he wanted to approach her normally today. But who would have thought that this n would also get ruined. He wanted to get close to her as soon as possible, because the university entrance examination was approaching, and they might not see each other again. In the process, losing his chance to make her his woman. As this moment, his eyes were bloodshot as he clenched his fist so tight. Then he turned and saw a figure walking away in the distance, the figure seemed to be worn out and could barely take step after step. The moment he saw the figure, a sinister smile appeared on Jeremiah''s face as he began to give his orders to the other male students next to him.


    "Are you for real, Brother Zhang?" One of the male students was startled by the brutality of Jeremiah Zhang.


    "Hmph! That loser dares to get in my way every time I tried to approach Emilia." Jeremiah scoffed and then proceeded to give the figure that was struggling to walk away, a cold sneer and said, "I had been sending people to beat him up every now and then, but with his endurance, I bet he was able to take those beatings without much problem. This time, I will take it up a notch. I will see whether he will still have the guts to approach Emilia again."


    One of the students squinted his eyes and looked at Jeremiah for a brief before he said, "Alright! We will listen to you. But don''t forgot about your promise."


    Jeremiah was silence for a brief moment before saying, "Don''t worry, you three would surely get a spot in one of top universities, if you help me with this."


    "We will take your word for it then." All the three male students said after hearing the confirmation from Jeremiah Zhang.


    ¡­


    On the way home, Randy thought about how Emilia had been actingtely, and could not help but feel a little sadness welling up within him. He never thought that the one person that he thought would not abandon him would also show traces of leaving him too. Randy carried his lonely, but worn-out body across the street and made his way towards his house. His family''s house was only a thirty minutes'' walk away from the academy. His parents decided to get a house at the location near the academy just so that he could attend the academy without much trouble, but that was when they had high hopes for him.


    Now, they held nothing but disappointed toward him; they only paid attention to his little brother who had awaken two different types of abilities with different cultivation. Only rare people had these kinds of talent, so one can only imagine the fame such people would get. But as his older brother, what does he get? Nothing. His parents'' disappointed rooted from this fact. While Randy was going through his emotional breakdown of not living up to his parents'' expectation of him and having to lose the trust of everyone that was close to him, he saw a figure approaching his direction. Right now, he was walking in some alley that led to his house, it was the shortest distance, if he does not want to walk through the crowded street.


    "Hey loser, your time is up." A mocking voice said in the distance.


    "Who are you? And who sent you?" Randy asked as he was already used to people meeting him along the way home and suddenly attacking him, because someone had told them to do it.

 Chapter 6 - Fall Out

    "Hey loser, your time is up." A mocking voice said in the distance as it approaches Randy.


    "Who are you? And who sent you?" Randy asked as he was already used to people meeting him along the way home and suddenly attacking him, because thy had beenmissioned by someone to do it.


    "That does not matter. All you need to know is that you pissed off someone that you shouldn''t." The figure said as it approached Randy. Randy was surprised to find out the identity of the figure. It was one of the students that was with Jeremiah Zhang just now.


    ''Did Jeremiah Zhang send him. Well, it''s not like it is the first time¡­ But today is indeed a bad day¡­ I decided to go all out with training. And now, my body is worn-out, and they chose to attack me today?'' Randy''s face began to pale as he thought about the beatings he would receive along with his already battered body. But before Randy could react, there was a sudden sound in the wind.


    "Whoosh!"


    Randy could clearly see the figure approach him, but he could not evade due to his body being battered and tired. At first, he wanted to avoid any beat down today as he was afraid that anymore damage to his body would be detrimental but s, that was only a pipe dream since he could not move the way he wanted with his current body.


    "Bam!" A dull sound was heard as Randy felt a sharp pain on the back of his head. The figure struck the back of his head, and he could feel his consciousness slowly fading, but he resisted the urge.


    "What the fuck! What is your body made up of? Why can''t you just fall unconscious with one hit." The owner of the voice was annoyed by Randy''s resistance, but then a momentter, he spoke with a sinister gin on his face, " I guess I will have to hit you a few more times then."


    "BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!"


    Four consecutive punches rain in on the back of Randy''s head and this time, he could feel his consciousness fading away helplessly, despite him resisting. He was already too tired and now this sudden attack on him was just too much for his current self to handle. It was a miracle that he still maintained his consciousness throughout the five strikes from someone with an ability.


    "Fucking bastard! Why do you make do extra work?!" Said the student as he bends down to carry Randy''s unconscious body. He clearly annoyed by Randy''s resistance which made him work harder to hit him. He had to increase his strength just to knock him out.


    "Fuck! He is too heavy! I need to enhance my body with ability! Phew¡­ Now that is better! Now time to have some fun, Hehe. You can''t me me for this; I was only doing my job." Said the male student with a wide grin on his face as he carried Randy''s unconscious body to an unknown location.


    ¡­


    Inside an abandoned building.


    Jeremiah Zhang was sitting on afortable couch in this abandoned building. This ce used to be a factory of sorts and during one rift outbreak, the whole building was decimated after the rift got taken care of. Since then, the workers that survive decided to quit their jobs and so, the building was left ownerless. Jeremiah and his goonse here every often to deal with people who do not fall in line. At this time, he had two figures sitting next to him. He had brought in these two girls with him just for today''s event¡ª one on each arm as they fed him fruits.


    "Jeremiah, what did you call us for today? You don''t n on doing ''that'' again, right?" One of the girls suddenly said.


    Jeremiah smiled and said, "So what if ''that'' is what I am about to do?"


    "You really have a weird taste. Anyway, this is thest time I am doing something like this."


    "Haha¡­ Don''t worry, I promise you that this would be yourst time." Jeremiah smiled and said to the girl on his right.


    The girl on the left suddenly chimed in, "What are you saying? Haven''t we been doing this all this time? Why do you suddenly change your mind?"


    "¡­" The girl on the right was silence for a while before speaking, "I just don''t want to do this again."


    "I keep having nightmares every time we finish¡­" She said thest part in a low voice almost whispering.


    Jeremiah did not hear this as his attention was elsewhere. He could see a figure being carried into the building. There was a wide grin on his before at this moment, then he stood up and spoke to the two girls.


    "It is time to work!"


    The girls turned and when they saw an individual being carried in. They finally realized that their free time is over and its finally time to do their jobs.


    ¡­


    "Ssh!"


    "Is he still not waking up after being sshed with such icy cold water?" Jeremiah asked one of the male students who was carrying a bucket that had been emptied of its water.


    "As you can see, he has been out cold." Said the male student.


    Jeremiah turned and squinted his eyes at the other student, and then he asked, "Hey John, what did you do?"


    The student called John gave an awkward smile while scratching the back of his head and then he spoke, "Well, he did not get knocked out from my first hit, so I had to hit him a couple more times."


    Jeremiah gave him a disappointed look before saying, "What? You can''t even throw a punch? What is the use of your ability then?"


    "It was not me; it was this guy. He had a strong tenacity and he kept resisting my punches." John said trying to exin himself.


    "Tsk. He really does live up to his status as the strongest normal human. Even without an ability or energy he is still so strong." Jeremiah expressed his admiration for Randy in a mocking tone.


    And then he continued, "But that does not matter. Today, he would know not to mess with me."


    After a moment of silence, Jeremiah spoke again, "Just hit him in the sr plexus, I doubt he would not wake then."


    "Alright." Said the male student called John as he channeled strength into his right hand, and he aimed just above the stomach where the sr plexus was located.


    "Bam!"


    "Oof!"


    Randy let out a muffed groan as he felt an intense pain on his body as if he had been hit by an iron bar, the pain was so excruciating enough to startle him awake from his unconscious state.


    When he did, he was met with a group of people standing above him. And one of them spoke.


    "You are finally awake." Jeremiah said in calm tone.


    "J-Jeremiah¡­ What do you want?" Randy asked despite knowing the reason himself. It was obvious that he came after him because of Emilia.


    Jeremiah gave a cold smile before saying, "You are asking cause you don''t know or are you ying dumb?"


    "¡­" Randy maintained his silence. He was right, he already knew so there was no need to for him to y dumb.


    "Since you are not saying anything then, I can only I assume that you know why I am about to do, what I am about to do to you, right?" Jeremiah gave him a sinister grin before continuing, "After all, if you don''t know why you are being tortured, it won''t be fun, Hahaha!!!"


    The cold smile from Jeremiah sent chills to run down the spines of the girls who came to help Jeremiah today. Even the guys who were already used to this, still could not help but shudder when they saw that hysterical smile on Jeremiah''s face.


    ''This guy really is a lunatic!'' They all thought upon looking at him.


    Randy had a pale face right at this moment. He did not know what they were about to do to him, but judging from the expression made by Jeremiah''s goons, it was definitely not somethings that he can handle with his current body, and so, he hurriedly spoke.


    "Jeremiah, why do you keep bullying me? If you like Emilia, then why don''t you pursue her like everyone else. Why do you take your frustrations out on me. I also have my frustrations too¡ª"


    "So what!" Jeremiah interrupted his little speech as he, for the first dashed out himself andnded a punch on Randy''s face.


    "Bam!"


    "Argh!" Randy let out a groan upon the sudden attack.


    "Fuck! How is his face so firm. What is his body made of?" Jeremiah said as he could feel his right-hand trembling from the impact just now.. He was a mage type with all his ability''s power based on spell attacks, so him suddenly physically attacking someone was something that he had never done before until now.

 Chapter 7 - A Generous Guy

    "Fuck! How is his face so firm. What is his body made of?" Jeremiah said as he could feel his right-hand trembling from the impact just now. He was mage type ability holder with all his ability''s power based on spells attacks.


    "I told you, didn''t I? That it wasn''t my fault that he did not fall unconscious with my first hit." John let out a chuckle and said with a proud expression. Almost as if he had redeemed himself of some shame.


    "¡­" Jeremiah only red at him and maintained his silence. He did not have to reply to this guy''s randomment.


    After a while Jeremiah finally spoke again in a cold tone, "You think I give a shit about your frustration! What is your life worth without any ability? If you don''t know then let me tell you, you are nothing but a parasite that feed on the resources of the academy without yielding any results, yet you dare to fight with me for a woman."


    "But I never said¡­ that I like Emilia" Randy said in a low voice aftering to his senses.


    "No shit, who are you kidding. You never said it, but who doesn''t know that you had feelings for her, after all, you spent time together since you were fucking kids, am I right?!" Jeremiah let out an outburst in an angered tone. This fucker thinks that just because he spent some time with a girl, he owned her or something. How dare he try to get in his way every fucking time when he thought that he had her, like today. If he had note when he did, then perhaps, she would not have said what she did just to escape the both of them.


    "Can''t you fucking tell that she doesn''t like you?!" Jeremiah asked rhetorically and then continued, "Why am I wasting my time on you, just set up everything and beat him up. I will just sit here and watch as usual. I had dirtied my hand just to punch him earlier. Fuck, it really hurts! I should have just burned his face instead."


    Jeremiah let out a series of curses as he walked away and sat down on hisfortable couch. He took out an expensive potion from his pocket and chug it down in one go. It was a healing potion meant for healing broken bones. Although he could have asked one of the girls here, who was a healer, to heal him, but he chose not to. Because she would not be able toplete her job probably without enough mana and he does not n on giving her a mana recovery potion that is expensive as hell. A few momentster, Jeremiah could feel his bones repairing itself from his consumption of the healing potion.


    "Phew¡­ Now that''s better."


    Jeremiah looked down at his fully healed knuckled and let out a relief sigh, but a momentter, he turned his head up as he looked at the situation in front of him with anticipation.


    At this moment, one of the girls created a barrier around Randy and the three other male students, trapping them inside. There was something special about this girl''s barrier¡ª it can block out sounds from inside the barrier froming out of her barrier. It was her Ability''s specialty¡ª Barrier Maniption. The other girl was on standby, ready with her healing abilities.


    One of the girls spoke at this moment with a disgusted expression on her face. "I really don''t want to do this again."


    The other girl who had finished setting up the barrier replied with an annoyed tone. "Why are you acting innocent now of all times. How many times have we done this for you to be chickening out right now?"


    "¡­" The healer girl was quiet for a while before insisting, "Whatever, I don''t have to exin anything to you. I have to focus on my university so I will eventually quit doing things like this anyway.


    The healer girl said and then turned to the three guys who were standing over Randy with a grin on their faces and said, "Anyway, hurry and finish quickly I don''t want to stay here for long. I have somewhere I need to be."


    "Hey Amanda¡ª "


    "Alright, don''t worry, we will be quick this time, Hehe." Before the barrier girl could reprove of the healer girl''s cowardice, one of the male students suddenly interrupted her and replied to the healer girl''s demand.


    "Okay." The healer replied, still with a disgusted expression.


    As soon as she replied, the three male students, including John from earlier approached Randy. One of them picked up Randy and held his arms behind his back firmly with his strengthen physique. Meanwhile, John and the other male student prepared their fist as they looked at Randy fiercely with only one aim in their minds¡ª using him as their faithful punching bag.


    At this point, Randy finally understood what they were going to do to him. Unlike before, where he could at least guard against the attacks or block any vital attacks that the assantsunch on him, but now, he was so tired and weary from his training earlier, so he could not even fight back let alone block attacks. As if that was not enough, they even restricted his movements by holding his hand behind his back.


    Randy felt a sense of crisis and he suddenly spoke with a trembling voice. "H-Hey, W-Why don''t we talk about this?"


    John and the other student exchanged looks with each other and they could see the grin on each other''s face at this moment. John turned and looked at the worn out Randy and said, "No chance, loser!"


    BAM!


    "Argh!" Randy was hit in the face yet again, the moment John finished speaking. There was a stinging pain on his nose at this moment. Earlier Jeremiah also hit his nose when he attacked so when John hit the same ce, the pain was enhanced.


    "W-Wait!"


    "Shut up loser! It seems that my previous punch was not enough for you since you can still talk like this. How about another one" John said as he threw another punch at Randy. This time it was not aimed at his face, but his stomach.


    Bang!


    "Oof!" Randy could not help but cough up whatever food he had in his stomach at this moment.


    "Cough! Cough! Argh¡­ P-Please stop, I-I just finish training, m-my body can''t take anymore." Randy said amidst breathing and panting and after speaking, he continued to cough erratically.


    "Do I look like I give a damn whether you are tired or not? I only need to beat you senseless, and my job would be done then. Hey Peter, what are you doing? Come and join in. Don''t forget that we need to finish this quickly, since the girls are not staying long."


    Peter gave John a knowing look for a moment and replied with a slight smile, "Alright! I thought we would take turns like usual, but this is fun."


    The moment Peter finished speaking the aura around him changed. He was a martial artist who was currently in the body forging stage. He awakened a martial arts aptitude during his ability awakening and so, he had been practicing martial arts since then. Unlike John who seemed to have an enhancement type of ability which relied on mana to utilize, his ability relied on vital energy present in the body and that of nature, Life energy or Qi as used by the Asians back in the day when martial arts were prominent. When the rifts appeared, and the world was pervaded with various types of energy. Some lost arts were revived throughout the past decades.


    Peter who was brimming with vital energy right now walked towards John who was currently still punching Randy ruthlessly without holding back. When he got closer to them, he said with a grin on his face. "Move!"


    John knew how impatient and ruthless this guy was when ites to beating people, so he did not stand in his way and said, "Alright, but make sure you don''t identally kill him. That would be troublesome."


    Peter stopped his foot that was about to take a step and then turned around to look at John and John looked back at him with a frown, meaning he was being serious.


    After a while, Peter said with a smile on his face, "Of course, do you think I am stupid? Do I not know how to hold back?"


    ''That is what I am worried about. You don''t hold back at all.'' John inwardly cried upon hearing Peter''s supposedly reassuring speech.


    "Hahaha¡­"


    Peter saw John still carrying a serious look on his face, heughed in response and then he approached Randy who was currently panting and groaning from his whole body hurting.


    A sound ofughter reverberated throughout the barrier, but it could not make it out of the barrier as Jeremiah who was watching everything only saw figures moving about in a barrier that restricted their voices from evering out of the barrier. At this moment Jeremiah had a wide grin and a sinister look appearing on his face as he watched the worm squirming and screaming without a voice. He watched the whole scene as if he was watching some silence movie all alone as he leaned back on hisfortable couch with an alcoholic beverage in his right hand. He was really enjoying this.


    Peter turned and looked at Randy who was panting at this moment andughed loudly like a maniac before saying. "Randy, right? Don''t worry I will make it quick. I am a very generous guy you see, so I won''t make you suffer too much."


    "Whoosh!" A sound was heard in the wind as a fist infused with vital energy charged towards Randy.


    "Boom!"


    "Kack!!!" A disturbing sound resounded in the barrier shortly after the sh. Due to the sound suppression, the cracking sound reverberated more clearly as everyone shuddered, including John when they heard the ''crack'' sound of a bone cracking.


    "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!" Randy screamed so loud as if he wanted to cough up his throat.. After the impact of the attack, he felt his shoulder bone break, causing an immense pain to wash over his entire body.

 Chapter 8 - Just Wait For Me

    "Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!" Randy screamed so loud as if he wanted to cough up his throat. After the impact of Peter''s attack, he felt his shoulder bone break, causing an immense pain to wash over his entire body.


    Even though he was unscathed when he was in the training room a while ago, it did not mean that hepletely unscathed. When he finished his training session, he could tell that his bones had weakened a lot from the pressure. That was the reason why he said that he would not do this so often as he needed a resting time for his bones to fully heal. When they heal though, they would be stronger than before, but now, he did not even have the chance to heal his bones and Peternded his fist on his scap. He could feel that the bones in his right shoulder got crushed from the attack just now.


    "What the fuck! What the fuck! Didn''t I tell you to hold back?!" John frantically said when he saw the scene in from of him. They were only supposed to inflict flesh damage, not break the bones of their victims.


    "I don''t know, I actually held back just now. Perhaps, he was weaker than you all imed? I only wanted to torture him a little bit by dislocating his shoulder, but who would''ve thought that it would break so easily with his high basic statistics data." Peter scratched the back of his head innocently with an awkward smile on his face as he spoke.


    John was exasperated as he spoke to Peter, "What the fuck do you mean that he was weaker than we imed?! Shit! Hey Amanda, hurry up and heal him!"


    However, at this moment, Amanda was frozen on the spot when she saw the scene as they never had to go this far before. She was shaking on the spot. She only did this for the money, but eventually, she started having nightmares of the victims since she was the one who always healed their wounded bodies¡ª Which sometimes are hard to look at. Their flesh would be showing whenever they get beaten by Peter, who was aggressive with the victims, but never had he broken their bones before.


    "Hey! Amanda! Can you not hear me?!" John screamed at the girl when she did not respond.


    She subconsciously looked at John who had a frown on his face and said in a trembling voice. "W-What?"


    John was annoyed this time and he said to her again. "I said fucking heal Randy or else it would be toote to fix his bones!"


    Amanda flinched upon hearing John''s furious voice, but she replied instantly albeit in a shaking tone, "O-Okay¡­ "


    Amanda scurried towards Randy, who was about three meters away from her. Randy who was still screaming from the pain was let go off by the student who was holding his hand behind his back. At this moment, his shoulder was crushed from the punch just now. If it is not healed right away and the blood clot around the wound, it would be toote to heal it with simple healing magic.


    ¡­


    "What is fuck is going on?!" Jeremiah came into the barrier when he saw that everyone stopped beating Randy and was shouting around. Although, he could not hear what they were saying, but he knew that something was going on when he saw John yelling at Peter albeit in a muted voice to him. He was annoyed that his ''silence movie'' was suddenly interrupted when the ''action figures'' stopped acting their parts.


    John hurriedly replied when he noticed that Jeremiah was screaming behind as he approaches their location. "B-Brother Zhang! The thing is¡­ Peter identally broke Randy''s scap bone on his shoulder."


    At this, Peter tried to exin himself, "Like I said, I did not use that much strength. I only have 100 points in my physical strength category and with the enhancement from my vital energy, it is at most twice my current strength which would be 200 points, the same amount that this loser has. So how could I know that he would break so easily?"


    "Tsk¡­ So useless. You only had to beat him up until he would not have any shred of intention of seeing Emilia again. But what? You had to go overboard and break his bone." Jeremiah red at Peter as he said.


    Peter only lowered his head at this. He thought he could let loose on the infamous strongest normal human, but it turned out, this fellow was not as strong as they say. And now, he risks losing his only shot at making it into a top university.


    John did not say anything at this moment. But then, he recalled what Randy said a while before he started punching him. That, he was tired from doing some training. He wondered what sort of ''intense'' training he did for his bones and body to be so worn out like this. After all, what Peter said made sense. How is it possible for Randy who was renowned for his raw physical strength, to be this weak? There is definitely something wrong with this guy today.


    John opened his mouth to say something, but Jeremiah raised his hand and he shut his mouth upon seeing Jeremiah''s attitude.


    Jeremiah approached Randy who was currently being healed by Amanda. There was an indiscernible frown on his face. One could not tell whether he was angry at Peter for causing this mess or something entirely was going on in his twisted mind at this moment.


    Jeremiah reached the two of them and said to Amanda. "Move away!"


    "But¡­" Amanda tried to say something but was cut in mid-sentence.


    "I said move!!" Jeremiah was enraged as he shouted at Amanda with a furious expression.


    Amanda was startled briefly, but she quickly moved out of the way. She did not want to get on this young master''s bad side.


    When Amanda moved away from Randy, Jeremiah approached him with a sinister grin on his face. He proceeded to look at the Randy who was panting and letting out asional groan from the intense pain from his shoulder.


    After a few momentster, Jeremiah spoke while still looking at Randy. "How is it? Do you like my present?"


    "¡­" Randy did not say anything as he looked intently at Jeremiah with an indescribable feeling welling up in his chest.


    "Hah! What''s with that look? Do you hate me? Do you loathe me? You should because it is not over yet." Jeremiah let out a scoff as he looked at Randy''s expression that left him feeling slightly annoyed.


    And then he continued, "This is just beginning! Hahaha!!"


    The moment Jeremiah said that he bent over with mes surrounding his hand. He looked at the burning mes with a delighted expression as if he was entranced by the destructive property of the fire attribute ability of his. A few momentster, he suddenly pressed his burning hands at the defenseless Randy. Randy could only watch on as the mes touch his face, burning the flesh on his face instantly.


    Siss¡ª


    The burning sound of flesh resounded in the barrier.


    "Gahhhh!!!!" Randy let out a sharp pained screech as he felt his face burning from the heat of the mes on his face. Randy wanted to wail around due to the pain, but s, his body could not move much, so he endured the pain and then proceeded to use his left hand to put out the me made through magic. After the me was extinguished from the right side of his face resulting in a burned left hand, the naked flesh of his face was exposed with his red muscles showing. Due to the source of the me being mana, and not a natural me, it continues to burn unless one put it out themselves.


    "Hahahaha!!!!"


    Jeremiah maniacallyughed as he watched the agonized Randy and then said, "How is it? Would you get in my way again? Huh? Say something? How does it feel to have your flesh melt right from your face, huh?"


    Hahahahhahahahahaha!!


    Theughter of a maniac reverberated clearly throughout the barrier. And the residents of the barrier where shaking in their boots from fear.


    ''How could he be so cruel?'' They all thought with cold sweats dripping down their backs.


    A few momentster, the healer, Amanda could not take it anymore and suddenly said loudly, "Jeremiah! Stop! Are you trying burn his face off! If I don''t begin healing him right now, it would be fatal!!"


    "Shut up! You wench!! You only have one job, and you don''t get to question my actions." Jeremiah coldly said to the girl.


    And then he continued, "Don''t tell you also have an interest in this trash?!"


    At this, Amanda was stunned for a moment before hurriedly replying, "O-Of course not! I am just suggesting since I am the healer, and it is my job to heal people."


    Jeremiah narrowed his eyes at her for a moment and then he said, "Fine,e heal him. This should be enough as a warning anyway. If he dares to approach Emilia again then he cannot me me for the subsequent oue."


    Hearing this, Amanda let out a sigh of relief under her breath. She immediately scurried towards them, and after reaching them, she began healing Randy. After the injuries on Randy''s face started to close. She saw a frightening look on Randy''s face. It was that of animosity, hatred, anger, and killing intent all at the same time. At this moment, Randy was filled with an indescribable emotion as he stared at the figure walking away. When Amanda saw this, she knew that if this guy ever awakens his ability someday. He would definitely seek revenge and so, she tried to exin herself.


    "I was only doing my job to heal people! I am sorry that you had to go through this, but I needed the money, so I had no choice but to participate in this." She said softly in a mumbled tone, but just enough so that Randy could hear her.


    At this, Randy only coldly looked at her with his rolled eyes and did not say anything, but he still had the same expression of hatred on his face.


    Amanda flinched when she met his gaze and she quickly looked away as she continued to heal him.


    A few minutester, after almost exhausting her mana pool, she finally finished healing Randy''s wounds on his face. The wound on his shoulder could not be healedpletely since she was interrupted earlier when Jeremiah told her to move.


    "It''s done. You have to go see a doctor to further treat the broken scap." Amanda said as she walked away with a scared expression. She could not forget that look on Randy''s face at the moment that they made eye contact just a while ago.


    "Portia, I am leaving now." Amanda said to the other girl before walking toward the entrance of the building in hurried steps like a scared cat.


    The barrier user, Portia red at her figure leaving before ncing at Randy''s figure with disdain. She did not care about losers like him at all. He could die for all she cares.


    A few momentster, Jeremiah spoke to his goons, "Let''s go. You all did well."


    Hearing this, they all let out a relieved sigh, especially Peter was d that Jeremiah Zhang was not still angry about his actions.


    And then he turned towards Randy''s figure that was kneeing on the ground and then said coldly with an indifferent tone, "You better remember the ''gift'' today, otherwise, next time, you might not be so lucky. Hmph!"


    After saying this, Jeremiah turned around and then left the abandoned building with his goons.


    Randy watched as Jeremiah led the way and his goons followed after him shortly after. As he did, there was an intense hatred boiling in his heart and blood as he solemnly swore to himself.


    ''I will definitely get my revenge someday. Just wait for me, I will let you experience what I did today a hundred-fold¡­''

 Chapter 9 - A Rift And Awakening

    Randy watched on with bloodshot eyes as Jeremiah led the way and his goons followed after him shortly after. As he did so, there was an extreme hatred seething in his heart and boiling in his blood as he solemnly swore to himself that day.


    ''I will definitely get my revenge someday. Just wait for me, I let you slowly experience what I did today a hundred-fold¡­"


    ¡­


    A few minutester, Randy tried to get up again after failing to do so many times now. Since a while ago, he tried to get up and make it home before his parents start calling the academy regarding his whereabouts, but he found out that he was unable to move his body. Perhaps, it was due to the mental trauma he suffered just now or maybe his body had finally reached its limit for the day. After the intense training to getting beat up by Jeremiah Zhang''s goons and finally getting his face burnt by Jeremiah himself. The more he thought about it, the more infuriated he felt.


    Just why was he so unlucky? Both his parents had an ability, so it does not make sense for him to not have an ability himself. He had been enduring so much for thest few years when they discovered that he could not awaken his ability despite using different methods that the institution has. All that was so that one day, when he finally awakens his ability, he would show those people that look down on him. However, that does not mean that he does not have feelings and was willing to get bullied forever. Who would willing to get bullied if they can help it? Today''s event showed him how cruel the current world really is. If you are not strong enough, you be the prey and even if you are strong enough to be considered something, there would always be someone out there better than you.


    Randy had been aware of these things from an early age since his parents used to be hunters before retiring and giving birth to him and his siblings. But even if he knew about the state of the current world, he could not change his fate of not being an ability user. He started wondering if there was some cosmic entity out there that would be willing to somehow grant his wish. It does not matter if they were evil or good, as long as he can get stronger, it doesn''t matter¡­


    "I-It doesn''t matter what being is out there! If I can at least have one energypatibility, then it does not matter what ability I have!" Randy bellowed all his pent-up frustration at this moment. He wanted to change his fate and he does not care about how or what ability he gets at this point. The only thing that matters is that he can get stronger and thus change his fate.


    "¡­"


    However, after waiting for a couple of minutes that miraculous event had not happened like he had hoped. There is no such thing as a miracle in this world. If such a thing exists, then everyone would have achieved their dreams and aspirations easily without working hard. Randy felt dejected. Although he knew very well himself that such a thing is impossible, he still thought to believe that just maybe if he screamed it enough, the gods or the beings out there would listen to his cry of plea and bestow upon him his very own ability and power, but as it turned out just now, it was only a pipe dream.


    ''Damn it! There were probably no gods or demons out there¡­ If they exist, then they would have responded¡­ Fuck! I can''t even move my legs right now and my bracelet got crushed under the assault just now so I can''t even call home. Why is everything going wrong today¡­ Just why!'' Randy screamed internally since he could not afford to scream out loud anymore, afraid that he would exacerbate his internal injuries.


    "If it is like this, then I will eventually die in some monster or beast outbreak if a rift suddenly appears somed¡­ Eh?"


    However at this moment, when Randy was breaking down psychologically, suddenly there was a tear in the space not far from his current location.


    Spark!


    Whoosh!


    The wind in the surrounding started picking up as there was a ck hole in space that was forming into an oval-like shaped rift. When Randy saw this, his eyes widen with shock. He was just talking about how he would die if a rift suddenly appeared one day, and he ends up dying due to not having the ability to fight back and now this happens. Even with his basic physical abilities already being at rank E, he would not be able to survive a fight with a monster with the same rank as him. Even E-Rank otherworldly creatures usually have some type of abilities, so he would be killed instantly if he dared to fight them. But now, what is happening in front of him? Was the world trying to kill him off or something? Why was he the only one so unlucky? Everyone in his ss had awakened their ability. Even if some had weak abilities, it is still better than nothing. But what about him? He received nothing and yet there, in front of him, a rift was forming, and he could not even move to escape before the monsters or beasts or whatever creature in there start pouring out.


    "Fuck!" Randy cussed out loud ignoring the sudden pain he felt as he did so. And then he proceeded to look at the ck hole in the space as it suddenly started changing color.


    "Forget it! Since I am going to die someday anyway then so be it. I pleaded to whatever cosmic entity that could save my situation, but I did not receive any response so dying like this is not bad. At least, nobody would find my corpse if the creatures ate it all up. Nobody would see my pathetic face as they mourn and ridicule my ipetence in life." Randy said to himself. At this point, he had already resigned to his fate and was going to face it head-on. His only regret would be his little sister, but if he was gone perhaps, she would be able to focus on her studies and be a great celebrity someday with her powers.


    Randy shook his head as he held on tightly to his resolution. It does not matter what he feels right now, he would die either way once the creatures start pouring out of the rift in front of him.


    A few momentster, the scene on the other side of the ck hole, or more precisely the rift was revealed. It was a dark location with no light whatsoever and this got Randy''s attention, wondering what type of monstrosity would being out of such pitch-ck rift. While Randy was wondering, a figure suddenly jumped out of the gate instantly catching Randy''s attention.


    It was a flying creature and it stopped on top of Randy at this moment. It was a white ginormous furry creature that seemed to be a wolf. What surprised Randy was the fact that the wolf was flying in the sky.


    ''A flying wolf. Since when do wolves fly? Wait, it seems to be wounded from some attack. Just what was it fighting to have such arge scar?'' Randy thought as he watched the creature hovering in the sky above him.


    However, the creature had a confused expression at this moment as it suddenly opened its mouth and spoke in a fierce sounding tone. "Hm? A human? What is a human doing here? No, that is wrong¡­ What am I doing here? Where is this ce? I remember fighting that pale skin bastard and a portal appeared in front of me and then¡­ Hm?"


    The wolf-like creature stopped speaking as it turned its head around and saw the portal behind it. It wanted to go back, but then, it remembered that since that bastard was following behind him, then he would most likelye out of this portal thing as well.


    "Damn it! If I wasn''t injured by that vixen, I wouldn''t be running for my life right now!" The wolf-like creature spoke loudly in annoyance. How could someone of his caliber run away from some weakling that served under that vixen? If they had not staged an ambush, he would have killed them all. Those pale bastards were so hard to sense with his nose without concentrating.


    The wolf-like creature turned its head away from the portal. It decided to not go through the portal and venture into this unknown ce instead. However before it could leave, it noticed that the little human was watching it with his mouth wide open as if he had seen a ghost.


    It then thought of eating this human to recover its injuries, but he was not sure when the pale-skinned bastard would follow after him and any second matters right now, so he decided on not eating the human, thereby sparing Randy''s life, and instead flew away while saying, "Human! You are so lucky that I do not have the time to waste otherwise you would''ve ended up in my stomach right now! I quite enjoyed the taste of human flesh than any other creature¡­ What a waste!"


    However, the moment he flew away, the dripping blood from its wounds suddenly spurted out and Randy who was left speechless when he saw the wolf speaking just now was still dumbfounded even after the wolf broke the wall of the building and left. He continued to look up at the position where the wolf was before with bewilderment. He wondered if he was hearing things. He had never heard a beast or even a monster that can talk before.


    It was at this moment, unbeknownst to Randy, the spurted blood from the wolf-like creature dripped down like a raindrop into his mouth and face, although the size of the drop wasrger than a raindrop. It was carried by the gust of wind created when the creature suddenly took flight and flew away in a hurry.


    Randy noticed that something entered his mouth at this moment, and he wanted to spit out whatever it was. However before he could do so, he felt the substance melt into his mouth, and he then had this sudden uncontroble impulse to swallow it.


    "Gulp!" The sound of the throat swallowing resounded.


    "Fuck! What was that? What did I just swallow?!" Randy proceeded to touch his face and then he saw the blood in his hand before a realization suddenly dawned on him, "Wait, was it the blood of that wolf-like creature?"


    He was bewildered about what happened just now as it felt like he could not control himself from swallowing the blood that entered his mouth.


    "Wait¡­ I am alive, I am actually alive, Hahahaha!! Ouch! Haha¡­ Ouch!" Randy was so delighted that he suddenly could not stop himself fromughing. He actually managed to survive an impending doom. How lucky was he?


    However, his happy moment was cut short when another silhouette in ck suddenly dashed out of the portal, and just like the wolf-like creature from before, the figure was confused about his current location, but he ignored that a momentter, as he could smell the stench of the wolf-like creature from here, meaning it was here just moments ago. The figure then looks down and as he saw Randy, he had the sudden urge to attack him and drain his blood, but it held it down and ignored Randy before he started chasing after the wolf in flight.


    "What?! He just left like that?! Does this mean I am luck¡ª Arghhhhh!!" Before Randy could finish speaking suddenly there was a sharp pain in his already worn out and battered body. The pain was excruciating almost as if his body was set on fire in a furnace.


    ''What the fuck is going on! What happened to my body! Am I going to die like this after surviving a crisis just now?!'' Randy inwardly wondered amidst his screaming voice.


    "Gahhhhh! Arghhhh!" Randy was wailing about in pain. The pain seemed to stem from his blood suddenly boiling in his body. Randy could feel his mouth and body turn hot from the power contain in the inhuman blood. He screamed as he felt his body burn up and the sensation reminded him of his torture a while ago, but this is more intense.


    Randy could feel his consciousness slipping away as the intensity of the pain kept increasing as time passed. There was visible redness to his skin that seemed to be burning out from the inside.


    However, at the moment when Randy felt his consciousness slipping away from him due to the unbearable pain, at that time, a mysterious otherworldly voice suddenly resounded inside his head, amidst his vague consciousness that was fading away.


    ?[Detected A Low Life Form Awakening!]?


    ?[Location Detected: Low-Ranking Dimension.] ?


    ?[Detected An Ability Forming. Protocol: Assisting in the Awakening Process¡­]?


    ?[Detected An Anomaly in the Life Form. Applying A Solution.]?


    ?[Anomaly Resolved. Assisting further in the Awakening Process¡­]?


    ?[Ability Formed Sessfully.]?


    ?[Congrattions! You have awakened as the Blood [%#@], granting you the ability to fully assimte with other life forms'' blood and transitioning into their form, thus acquiring their abilities and traits.]?


    ?[Applying the Statistics Mechanism in the Life Form. Please Wait¡­]?


    ?[Detected the blood of the Werewolf King of Wind. Assimtion Commencing¡­]?


    ?[Assimtion of the Werewolf King''s blood: 30% Completion.]?


    ?[Due to assimting with the Werewolf King''s blood, you have obtained these additional abilities and traits of the Werewolf King: Superior Regeneration[30%], Shapeshift(Werewolf)[30%], Heightened Senses[30%], Gale Riding[30%], Reinforcement (Strength of the Werewolf King[30%])]?

 Chapter 10 - Blood [???]

    ?[Detected A Low Life Form Awakening!]?


    ?[Location Detected: Low-Ranking Dimension.]?


    ?[Detected An Ability Forming. Protocol: Assisting in the Awakening Process¡­]?


    ?[Detected An Anomaly in the Life Form. Applying A Solution.]?


    ?[Anomaly Resolved. Assisting further in the Awakening Process¡­]?


    ?[Ability Formed Sessfully.]?


    ?[Congrattions! You have awakened the Blood [%#@], granting you the ability to fully assimte with other life forms'' blood and transitioning into their form, thus acquiring their abilities and traits.]?


    ?[Applying the Statistical Mechanism in the Life Form. Please Wait¡­]?


    ?[Detected the blood of the Werewolf King of Wind. Assimtion Commencing¡­]?


    ?[Assimtion of the Werewolf King''s blood: 30% Completion.]


    ?[Due to assimting with the Werewolf King''s blood, you have obtained these additional abilities and traits of the Werewolf King: Superior Regeneration[30%], Shapeshift(Werewolf)[30%], Heightened Senses[30%], Gale Riding[30%], Reinforcement (Strength of the Werewolf King[30%])]?


    ¡­


    ?[Detected the Low Life Form in Mortal Danger!]?


    ?[Finding Viable Solution¡­ Solution Found: Activating Assimted the Abilities, Superior Regeneration(30%) and Reinforcement(30%)]?


    ?[Currently Administering Solution to the Life Form¡­]?


    ¡­


    Randy could hear a series of noises ringing inside his head as he was losing consciousness and all of a sudden, he felt his body healing at a rapid pace and the pain in his body disappeared almost instantly. It was almost as if what happened earlier was just a dream¡ª A horrific nightmare that is.


    Randy slowly opened his eyes and then he proceeded to look at the ceiling in the abandoned building in a daze. He felt like he just had a horrifying dream where his body was on fire, and he thought that he was going to die.


    "I''m still alive..."


    Randy said as he raised his hand up, facing towards the ceiling. But when he saw his appearance or rather his hands, he was shocked to see wsing out of his neatly cut fingernails and his short curry blonde hair that was disheveled had turned white flowing down his back and over his shoulder.


    "What the fuck is going on?!" Randy was startled to see his appearance. And then he swiftly ''walked'' to a mirror-like ss window and tried to make out his countenance at this moment, but he was greatly shocked when he did.


    "What happened to my appearance? Why are my eyes yellow? Wait, is it green¡­ No, that''s not important, what happened to me?" Randy was bewildered by his strange appearance. He just had this weird dream where he was beaten by Jeremiah and his goons. And afterward, he met a wolf-like creature from a rift, and then he subsequently met some handsome pale-faced human-looking monster with red eyes that seemed to be chasing after the wolf-like creature. And then shortly after that, he found himself experiencing an excruciating pain from his blood boiling inside his body and he lost consciousness from the unbearable pain, or at least he thought he had lost consciousness at that moment when he could not bear it anymore.


    Randy turned his head around, away from the mirror-like ss and then he looked back at where he was before he moved swiftly to his current location, "Wait a second! So that was not a dream?"


    After pondering for a moment, Randy spoke again, "That makes sense. How could I forget the pain I had suffered just now. If it was really a dream, then what I am doing here. And then again, there was that strange voice that I heard before I lost consciousness¡­"


    However, while Randy was busy trying to assess the situation, even ignoring his sudden change in appearance, the mysterious otherworldly voice resounded in his mind again.


    ?[Statistical Mechanism Application Complete!]?


    ?[Disying Status Screen]?


    ¡­


    ?[Name: Randy Smith]?


    ?[Race: Human(Evolved)]?


    ?[ss: Blood [???]?


    ?[Title(s): None]?


    ?[Bloodline: N/A]?


    ?[Physique: Myriad Energy Devouring Physique]?


    ----


    ?[Physical Strength: 700(400+300)]?


    ?[Physical Resistance: 700(400+300)]?


    ?[Physical Agility: 600(300+300)]?


    ?[Physical Stamina: 695(395+300)]?


    ?[Soul Strength: 550(400+150)]?


    ?[Mental Strength: 1025(875+150)]?


    ?[Mental Resistance: 1020(870+150)]?


    ----


    ?[Energy Compatibility: Myriad Energy Type Affinity]?


    ?[Reminder: Due to the chaotic energy detected in your body, there was a necessity for the creation of energy vessels to hold the energies as soon as possible. To prevent your existence from falling into a chaotic state, the system took the liberty to create the energy vessels for all the current energies in your body. Currently Created Vessels: Mana Seed, and Dual Dantian/Two Energy Cores(Life Energy and Spiritual energy). As for the rest, they are in the process of creation. When you fulfill the necessary conditions, only then would they be fully created]?


    <<?List of Energies?>>


    ?[Mana(Magical Energy): 1000/1000]?


    ?[World Essence(Spiritual Energy): 10/10]?


    ?[Qi(Life Energy): 150/150]?


    ?[Evolutional Energy(Blood Energy): 500/500]?


    ?[Psionic Energy(Mental Energy): 102.5(87.5+15)/87.5]?


    ?[Mystical Energy(Soul Energy): 55(40+15)/40]?


    ----


    ?Combat System Power Level(s)?


    Evolution Realm[1]: First-Stage Evolved Human Realm (500/1000)


    Martial Realm[1]: First-Stage Martial Disciple Realm (150/200)


    Cultivation Realm[0]: None (10/100)


    Magical Realm[4]: Beginner-Level Fourth-Circle Magician Realm (1000/1299)


    Psi Realm[0]: None (87.5/200)


    Mystic Realm[0]: None (40/200)


    ----


    ?Skills?


    [Werewolf King of Wind]


    <[Shapeshift[Werewolf(30%)](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    <[Gale Riding[30%](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    <[Superior Regeneration[30%](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    <[Reinforcement[30%](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    ----


    ?Traits?


    [Werewolf King of Wind]


    <[Heightened Senses[30%](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    ----


    ?ss Specific Skills?


    <[Blood Assimte]>


    <[Blood Retain]>


    <[Blood Scan]>


    <[Blood Authority]>


    <[???]>


    ¡­


    "What the¡ª Wait, is this the ''Character Status'' that everyone had been talking about? Does this mean I have awakened my ability? Then was that voice earlier the voice of the world that was said to be heard when one was awakening their ability?" Randy started muttering to himself as he tried to grasp the current situation.


    After a while, he nodded before saying, "That would exin it then, I heard that after youplete your awakening, you would receive something akin to a character status in video games but since I have never awakened my ability up until now, I did not know how it would look like. But even so, I guess this must be it."


    Randy pondered for a while before suddenly screaming almost as if he had lost his mind, "Ahhhhhhh!!! I have awakened my ability!!!! I have finally awakened my ability, Hahahahahaha!!"


    Randy startedughing while streams of tears could be seen flowing down his cheeks at this moment. Although he had awakened his ability, instead of being happy, he was crying instead. No one could understand what he was feeling right now.


    But if one had to guess, then it would be that he was currently crying tears of joy rather than tears of sorrow that one would expect from someone who had gone through a misfortune.


    Randy had to endure so much for the past few years just because he could not awaken his ability and when he thought all was lost, in the midst of a crisis, he actually seeded in awakening his ability.


    Was he lucky or unlucky to run into a rift when he did? In any case, none of that mattered as he had actually seeded in awakening his long-sought ability.


    Randy gradually stoppedughing and the tears on his face were wiped away by him a momentter as he decided to calm down for now. What matters most was seeing what kind of ability he received and what it can do.


    There was only one month left before the university entrance examination, but he had just awakened his ability, and he was not sure what it can do as of yet, let alone improve his mastery over it.


    Randy took a quick nce at his status screen. More specifically, the ''ss'' Section and what he saw left him bewildered.


    ''Blood [???], What does that mean? Does it mean I have the same ability as my dad? Blood Warrior?"


    ''But dad''s ability requires him to manipte his own blood to create different kinds of weapons including armor to fight, but what type is my ability for it to allow me to transform into this cool¡ª No, this ghastly appearance that would scare people away on the first encounter. Then again, I heard that there were indeed weird and unique abilities out there. Some can even turn into other creatures or shapeshift part of their bodies. Is that what my ability is?"


    ''Usually, people had things like Mages, Sorcerers, Cultivators, Martial Artists, Psion, Holy Maiden, Holy Warrior, Mutated Body of varieties and whatnot. But why does mine say nothing of the sort. Even if my ability is of the mutation type, shouldn''t it just say the ability''s name and that it was a mutated ability, Why does it only say Blood? Why can''t it disy everything? I have never heard of this before even though I did a lot of research on abilities when I couldn''t awaken mine.'' Randy thought of the reason why his ss section which denotes the type of ability he has was missing the remaining words.


    A Mutated Body usually means that one had evolved their body as a whole or part of their body had mutated due to the body umting evolutional energy thates from a type of dimension on the other side of some rifts. This caused a transformation in humans who get affected by the energy and they transform, or shapeshift or evolve or mutate, whatever the term used.


    Essentially, humans be something other than human, such as the [Dragon Warrior] that can transform into a dragon partially to gain immense physical prowess or depending on the type of evolution, an innate fire breath or Sharp ws, [Stone Warrior] that can turn their bodies into a firm and solid stones gaining strong defense against attacks.


    [Blood Warrior] which was what Randy''s dad had as a ss, which basically lets them manipte their own blood and weaponize them to fight, and many others that rely on the physical body in some way or the other.


    Of course, there were also some that evolved and became a Psion with mental abilities. For example, they gain telepathic abilities or something of the equivalent.


    There were people who naturally awaken as a Psion without evolving but usually those people would also have one other ability aptitude like magic aptitude or cultivation aptitude and sometimes even martial arts aptitude.


    Randy went through his current knowledge about abilities, but he still could not find a situation like his. But when he looked at his status screen again, he noticed that next to his race, it said that he was an evolved human. So it was more likely that he was a mutated type ability holder.


    With that in mind, Randy nced at the bottom, where his skills were listed, and he was instantly confused by what he saw.


    Randy had a frown on his face as he read through the skills section on his status screen, ''Werewolf King of Wind? What is that? Hm? Blood Assimte? Does that mean I can assimte with any blood? Wait, I remember that I identally consumed that wolf-like creature''s blood, is that it? Is that what this is about?''


    A moment of silenceter, Randy''s eyes widen as he thought of something ridiculous and he could not help but hold his breath as he could not believe it himself when the thought came to him, but it was the only thing that exined his current situation and his current appearance.


    ''Don''t tell me¡­ " Randy took a deep breath to calm down his rapid beating heart at this moment before continuing, " Don''t tell me that I can steal others'' abilities or something simr? I mean my current appearance looks like that of the wolf-like creature from earlier, although only my hair and eye color change to white and greenish-yellow, respectively, and my ws evidently only grew sharperpared to before and I did not have its wolf-like form."


    "But this is basically a partial transformation. And what is that percentage next to it, does it mean that I can only exert thirty percent of that wolf-like creature''s abilities? Then how do I increase it to a hundred percent¡­ Do I have to consume more of its blood or something? If that is the case, then it is impossible for the current me, that thing was ginormous, and it looked super strong just from its appearance. I would be seeking death if I try to fight something like that, and there is also the fact that I don''t know where it went."


    Randy went through his skills again and he found some skills that he vaguely understood their use. Like the Superior Regeneration, Heightened Senses which he could feel the effects right at this moment, the Gale Riding which he subconsciously used when he moved to the mirror-like ss, and the Blood Scan which seemed to rte to scanning blood of people.


    Although he was not sure if he had to spill blood to scan it or whether he can just scan people directly to find out their blood type and or identify their blood properties.


    As for this Blood Authority¡­ Randy had no idea what it means as it looked like it was saying he could have authority over blood or perhaps, control blood? Randy had no idea about these abilities of his, so he nned on testing them outter.


    Randy decided to look at hisbat system power levels, and he was shocked to see that he waspatible with almost all of them. One had to know that most awakened humans only had onebat power leveling system and only rare genius had twobat power leveling systems.


    Although some people could have multiple abilities after awakening, however, usually those abilities had the same source of power or two at most. Randy did not know what to say about what he saw, and he only thought about looking at thister.


    There was also his physique which was bizarre just by looking at the name. Like what the hell is ''Myriad Energy Devouring Physique''? Was he going to devour all energy types without any restriction? How is that working? What is his body made up of to be able to withstand such different types of energies? What kind of monster would it take to have this insane ability?


    Thinking about this without any clue, Randy decided to ignore everything else.


    Right now, he had to get home as soon as possible, and it is not like his status screen was going somewhere; He can just check it again when he gets home and then sort everything out when he does.

 Chapter 11 - Home

    Randy took a quick nce at hisbat system power levels, and he was shocked to see that he waspatible with almost all of them. One had to know that most awakened humans only had onebat power leveling system and only rare genius had twobat power leveling systems. Although some people can have multiple abilities but usually those abilities had the same source of power or two at most. Randy did not know what to say about what he saw, and he only thought about looking at these thingster.


    There was also his physique section which was bizarre just by looking at the name next to it. Like what the hell is ''Myriad Energy Devouring Physique''? Was he going to devour all energy types without any restriction whatsoever? How is that possible? What is his body made up of to be able to withstand such different type of energies? What kind of monster would it take to have this insane ability? Thinking about this, Randy ignored everything else. Right now, he had to get home as soon as possible, and it was not like his status screen was going somewhere; He could just check it again when he gets home and then sort everything out when he does.


    ''Anyway, how do I undo this transformation, do I just will it¡­ Oh?''


    [Deactivating Assimted Mode. Returning to human form] A mechanical voice resounded in Randy''s mind.


    As Randy was wondering how to undo his transformation, the moment he thought of retaining his human form, he heard a notification ring in his head as he automatically regained his human form with his current long white hair turning back into his short curly blonde hair. His protruding sharp ws also visibly shrunk back to its original form¡ª his neatly cut fingernails.


    ''Alright, now that this was sort out, I need to head home now, I don''t know how much time passed since my bracelet was broken by those bastards, but my parents are probably calling the academy asking for my whereabouts by now. Haa¡­ What do I say? That I was training myself in the training center, but I signed out when I left so that will be¡­ Whatever, I will just have to think of something when I get home.'' Randy sighed as he thought to himself and then¡­


    [Assimted Mode Partially Activated, Reinforcement and Gale Riding Skill Activated] The mechanical voice announced.


    ''Just like I thought, I can partially activate each skill and I don''t have to necessarily be in my werewolf form to use the skills, although, I think¡­ it felts like the ability weakens in this way, but it is just enough, it is not like I am fighting right now or anything.'' Randy thought as he dashed out of the building.


    But before leaving the building, he had partially activated both the Reinforcement skill and Gale Riding skill, which was two of the abilities he had obtained from his assimted Werewolf King''s Blood.??The reinforcement skill improves all his statistics to an extent and the Gale Riding skill enables him to ''ride'' the wind; He can use the wind to increase his speed as he runs or make any kind of movement.


    ¡­


    "Whoosh!"


    A figure could be seen dashing from a building as it made its way towards an unknown destination. But the speed at which the figure was moving already surpass that of a normal human. And if someone were to find out the identity of this figure, they would be shocked to find out that it was the same loser who did not have any ability before, but now, he was moving faster than the wind leaving no trails almost as if he was gliding on the surface of the ground.


    ¡­


    It did not take long for Randy to reach a residence in distance. This was where Randy lived with his parents and siblings. This residence itself was not too big and it was not too small either. It carried a sense of a medieval style mansion. Although it may appear to be a mansion, but the building had been fortified usingplex techniques to ensure that monsters or beasts or whatever creatures that find themselves in this ce, would not be able to break through, at least, not easily. His parents were once prominent hunters who had their fair share of experience, but due to certain events, they decided to retire instead and have a family of their own. This mansion was bought and reconstructed by his parents as no one knew when a rift would suddenly appear in front of their house or perhaps even inside their house if the restrictions get broken through.


    "Huu¡­ "


    Randy took a deep breath and then he breathed out as he stood in front of the gate leading into the mansion. There was a fortified gate that stood as tall as about four to five meters of the ground in front of him. This was a contingency n for the possibility of some monster or beast climbing the walls of their mansion. After a while, Randy took out a key card from his backpack and then he proceeded to stare at the monitor next to the gate on his left. This key card was the only way they could open this mansion. If he had somehow lost key card during his encounter with Jeremiah and his goons, then he would have had to stay outside. The reason for this was the fact there was a security system ced on the walls and if one kept banging on the gates for a while, it would trigger the defense system and they would be electrocuted ruthlessly, and they might end up dying if they were weak creatures or people.


    Most houses of prominent families were built like this and as for those families that are truly rich and had immense status, they had more security measures than this. For example, you cannot get a certain distance near their homes without an identification card or key card. The key card or identification card would be scanned using thetest technology from a distance before you can even get close to the building. Thinking about this, Randy was d that those bastards did not mess with his stuff, otherwise, he would have had to camp outside until someone actuallye out of the mansion before he could get in. Randy walked in front of the monitor as he prepared the lies that he would have to tell his parents, although they were white lies. Randy pressed the key card against the monitor next to the gate and a chime sound was heard as the gate snapped open by itself.


    Ting!


    Wizz!


    After the chime, the two gates opened inwards. Randy took a nce at the inside for a brief moment and then he took in another deep breath and then he breathed out slowly to prepare himself. And after getting himself ready, he proceeded to walk through the gate of the mansion. The moment Randy stepped on the pathway leading to the mansion itself, the guards stationed next to the inner part of the gate noticed his appearance and they were alerted right away as they quickly came over and greeted him.


    "Young master, you are back!" The guards all said to Randy who was startled a little. Although he was used to this treatment, but he was too tense today that he had actually forgotten about these guards for a second.


    "Hm." Randy only nodded his head indifferently at the guards as he proceeded to walk towards the three story mansion in front of him.


    As he walked towards the building, the guards started talking behind his back as silhouette disappeared from their view. They had noticed something strange about his behavior today. Usually Randy would not bother to say anything to these guards as they all look down on him for not having awakened his ability, but today, he actually greeted them back which was indeed quite strange for these guards.


    "What happened to the usual young master." One of the guards said to the others.


    "I don''t know, but he seemed a little different today." Another responded.


    "I know what you mean. The air around him feels a little different today, no, it was more like he had be a totally different person." One of the guards said with a pondering look.


    "Now that you mention it, I noticed that too. Is it possible¡­ No, that is impossible, he had not been able to do so after so many years now." One of the guards agreed.


    "What do you mean?"


    "It was just for a brief moment¡­ perhaps it was my imagination, but I felt a terrifying amount of mana radiating from him just now. So I assumed that he might have awakened his ability, but I highly doubt that¡­"


    "That makes sense, but still, how could a high ranking hunter like the Angelic Ice Mage produce an offspring that could not even use magic or even awaken to his father''s blood maniption ability?"


    "It''s such a shame. Even the younger brother had already awakened his ability, but the older brother could not. He is indeed the shame of the Smith family."


    While the guards were talking about Randy, he had already made it into the first floor of the mansion, and he was surprised to find out that there was no one in the big living room. Randy let out a sign of relief when he noticed that his parents might not be home right now, and he proceeded to walk towards the staircase leading to the second floor.


    However, before he could even take one step on the stairs, a voice resounded behind him.


    "Where were you?!" A cold and angry voice resounded behind Randy, shocking him greatly as he flinched on the spot when he heard the icy voice.


    Randy turned around slowly in the direction of the voice. At an unknown time, a figure was standing right behind Randy and the figure was staring at him with a cold expression on their face. Randy knew the identity of this figure; it was without a doubt his own mother.


    "M-Mom, I am back¡­" Randy said in a somewhat weird tone.


    However, his mother only looked at him with the same cold expression on her face before saying again, "I said where were you? Why are you onlying home at 10 o''clock in the evening. Do you have any idea how many times I called your bracelet and couldn''t reach you? I even called the academy to inquire about your whereabouts, but they said my son had already left at 7 o''clock, but what time is it now? It had been three hours since you left the academy, yet you only appear now? So what were you doing during this time that it took you three hours to get home instead half an hour?"


    Randy was overwhelmed by the series of questions from his mother. He only stared nkly for a while, not knowing which one of her questions to answer first. Nheless, Randy had prepared himself beforeing inside the mansion and so, he opened his mouth after a brief moment to narrate his ''story.''


    "Mom, I ran into a rift along the way home, and I was not able toe home in time because I was caught up in a fight between two terrifying monsters. I was knocked unconscious at the time and when I came to, the two monsters were nowhere to be found." Randy briefly said to his mother with a slight frown on his face as if recalling something dreadful, shocking her greatly.


    "What?!" A shocked voice resounded loudly on the first floor of the mansion.

 Chapter 12 - Seekers

    When his mother started asking about his whereabouts, Randy was overwhelmed by the series of questions from his mother. He only stared nkly for a while, not knowing which one of her questions to answer first. Nheless, Randy had prepared himself beforeing inside the mansion and so, he opened his mouth after a brief moment and recounted what he went through.


    "Mom, I ran into a rift along the way home, and I was not able toe home in time because I was caught up in a fight between two terrifying monsters. I was knocked unconscious at the time and when I came to, the two monsters were nowhere to be found." Randy briefly said to his mother with a slight frown on his face as if recalling his horrifying encounter, shocking his mother greatly.


    "What?!"


    His mother was shocked for a moment and then she quickly inquired after her son a momentter, "Are you okay?! Did you get hurt anywhere?!"


    Randy was surprised by the concern in his mother''s voice. Randy stared nkly at his mother''s agitated actions as she started searching his body for any wounds. Thest time his mother was this concerned about him, he does not even remember it anymore, but if he had to guess, it had to be when he was still a kid. She had never shown him this kind of concern ever since they learned that he could not awaken his ability and it only got worse every year, when the same reaction from the machine says that he had not awakened his ability.


    But now, this same mother of his was actually worried about him. Luckily, Randy had extra clothes in his backpack so the ripped and bloodied clothes that came about as he was beaten by Jeremiah and his goons was swapped with a new one. So his mother did not discover that he was actually bullied by his ssmates. In fact, whenever he talks about how he was bullied by his ssmates, his parents never said anything and only proceeds to say that it was something that would happen during this age, and it was only his bad luck that he could not awaken his ability. Randy always felt his heart tighten whenever he heard those nonchnt words from his mother. She was cold and indifferent to her child''s plight and sometimes, he wonders if she was really his mother. As for his father, let us just say that he does not say anything to agree with his mother or against his mother; He was mostly impartial when ites to family matters.


    "Mom, I am fine. Luckily, those creatures did not pay any attention to me as they were engrossed in their own fight otherwise¡­" Randy said with grim look on his face. Right now, he was trying to act as pitiful as possible so that his mother would believe his white lies more, however this act of his had the opposite response.


    "Hmph! How pathetic! You were so weak that even the monsters decided not to spare you a single nce. How disgraceful! I have no idea why I even have a son like you. Howe you cannot awaken your ability when your little brother, Rex, had already awakened his ability and now, he even showed promising future and was already recruited by an organization that wishes to sponsor him. Your little sister had also awakened hers at an early age, but we still don''t know what ability she has but she is still better off than you!" Randy''s mother looked at him with a disdainful expression on her face as she spoke to him and then she turned around, walking towards the living room''s couch and then she sat down and proceeded to watch the news on the television.


    "¡­"


    Randy was stunned by this sudden this turn of events. Where did her worried expression from earlier go? What was he thinking when he thought that his mother had changed her expression towards him? That was only a momentarily response from her and this was how she usually react to these things. With that thought in mind, Randy decided to drop his pitiful act as he decided that it was better if he leave things as it is now. Randy was walking to his room, which was on the second floor, but he recalled something as he suddenly turned around and said to his mother.


    "Mom, I am going up to my room. I lost my bracelet so can you call the Rift and Gate Management to report the location where I found the rift. It is in that abandoned factory." Randy said to her.


    "The abandoned building? What were you doing in that ce?" She said with a frown on her face.


    Randy realized that he had slipped up just now when he said the abandoned factory. The abandoned factory was not on the way to his house, rather it was on the east side of that alley that he was passing through. However, Randy instantly thought of an excuse as he hurriedly spoke to his mother.


    "Mom, I was just walking with my friend whose house was towards that direction. I just met him on my way home and decided to talk with him as we walked, but who would have thought that after I separated from him, I would actually run into those monsters." Randy exined to his mother.


    Indeed, he had one friend who actually lived in that direction and although his friend does not specifically use the route that he was talking about just now, but it is not really a lie when he said that his friend lived in that direction. Even if they were to ask his friend right now if he actually lived in that direction or not, as long as his friend was not disloyal, he would actually confirm that he was telling the truth.


    "Hmph!" His mother only snorted before turning her attention to the thin television screen that was stered against wall like a poster. This was a television made from some highly advanced technology that was developed during these past decades when rifts and gate started appearing.


    At this moment there was a headline on the news channel that mainly talks about rifts and gates.


    [A new unexpected rift: The rift and Gate Management Department just announced their discovery of a new rift that escaped their detection radar.]


    The female news anchor started asking the refined middle-aged man who was sitting next to her, some questions about the recently discovered rift: [Professor Ma, what are your thought on this unexpected rift? Have you received any information regarding the type of rift we are dealing?]


    Professor Ma cleared his throat slightly before speaking: [Indeed, I have received some news regarding the type of rift we uncovered during this time. From what I hear, they were not certain about the specifics of this rift, but it was deemed as a magical type of rift, which means, it was connected a mana-based world. While they are not sure if some terrifying beings had already slip out of the rift as of yet, but they cannot rule the possibility of some vicious and malicious monster already escaping past our radar, so they are still searching the surrounding of where the rift was discovered. I have also sent my people to help assist with this unforeseen rift that had eluded our detection. But as most of you know, our rift detection is bing useless as oftely as it seemed that unexpected rifts like this kept happening on our radar. But rest assured that we are doing everything and whatever we can to find better tracking and detection method to prevent these incidents from urring in the near future. Fortunately, this time, there were no casualties, so we were very thankful for that. For now, citizens near the rift had been informed and told to stay in their houses and report any strange urrences to us. All these was to better ensure the safety of our citizens.]


    The female anchor then spoke again: [I see. Then how is the stabilization of the rifting along. Is it possible¡­ Let me rephrase it¡­ Is it safe to stabilize this rift for the use of Seekers to travel through or would it be forcefully closed down?]


    Professor Ma spoke almost instantly: [That is hard to say for now. But if we can ascertain that there is no danger from the rift, then we would definitely stabilize the rift for use. But if there are some hidden dangers discovered during our analysis, then we would have no choice but to close it down, even if it would cost more resources to close down the rift.]


    The female anchor continued to ask her questions: [Then do you know the rank of this rift or is that not determined yet?]


    Professor Ma replied: [We have not concluded on that just yet as we have yet to see any creature from the other side. But we would definitely announce the results once everything had been analyzed.]


    ¡­


    The female news anchor asked various question regarding the rift and Professor Ma answered them eloquently. He was renowned for his contribution to some of the recent discoveries about rifts and the gates that had been appearing in this world for decades now.


    Meanwhile, Randy who was going upstairs stopped when he heard the new mention the unexpected rift and so, he decided to listen to their exnation before going upstairs. And he was relief that the government had already found the rift, otherwise who knows how many casualties would ensue if they had not found it in time. But Randy was not sure if he should tell them that two monsters had already escaped the rift. Although, he could say that he survived two monsters as a no ability holder, but no one would believe him. Besides, it would not make a difference even if he told them as he did not know where those monsters went.


    "Don''t bother reporting that you saw two monsters escaping the rift. You don''t have any prove and I am assuming that you have no idea where they went either, right? Just go to your room and leave this to the government. They are already searching the perimeters anyway, if there are monsters or beasts out there, they would find them sooner orter, there is nothing you can do to help with that." The indifferent voice resounded in the living room.


    "Okay, I will head to my room now." Randy agreed with his mother, and he then walked the stairs leading to the second floor. However, on his way, he heard a voice behind.


    "There is food in the refrigerator if you are hungry."


    "Okay, mom. I wille downter when I finish showering." Randy said in response without stopping his tracks as he made his way towards his room.. Right now, he wanted to check his abilities before taking a shower or even doing anything else.

 Chapter 13 - Assessing Abilities

    "Don''t bother reporting that you saw two monsters escaping the rift. You don''t have any prove and I am assuming that you have no idea where they went either, right? Just go to your room and leave this to the government. They are already searching the perimeters anyway, if there are monsters or beasts out there, they would find them sooner orter, there is nothing you can do to help with that." The indifferent voice resounded in the living room.


    "Okay, I will head to my room now." Randy agreed with his mother, and he then walked the stairs leading to the second floor. However, on his way, he heard a voice behind him.


    "There is food in the refrigerator if you are hungry." His mother said to him.


    "Okay, mom. I wille downter when I finish showering." Randy said in response without stopping his tracks as he made his way towards his room. Right now, he wanted to check his abilities before taking a shower or even doing anything else.


    ¡­


    When Randy left, his mother had a pondering look on her face as she thought back to what her son had told her. A momentter, she sighed and muttered to herself.


    "It appears that he was indeed telling the truth about the rift, but still¡­ he was very lucky to have survived this crisis. Just why is Randy the only one among three of my children, that still hadn''t awakened his ability? Did he inherit our worse genes or something? Even if he did not inherit my magical aptitude, he should at least inherit his father''s ability or at least be an evolved human, but he did not exhibit any of these features. Just what was going on with this child?"


    "Haa..." She sighed again as she looked towards the stairs with an indiscernible expression on her face.


    ¡­


    Inside Randy''s Room.


    Randy sat down on the floor in his room as soon as he entered his room. He took in a deep breath, and he breathed out slowly to calm down his mind. Momentster, he called out in his mind.


    ''Status Screen.''


    ----


    ?[Name: Randy Smith]?


    ?[Race: Human(Evolved)]?


    ?[ss: Blood [???]?


    ?[Title(s): None]?


    ?[Bloodline: N/A]?


    ?[Physique: Myriad Energy Devouring Physique]?


    ----


    ?[Physical Strength: 400]?


    ?[Physical Resistance: 400]?


    ?[Physical Agility:? 300]?


    ?[Physical Stamina: 395]?


    ?[Soul Strength: 400]?


    ?[Mental Strength: 875]?


    ?[Mental Resistance: 870]?


    ¡­


    "Now that I am looking at it again, my attributes stats had decreased a lot after I undo the transformation from my assimted mode. Previously, when I was in my assimted Werewolf form, all my basic attributes increased by 300 except for my soul and mental attributes which increased by 150." Randy muttered to himself as he looked at the project screen in front of him.


    Then he suddenly thought of something, and then he proceeded to look down on the screen.


    ---


    <[Reinforcement[30%](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    ---


    ''Looking at this, It is safe to assume that with every ten percent increase in the assimted ability of the Werewolf form, I will receive a 100 increase in my basic attributes and 50 increase in my soul and mental attributes.'' Randy surmised after looking at his statistics on the screen in front of him.


    ''After all, right now, I can only use thirty percent of the assimted reinforcement ability, yet I was able to increase my basic stats by three hundred and my soul and mental attribute by one hundred and fifty. That means, if I can somehow get this assimted ability to say hundred percent then wouldn''t I be able to fight an S-Rank opponent with the boosted stats? This is so insane, Hahaha!'' Randyughed inwardly as he was afraid to wake his little sister who was sleeping on the other side on this floor. Although the distance between them was a lot due to the size of the mansion being big, but one cannot be too cautious. What if she somehow passed by his room and heard himughing like a maniac, she reports to their mother and then his mother assumes that his son has finally lost his mind, so she proceeds to take him to a mental hospital or something? That would be really terrible. Randy shook his head to get rid of those thoughts and he put all his attention towards the screen in front of him.


    ''This is really amazing but s, it is only a dream as I cannot even imagine myself being as lucky as before and acquiring the blood of that wolf-like creature, hmm? I suppose it was a werewolf since the system said so. But damn, a werewolf? If it was indeed a werewolf then maybe there are vampires on the other side of the rift too, wait, now that I think about it, that pale looking guy with red eyes might actually be a vampire. Were they fighting each other or something? Whatever, that has nothing to do with me. I am only d that I was able to survive their encounter with me. In any case, I have to thank that werewolf for donating his blood to otherwise, I wouldn''t have awakened my ability.'' Randy thought deeply to himself as he looked at the middle section of his status screen.


    ---


    ?Combat System Power Level(s)?


    Evolution Realm[1]: First-Stage Evolved Human Realm (500/1000)


    Martial Realm[1]: First-Stage Martial Disciple Realm (200/300)


    Cultivation Realm[0]: None (10/100)


    Magical Realm[4]: Beginner-Level Fourth-Circle Magician Realm (1000/1299)


    Psi Realm[0]: None (87.5/200)


    Mystic Realm[0]: None (40/200)


    ¡­


    ''This is so fucking crazy! No matter how much I look at this, I think it is broken. I mean how can I hold that much energy inside my body? Won''t I simply explode someday?'' Randy screamed inside his head as he looked at hisbat system power levels.


    "Forget it, what matters the most now is that I had actually awakened my ability. As for what happens afterwards, I will think about thatter. Does those numbers next to the Combat Systems represent what realm I am currently in at the moment. After all, my magic is already at the fourth-circle Magician Realm although I don''t know any spells, and the number next to the Magical Realm said [4] so it definitely has some corrtion with the ''circle'' of my Magical Realm. As for awakening as a magician, that is not too surprising since my mother is also a magician and most people awakened with their parent''s abilities, but I wonder why I suddenly acquired that much mana even if I had awakened. Was it because I was near the rift when I awakened and due to that, I was exposed to the mana emanating from the rift? Well, this is just a spection anyway, since I am not an expert when ites to this stuff, but it does make sense to assume it as that being the case, otherwise, I don''t know how to exin my sudden increase in mana." Randy thought with a pondering expression while looking at his current mana umted.


    I think I remember the system said something about creating some ''vessels'' for the energies inside me or something, where is it? Oh, it''s at the top of this section." Randy said as he looked upwards, and he saw the system information provided for him.


    ¡­


    ?[Reminder: Due to the chaotic energy detected in your body, there was a necessity for the creation of energy vessels to hold the energies as soon as possible. To prevent your existence from falling into a chaotic state, the system took the liberty to create the energy vessels for all the current energies in your body. Currently Created Vessels: Mana Seed, and Dual Dantian/Two Energy Cores(Life Energy and Spiritual energy). As for the rest, they are in the process of creation. When you fulfill the necessary conditions, only then would they be fully created]?


    ¡­


    ''Hmm¡­ ording to this, my body had different energies residing in it and the system created energy vessels to contain these energies? But what does it mean that my existence would fall into a chaotic state? Does that mean I would die from the energies or perhaps something more dreadful? Damn, if it really is like I am thinking then I really am d that the system created this vessel thing for me otherwise, forget about getting an ability, I might end up dying sooner orter.'' Randy thought with a solemn expression on his face at this moment.


    After a while, he turned his attention to the very bottom of the Status Screen, where his ss Specific Skills tab was located.


    ---


    ?ss Specific Skills?


    <[Blood Assimte]>


    <[Blood Retain]>


    <[Blood Scan]>


    <[Blood Authority]>


    <[???]>


    ¡­


    ''Hmm¡­ It seemed that my evolution ability really had something to do with blood as all the skills names had blood next to them." Randy thought and he continued, ''Blood Assimte, I think I know what that does but I would have to experiment next time on some monster when I get the chance, but I wonder where to get such a monster. Maybe I should register as a hunter and go to those dungeons behind the gates or perhaps go to the mountains and hunt some mutated beast? Well, I will think of thatter.''


    ''Blood Retain, I think I know what it does just from its name, retain. It probably means that I can either discard a blood that I assimte with or retain it using this ability. I will have to try this out too when I fight otherworldly creatures in the future.''


    ''Blood Scan, that sounds like I can scan the properties of blood, but I don''t know the specifics of what that entails or what that means for me to scan blood in the first ce. Wait, can I scan my old blood? I should try it out and see." Randy thought as he grabbed a small knife from his drawer next to his bed and poke his index finger with it without hesitation. He did not feel any pain when he did or more precisely, he was unperturbed by the pain.. This kind of pain is nothingpared to having one''s face burned with fire.

 Chapter 14 - Blood Authority

    ''Blood Scan, that sounds like I can scan the properties of blood, but I don''t know the specifics of what that entails or what that means for me to scan blood in the first ce. Wait, can I scan my old blood? I should try it out and see." Randy thought as he grabbed a small knife from his drawer next to his bed and poke his index finger with it without hesitation. He did not feel any pain when he did or more precisely, he was unperturbed by the pain. This kind of pain is nothingpared to having one''s face burned with fire.


    After blood starteding out of the poked finger, Randy activated his Blood Scan Skill.


    [Activating Blood Scan Skill]


    [Error: Unable to fully scan the specific type of blood]


    [Blood Abilities Disyed: Unknown]


    [Trace of Energies found in the blood: Magical energy, Spiritual energy, Life energy, ¡­]


    [Reminder: You cannot use your skill ''Blood Scan'' on your own blood] A mechanical voice announced.


    ''Damn, but at least, I know how it works now. I felt like my mind was looking through the blood to find its property but at the same time, it felt like my own blood was reacting to the blood as I used the skill. This was a very strange feeling as it felt so natural like I have used this skill for a long time, even though I only acquired it.'' Randy frowned as he thought to himself about the odd synergy that he had with the skill he acquired.


    "Now, it is time to check the Blood Authority Skill, ording to what I deduced earlier, this skill might just be a type of blood maniption ability like my dad''s ability." Randy thought to himself as he looked at the skill on the screen.


    "Since I already cut my finger, I might as well see if it would actually work on my blood." Randy muttered under his breath with a solemn expression. He does not care if he had to spill more of his own blood to check his recently acquired skills.


    With that thought in mind, Randy looked the small cut on his right index finger that seemed to be closing slowly. He picked up the small knife with his left hand and he proceeded to poke himself again on the same spot. Afterwards, when the blood starteding out of his finger again, he activated the Blood Authority Skill.


    [Activating Blood Authority]


    The moment Randy thought of activating the Blood Authority Skill, he felt like the skill had been unlocked inside his brain as he knew how to use it naturally. And with that, he used it on his blood, and he was surprised that it actually worked on his blood like he thought. No, It was even better than what he had originally thought. Rather than manipting the blood, he was instead controlling it, that is right, controlling it. He made the blood levitate in front of him without actually touching the blood. This was unlike blood maniption which needed the user to be in contact with the blood to actually manipte it.


    ''Hahaha! This is so awesome. This is just like telekinesis. I wonder whether if I can shape it." Randy thought as he willed the floating blood with his thoughts, and then he imagined what to turn it into.


    Shortly after, the floating blood started changing shape before his very eyes as it started turning into a fine line. It was a needle made up of blood, in other words, a blood needle, it seemed to be glistening with a metallic luster even though it was made out of a liquid substance. After Randy controlled his blood, he found out that he can solidify the blood momentarily, but it will go back into its liquid state after a while. He presumed that it had something to do with evolution level being low, at the first-stage Evolved Human.


    ''This is really amazing. I can even attack with this if I practice it enough. But the downside is that I will lose a lot of blood if I use this skill in battle and get light-headed, it would be fatal if I get attacked during that time. I remember that dad always eat a lot to store energy since his ability relies heavily on his blood. I will see if I can control other people''s blood the next time I get the chance, because I feel like it is possible to do so with this ability.''


    ''Anyway, it is time to shower. Tomorrow is the weekend, and originally, I was not sure about what to do before I awakened my ability, so I will just go register my ability or perhaps go to the mountains to hunt some wild beasts and then try out my blood skills.''


    "Ah¡­ I still haven''t told my mom about my ability, well, I think it doesn''t matter for now. I will just surprise them when I get my ability tested during the university entrance examination. But still, how could my mom not be able to tell that I had awakened my ability especially this amount of mana inside me or was it because she was not paying that much attention to me?" Randy muttered in wonder of why his mother could not see through his ability.


    Randy had no idea that it was because of the chaotic energy inside his body that prevent others from telling how strong he really is at a nce. Although the guards outside were able to feel that he was emanating a terrifying aura before, but that was only because Randy had just undone his transformation from his assimted werewolf mode right before walking through the gate and due to that, there was a residue of energy lingering on his body since he was using the Gale Riding Skill which depended on mana to activate.


    Randy concluded that it was indeed the case, that his mother was probably not paying any attention to him and with that, Randy went to take a shower and when he was doing so, he found out that his body had be sturdier than before, although his muscles were already sturdy from his constant working out, but this time, it was like his muscles were filled with energy just by clenching his fist a little. He did not pay any attention to this earlier, but all his scars and even his broken scap that could not be healed had been healed when he awakened, and there was no pain even when he move his arm around. Right now, he felt like he had been reborn with a new body.


    After taking a shower, Randy went downstairs to grab something to eat. He opened the fridge, and he found some fried rice and some sds next to it. It seemed that his mother had wrapped up the food in a te before putting it in the fridge. Even though, his mother never cared about him generally, it does not mean that she does not care what he eats. She still cooks food for the family, his included. She was only disappointed in his son for not having an ability otherwise, she was a kind mother, well, at least to his siblings, but not so much to Randy.


    Randy sat down near the dining table and proceeded to finish his food under his mother''s watchful gaze. Randy noticed that she had been staring at him, the entire time he was eating, and so, he decided to finish his food quickly and then left to his room after doing so.


    When he left, his mother had a pondering look on her face as she watched her son scurry to the second floor.


    ''What is wrong with this kid today. He is acting different today. He usually carried this head down whenever hees home, and he does not even bother to look me in the eye but now, he was acting totally the opposite today. And then there was that strange feeling I got from him when I searched his body for wounds a while ago. Just what was that? Was it my imagination? Did his encounter with the monsters change his personality or something in him? Hmm, perhaps when he almost died to those monsters, he suddenly felt the need to live his life differentlypared to before? Which probably led him carrying that strange aura around him? After all, at my current level of strength, I can perceive certain auras from people if I try hard enough.'' Randy''s mother thought to herself as she thought of her son''s behavior today and the strange aura that was surrounding him.


    ¡­


    The following day.


    Randy slept like a log yesterday, he did not even wake until noon. It seemed that yesterday''s events had impacted him more than he had thought. Originally, he was fatigued from working out to the extreme and then he was beaten up badly by Jeremiah and his goons and although, he healedpletely from those wounds after he had awakened, his body was still at his limit for the amount fatigue pilled up mentally and physically. His mother did not bother to wake him up as he had nothing to do anyway in the weekend besides using the family gym to work out.


    However, at this moment, there was a knock on his door. Randy suddenly woke up when he heard the knocking on his door. His senses were being affected by his new skill, Heightened Senses. Although he was not in his assimted mode, it seemed that it is gradually improving his base senses. With that, Randy forced himself to get up from his bed as he yawned loudly before speaking.


    "Who is it?" He asked outwardly.


    "Brother, it''s me Lydia. Can Ie in?" The voice said as they suddenly entered the room.


    "Wait!" Randy screamed at the door as he suddenly covered himself with his bed''s quilt.

 Chapter 15 - Lydia

    "Who is it?" He asked outwardly toward the door to him room when some knocked on it, waking him up.


    "Brother, it''s me Lydia. Can Ie in?" The voice said as they suddenly entered the room.


    "Wait!" Randy screamed at the door as he suddenly covered himself with his bed''s quilt.


    Soon, a figure walked into the room. A young girl with a straight pretty ck hair and sparkling blue eyes. Her appearance looks almost identical to Randy''s mother except for the hair color. This was Randy''s little sister, Lydia Smith.


    "Phew¡­ That was close." Sighed Randy as he covered his naked body with the bed cover. Right now, he was wearing nothing but his underwear and he just woke up from his sleep, so it was really not a good time.


    "Eh? Brother, what is it?" Lydia said as she looked at her brother who had frown on his face with a surprised face.


    "Why did youe in right after asking whether toe in or not? What was the point of asking then?" Randy spoke in a slight frustrated tone.


    "But the door was already opened, so I decided to enter. Why would I need to wait when it was not locked?" Lydia innocently asked Randy.


    "¡­" Randy was stunned, not knowing how to reply to his little sister. He always forgets to close his door when he sleeps, and it always bite him back like this. He would definitely close it the next time for sure.


    "Anyway, you cannote inside a guy''s room in the morning. Just wait until I saye in before you do. Do you understand?" Randy said helplessly to his little sister.


    "Okay, I will." Lydia replied in a cheerful tone. Clearly, she did not listen to anything Randy said to her at all.


    Randy could feel a headacheing on. He knew that she would do it again tomorrow, but he still had to tell her even if she would not listen to him. This was not the first time they had this conversation, but she always replied with the same cheerful tone.


    "By the way, why did youe into my room?" Randy turned to look at the young girl in a white dress and asked.


    "Oh right, mom said that we are going to visit auntie and she said to ask whether you want toe along or not?" Lydia excitedly said.


    Immediately, Randy frowned when he heard this. The auntie that his little sister was talking about is none other than Emilia''s mother.


    He does not want to deal with this family. In the past, they used to be amiable towards him, but after finding out about his inability to awaken his ability, they started shunning him.


    Of course, they do not do it openly in front of his parents, but after his parents are not around, they started treating him like a stranger and do not even spare him a nce.


    He believes that they were the reason why Emilia had also started avoiding him too.


    Lydia saw that her brother was lost in thought, and she decided to speak at this time.


    "Brother, What is it? Do you not want toe with us? Sister Emilia would be there too." Lydia said to Randy in a nervous tone.


    Randy nced at his little sister, but he did not respond to her immediately and he started thinking deeply to himself.


    In fact, Randy did not want to deal with such a family that is disparaging towards others. His parents being disappointed in him had him already preupied in his frustration, but this people also started acting like he was some cancer that would affect their daughter or something.


    Especially, Emilia''s mother, who was a good friend of my mother when they were young, she always speaks in a deprecating tone towards him whenever he was alone with them.


    Randy used to frequent their house often just like how Emilia frequents his to receive mentoring sometimes, but aftering to know the way they had started treating him, he stopped going over and chose to only speak to Emilia at the academy like a coward.


    But even if he wanted to avoid those people, especially now that he had awakened his ability, his little sister seemed to have an attachment towards Emilia, and Randy could not bear to make her sad by saying that he would not go.


    She was the only one in this family who does not look down on him despite him not awakening his ability.


    Randy could argue that it was perhaps because she was innocent and that was why she was not acting like his parents and his little brother, who clearlycks respect for him. But even so, he appreciated her very much.


    Because of her, he did not give up on himself and try hard with his training, that is, by working out every single day. With this thought in mind, Randy finally made his decision.


    "Alright, I wille with you." Said Randy with a smile on his face and then he continued to ask, "When are you all leaving?"


    Listening to this, Lydia worn a happy expression on her face, and she instantly replied.


    "Mom said that we would be leaving at 2 o''clock, so you should prepare before then if you want toe along with us." Lydia said to Randy with an excited smile on her little face.


    "Two?" Randy said as he looks at the time on the projected screen from his rm clock and then he continued, "I still have about an hour and half to prepare."


    "Go and to tell mom that I will take a quick shower ande down in a couple minutes." Randy said to Lydia.


    "Okay! You better hurry up or we would leave without you. And you won''t be able to see Sister Emilia."


    "Right." Randy said with a bitter smile on his face. In the past, he was the one who always drags his little sister with him whenever they visit Emilia''s house, but now though, he was not feeling it. He realized that he was na?ve back then. There was one thing that Jeremiah was right about, and it was that he really did liked Emilia and maybe he still does, but he does not want to pursue her anymore after all, she has a bright future ahead of her and I was in her way of achieving that. They have to go their own separate ways and besides, her parents do not like him either, so why try so hard for something that he would not be able to have?


    With his thought collected, Randy got up from his bed and went to the bathroom which was inside his room, and he brushed his teeth before proceeding to take a shower right after.


    ¡­


    A couple minutester.


    Randy finished taking his shower and after putting on some simple clothes, he came down the downstairs. There, he saw his mother and his little sister sitting in the couch. His mother''s name was Riley, Riley Smith.


    Before she was married to his father, she goes by a different name. It was Liu Lingling, which was how his grandfather calls his mother and Riley Liu which was what his mother goes by.


    Randy''s grandfather from his mother''s side was a Chinese and his wife, Randy''s grandmother was an American.


    As for his father, he was ck and white. Due to that, Randy''s grandfather from his father''s side was an African-American and his wife, Randy''s second grandmother was an English woman.


    Due to this, Randy was quarter Chinese, quarter ck, quarter English and a quarter American. As a result of that, Randy was had a light skinplexion with his blonde hair in a curly form. His eyes were grey in color unlike his sister who had blue eyes from his mother. Randy seemed like the only one with a grey eye color in their family. Even his little brother had a brown eye color from their father and a curly slightly dark brown hair probably also from their father. Randy had his blonde hair probably from his mother''s side as her mother was also blonde with slight Asian facial features. But it is arguable since his grandmother from his father''s side was also blonde, but his father had a dark brown hair color instead. Nheless, Randy and his siblings are not a fixed race, and so, they can fit in any race they want. And also due to this fact, they all had a light skinplexion, even though their father had a light brown skinplexion.


    After walking down, Randy went to the kitchen to grab something quickly to eat and after he finished eating, he informed his mother that he was done and ready.


    "Let''s go." His mother said to the both of them.


    "Okay!" Lydia replied in an excited voice. She was more excited about this little outing today.


    "Alright." Randy replied briefly. He did not really care about going out today unlike his usual excited expression back in the day when they visit Emilia''s house. They had not gone there together like this for about two years now. Usually only his mother goes there, but today, she decided to bring them along with her, and Randy wonders why that is.


    His mother saw this strange behavior from Randy, but after thinking for a moment, she decided to ignore it. It does not matter how he reacts in the first ce. Right now, they were only going to see her old friend and nothing more. She only thought of bringing the boy with her since he used to always visit her friend''s house to see her friend''s daughter whom he had shared a childhood with. But considering the girl''s aptitude, Randy might not be a match for her, if one just looked at her future prospects that is. As a mother, she definitely wanted her son to be with a girl that he likes, but her son''s ipetence makes it hard for him to be with the girl.. With that thought, she only sighed in pity, and then she turned around, walking outside with her kids.

 Chapter 16 - Looming Threat

    Randy''s mother noticed that Randy was acting quite strange even though they were visiting his childhood friend, but after thinking about it for a moment, she decided to ignore this issue.


    It does not matter how her son reacts in the first ce. Right now, they were only going to see her old friend and nothing more.


    She only thought of bringing the boy along with her since he used to always visit her friend''s house to see her friend''s daughter whom he had shared a childhood with.


    But considering the girl''s aptitude, Randy might not be a match for her, if one just looked at her future prospects that is.


    As a mother, she definitely wanted her son to be with a girl that he likes, but her son''s ipetence makes it hard for him to be with this girl.


    With that thought, she only sighed in pity, and then she turned around before leading her children as they walked outside from the mansion.


    ¡­


    Outside, The Parking lot.


    There was an expensive looking car parked in the parking lot. This car looked not that different from the previous era''s transportation vehicles, well, the appearance of the vehicle to some extent, looked the same, but there were a few extra things added to better amodate with the new technology.


    The cars nowadays do not run on diesel, petrol, gasoline, or electricity, but instead mana or other type of energies that are feasible. Mana was the most popr energy used by most vehicles that are manufactured nowadays.


    The other type of energies does not work well with modern technology but, that does not mean that there are not many ways to utilize these energies.


    For example, Spiritual energy is hard to harness and only those who practice cultivation with Spiritual energy knows how to manipte the energy to create things like talisman and concoct pills with powerful effects.


    However, Magicians can also make potions and make charms for protection with simr effects even if it''s a little weaker inparison.


    And so, one can only imagine how popr magic is among people in the current world since it was rtively easier to practicepared to cultivating Spiritual energy, that needs one to have a serene, resolute and indifferent mindset.


    But they all had their downsides and benefits so no one can look on Spiritual energy. In fact, Spiritual energy cultivation was more popr among the Asian race than other races like the westerners.


    Nevertheless, there were some westerners who lived in the Western District who practices Spiritual energy cultivation just like there were people in the Eastern District who practiced magical arts.


    At this moment, Randy''s mother, Riley grabbed the door handle of the car and there was a buzz sound indicating that her fingerprints had been scanned and after that, she got into the front of the car.


    This was her personal car and the only other person who can use it was Randy''s father. If anyone else touched this car, they would be electrocuted from the magic formation designed into the car for protection against anyone who tries to steal the transportation vehicle.


    After getting into the Car, she pressed on a screen that appeared on the steering wheel and then the other doors opened for Randy and Lydia.


    Although just to be safe, Riley made sure that her daughter Lydia registered her fingerprints on her car, just in case the kid forgot and touched her car.


    But Randy and his little brother did not have their fingerprints registered as they are considered to be grown-up by her mother.


    Just like that, both Randy and Lydia entered the back of the car, and they went on their way towards Emilia''s house.


    ¡­


    In a random building in an unknown location.


    There was a figure panting loudly as he clutched his injured and bleeding arm. "Damn it! Those fuckers are so persistent! Why can''t they just give up, don''t they have anything better to do?"


    The figure was a man with deep scar on his face that seemed to have been received from a fierce battle with a cold weapon.


    Despite the fact that nowadays, there were healing magic or unique abilities for healing wounds rued from a fight, and in order to prevent scares from urring one''s skin most people received treatment right way, but this individual chose to keep the scars instead of treating it.


    At this moment, this person had a fresh wound on his left arm which seemed to have been received from a type of hot weapon, perhaps a gun.


    But with the size of the wound, one can only wonder what type of weapon was used since it did not look like it was from a gun just at a nce, but instead from something like an explosive instead.


    At this time, the man hid in this unknown location in hopes to elude his pursuers.


    "Fuck! Just how did they find me?! I thought that I was spotless with my new appearance, but for some unknown reason, they were still able to find me even with my new face. Don''t tell me, they were tracking me with some strange magic or some of those mutant abilities? Fuck! Fuck! I need to find a way out of this District before they catch up and find me." The figure said as he walked out of the building.


    He looked out and it was currently getting dark outside since the sun was setting soon, but they were still visible rays of sun light outside.


    However, he could not afford to stay in one location for too long lest they track him using his blood. After thinking for a moment, he walked towards a certain direction.


    ¡­


    On the other side, Randy and his family had arrived at their destination.


    Riley and her children just got out of their car and parked their car in some secluded location that is often used by those that only wanted to park their cars for a couple of hours instead of an entire day.


    She did not want to park her car in her friend''s house since they had so many cars themselves and it would only trouble them if she decided to do so.


    After walking out of that location, they proceeded to walk for a while before they reached a certain luxurious looking building that isparable to Randy''s family mansion.


    At this point, Riley spoke. "We are here. I already informed Jenny that we have arrived so she should be opening the gate in any moment now."


    Sure enough, as soon as she finished speaking, the gate to the mansion opened to revealed a figure who was standing behind the gate.


    This figure was that of a matured woman, who despite looking mature, she still appeared to be in her twenties. That was Emilia''s mother, Jenny and Randy''s mother, Riley''s best friend.


    Jenny disyed a warm smile before speaking. "Riley, you''re here. Come inside. We had been expecting you."


    "Hi Aunt Jenny!" Lydia excited voice rang out beside Randy.


    Jenny turned to the little girl before she replied. "Hi, little Lydia, how are doing?"


    "I am doing fine." Lydia replied back with her usual cheery voice.


    "That''s good. Hm?" Jenny said with a warm smile on her face before noticing a person whom she had not seen for a while, and she then spoke again in surprise.


    "Oh¡­ Is that Randy? I haven''t seen you in a while. Why do you note by anymore? Emilia always talks about how you stoppeding by to study together with her."


    Hearing these pretentious ims, Randy could only stare nkly for a moment before inwardly shaking his head in dismay.


    ''Are asking because you did not know why, or is it specifically because you knew why?''


    Randy thought to himself but shortly after, he disyed a slight smile before speaking in a polite tone. "Auntie Jenny, long time no see; it''s been a while since west met. I have been busy with some things, that is why I could not pay you all a visit anymore. Sorry for not informing you before."


    Jenny was stunned by his reaction. She was sure that this little brat would avoid saying anything to her, like before. However, he was actually smiling instead as he spoke to her.


    ''What is wrong with this brat? I remember he never dared to speak back to me even when I talk to him ever since two years old ago, and only nodding in response. What is with this new attitude of his?''


    Randy''s mother, Riley on the other hand was surprised by her son''s calm attitude just now but she did not think much of it, as it is good that he was not acting as timid as always.


    "I see¡­ Anyway,e inside. Emilia is not home right now, but she should be back in about an hour or so." Jenny said to them and then proceeded to lead them inside the mansion.


    Randy and Lydia went in first. Riley on the other hand stayed behind with her best friend and they soon engaged in a friendly talk about various things.


    Randy did not pay attention to them and only walked with Lydia as they made their way towards the door of the mansion.


    Soon, they reached the door and proceeded to wait. A momentter, Jenny came over quickly and tapped her key card on the door and right after that, they all went inside.


    The inside of the room was so clean and luxurious, perhaps even more luxurious than Randy''s family mansion''s living room.


    There was expensive looking furniture everywhere in this room and even a multiyered chandelier on the ceiling of the living room.


    The sofas were even more eye catching as they were actually white in color with some colorful patterns on them.


    The couches in Randy''s house were actually grey in color and not as eye catching as the ones in this living room.


    At this moment, Jenny suddenly spoke with a warm smile on her face. "Make yourselvesfortable. I had the cooks prepare us something to eat in advance. It should be done in about an hour. Emilia should be back by then.. That way, Emilia would not miss the chance to eat together with us."

 Chapter 17 - Burglar

    "Make yourselvesfortable. I had the cooks prepare us something to eat in advance. It should be done in about an hour. Emilia should be back by then. That way, Emilia would not miss the chance to eat together with us." Jenny suddenly spoke with a warm smile on her face.


    "I see¡­ Anyway, about the matter we were talking about, do you think we could¡­" Riley then said to Jenny hinting at something.


    With how sharp and astute Jenny was, she easily understood what Riley was implying and instantly replied. "Don''t worry, we can leave the children here to watch television while we adults can discuss ''that'' matter in my personal room."


    Riley sighed before replying. "Alright."


    She then turned to Randy and Lydia before speaking again. "You two should stay here. Your auntie and I need to talk about something."


    "Okay, mom!" Lydia replied without even looking at her mother. Her mind was elsewhere at the moment.


    "Okay." Randy looked at his mother and then replied briefly without any visible reaction from him.


    After hearing their response, Riley left together with Jenny to the second floor of the mansion.


    However, as soon as his mother and Jenny left, Randy suddenly scowled with a pondering expression.


    He had long since noticed that his mother and sometimes his father included always came here to discuss some things ever since he was young, but at the time, he never paid any attention to them.


    But now that he had thought about it, it is quite strange for them to always talk about things in secret.


    "That matter¡­" He muttered.


    After contemting for a while about what could be the reason for this, a voice suddenly startled him from his thoughts.


    "Brother! Look!"


    It was Lydia''s voice, she seemed to be pointing at something on the screen of the television. Randy unconsciously looked at where her finger was pointing before he spoke.


    "What is it?"


    As soon as Randy said this, it was only then did he see the headline on the screen of the television and his expression suddenly turned serious.


    [Breaking news!]


    [Wanted Criminal: Had stolen priceless treasures of the government which was scheduled for transport in the afternoon after disguising as one of the security guards and breaking into the storage vault. Currently on pursuit from the police.]


    Seeing this headline, Randy immediately bent over to touch a screen on a t tablet-like remote on the table and turned up the volume of the television.


    [ording to an anonymous tip, the burr wasst seen entering the Golden Hand Street and haven''t been seen since then. The police are currently making their way towards that neighborhood as we speak. Everyone who lives in that neighborhood should stay in their houses until further notice. Anyone who sees any suspicious individual, please kindly report this to police to further ensure your safety¡­]


    At this moment, Lydia suddenly spoke out.


    "Brother, they said that there is a bad guy who wasst seen around this neighborhood. Should we tell auntie Jenny about it?"


    Randy suddenly turned quiet for a while without saying anything. Usually, he did not care about these kinds of things as long as it was not in his neighborhood but hearing that some criminal who had stolen and evaded been arrested was roaming close to their present location, he could not help but turn serious.


    "Brother? Brother? What is wrong? Why are you frowning? Should we not tell auntie Jenny?" Lydia said to him when she noticed that her Brother was unresponsive immediately after seeing the headline of the breaking news.


    At this point, Randy realized that he was acting strange, and so, he put a smile before saying. "It''s nothing, Lydia. I think we should tell mom and auntie Jenny when theye out. For now, why don''t the two of us y tag by ourselves? No, I guess that is not possible with just the two of us. Why don''t we y hide and seek instead?"


    "Really?!" Lydia''s excited voice rang out.


    "That''s right, you hide in here, while I go outside and wait for a while beforeing in and searching for your whereabouts. Remember don''te out looking me until Ie back okay, hmm, well, unless mom and auntie Jennyes back, only then should youe out of hiding, okay?" Randy said to her.


    "Okay! We haven''t yed hide and seek in a long time. Ehehe¡­ this is going to be fun. You will never be able to find me. Brother, I''ll have you know that I happened to know a secret location that Sister Emilia told me aboutst time when I came here with mom." Lydia raised chin up said with a confident expression.


    "Oh? Is that so." Randy appeared to be surprised and then he continued. "Then we shall see whether I''ll be able find you or not in a while. I just happened to know every single little secret about Emilia. We shallpete and see who will win then."


    "Hmph! Just you wait and see. Sister Emilia said that she had never told you anything about this hideout." Lydia showed a pouting expression before saying to her Brother.


    However, Randy only found her expression to be cute as he disyed a smile on his face and then said. "Alright then, I will be leaving now. Since you are so confident, I better not find you as soon as I enter this room, alright?"


    "Hmph! You are looking down on me too much, Brother. Do you think I am still a kid?" Lydia turned her head around from her Brother with a sulky pout before replying in a displeased tone.


    Randy could not help butugh when he noticed her supposedly angry expression.


    "Hahaha, alright, you are big girl now. Brother will step out for a while. When Ie in, you better be hidden by then, okay?" Randy could not help butugh when he noticed her supposedly angry expression before he spoke.


    "¡­"


    However, Lydia did not say anything in response as it seemed that she was still angry at her Brother and only after Randy opened the door and went out of the room, did she respond.


    "Okay, Brother!"


    Randy could hear a childish voice resounding behind him. At that, he only let out a smile before shaking his head.


    Right now, Randy had walked out of the mansion. Of course, before he left, he picked up one of the key cards of this building.


    Although, no one gave it to him, but back in the day when Randy used toe by and visit Emilia, due to them feeling somewhat restrained when they are in the mansion, they usually do not stay in the house all the time, and they relied on this spare key to go out and have some fun.


    It was only because of that, was he able to find the location of this spare key card.


    This key card was meant for Emilia, but she pretended to have lost the key card whereas in reality, it was stashed away by Emilia and used for sneaking out whenever both her parents were not around.


    However, she had always made sure to return home before her parents gets home so she was never caught.


    ''It seems that she hasn''t been caught yet if the key card is still located where it was from two years ago.''


    Randy had a nostalgic expression on his face as he thought to himself.


    However, none of that matters now. Emilia''s parents, especially her mother did not like him very much ever since two years ago, and she was not nning or trying to hide that fact.


    Randy did not expect such a treatment from his mother''s best friend and also, someone he had treated as his own aunt.


    He did not bother to tell his mother afraid he would only sour the friendship between the two. Nevertheless, it is what it is, life goes on.


    Now that he had awakened his ability, he does not need to concern himself with such idle matters. He only needs to focus on getting strong and one of that chance to do so was close by.


    At this point, Randy had an unsightly grin on his face as he tapped the key card on the monitor of the next to the gate.


    Ding!


    There was a chime from the monitors indicating that it had recognize the key card before the gate started opening by itself.


    Right as the gate was halfway open, Randy walked through it and made sure to tapped the key card again on the outside monitor to quickly close the door before turning around and walking away.


    ¡­


    About a quarter of an hourter.


    At this moment, Randy had already walked around this neighborhood quite a few times. One would wonder why he is walking around this neighborhood by himself.


    But the answer to that was quite simple, he nned on catching this wanted criminal by himself and then steal, no, that is inappropriate, rather than steal, he ns on catching the criminal and taking whatever he had stolen for himself.


    After all, if whatever the other party had stolen was not something of noteworthy, the police would not be chasing after them so fervently.


    Perhaps, he had stolen some artifacts or maybe some secret technique book or a secret art; there is even a chance for there to be cultivation manuals among the things he had stolen.


    With all that, how could Randy give up such a chance? Thus, he nned on catching this burr before the police does, and even if he fails, there is no harm done at all, as he could always run away for his life when things go south.

 Chapter 18 - Car Thief!

    Randy contemted his next form of actions as he continued to walk around the neighborhood as if he was just taking a stroll. Since the police had given a notice for people to stay inside their houses, he was currently the only one walking down the street. However he tried to look as natural as possible lest people think he was the burr instead and then they end up reporting him to the police.


    Right now, the only thing that matters besides awakening one''s ability was obtaining resources, ability cultivation method, and technique manuals that could aid you in improving your ability tremendously, and these kinds of things are not cheap. Of course, his parents had some of these kinds of ability cultivation and technique manuals at home but those are things that they had bought specifically to nurture their own abilities and it might not necessarily bepatible with Randy''s ability, thus Randy had no choice but resort to taking this kind of risky approach to acquire a possible ability cultivation method and technique manual for himself.


    In any case, the only other time, he woulde across this chance would be after going to a university where they offer some of this cultivation method, techniques and resources for free.


    Randy could not wait until he attends university in order to receive those kinds of aids from the institution. Even if they do give out techniques and such, it would only be basic stuff and not high-level techniques. And thus, rather than waiting for something that might not be useful in the long run, it was better to rob this criminal instead of what he stole.


    ''Even if I cannot rob him, I can still inform the police about his whereabouts when I find him. I would still be guaranteed to receive a handsome reward afterwards. I doubt they would give out a small reward for my good deeds as a citizen, Hahaha.''


    Randy could not hide the smile on his face as he continued to randomly walk around the neighborhood in order to search for any suspicious looking fellows.


    Although, on one hand, this could be seen as morally disgusting as his actions would not be that much different from that of the thief himself but on the other hand, he could with good conscience aid the police in catching a despicable criminal. With that in mind, Randy did not find his actions disgusting at all. You would wonder, why do something so risky? But you would be wrong if you thought that Randy was recklessly trying to apprehend the criminal without any contingency ns.


    First of all, ording to the breaking news, that guy was someone who could change his face and his rank is estimated to be between B-rank and A-rank. If this was back in the day, Randy would have been scared senseless and not even dare to approach such an individual, but things are different now. He had finally awakened his ability and he was no longer a measly E-rank.


    Right now¡­


    ''Open Status Screen'' Randy called out in his head.


    Immediately a holographic-like window appeared in his view, disying his information.


    ----


    ?[Name: Randy Smith]?


    ?[Race: Human(Evolved)]?


    ?[ss: Blood [???]?


    ?[Title(s): None]?


    ?[Bloodline: N/A]?


    ?[Physique: Myriad Energy Devouring Physique]?


    ----


    ?[Physical Strength: 400]?


    ?[Physical Resistance: 400]?


    ?[Physical Agility:? 300]?


    ?[Physical Stamina: 395]?


    ?[Soul Strength: 400]?


    ?[Mental Strength: 875]?


    ?[Mental Resistance: 845]?


    ----


    ''Just my physical strength alone is at a C-rank and my agility is close to D-rank; my stamina is approaching a C-rank with a 395. This is a huge improvementpared to my other statistics and all this happened in one day, after I awakened my ability.'' Randy showed a surprised and pleased expression as hepared his statistics prior to awakening his ability and his current statistics.


    After observing his improvement for a while, Randy disyed a serious expression and immediately begun to contemte his n of attack. After thinking for a bit, he realized that if he does not utilize his assimted abilities, he might not survive the encounter with the wanted criminal. He also noticed that if he relied on this assimted mode, he could instantly bypass his current C-rank physique and obtain an S-rank physical strength just from the buff without even ounting for his mana. However, just having physical strength does not always guaranteed victory since there are so many kinds of bizarre abilities out there.


    After recalling what he saw on the description given by the police after checking their information interface on his new bracelet, Randy muttered. "Anky man with a disturbing scar on his face. Possesses the ability to modify his face and could look like anyone at any time. However, he was currently wounded due to a confrontation between him and the police; He received the injury on his left shoulder. He also possesses some high tech for hijacking vehicles and so, everyone should make sure to not leave their cars park outside."


    "Damn¡­" Randy muttered as soon he finished reciting the information.


    As Randy was randomly walking around the neighborhood aimlessly, he got bored and just in case, he decided to check on his mother''s car that was parked outside in a public parking space that located in a secluded location. Due to that, there were not any security cameras, thus there were no forms scrutiny in cement in this ce, making it easy for one''s car to be stolen.


    Perhaps, maybe the satellites could perceive what goes on in this ce but that would only be a bird eye view, that requires an expert to operate if one wanted a precise and different perspective view. However, right now at this moment, there was a man taking advantage of this fact and was trying to break into his mother''s expensive car with some weird machine. The most surprising thing about this situation was that this man looked exactly as described by the information he received from the police information interface.


    ''A tall man with a thin stature thusnky, check; wounded on his left arm, check; trying to hijack a car, check. Is there such coincidences in this world?"


    ''Of course not! That would be too good to be true. Forget about the fact that they happened to have the same state as described by the police. Just the fact that he was trying to hijack my mom''s car is enough of a proof and a reason to suspect him."


    At this moment, when Randy noticed thenky man, he also noticed him, and he turned around.


    "¡­"


    They both stared at each other for a long while. Thenky man had his hand still on the handle of the car with the hijacking gadget in his other hand as he stared at the young man who suddenly appeared from behind him.


    ¡­


    On the other side.


    While Randy was busy walking around the neighborhood, the police had been informed that there was a strange individual who kept walking around the neighborhood by himself. When the police heard the report, they automatically assumed that it was the burr whom they had been tirelessly searching for.


    "Xiao Minghao, can you still not find the location of that burr using the location that was provided by the anonymous report." An impatient woman''s voice rang out as she inquired about the burr from her subordinate.


    "No, not yet. I had to tap into the satellite in order a get a better view of the neighborhood. But as you can see, there are so many luxurious buildings with so many floors towering, so it is hard to find anything as of yet." The subordinate called Xiao Minghao replied to the woman.


    "Tsk, the higher-ups are on our tails saying that we have to do whatever we can to find those treasures that were stolen. I even heard that they are deploying the army soon if we fail to catch him in an hour." The woman gritted her teeth and spoke in a disgruntled tone, clearly annoyed by something.


    At this moment, one of her subordinates who was driving their vehicle suddenly spoke out.


    "Sister Hong, why are so angry? It is not like it was our fault that the treasures were stolen from the government''s branch vault, right?"


    The woman who was referred as Sister Hong suddenly turned her head from the road and looked at her subordinate before speaking.


    "You don''t understand. If we fail to catch that burr, our reputation would be sinking down the drain. They could attribute our failure of this operation as due to our ipetence and there is chance, we might be demoted. You guys don''t need to worry about being demoted since you are already of the lowest rank in the police department, but as the leading detective of this operation, I might lose my rank. I worked so hard to get to my current status, I cannot afford to be demoted."


    At this, that subordinate immediately shut his mouth, thinking to himself.


    ''No wonder! No wonder the usually calm and collected Sister Hong was angry about this operation. It turns out her job is on the line.''


    This woman''s name was Hong Mingyue, she had been a cop for two years after graduating from an institution dedicated for training and raisingpetence police officers. She had endured many hellish trainings and finallynded a job in Sky Rise City Police Department. After toiling for two years, she finally managed to get promoted to the rank of detective. However, that rank is hanging on a thin thread right at this moment.


    "Damn it, Xiao Minghao, have you still not found him yet." The woman suddenly asked in impatience.


    "Give me a couple more minutes, I am almost done scouring the neighborhood. But it will take a while to pinpoint the exact location of that guy." He responded to her, but he kept his eyes on the monitor in front of him as he operated theputer-like device.


    ¡­


    On this side, the secluded parking lot.


    Randy and the man were still staring down at each other without averting their eyes. Nobody said anything for long while. Seeing that, the other party was not going to say anything and instead appeared stunned, thenky man cleared his throat then spoke up first.


    "Little brother, if you pretend that you did not see anything, I will let you go, what do you say? Otherwise¡­" Thenky man said, and then he immediately exuded a killing intent towards Randy, attempting to scare him.


    Sure enough, Randy shuddered as soon he felt the baleful aura washed over him. He immediately snapped out of his daze.. A momentter, he then cleared his throat and asked politely in a calm tone. "Otherwise what? You car thief!"

 Chapter 19 - Unexpected Victory

    "Little brother, if you pretend that you did not see anything, I will let you go, what do you say? Otherwise¡­" Thenky man said in a threatening tone, and then he immediately exuded a killing intent towards Randy, attempting to scare him.


    Sure enough, Randy shuddered as soon he felt the baleful aura washed over him. He immediately snapped out of his daze.


    A momentter, he then cleared his throat and asked politely in a calm tone. "Otherwise what? You car thief!"


    "Huh?!" Thenky man raised his eyebrows as he was very surprised by this young man''s unexpected reaction despite him showing clear animosity towards him just now.


    "Don''t speak anymore, Uncle what are you doing to someone''s car? And why are bleeding from your left shoulder, don''t you know it''s bad to leave your wound untreated? You might get infection this¡ª" Randy asked in an irritated voice.


    Thenky man was speechless by his questions for a while but as he saw that he kept on talking, he then cut the young man''s speech before he carefully asked instead. "Don''t tell me¡­ Is this perhaps your car?"


    "That''s right." Randy replied to him without a care.


    "Then you have the key to this car with you, right?" Thenky man questioned further.


    "That''s right, no, It is a biometric fingerprint system car; there is no need for such thing, why do you ask?" Randy replied honestly and then asked in interest.


    "Oh." Thenky man was very surprised by his honesty.


    ''Is he just na?ve or is he just an idiot'' thenky man silently thought.


    Then he cleared his throat slightly and carefully asked again. "So what you''re saying is that, If I happen to cut your hand and ce it on the handle of this car, the door will open, right?"


    "That''s right, wait! What?! What do you mean?" Randy replied without thinking but then he suddenly realized what the other party was implying by saying such a thing.


    Randy suddenly spoke in frightful tone. "What do you want to do? I''ll have you know that my father is the Director of the Ministry of Education in this Sky Rise City. If you so much as touch a hair on my body, you won''t have the time to regret your decision."


    "Director of the Ministry of Education? So you''re a rich young master, huh?" Thenky man pondered then he suddenly showed a cruel expression.


    "Do I look like I give a shit about who your father is? As long I killed you and burn your entire body without leaving a trace of your existence, who would ever have find out?" Thenky man waved his hand dismissively and casually said to him.


    Randy''s face immediately turned pale after hearing the other party''s words.


    ''It turns out this bastard waspletely heartless. Too evil! He did not even appear to want topromise. But that is good too, at least I won''t feel anything after I deal with him. This fucker is a true viin.''


    Boom!


    All of the sudden, thenky man''s body suddenly exploded with overwhelming mana.


    Just by standing there, his aura was steadily increasing without stopping.


    At this moment, he had enteredbat mode. With his experience, he could vaguely tell that this brat was definitely not simple.


    He could feel a sense of uneasiness as he continued to talk to him.


    And also, there was this inexplicable feeling he got from the brat in front of him that made him feel a cold sweat dripping down from his back.


    And due to that, he decided to go all out from the beginning.


    At this point, Randy cowardly took one step back when he saw the increasing aura around thenky man, and he hurriedly spoke. "Oi, Oi, Are you for real? Can''t we talk like civilized people? Why do you want to attack all of a sudden?"


    "Hmph! Brat! Stop ying dumb! Do you think you can fool me? What are you hiding?" Thenky scoffed and then questioned.


    "Huh? What am I hiding? What would I be hiding?" Randy disyed a confused expression before asking back.


    Thenky man sneered and then replied. "Are you still not going to talk? Do you think an ordinary brat like you would be able to maintain their calm when faced with a crisis, like you are doing right now? If you don''t speak then don''t me me for being ruthless¡ª"


    Boom!


    Thenky man exploded with an even more suffocating mana that causes goosebumps to one''s skin just from the pressure emanated from him as he prepared to use his skill at this moment.


    Randy quickly reacted when he saw how serious the other day was being and he hurriedly spoke.


    "Wait! Wait! I will say, I will say. Why don''t we calm down for a bit? I will talk then, okay?" He said to him.


    Hearing his words, thenky man scoffed again and then he sneered before speaking. "I see that you don''t n on saying anything, then you leave me no choice but to kill you and then cut your hand to open this car''s door."


    "Ahhhh! Spare me!" Randy uncharacteristically screamed like a girl.


    Thenky man spoke in derision, "Toote you brat, say yours¡ª eh? What''s going on?"


    "Thud!"


    At this moment, just as thenky man was nning on attacking Randy with everything he had, he suddenly felt a slight dizziness, followed by a lightheadedness before abruptly falling to the ground helplessly.


    "Phew¡­ That was close. I almost got killed just now." Randy sighed in relief after seeing that thenky man was currently lying on the floor, unable to move any of his limps.


    "Y-You fucking brat! What the fuck did you do?" Thenky questioned in a furious tone.


    "Hehehe¡­" Randy only gave an evil contemptugh, ignored his question and immediately activated his skill.


    [Activating Assimted Mode]


    [Due to there being only one form of assimted type, automatically activating the ''Werewolf King Of Wind'' form]


    [Do you want to fully activate this skill or partially activate it?] the mechanical voice prompted.


    Randy thought for a bit then replied in his mind.


    ''Partially, 20% should be enough.''


    As soon as he said so, Randy could feel the change happening to his body.


    His hair was gradually turning silver moon white, his eyes now a yellowish-green color as it reflected the setting sun in the horizon.


    There were even sharp ws protruding out of his neatly cut fingernails.


    However, this time, his hair did not extend above his shoulders, instead it only maintained the same length as his original hair length, but it was no longer curly, rather his hair had straightened, making him look quite mysterious as he stood there.


    Even his canine tooth in the upper and lower mouth elongated, making him look like a fierce wolf-like human.


    "You¡­"


    When thenky man saw the sudden change in appearance of Randy, he was instantly taken aback but what surprised him even more was the sudden change in his aura.


    Right now, he felt like would have still lost to this brat even if he was at his peak.


    "Are you surprised? No need to be. Count yourself lucky because I am in a good mood today and so, I am not going to kill you. For now, I only needed the treasures that you have stolen. Whether you live or die has nothing to do with me." Randy casually dered in a booming low voice that was unlike his original voice.


    However to anyone who heard this voice, they would naturally be struck with fear and intimidated by the reverberation in his voice.


    Even Randy was surprised by this change. Last time, he was so shocked by his transformation and his sudden awakening that he had subconsciously neglected the fact that even his very own voice had been changed after the transformation thest time.


    "¡­" Thenky man was speechless and only proceeded to look in shock at the young man, or is he even a young man? That intimidating voice is clearly not something that a brat could enact.


    Perhaps, he belongs to some mysterious organization, and he took on this appearance to extort him of his treasures?


    When thenky thought of that, he suddenly felt dejected, even his eyes turned red with indignation.


    How could he be so unlucky to run into such a big shot after eluding the police for so long.


    He felt like all his efforts had been wasted, as right now, someone was about to take the fruit of hisbor right in front of him.


    Moreover, although he wanted to retaliate against the enemy, but he did not even know how the other party had attacked him just now.


    If felt like he suddenly lost so much blood, causing him to feel dizzy and his initial preparation to attack him had been thwarted effortlessly.


    Randy had no idea what the other party was thinking at all at this time, and he only question him .


    "Where did you ce the treasures? If you don''t answer, then you will die!" Randy dered. His intimidating voice rang out.


    Hearing this, thenky man who was about find a way to escape gave up on his thoughts, and then he hurriedly spoke.


    "Hold on! Don''t attack! I have it right here with me, it is in my storage bracelet in my pocket."


    "Hoh? You better not be nning anything. I can easily kill you before you even seed, just so you know." Randy''s concentrated before he spoke in his booming and fear striking intimidating voice, making him sound more threatening to the ears of thenky man.


    "Y-Yes, yes, I wouldn''t dare, I wouldn''t dare.." Thenky man spoke in a respectful tone as he banged his head that was slightly raised from the ground on the floor repeatedly.

 Chapter 20 - Victim

    After activating his assimted ability and using the ''Werewolf King of Wind'' form, Randy then threatened thenky man as he questioned him about the whereabouts of the treasures he had stolen.


    "Hold on! Don''t attack! I have it right here with me, it is in my storage bracelet in my pocket." Thenky man hurriedly responded in a fearful voice.


    "Hoh? You better not be nning anything. I can easily kill you before you even seed, just so you know." Randy''s concentrated before he spoke in his booming and fear striking intimidating voice, making him sound more threatening to the ears of thenky man.


    "Y-Yes, yes, I wouldn''t dare, I wouldn''t dare." Thenky man spoke in a respectful tone as he banged his head that was slightly raised from the ground on the floor repeatedly.


    Seeing his sincerity, Randy bent down and then searched the other party''s clothes and sure enough, he found a storage bracelet, but before he tried to open it, he thought of something, and then he spoke to thenky man, who had an anticipating look on his face, right at this moment.


    "You sly bastard! Do you think I wouldn''t know that you set a trap on the storage bracelet? Do you take me for fool? Do you want to die?" Randy gritted his teeth, revealing his vicious-looking fangs as he spoke in an infuriated tone with his usual booming voice.


    ''Damn it! I thought I almost had him. He looked so na?ve that I thought¡­ Fuck! It turns out I was the na?ve one.'' Thenky man dejectedly thought as he heard Randy''s angry voice.


    He hurriedly replied to him to calm him down.


    "T-That was not my intention at all! It was just that I forgot about it just now." Thenky man disyed an apologetic expression before replying.


    ''Fuck! This bastard is just too cruel! Even in this situation he was still nning a way to counterattack. If I hadn''t read a lot about so many things including the seals ced on storage artifacts and such, I would''ve been done in." Randy silently cursed when he saw thenky man''s pretentious act.


    Earlier, just to be on the safe side, Randy had immediately activated ''Blood Authority Skill,'' which lets him control blood almost as if it he had telekinesis even though he had no such ability. The night before, back when he was first assessing his abilities, he had discovered the uniqueness of this skill of his and he even spected that he might potentially be able to control the blood of others if he wishes to. And to his surprise, it worked exactly just like he had imagined.


    Fortunately, thenky man was already wounded making it easy to surreptitiously drain him of his blood without his notice. In fact, the only reason he was talking nonsense with the other party was because of this. Furthermore, he did not want to have to engage in a fight with the other party in case, the other party ends up revealing a hidden trump card during the battle, overturning his situation and thus, he chose this safe method of draining the other party''s blood until he gets anemic, enter a weakened state and unable to fight even if he wanted to.


    "Hmph! Now undo all those seals for me, you should be lucky that I don''t have much time to deal with you." Randy snorted before handing the bracelet to thenky man to undo the traps.


    And immediately afterwards, he was surprised by the scene that had unfold in front his very eyes. This disgusting person actually used his tongue to undo the seals. Usually, one would only use their blood to ce seals on their storage equipment thus simrly requiring blood to undo the seals, but this bastard actually used his saliva instead. No one would escape such a thing if that was the case. What a scheming fellow this person is!


    ''Ugh! Disgusting!'' Randy silently thought as he looked thenky man drooling on the gem on the bracelet.


    After a while, the seals on the storage bracelet were undone. Randy quicky went forward to grab the bracelet while he avoided touching where the saliva had touched.


    ''Finally!'' Randy happily thought to himself with a smirk on his face.


    He immediately injected a little bit of mana into the storage bracelet. Right now, Randy had more manapared to the other energies in his body. Furthermore, with the ''vessels'' created by the system during his awakening process, he was now able to gradually have control over the energies inside his body as if it were a natural and not something that were inserted into his body. In fact, those energies did indeed belong in his body, it was just that he was not aware or have control over them before.


    After inserting a wisp of mana into the bracelet, almost immediately, a couple of items started dropping down on the ground next to his feet, shocking Randy greatly just by the sheer amount of treasures the other party had in his storage bracelet.


    ''Did he steal everything in the vault or something?'' Randy looked at the items on the ground and silently thought in surprise.


    After his initial surprise, Randy suddenly bent over to grab the items on the ground and immediately, he was puzzled by what he saw afterwards.


    "This is¡­" He muttered.


    ¡­


    A few minutester.


    There was a young man squatting down next to an unconscious bleeding individual. The unconscious individual was obviously thenky man, aka, the burr and the young man was Randy. The moment Randy took out the items from the storage bracelet, he immediately struck the back of thenky man''s head rendering him unconscious before he went through the items. Of course, he did not know the right spot to hit, so after a couple of tries of constantly hitting thenky man in the head, he eventually went limp, falling unconscious shortly after and immediately after that, Randy breathed out in relief.


    At this moment, Randy had a scowl on his face despite all the valuable treasures thatid in front of him. One could only wonder what he might be thinking at this moment since usually people who suddenly get rich disy a jubnt smile.


    At this point, as Randy finished going through the items on the floor of the parking lot, a figure silently approached Randy and when they saw the young man, they suddenly spoke.


    "What do you think you are doing?" The figure''s voice suddenly resounded in the secluded parking lot.


    Randy was immediately startled and slowly turned his head around only to see a beautiful woman with the police uniform standing a few meters behind his back staring down at him.


    ''Fuck!'' Randy silently cussed when he saw that the other party was policewoman.


    ''Howe I did not notice a presence approaching me, even with my heightened sens¡ª damn, I forgot I had already undone my transformation. But even still, my normal senses had greatly improvedpared to before, yet I still failed to sense this person approaching me?" Randy thought in surprise as he nervously looked at the other party cautiously.


    After not receiving any response from him, the female cop repeated her word again.


    "I said what do you think you are doing?" She questioned sternly this time.


    At this point, Randy realized that he had messed up big time this time and he hurriedly thought of ways out of this predicament. Soon, he realized something and then thought to himself.


    ''Wait! Why am I thinking of ways out of this? I didn''t do anything wrong so why am I flustered, I just have to tell the truth, and everything will naturally solve itself.''


    After this realization, Randy took a deep breath, breathing out slowly and then he proceeded to calm down to collect his thoughts.


    Randy opened his mouth and then he replied in casual tone, "Sister Police, as you can see this man was trying to steal my mother''s car and I apprehended him before he could do so; I was only a victim of his crime but luckily I learnt some self-defense martial arts to protect myself, so I was able to easily deal with him after he suddenly fell down from blood loss. Phew¡­ In any case, I thought I almost died just now, this person was so ruthless and didn''t even give me a chance to finish talking."


    Randy frowned as he continued with a dejected tone, "And it turned out this man probably was a criminal; I mean look at all these priceless treasures and books he had in his storage bracelet."


    He finally concluded in a despondent tone, "Which means¡­ I really did almost lose my life just now."


    "¡­"


    After saying so much, the female Police Officer was stunned by his words and did not know what to say to him. Only after a while, did she open her mount to respond.


    After clearing her throat in embarrassment and rxing her stern expression, she looked at the young man and spoke, "I see, since that is the case, well done. Don''t worry we''ll ta¡ª"


    Randy suddenly cut in, he did not let the other party finish talking as he disyed an understanding look on his countenance and then spoke in delighted tone, "Wait a second! Sister Police, are you perhaps here for this man? If so, then I don''t mind handing him over. After all, he is terrible person that needs to stay behind bars."


    ''Handing him over?''


    Hong Mingyue nced at his delighted expression and did not know how to react; she was about to reprimand this brat for his reckless actions right after this but all of sudden he was the one asking questions and making suggestions instead.

 Chapter 21 - Sudden Meeting

    Hearing Randy''s words full of righteousness, Hong Mingyue struggled for a bit and then she responded, "I see, that will be good. And yes, you are right, we came here specifically for this man. So we appreciate you handing him over to us like this."


    She paused and thought of something and then asked, "Did you perhaps not see the breaking news and the information on the Police information interface beforeing out here?"


    "I did." Randy replied without much thought.


    "Huh?" Hong Mingyue raised her eyebrows in surprise.


    However Randy was not done with his response just yet.


    He then showed a horrified expression as if recalling something before continuing, "That was precisely the reason why I came to check on my mom''s car since we parked it in this secluded ce. I was afraid that¡­ It was prone to be stolen if the burr was looking for a vehicle to escape pursuit; that is what I thought beforeing here. I just didn''t think my bad feelings woulde true."


    Hong Mingyue showed an understanding expression on her face, acknowledging the young man''s words.


    At this point, Randy suddenly showed an anxious and a troubled expression, as if unsure of how to dere his thoughts, before he suddenly spoke in slightly nervous tone. "S-Since it is like this, then would I receive any reward for catching this criminal for the Police?"


    Hong Mingyue was taken aback by this. Even his subordinates who were quiet this entire time audibly gasped in shock from the back when they heard his words.


    "This guy¡­ " Hong Mingyue muttered in a low voice.


    ''What kind of person think of reward right away just because they happen to a catch a criminal. Besides, why does it feel like this event was nothing to him, almost like it was a walk in a park or something''


    ''Just who is this brat? How can he be so calm in front of Sister Hong? There was no disy of fear on his face at all. Besides, what is up with his pretentious act? Does he think we are kids or something."


    ''How interesting, this brat probably has some ability otherwise, he would not be able to subdue that notorious burr.''


    The subordinates all showed different expressions as they thought to themselves. One was surprised by his shameless actions; the second person was surprised by his nonchnt demeanor as he spoke to their superior and thest person ignored everything else and focused on the matter at hand which was the fact that this brat might have taken down that criminal by himself; which was very surprising considering he only appears to be 17-18 years old.


    After pondering about his words, Hong Mingyue found out that it indeed made sense for him to be rewarded for his actions, and also while the brat may not know this, nheless, he had just saved her career with him catching this criminal for them.


    With that thought in mind, Hong Mingyue cleared her throat slightly and spoke.


    "You''re right, since you helped us catch this criminal, the police department, no, the government would surely issue an appropriate reward for the one who aided in this operation." She said in confirmation.


    "Really?" Randy spoke in a delighted tone and then he turned his eyes to his new bracelet. After tapping some things in, he suddenly disyed the screen to the female Cop, surprising her by his actions.


    Randy spoke to her with anticipation. "Since that is the case, then here is my ount number and routing number, please transfer the reward to this ount."


    After thinking for a bit, he added. "Also, please do not mention this to my parents. They did not know I came out here and furthermore, I do not want them to worry themselves about this event."


    Hearing his considerate words, Hong Mingyue ignored his actions just now and scanned his banking ount and routing number with her own bracelet before smiling. "Alright, don''t worry, nobody would know about this, ah, but my superiors would definitely want to know who you are, so that would be impossible."


    She then narrowed her eyes at Randy to see his reaction.


    Randy sighed before waving his hand and helplessly saying. "Since it can''t be helped, as long as you don''t tell my parents, I don''t mind you telling your superiors. It is not like I am hiding something or anything.''


    Hearing his casual reply, Hong Mingyue appeared surprised momentarily by his way of talking but she smiled and said to him.


    "Since this matter is solved. For now, I will be taking him away. You should also return home; your family might be worried about you. If you don''t hurry home, they might think you were killed by the wanted criminal." She grinned and said in yful tone.


    ''Oi, Oi, Are you kidding me? Do you really want me to die or something? Is that it?''


    Randyined in his mind but showed an amiable smile on his face and nodded when he heard her supposed concern words.


    After taking a couple of steps, Randy suddenly turned around and spoke. "By the way, is it possible to receive one of these artifacts or technique books as a reward?"


    "Not possible!!" The female Cop and her subordinates all responded in unison.


    "Fine! Fine! Sheesh¡­ I was only just asking. Since that is the case, I will take my leave then. Don''t forget to send the money to my ount." Randy was shocked by their response however that was only momentarily as he continued walking away after receiving their sessive response.


    After he had walked a few meters away from them.


    One of the subordinates suddenly spoke as he could not help it.


    "Who was that kid anyway?" He asked while looking at the female Cop.


    "I don''t know. However, he was a very interesting young man. Although he appeared quite mischievous." Hong Mingyue looked at the disappearing figure of the boy and muttered in response.


    Suddenly she turned her eyes to the unconsciousnky man, her aura instantly changes, before speaking in a cold tone: "Anyway, we should be thanking him for catching this guy here. This bastard almost cost me my job. He should be quite lucky that he was already unconscious. If not because of that, I would''ve pounded him a couple times before dragging him away."


    "T-That''s true." One of the subordinates responded in a nervous voice after feeling a sudden chill on his body.


    This was how their team leader always acted. That aura she carries around her always makes one''s skin crawl.


    One of the subordinates went and check on the vitals of the unconsciousnky man and made his report, "He seems to be unconscious; for some reason, he seemed to have lost so much blood. Which also aligns with what that kid said."


    This subordinate was very confused about this matter. Since thisnky man was a notorious burr and an experienced criminal, how could he not know how to stop his own blood from flowing from the wounded section on his arm? Yet for some unknown reason, he fainted due to blood loss?


    Hong Mingyue did not care about such extraneous details and proceeded to stare at the unconsciousnky man for a moment before dering.


    "One of you,e and carry him into the trunk of the car." Hong Mingyue indifferently said in a cold tone.


    "Eh? The trunk? Isn''t that a bit¡­" The subordinate doubtfully asked.


    "Did you not hear what I said?" A cold glint shed across her eyes as she spoke.


    "O-Of course, right away!" The subordinate flinched, wiped the cold sweat on his forehead before hurriedly dragging the unconsciousnky man away and into the trunk of their vehicle.


    ¡­


    On the other side.


    Randy was making his way back to Emilia''s house as he pondered about what had happened a while ago.


    "How strange, just what was that all about?" He muttered in puzzlement.


    However at this moment, across from him, a figure was walking towards him. Randy was lost in thought, so he did not pay any attention to his surroundings as he walked. They walked towards each other up until they reached an intersection.


    At this point, the figure suddenly spoke after hesitating for a while, "R-Randy?"


    Hearing this familiar voice, Randy raised his head to look at the owner of the voice.


    However the owner of the voice spoke again, "What are you doing here?"


    "So it really was you, Emilia" Randy muttered in a low voice.


    Then he purposely disyed a surprised expression before speaking in bewildered tone, "Huh? Emilia. Why are you so surprised that I am here? Am I not allowed to even walk around the streets?


    Emilia was stunned when she heard this, and a moment she lowered her head, whispering in low voice, "T-That''s not what I meant; it''s just¡­"


    Seeing her not continuing her sentence, Randy turned silent for a brief moment, sighed and then said, "¡­Don''t worry, I am heading towards your house but¡­"


    "What?!"


    The sound of a shocked voice resounded the moment he mentioned heading to her house.


    Randy frowned at her reaction and then tried to clear the misunderstanding, "Don''t get the wrong idea, I only followed my mother here because my little sister was insistent that Ie with them."


    Emilia inwardly sighed in relief upon hearing his exnation, her facial expression also showing clear relief, "Oh, I see; so that''s what it was."


    ''Look at her, does she hate me that much? And to think that we used to be so close with each other.'' Randy silently thought while looking at her animated expression.


    After saying this, she hesitated for a bit and then turned to the right of the intersection before silently walking away.


    Randy watched her departing figure for a bit before following after her since they were heading towards the same direction anyway.


    They all silently made their way to the house.. No one said anything to each other as they walked; at this point, the atmosphere between the two was getting very awkward.

 Chapter 22 - Luxurious Family Dinner

    Randy followed after Emilia as they made their way to her family''s house. However, the atmosphere between them was getting suffocating as time went by due to them not saying anything to each other as they walked side by side.


    At some point, Randy could not bear the awkwardness anymore and decided to say something.


    "You¡­"


    However, when he looked forward, he realized that they had already made it to Emilia''s house. Emilia was about to take out her key card from her bag at this moment.


    Emilia turned head around to his direction when she heard his voice.


    After noticing that they had already arrived, Randy sighed and then said while waving his hand dismissively, "Never mind, let''s go."


    At this, Emilia also did not pursue the reason for his actions, turned around and proceeded to tap her key card on the monitor followed by a buzzing sound and the gate opened by itself to reveal the luxurious interior behind the gate.


    Emilia then proceeded to walked in first, followed by Randy, as they made their way further towards the mansion in the distance. There was quite a considerable distance from the gate of the building to the actual mansion itself, thus they proceeded to walk for a while until they finally made it to the door leading into mansion. After tapping her key card again, they proceeded to head inside without dy.


    However, what they did not expect was to be met with a cold gaze and a suffocating environment as if the air was being suppressed the moment that they had opened the door to the mansion.


    Randy''s mother, Riley was coldly staring at him, and for some reason, Emilia''s mother, Jenny was also gazing at her daughter with an inexplicable expression as if she was trying to suppress her emotions.


    At this point, Riley opened her mouth to speak first, "Randy, what were you doing outside? Why did you leave your little sister all alone in this room? How did you even unlock the gate to this house?"


    "Ah"


    Randy did not know what how to answer her questions as he maintained his silence.


    Randy''s thought moved quickly contemting on what to say.


    ''Should I say that I was ying hide and seek with Lydia and that was the reason why I was outside? No, I had been gone for too long, about 20 minutes had passed, give and take. Then what should I say?'' Randy was very troubled by this as he silently thought of possible answers to his mother''s inquiries.


    Emilia wore a confused expression on her face as she looked at Randy''s expression. She knew him very well and she could tell from his expression that he had probably used her secret key card in order to open the gate to the mansion and then left the mansion using that. As she thought of this, she then recalled something and felt nostalgic for a brief moment, however she inwardly shook her head to dismiss the thoughts.


    She nced at Randy briefly before turning her head away.


    And then she unexpected spoke out first, "Auntie Riley, I was the one who gave him the key card thest time that he was here. As for why he was outside, I also have no idea either."


    At this point, she turned to look at Randy again along with everyone else as if expecting his exnation.


    Randy could feel the pressure from those piercing eyes as they stared at him as if to see through him. Nevertheless, whether it was on purpose or just by a coincidence, Emilia had undoubtedly helped him out just now and with that, Randy spoke out this time.


    "That''s right, I received a key card from Emilia thest time I was here and that was how I left the mansion this time." Randy confirmed without hesitation.


    Riley then questioned him further with an unchanged expression, "Then what were you doing outside?"


    Hearing this, Randy immediately replied in a calm tone, "That was because, I wanted to check on your car since we parked it in that secluded location; there was a breaking news saying that a burr was spotted roaming around this neighborhood, and he also happens to possess a way to hijack cars¡ª even ones with security protection. I just went to check on your car for a little bit and was on my way back before I ran into Emilia on my way."


    Randy gave a long exnation that epasses his behavior and reason for leaving the house and proceeding outside without informing everyone beforehand. Although he did not tell theplete truth, especially the fact that he had indeed run into that criminal or that he was the one chasing after the criminal in the first ce.


    There was also the undeniable fact that he had actually managed to apprehend the said criminal without sustaining any injuries. But would he actually tell them that? Would they even believe him? After all, to them, he was the same Randy Smith who could not awaken his innate ability like everyone else at his age. Why would someone like that be able to defeat a notorious criminal and to even not sustain any injuries? Is that even possible for someone like him? Impossible!


    Hearing his exnation, Riley frowned slightly, discontented with his actions and immediately reprimanded.


    "Randy, what were you thinking? Do you not understand what it means for a wanted criminal to be wandering around this neighborhood? What if something happened to you when you were out there? Are you not afraid of death?" Riley spoke disapprovingly to him.


    Randy lowered his head and tried to exin, "I''m sorry mom, I was just¡­"


    However before he could finish his sentence, Riley cut his speech off in anger, "Enough!"


    After recalling what transpired justst night, she began to speak again in a stern voice, "Just yesterday you almost¡­"


    Realizing where they were, she immediately stopped herself from finishing this sentence and proceeded to shake her head slightly in dismay, calmed herself down and spoke to him again.


    "Forget it, it is good that you are safe." She sighed and said.


    "Hm? Emilia, how did get here? As far I am aware, whenever there are cases like these, they usually block the neighborhood to prevent anyone from going in or out. So how were you able to get here without any hindrance?" She turned to Emilia and doubtfully asked.


    "Ah, now that I think about it, there was indeed a police blockage around the neighborhood; however it seems like they were done with whatever they were doing as they were removing the blockages when I got here and so they easily allowed me to pass. I did not think much of it since I did not see the news, but I guess they might''ve already caught the wanted criminal, at least that is what I think happened." Emilia replied after recalling the situation on her way home.


    After hearing her words everyone sighed in relief including Randy. He appeared pleased but did not show it on his face.


    Although his mom and Jenny sighing made sense as they could tell from Emilia''s words that the criminal had been caught but for Randy''s case, he was very d that he was able to resolve this case albeit still getting his mother worried about him. From Emilia''s words, it could be inferred that after the police had arrested that burr, they had immediately undone the security measures around the neighborhood.


    At this point, Emilia''s mother, Jenny finally spoke with her usual amiable expression back on her face, "It is good that you''re all okay;e, let us not dwell on this matter any longer. The chefs had already arranged the cooked food on the dining table; everyone should partake in this asional family dinner together."


    After saying that, she turned to Emilia staring straight into her eyes, her eyes were cold for an instant, this caused Emilia to flinch as she turns her head to avert her mother''s gaze.


    Jenny then regained her usual expression before saying to her, "Emilia, go and change your clothes first and thene join us for dinner. It is very rare for us two families toe together and have dinner like this. So it is only appropriate that we all begin eating at the same."


    Emilia immediately replied in timid voice, "Okay, mother."


    After replying she turned around and made her way to the top floor.


    Jenny sighed and said in disappointed tone, "Unfortunately, both our husbands are not here as they are busy with matters at work, so us women would stand in for them instead."


    She said while looking at Riley, who replied in kind after hearing her words, "That''s right, what you say makes sense."


    After that, Jenny led Riley and her family to the dining table. This dining table was decorated with various food from left to right, side to side. There various kinds of foods ced on the table that would elicit jealousy for those who are poor and can only afford the bare minimum, in terms of food. For the main dish, there were steamed fresh vegetables, savory vegetable soup with a light taste, neatly sliced roasted meat, braised chicken, marinated and fried steaks, Lasagna, mashed potatoes with specially made gravy, freshly made sd with variety of greens, some steaming hot white rice withplementing stew, and a fried rice mixed with some eggs, peas, carrots, green onions and many others.


    There were other Asian cuisines and sauces like soy sauce that goes really well with the savory roasted meats or even the already braised chicken; you can even add it to the fried rice depending on your taste. As for side dishes, there was some fruit sds and if one wanted something to soothe their throat, there was also a freshly made ice cream or yogurt for that.. All in all, this was a luxurious family dinner, one that only the rich could afford to eat every day.

 Chapter 23 - A Sudden Change

    Randy looked at these familiar settings and could not help but recall the past when he used toe here very often to have dinner with this family.


    ''As luxurious as always" he silently thought to himself.


    After reaching the dining table, they all waited for Emilia toe down before they partake in eating. To pass the time, they all took a ss of wine, and juices and sipped on it. Well, Randy on the other hand had a ss of water instead; his mother had wine and his little sister a freshly squeeze orange juice.


    It did not take long for Emilia toe down. It was only about 2-3 minutes of waiting at most. She was very quick, considering that she probably had to clean herself a bit. Not like she needed to anyway. Due to her innate ability and cultivation level, she does not sweat very often, so there was basically no need for her take a shower beforeing and thus probably the reason why she came so quick.


    It seems her mother was aware of this fact, which was the reason why she had them wait for her. Emilia came down wearing a casual white dress with a refreshing look and took a seat at her usual seat happens to be in front of Randy, leaving a space her and her mother. Currently Randy was seating on the edge sandwiching his little sister in the middle along with his mother on the other side.


    At this moment, Jenny pped her hands together and dered happily, "Let''s eat!"


    With that, everyone picked up their eating utensils and began their cutting meats, picking side dishes and whatnot. Randy took adle and scoop some fried rice this time; usually, he had some mashed potatoes with some braised chicken orsagna since the chefs in this house are really good at preparing these dishes but today, for some reason, he opted out for fried rice instead. This was his little sister''s favorite food and naturally he also like it himself.


    At this point, Lydia suddenly spoke when she saw him, "Brother, why are you not having mashed potatoes like before. I thought I was the only one who liked fried rice."


    "Nonsense, who said that only you can fried rice; are you saying that I can''t eat it because it is your favorite food?" Randy turned then said to her.


    "That''s right, I was afraid that you will eat all of it, not leaving me some." Lydia seriously answered him.


    "¡­"


    Everyone around the dining table was speechless by her words that was spoken in serious tone. After a while, they all burst inughter from this. This also rid the table of any awkwardness that could be brewing in the air as they enjoyed their meal together.


    With this, they all had a ceremonious and peaceful dinner. After dinner, they exchange some pleasantries with each other with smiles on each of their faces. After which, when the outside was getting darker, indicating that it was nighttime, Riley took her children preparing to leave.


    "Riley, you all better get home safely. There had been an increase in criminals in the Eastern District and other districtstely." Jenny advised her.


    "Alright, I understand but do you not know who I am? Or did you forget?" Riley responded with a confident smile on her face.


    Thinking for a bit, Jenny shook her head, chuckled, and agreed, "Right, it was wrong of me to worry; it should be them who have to be careful not to run into you instead."


    They exchange more pleasantries for a while. At this time, Lydia was happily talking with Emilia with an anticipating expression.


    "Sister Emilia, when are youing over to our house?" Lydia excitedly asked.


    Emilia hesitated for a bit, and replied with a smile, "I am not sure; I have to prepare for the university entrance examination, so I''ll be busy for a while."


    "Oh, is that so?" Lydia dejectedly replied in a low voice.


    Seeing her reaction, Emilia hurriedly replied again, "But I wille by after the university entrance examination so don''t worry, it won''t be long. By that time, we''ll be able to y together again."


    Lydia raised her tiny head asked in confirmation, "Really? Then you and me and Brother would y together again?"


    "That''s¡­" Emilia did not know how to respond to that, and she silently nced at Randy who was staring nkly in the void as if there was something there, clearly not paying attention to their conversation.


    She then turned to Lydia before replying with forced smile on her pretty face, "That''s right, we will y together like always, but you''ll have wait until I am done with my examination."


    "Okay!" Lydia replied in a gleeful tone.


    Eventually, they each said their farewells and Riley took her children with her and departed with them.


    ¡­


    As soon as they left, Jenny turned to her daughter, ring at her as she spoke with a frowned on her face, "Emilia, what were you doing with that pest just now? Did I not warn you to stay away from him as it might affect your academics and reputation when applying for a university in the future, especially if they find out that you associate with a defect like him?"


    Emilia instantly replied to her mother, "Mom, why are you always acting like this? Like Randy said before, we only ran into each other when we were on our way home. Besides, I had already being avoiding him in school like you told me to, so why can''t you just leave him alone?"


    "You¡­ How dare you talk back to me? You have no idea that I am only doing this for your own good. With your talent, you''ll be able to apply to the top universities in this district, yet you kept frolicking with that useless brat?"


    "Mom!" Emilia raised her voice and shouted in disbelief.


    "I wasn''t frolicking with nobody. You know better than I do, that he was only my childhood friend. Besides, you¡­" Emilia was shocked by her mother''s words, and she replied refuting her, but did not finish theter part of her sentence, only saying finishing it in her head. ''You used to like him a lot when he was young, but why are suddenly acting like this just because he couldn''t awaken his ability?''


    "Besides what? And what did you say, ''childhood friend''? Do you think you can lie to your own mother? Do you think I do not know how you feel about that useless brat?" Jenny demanded and then stated in a knowing tone.


    "I-I¡­"


    Emilia bit her lips and did not reply to her mother''s statement. She could not find the words to refute her mother as she felt her chest tightening in frustration.


    Ever since two years ago, after consistently failing to awaken his ability, her mother told her to cut ties with Randy saying that it might affect her performance in school, but in fact, it was Randy who was more hardworking that she was in terms of academics, so she always goes to his house to study together and sometimes, hees over to her house instead.


    As a result of that, she was able to grasp a perfect studying habit but now her mother was acting like none of that ever happened and repeatedly telling her to stop seeing him just because he could not awaken his innate ability. How could she not refute this? Although she had tried arguing with her mother, at the end of the day, she was not an adult, and she could not change her mother''s mind either.


    Eventually leading to the current situation where she had heeded her mother''s words to stop associating with Randy. At the time, she did notpletely listen to her mother and still maintained a somewhat supporting rtionship with Randy, but her mother still found out and ever since then, she constantly tries to find faults with him whenever he came over to study together, causing him to note over anymore.


    Due to that, Emilia realized that her mother adamant about trying to separate the two of them and to prevent her mother from harassing him further, she also tried to avoid Randy in order to not hurt his feelings. She did not care if Randy came to hate her in the process.


    Seeing that her daughter unresponsive and was not saying anything for a long time, Jenny loudly snorted and said in a sternly tone, "Hmph! You had better listen to what I say otherwise, don''t me me for doing something unreasonable. Even if he is the son of my best friend, I cannot tolerate trash around my daughter."


    And then she turned around and walked into the mansion leaving her daughter standing by the gate with a listless expression on her face.


    After standing there for unknown duration of time, Emilia also walked through gate and into the mansion before heading to her room.


    ¡­


    Smith Household, Randy''s home.


    After reaching their home, they each took turns taking a shower and it was finally Randy''s turn to take his shower. He walked into the bathroom, took off his clothes, revealing his robust and well defined arm muscles and abdominal muscles. Due to him constantly working out and his recent awakening, his body''s physique had improve greatly almost to perfection. Right now, he remained motionless as he recalled what happened earlier when he tried to rob that burr from before. A sudden change urred.. He had no idea what could have caused this change and was even surprised at first, but he could not help himself getting curious about this sudden change.

 Chapter 24 - An Unknown Power

    Let us rewind time a bit, back to when Randy first apprehended the burr and forced him to undo the seals on his storage bracelet. At this time, the female police officer and her team were still on their way using the satellite to search for the burr''s whereabouts.


    ¡­


    After inserting a wisp of mana into the bracelet, almost immediately, a couple of items started dropping down on the ground next to his feet, shocking Randy greatly just by the sheer amount of treasures the other party had in his storage bracelet.


    ''Did he steal everything in the vault or something?'' Randy looked at the items on the ground and silently thought in surprise.


    After his initial surprise, Randy suddenly bent over to grab the items on the ground and immediately, he was puzzled by what he saw immediately after assessing the items.


    "This is¡­" He muttered in surprise.


    The moment Randy grabbed an item on the floor, there was a notification that appeared on his system''s screen. This was not surprising at all, as everyone who awakened their innate ability also gained the ability to appraise items through their systems. So Randy only nced at the description stated of the item in the void in front, as he did, he could see that lines of text in white color appeared on the light-red, almost pink panel in front of his eyes. He had heard people say that they had blue panels or yellow panels but his turned out to be light-red instead. Randy did not pay any attention to this and continued to direction his eyes to the text.


    ?[Steel Dragon Fang Dagger(Semi-Artifact)]?


    ?[Rank: S]?


    ?[Weapon Property: Pierce(C)]?


    ?[Description: A peaked-quality weapon crafted by highly skilled human who excel in making all kinds of equipment. This dagger was made from the fang of an S-ranked Steel Craw Dragon renowned for their fearsome biting capabilities thus attaining the unique property of the fang of the Dragon, the ability to prate any obstacle]?


    "Holy Shit! An S-rank dagger?!" Randy screamed in shocked.


    This finding was unexpected for him, but when he thought about how the police were persistently chasing after this burr, he finally understood the reason for their persistence. One had to know that there are not that many S-rank weapons out there, especially one created by a human craftsman and yet, there it is, an S-ranked weapon and it even said that it is a semi-artifact. The perk of artifacts lies in the fact that they had unique abilities or skills in a form of weapon property.


    A fucking Semi-Artifact!


    An artifact are things that can only be found in dungeon or gates. And usually, to receive this kind of weapon, you would have to defeat the ''Boss'' or leader of the monsters before you can obtain it. The leader of the monsters usually carries with them certain artifacts from their own world as they invade this side, and they came in different sizes, shapes, and functions. Some artifacts grant control over certain elements, others increase your overall strength or certain statistics, and there are some with unique abilities of their own.


    In any case, they are very expensive and hard to obtain even with money, usually one can only obtain such an item or equipment by trading with something of equivalent or other precious resources. And so, one can only imagine what a semi-artifact would cost. Even though it is only a semi-artifact, it still had a C-ranked weapon property, [Pierce]. One cannot simply underestimate it just because it is a C-ranked weapon property as it could easily determine the oue of any battle.


    Randy''s thought turned and he then quickly nced at the remaining items on the ground with his heart beating in anticipation.


    He picked up another dagger with a different design that seemed to be made out of steel.


    Immediately lines of glowing text appeared in front his eyes with the description of the dagger.


    ?[Steel Dragon Craw Dagger]?


    ?[Rank: A]?


    ?[Weapon Property: None]?


    ?[Description: A high-quality weapon crafted by a highly skilled human craftsman. This dagger did not contain any properties, but it has a destructive capability to cut through any steel when imbued with mana]?


    Randy put this down right away without much thought. It was not like it was unimpressive or anything, in fact it was an amazing weapon but after seeing that S-ranked dagger just now, he could not be bothered to look at this weapon for now.


    His gaze turned and he grabbed a blue book or more precisely, a manual with some words written on the front cover.


    The moment Randy picked it up, lines of text glowed on the screen in front of him, revealing the details of this manual.


    ?[Void Rippling Punch Technique]?


    ?[Rank: A]?


    ?[Type: Martial Arts Technique]?


    ?[Description: A set of fist techniques with the capabilities to send destructive shockwaves to your opponent upon mastery. At its peak, you can directly shatter the bones and explode the internal organs of your opponent from a single strike. There are three stages to this fist techniques, namely: Void Punch, Void Wave Punch, Void Ripple Punch]?


    "Ohhh! This is one terrifying punching techniques, you can even shatter bones with this technique. How amazing, I definitely need to learn this fist technique. This burr definitely knows his stuff, to think he got his hands on this terrifying fist technique. Tsk, tsk, tsk, unfortunately, you met me so it will all be mine soon." Randy said with a triumphant smile.


    He ced the blue manual on the side and picked up another item. It was also a manual with a tattered appearance. Randy picked it wondering what amazing technique it would be this time.


    Soon, it was revealed in front of him eyes.


    ?[Unseen Sword Art (Secret Art)]?


    ?[Rank: S~]?


    ?[Type: Oriental Sword Technique]?


    ?[Description: Aption of sword techniques that originated from an immortal cultivation-type world. This sword techniques were created by a sword expert whose understanding of the sword had reached its peak; thus transcending the norm. They could be said to be the strongest in their world when ites to sword techniques. However, no one had managed toprehend this set of sword techniques after its conception. Furthermore, the creator of this sword techniques had already ascended to be an Immortal, so there is no one to receive guidance from, and thus, this sword art was deemed as useless]?


    "Damn! Another S-rank item and an S-rank technique to boot. This is really my lucky day, Hahaha!" Randy rejoiced upon seeing the rank of the technique and only proceeded to skim through the remaining description.


    However, unusually enough, another notification suddenly appeared underneath the description section.


    ?[Reminder: This sword art is a secret art thuspiled into four sword techniques. Meaning there are four forms to this particr sword art, and it is as follows:]?


    ?[Visible Sword Strike(First Form)]?


    ?[Phantom Sword Strike(Second Form)]?


    ?[Double Phantom Sword Strike(Third Form)]?


    ?[Unseen Sword Strike(Final Form)]?


    "Oh, I see, so there are four forms, huh? But still, would I even use the sword? Even though the technique is amazing, I always envision myself using my fist to fight instead of using weapons though. Well, I will keep it for now, perhaps I might change my mind in the future." Randy muttered upon reading the details of this S-rank sword art.


    ''Hm? I see now. It should be a sword art since it is made up of four sword techniques.''


    After putting this tattered book away, Randy turned around and picked a certain item, the appearance of this item was very familiar, and Randy started doubting whether it really was something worth stealing by this burr. However what he saw next took him by surprise.


    Lines of text glowed on the screen in front of him.


    ?[Reflecting Mirror of Double Return(Artifact)]?


    ?[Rank: Legendary]?


    ?[Weapon Property: Double Reflection(S)]?


    ?[Description: This is a powerful artifact from a magic-type world with the ability to absorb and reflect double the attacks receive from an opponent. It requires the use of mana to operate but it does not necessarily require the user''s own mana, magic crystals could be used as a substitute for its operation]?


    "Holy fuck! This is an artifact, I thought it was just an ordinary mirror with a luxurious design; never would I have thought that it would be an artifact instead. This is a legendary rank artifact, surpassing even an S-rank equipment." Randy jumped from fright when he saw that the unassuming mirror turned out to be an artifact.


    He soon calmed himself down and was about to put the mirror down when a sudden change urred.


    ?[Warning!]?


    ?[There is an unknown power trying to establish connection to the system]?


    ?[Determining the hazard level of this unknown power. Please wait¡­]?


    "This is¡­"


    "What the fuck is going on?" Randy muttered in shock as he saw the text on his light-red panel changed to blood-red text instead of white text.


    After a while, a new notification appeared on the screen, surprising Randy.


    ?[Upon further analysis, the system had determined the factors of this unknown power and the following conclusion had been drawn:]?


    "What the hell is it?" Randy doubtfully asked.


    ?[The unknown power is trying to synchronize with the system]?


    ?[Notice: This synchronization might bring unforeseen changes to the system]?


    ?[Would you permit this change?]?


    ?[Attention, if the host refuses, this unknown power might forcefully synchronize with the system]?


    ''What the hell! What really is going on? You are saying that some ''unknown power'' is trying to synchronize with my personalize system and you cannot resist against this unknown power and if I happen to disregard its ''kind'' intrusion, it might forcefully synchronize with the system in response. So I have no choice but to permit it instead?'' Randy reiterated the meaning behind the system''s prompt.


    ?[Affirmative]? The system only gave a curt reply to his question.

 Chapter 25 - Drastic Change

    ?[Attention, if the host refuses, this unknown power might forcefully synchronize with the system]?


    ''What the hell are you saying! What really is going on? You mean to tell me that some ''unknown power'' is trying to synchronize with my personalize system and you cannot even resist against this unknown power and if I happen to disregard its ''kind'' intrusion, it might forcefully synchronize itself with the system in response. So right now, I have no choice but to permit it instead to avoid any damage?'' Randy reiterated the meaning behind the system''s prompt.


    ?[Affirmative]? The system only gave him a curt reply in confirmation to his question.


    "Fuck! Just my luck, why is this even happening, is this even possible in the first ce?" Randy cussed out loud upon seeing the system confirm his doubts.


    He only came here to rob people and now something is trying to encroach on his personal system instead. Usually things like this does not ur as everyone had their own systems upon awakening and it cannot be invaded by any means yet somehow something managed to affect my system.


    ''Was it because I awakened unusually? Leading to some sort of bug in my system?'' Randy thought with a frown on his face.


    However, a new notification appeared on his screen again arousing his attention.


    ?[Would you like to permit this change?]?


    "Haah" Randy sighed, and then turned to the void before muttering in a dejected tone, "Now that this had happened, I need to see what this thing really is, that managed to intrude on my personal system."


    ''I permit it'' Randy used his thoughts to reply to the system''s prompt.


    The moment he replied, the system started undergoing a drastic change, the light-red panel turned into a yellow-golden color instead with white texts disying on the screen.


    ?[Undergoing Synchronization with the unknown power: In progress]?


    ?[ Please wait!]?


    With these texts, there were no more notification. Randy had no choice but to wait till it was done.


    It was only after a minute or so that the synchronization waspleted along a new notification.


    [{[Synchronization Completed]}]


    [{[The system had now undergone a drastic evolution, thus obtaining new functions]}]


    [{[Please check these functions on your own]}]


    [{[Currently Re-Adjusting some features of the newly improved System]}]


    The system''s notifications disappeared followed by a new notification and appearance shortly after.


    ?[[Re-Analyzing the currently held Artifact]]?


    ?[[Reflecting Mirror of Double Return(Artifact)]]?


    ?[[Rank: Legendary]]?


    ?[[Weapon Property: Double Reflection(S)]]?


    ?[[Derived Hidden Skill: Palm of Double Return(unknown)]]?


    ?[[Description: This is a powerful artifact from a magic-type world with the ability to absorb and reflect double the attacks receive by an opponent. It requires the mana to operate but it does not necessarily require the user''s mana, magic crystals could be used as a substitute for its operation]]?


    ?[[Discovered a derived hidden skill, would you like to record it forprehension?]]?


    "Yes." He instantly replied with a nk expression.


    Randy had no idea what was going on since a while ago but from what he had seen so far, this so called synchronization did not simply change the way his screen looked but there were also extra sections added after the synchronization. Just what was the source of this unknown power?


    Randy pondered about it for a bit and could not draw any conclusion as this was a very unprecedented phenomenon and thus, he turned his attention to the screen again.


    A Hidden Skill!


    A Derived Hidden Skill!


    Randy had never heard of such a thing before but judging from what it said, he can record this ''derived hidden skill'' andprehend itter. But how? He had no idea but even so, act now and thinkter is his thought process at this moment.


    Immediately after his response, new lines of texts quickly appeared on the screen.


    ?[[Recording the Derived Hidden Skill, ''Palm of Double Return'']]?


    ?[[The recording process would be done in 30 seconds]]?


    ¡­


    [30]


    ..


    [20]


    ..


    [5]


    [4]


    [3]


    [2]


    [1]


    ?[[The derived hidden skill, ''Palm of Double Return'' has been sessfully recorded]]?


    ?[[Please check the ''Recorded Section'' of the System for more information]]?


    Randy was watching the screen the whole time with bated breath and finally, the unusually long 30 seconds had passed.


    "Phew¡­ Now what? How do Iprehend this skill" Randy breathed out and muttered in question.


    ?[[Toprehend this skill, ''Palm of Double Return,'' you need to acquire knowledge points through the system or convert your current energy in knowledge points toprehend the skill]]? The system replied to him.


    "Knowledge Points? What is that?" Randy confusedly asked in return.


    ?[[Knowledge Points are the energies that are derived from the thoughts or consciousness of living beings. You obtain these knowledge points by killing living beings with intelligence or high mental energy. It can be used for various things including but not limited toprehending techniques or skills]]? The system gave him an exnation.


    "So that is how it is" Randy pondered the words mentioned by the system.


    ''It turns out I need this ''knowledge points'' if I want toprehend this skill. But where did this knowledge point thinge from? I have never heard of this before? Was this part of the system''s upgrade after the synchronization with that unknown power? Haah, whatever, I will think about thister, what matters now should be¡­''


    Randy sighed after thinking deeply about the sudden change in his system, however, he quickly drew his attention towards something else. It was not that he did not care about this matter but that it was better to ept things as is since this unknown power did not affect him personally.


    In reality, it seemed to have increased the functions of his system to the point, enough to make others jealous if they knew about this. With all that, who wouldin at this point? Thus, Randy decided not to think too much about this and see how things goes. With that thought, he proceeded to looked into the void.


    ¡­


    ?[[Reflecting Mirror of Double Return(Artifact)]]?


    ?[[Weapon Property: Double Reflection(S)]]?


    ¡­


    ?[[Derived Hidden Skill: Palm of Double Return(unknown)]]?


    ¡­


    "Reflecting Mirror of Double Return and Palm of Double Return, these two seems to be rted to each other. ording to the description of this artifact, it has the ability to reflect double the attack received thus double return and this ''Palm of Double Return'' seemed to be derived from this ability to double return any attacks." Randy muttered after analyzing the connection between the new derived skill and the mirror''s weapon property.


    Suddenly a realization dawned on him as a thought came to him.


    ''If that is the case, then doesn''t that mean, as long I get my hands on some artifacts, there was a possibility of being able record their weapon property in a form of skills or abilities that can be used by me?''


    The moment this thought came to him, Randy could not help but grinned from ear to ear. He wanted to burst intoughter, but he decided to hold it back. This discovery was just that terrifying and exhration. Who would have thought that an unknown power invading his system could result in such a massive difference and change. Randy could not help getting curious about the origin of this unknown power.


    However, with this conclusion, although it was only a guess at the moment without further testings and thus, not definite without proof, it was still worth looking forward to; after all there was no proof besides this urrence with this artifact, nevertheless, Randy was still filled anticipation for the future.


    With that thought in mind, Randy picked up all the other items and sure enough, he was able to utilize the new function of the system to record the techniques from the technique manuals.


    ?[[Would you like to record the technique, ''Void Rippling Punch'' forprehension?]]?


    "Yes." Randy replied without hesitation.


    ?[[Recording this technique will only take 5 Seconds]]?


    [5]


    [4]


    [3]


    [2]


    [1]


    ?[[The technique, ''Void Rippling Punch'' has been sessfully recorded]]


    ?[[Please check the ''Recorded Section'' of the System for more information]]?


    ---


    ?[[Would you like to record the technique, ''Unseen Sword Art'' forprehension?]]?


    Just like before, Randy replied with a curt ''Yes'' and then followed by new lines of texts.


    ?[[Recording this technique will only take 20 Seconds]]?


    ¡­


    ?[[The technique, ''Unseen Sword Art'' has been sessfully recorded]]?


    ?[[Please check the ''Recorded Section'' of the System for more information]]?


    ---


    ?[[Would you like to record the technique, ''Mountain Cleaving Strike'' forprehension?]]?


    "Yes." Randy replied after hesitating for a bit.


    ?[[Recording this technique will only take 5 Seconds]]?


    ¡­


    ?[[The technique, ''Mountain Cleaving Strike'' has been sessfully recorded]]?


    ?[[Please check the ''Recorded Section'' of the System for more information]]?


    ---


    ?[[Would you like to record the technique, ''Traceless Form'' forprehension?]]?


    "Yes." Randy replied, intrigued by this technique.


    ?[[Recording this technique will only take 10 Seconds]]?


    ¡­


    ?[[The technique, ''Traceless Form'' has been sessfully recorded]]?


    ?[[Please check the Recorded Section of the System for more information]]?


    After the series of recordings of skills and techniques, Randy''s expression was that of delight. Right now, with this ability of the system, he does not necessarily have to purchase a book to fullyprehend the contents, he only needs to touch for a brief moment to record the entire contents and learn itter using this ''Knowledge Points'' mentioned by the system.


    Soon, he finished recording all the techniques and then, he drew his attention to the remaining item on the ground, it was a spear. The appearance of this spear was terrifying due to its blood red metallic luster, which made it seem as if it was soaked in blood or coated with ink of blood.


    In any case, since this spear was something that was stolen by the burr, surely it was something valuable, perhaps even priceless.. With no hesitation, Randy reached out and grabbed the bloody spear.

 Chapter 26 - Red Liquid

    Randy reached his hand out to grab the blood-red spear with its ghastly appearance that struck fear just by looking at it. However Randy was unperturbed by this spear''s appearance as he looked into the void in front of his eyes while holding unto the spear.


    Soon, a few lines of texts begun to appear on the screen one after another.


    ?[[Discovered the weapon: Crimson Demonic Spear]]?


    ?[[Crimson Demonic Spear(Artifact)]]?


    ?[[Rank: S]] ?


    ?[[Weapon Property: Blood Ray(A)]?


    ?[[Description: This was a powerful divine spear once used by spear genius who lost to the Demon General, Kahnat, thus acquiring this Divine Spear for himself. By utilizing inexplicable methods, the Demon General turned this Divine Spear into a Demonic Spear enabling it to attain a new weapon property, Blood Ray. After going through countless of battles with the Demon General Kahnat, the spear has lost most of its durability, causing its rank to decrease over time.]] ?


    Randy took a deep breath and breathed out slowly when he saw this weapon''s description. And then, he suddenly thought of something.


    ''No wonder, this spear looks ghastly bloody red in color. It turns out it was used by a demon general. But what is this about it being a divine spear wielded by a spear genius? Does that mean that it used to contain a different weapon property instead of this blood ray?'' Randy wondered to himself after reading through the description.


    And then he proceeded to wait for a few moments.


    And sure enough, a new notification popped up on the screen in front of his eyes with new lines of texts appearing one after another.


    ?[[Discovered and derived hidden skills from the Crimson Demonic Spear]]?


    ?[[Discovered and derived hidden techniques from the Crimson Demonic Spear]]?


    ¡­


    ?[[Disying the following derived hidden skills from the ''Crimson Demonic Spear'' below]]?


    ?[[Crimson Demonic Spear(S)]]?


    ?[[First Derived Hidden Skill: Shadow Mirage Barrage(S)]]?


    ?[[Second Derived Hidden Skill: Blood Ray(A~)]]?


    ---


    ?[[Disying the following derived hidden techniques from the ''Crimson Demonic Spear'' below]]?


    ?[[Crimson Demonic Spear(S)]]?


    ?[[First Derived Hidden Technique: Untraceable Shallow Spear Art(unknown)]]?


    ?[[Second Derived Hidden Technique: Destructive Demonic Spear Technique(S)]]?


    ?[[Would you like record these hidden skills and hidden techniques forprehension?]]?


    "Yes!" Randy replied with an enthusiastic voice, his expression was that of someone who had won a lottery on their first try at this moment.


    ''Don''t be ridiculous, with just the rank of these skills and techniques, who in their right minds would not record them andprehend themter?''


    After receiving his response, a new notification popped up with a few lines of texts.


    ?[[Recording these skills and techniques in session would take approximately 3 minutes toplete, would you like proceed right away?"]]?


    "Yes, just do it already!" Randy urged the system as he could feel his heart beating so loud as if it would jump out of his chest at any moment.


    ?[[Recording in progress. Please wait¡­]]?


    And thus, Randy waited for two minutes and half and all of a sudden, he heard a voice behind his back startling him.


    "What do you think you are doing?" The voice asked.


    Randy did not reply right away as his attention was focused on the system''s disy screen in front of his eyes.


    [10]


    [9]


    [8]


    [7]


    ¡­


    When he saw that there was only about five seconds left until thepletion of the recording, Randy smiled in delight. However the voice from earlier resounded again this time with a hint of anger.


    "I said what do you think you are doing?" The voice demanded in a stern voice.


    After pondering for a bit, Randy turned around to face the beautiful female police officer and her subordinates with an amicable smile on his face before carefully exining the situation to them.


    ¡­


    Back to the present.


    Randy thought of various things as he took his shower in the gym with a soothing cold water running from the shower head. Randy obviously had a shower next to his own room, but he likes taking shower in the gymnasium more often than not.


    In truth, their entire family itself likes to take their shower in the gymnasium whenever theye back after going out but due to the females'' section of the bath being so close the males'' section, in order to prevent anyplications, they had him wait until they were done before it was finally his turn to take his shower.


    Leaving that aside, right now it was currently early June, and it was almost summertime, since school was about to end in a week or two, then the remaining weeks is a break, followed by the university entrance examination in the beginning of July. Next week would either be review time, or some training boot camp to practice individual abilities and techniques.


    But before that, Randy must inform the school of his awakening somehow and as naturally as possible without causing any unwanted attention to himself. Thinking about this, Randy felt a headache. He does not even know the name of his ''ss,'' let alone how to exin his ability to others; for now, he would think about how to do thatter.


    As for his current ns for tomorrow, which happens to be Sunday, he would try to test out his abilities which he failed to do so today because he had overslept and also learn more about this ''Knowledge Points" and the other functions of his upgraded system.


    ''Should I use the virtual simtor to practice virtualbat as usual now that I have awakened or maybe I should go to the forest and hunt some mutated beasts and see if I can get my hands on those ''knowledge points'' the system talked about. Which one is more important to me right now¡­'' Randy wondered with a pondering look as he walked out of the bathroom.


    "Ah"


    Aftering out of shower and was feeling refreshed. Suddenly Randy made a slight sound upon recalling something that he had almost forgotten about.


    ''That''s right, I almost forgot about the blood I secretly stashed away when I drained that burr of his blood earlier. Where did I put it?'' Randy thought as he moved to pick up his pant that was in hisundry bag.


    Randy rummage through the pockets of his pant to look for a certain case.


    After searching a certain pocket, he found a contact lenses case. This was a contact lenses case that he always used to store his contact lenses. However, at this time, it was used to store something else instead. The case itself was not big but it was long. It has a cylindrical shape, the size of one''s thumb, perhaps slightly bigger in diameter, nevertheless, it was just enough to store contact lenses. This case was made to be squeezed and turned around clockwise to reveal the contact lenses inside.


    As for the reason why Randy had this case for holding contact lenses, one might think that maybe he was getting blind or something like that, but you would be wrong to think so. Ever since he turned ten years old, he suddenly felt like he could see clearly. Well, if was just that, then there was no problem with that, after all, who would not celebrate or show some sort of reaction about the fact that they had a near perfect eyesight?


    However, that was not the case for Randy, it was not that he could see clearly, it was just that he could see way too clearly to the point where he started seeing other things besides people, like sprites of light which were sometimes blinding for the young Randy.


    Due to that, his parents decided to get him a specialize contact lenses that would suppress this eyesight of his. It was quite unusual for them to not seek help from a specialize doctor but instead acquiring the contact lenses on their ord to provide for the young Randy. Nevertheless, Randy had been wearing his contact lenses ever since then. Whenever he took them out, and look in the mirror, he could see eyes glowing in grey light amidst all the sprites of lights.


    At the time, his parents thought that he had finally awaken his ability, but unfortunately, it appears that was not the case since usually when one awakens their innate ability, there would be a sudden increase in their overall energy, whether it be magical energy, spiritual energy, Life energy, mental energy and so on.


    Regrettably, even with this eye trait of his, the evaluation machine still read him as not fulfilling the minimum energy requirement, no, to be precise, it did not even show any readings at all on the screen as if he did not even have any energypatibility in the first ce. Randy shook his head to get rid of these traumatizing memories that he does not want to recall at this point in time.


    Randy turned his attention to the cylindrical case in his hand and opened the bottle with ''pop'' sound, there was nothing in the cylindrical case besides a red liquid.


    "Phew¡­ it is still in here." Randy sighed in relief.


    He then used his Blood Authority skill to control the red liquid out of the bottle, floating in front of his eyes. Randy could not get enough of this feeling of absolute control over blood that resulted in a somewhat telekic ability, although Randy could feel like it is different from an actual telekinesis as he does feel like he was using his mental energy during this process of control the blood.


    He then stared at the glistening liquid for a while and then wondered, "Should I just put it in my mouth or¡­"


    After thinking for a bit, Randy moved his hand and used his Blood Authority skill to temporarily solidify the blood and held it in his palm.


    Followed by a series of notifications from the system, as lines of texts started disying themselves on the holographic screen in front of eyes.

 Chapter 27 - Blood Fusion

    "Sure enough, just like I thought" Randy muttered and then proceeded to read the lines of texts that started disying on the holographic screen in front of his eyes.


    ?[[Discovered a ''Purified Blood Essence'' of an awakened human who had undergone an evolution]]?


    ?[[Due to your unique skill ''Blood Assimte,'' you are able to assimte with this blood thus obtaining its ''Blood Knowledge'']]?


    ?[[Attention, due to your unique bloodline, and your highpatibility with this blood, you are given the following choices:]]?


    ?[[First Choice: Assimte with the ''Purified Blood Essence'' and you would be able to utilize it to retrieve the ''Blood Knowledge'' and be able to use all the abilities of the source of this blood]]?


    ?[[Second Choice: Fuse and transform this ''Purified Blood Essence,'' thus converting and making it your own, this would be bring about a new unique ability that can be used even without entering assimted mode and also increasing your Blood Energy or Evolution Energy slightly. Naturally, you would still be able to retain the ''Blood Knowledge'' using your ''Blood Retain'' skill, allowing you to still use the enhancement effects of its assimted mode, although the enhancement effect will decrease slightly due to the fusion]]?


    ?[[Reminder: If the host pick the Second Choice, the system will be able to help you unlock your potential and obtain a skill among your current hidden skills]]?


    ?[[Please think carefully before making your choice]]?


    Reading these lines of texts, Randy was surprised, excited and then confused.


    ''Unique bloodline? Fusion? Transform? Conversion? Blood Knowledge? What the hell is this system saying since a while ago?'' Randy was very bewildered by this but soon calmed himself down.


    ''Wasn''t my bloodline section empty? Also, what is this Blood Knowledge? So many things at once, was this also part of the system''s upgrade?'' Randy thought in confusion.


    ''Forget it, let me think about this for a moment¡­"


    Randy fell into thought with a pondering expression. Ever since he had awakened, his mental strength had increased greatly, which in turn, improved his thinking abilities.


    ''I remember that some of my ss rted skills were hidden ever since I awakened. At the time, I did not think much of this, but it seems one of them can be unlock just by picking the second choice given by the system.''


    ''Then again, what is the difference between fusion and assimtion? As far as I know, these two terms mean the same thing. By assimting, I absorb and digest the blood, taking in all of its properties, which in a sense is kind of like fusing with blood through absorption and also, understanding the blood''s ''information'' and using such information as my own.


    ''Then, does fusion in this case mean that I will be able to fuse this blood with my own blood without digesting itpletely but rather converting it as my own? And I will be able to use whatever ability it generates through the fusion without entering assimted mode. If that is the case, then isn''t this more amazing than assimtion? Since there would be no dy in activating the said skill or ability.''


    "No, the assimtion grants me theplete information of the blood consumed and I can always use theplete abilities through entering the assimted mode, which is like assessing the information of the blood and recreating that information with my own blood, resulting in a temporary buff or enhancement of my abilities and statistics depending on the source of the blood. In this case, assimtion is more useful as I can simply just gather a variety of blood with different information or abilities and recreate them with my blood assimte skill and or the blood retain skill mentioned by the system. At that time, I will be able have many abilities from different professions.''


    ''Luckily, I had apatibility with almost all the energy types, so this is not aplete pipe dream but only a matter of time. However, there seems to be a prerequisite to fusion; the fusion seemed to grant a permanent skill if mypatibility with the type of blood is high? Is it because I am an evolved human, so I ampatible with another evolved human''s blood? Or is it because I have high magical energy and since that burr was also using mana when he tried to attack me, he is also magical energy user and hence thepatibility between us?"


    Randy contemted deeply for a bit and after a while, he recalled what the system mentioned when it was giving the description of the blood, about ''an awakened human who had undergone an evolution'' and then he realized that perhaps it was rted to evolutional energy or blood energy.


    After all, Randy himself is an evolved human, his current abilities are something only an evolved human would have and it also makes sense for him whose abilities heavily relies on consuming blood of living beings, to bepatible with other humans who had also undergone an evolution.


    This was definitely the reason for his highpatibility with the ''Purified Blood Essence.'' And as for why it said, ''Purified'' blood essence instead of just blood, Randy had a vague idea as to why that is. He remembered that during his extraction of the blood from the burr, he realized that he could perceive the harmful substances contained within the blood and thus decided to get rid of them before stowing it away. Perhaps by getting rid of the harmful substance, he was able to purify the blood of that burr, enabling it to contain no side effects upon consumption.


    "Hm, this must definitely be the reason why." Randy nodded and muttered in conclusion.


    ''This is my second time consuming a blood, well, the first time, it was kind of¡­ It was an ident but the feeling at that time was like¡­ I had a sudden impulse to swallow the blood that entered my mouth and after I did, it tasted kind of¡­ good? Almost like it was rich in minerals or energy. I have no idea how to exin it, however, the subsequent events were not something that I will dly wee with opened arms. The pain was unbearable to the point that I fainted from it.'' Randy shivered as he recalled the pain he had to endure before he finally awakened his innate ability.


    "Hopefully this time, it won''t be likest time. I don''t want to feel the searing sensation of my body on fire again. It almost traumatized me." Randy muttered under his breath with a slight frown on his face.


    After a moment of silence, Randy turned his attention to the projected screen in front his eyes.


    ?[[Please think carefully before making your choice]]?


    "In any case, I think it is still better to get this ss rted skill unlocked earlier rather than wait for who knows how long until I can unlock it by myself." Randy muttered as he finally made his decision.


    And then he took a deep breath and breathed out, before responding with his thoughts.


    ''I choose the second choice, fusion.'' Randy replied to the system''s prompt.


    ?[[Response Acknowledged!]]?


    ?[[To begin this fusion process, the host must either consume this ''Purified Blood Essence'' or try absorbing it through a cut or an opening in any part of your body, preferably your palm]]?


    ''What?! You mean I have to cut myself to absorb it?'' Randy inwardly eximed in surprise.


    He was surprised to hear that he had to deliberately hurt himself just to absorb the blood and begin the fusion process.


    ?[[There is always the first option of consuming the blood]]?


    "Haah¡­ Do I really have to?" Randy sighed then questioned with no motivation.


    ?[[Either swallow it or cut open your palm and ce the blood at the opened wound, the system would simply take care of the rest.]]?


    ?[[Reminder: This blood is one that is purified by the host through your ''Blood Authority'' skill, thus removing any harmful substance contained within, so there would be no aftereffects even if you consume this blood through your mouth]]?


    "Haah¡­ If you say so, then I will consume it rather than arbitrarily hurt myself for no reason when there is another choice; I usually don''t enjoy hurting myself." Randy sighed and then muttered in a low voice.


    Immediately afterwards, after hesitating for a bit, he ced the blood into his mouth and right away, an unusual sensation washed over him. Randy was very familiar with this sensation. It was the same sensation he felt when he identally consumed wolf-like creature''s blood.


    This was the feeling was an instinct, an urge, a desire, and an impulse to consume the blood in his mouth. After struggling against this sensation for a bit, Randy gave in as he could not control himself anymore and swallowed the blood on his tongue.


    Strangely enough, the taste was not bad, it tasted sweet or perhaps bitter or maybe a little spicy, in any case, it was hard to discern the taste, but it was not that bad.


    A momentter, notifications started popping up on the holographic screen in front of his eyes. Lines of texts were appearing on the screen one after another.


    ?[[Detected the purified blood of an awakened human who had undergone an evolution]]?


    ?[[Attempting fusion with this blood]]?


    ¡­


    ?[[First Attempt: Failed]]?


    ¡­


    ?[[Second Attempt: Failed]]?


    ¡­


    ?[[Third Attempt: Failed]]?


    ¡­


    ?[[Due to forcefully trying to fuse with this blood, your potential ability had been unlocked]]?


    ?[[Potential Ability has formed into: ''Blood Fusion'' Skill]]?


    ?[[Congrattions! You have sessfully unlocked the hidden skill ''Blood Fusion,'' from now on, you can attempt fusion and conversion of otherpatible blood into your own blood]]?

 Chapter 28 - Ancestral Regression

    ?[[Due to forcefully trying to fuse with this blood, your potential ability had been unlocked]]?


    ?[[Potential Ability has formed into: ''Blood Fusion'' Skill]]?


    ?[[Congrattions! You have sessfully unlocked the hidden skill ''Blood Fusion,'' from now on, you can attempt fusion and conversion of otherpatible blood into your own blood]]?


    ¡­


    ?[[Attention, due to your unique skill, ''Blood Fusion'' Skill, the fusion process is going smoothly]]?


    ¡­


    ?[[Notice: Due to the effects of your unique bloodline, you are given three choices between which ability to acquire, the possible abilities are as follows:]]?


    ?[[Perfect Transformation: The ability to transform your body to anyone just by analyzing their countenance specifically for facial transformation or taking a sample of their blood, analyzing it forplete transformation. However, this ability does replicate any energy that may exist within the body of the one being transformed into. And also, you cannot transform into the opposite sex when using theplete transformation]]?


    ?[[Ancestral Regression: This is the ability to regress to your roots. This ability heavily relies on one tapping into their bloodline(s) or lineage(s), as such, it might not be useful if one does not have a considerable lineage or background. Although, this ability may be useless if the one using it does not have any considerable background, however, if the one using this ability had a unique background or ancestors, then they would be able to awaken any hidden abilities of their ancestors that may be lying dormant in their blood. This process often involves transforming the appearance of the one using this ability]]?


    ?[[Gender Metamorphosis: This is an ability topletely transform yourself into the opposite sex. Which in your case, would be topletely transform into a female with all the assets of a female intact. Don''t worry as there is a benefit topletely changing your gender, that is, the ability to learn techniques that only females can practice or developing a new talent. However, there would be a mild side effect whenever you transform into this state, that is, there would be a hormonal imbnce urring to your new body for a few days until you finally adjust to the new body. Once you fully adjust to the new body, there would no longer be any side effects unless you undo the transformation and transform back again]]?


    ?[[Reminder: The second ability, ''Ancestral Regression'' was not derived by the system]]?


    ?[[Please think carefully before you make your choice]]?


    Randy was about to react to thest choice but when he saw the reminder, he calmed down and muttered, "Oh, I see. So, the second choice was not your doing¡­"


    Randy pondered for a bit and then finally continued, "If it was not your doing, then is it perhaps rted to that unknown power from before?"


    [¡­]


    There was no reply from the system but that did not matter to Randy as it just means that he had guessed it right with the hint given from the system.


    "That unknown power again, huh? I wonder what it is and why is it that it seems to be trying to help me rather than harm me" Randy said after pondering and then smiled with anticipation.


    After carefully skimming through the first ability choice, Randy hesitated.


    ''This was a unique ability for sure, the ability to turn into anyone and it even said plete transformation'' is possible if a prerequisite is met. Doesn''t that mean that one couldpletely transform into anyone and take their appearance, thereby assuming their identity? Although you cannot copy their energy, but nevertheless, you can still use this for infiltration if the other parties don''t pay attention to extraneous details like the type of energy you''re emanating." Randy analyzed the pros and cons of this ability and was filled with satisfaction.


    Then he turned his attention to the second ability, ''Ancestral Regression.''


    ''This ability, just from the description alone, it means that you need to have some amazing family background or ancestors with unique or powerful abilities." Randy thought in understanding.


    Fortunately, both of Randy''s parents used to be amazing hunters and thus, their bloodlines should have powerful abilities; and those bloodlines now exist in his own bloodline waiting to be tapped into.


    ''Since there is no problem with my bloodline prerequisite, it means that as long I transformed into the specific ancestry, my appearance may change, for example the color of my skin might be darker if I tapped into my fathers'' ancestry and my appearance might look more Asian if I tap into my mother''s bloodline instead. And it seems that there is a chance to awaken any bloodline ability like my mother''s innate ice affinity or my father''s blood maniption ability or something else entirely from their parents'' generation. Although I kind of don''t need the blood maniption ability but it will be worth a try to see how it differs from my Blood Authority Skill.'' Randy pondered deeply about this matter.


    After a while, he finally made his decision, both of these abilities are good, but he had to choose the one with possibilities rather than one with an instant gratification.


    ''As for thest ability? Who in their right minds would pick such an ability? I definitely want to remain as a man. Even if I can learn some techniques or gain some ability, I will still not turn myself into a female just for that. Not to mention those side effects, tsk, tsk, tsk, for a guy, that would be a horrible experience, so I''ll pass on that one, leaving the remaining two choices as the only real abilities that are worth choosing from.''


    With that thought in mind, he cleared his throat slightly, adjusted himself on his bed and responded with his thoughts.


    ''I have decided. I pick the ''Ancestral Regression'' as my permanent ability.'' Randy decisively spoke.


    ?[[Are you sure?]]?


    "Yes" Randy confirmed without hesitation.


    ?[[Response Acknowledged!]]?


    ?[[Awakening the new ability. Please wait¡­]]?


    Right after it said so, Randy could feel a slight difort as it felt like his blood was overflowing with warm currents as if it was boiling but strangely enough, it did not hurt like thest time when he consumed that wolf-like creature''s blood; this feeling was rather morefortablepared to that.


    Perhaps because he had awakened as an ability holder and his physical abilities improved drastically, resulting in him not feeling the same pain he did the first time he consumed blood or maybe something else entirely is at y, he could not tell, but none of that matters to the current him who had his life turn around on that faithful day when he encountered those monsters.


    As Randy was immersed in the eeriefortable feeling just now, a sudden notification woke him up from his thoughts.


    ?[[You have sessfully awakened the ability, ''Ancestral Regression'' in a form of a skill]]?


    ?[[Please check your status screen for more information regarding this new ability]]?


    "Ohhh!! Finally! I wonder what form I will take after using this transformation ability. Wait, it is already 9 o''clock in the evening; It is time for me to sleep. I think I''ll have to check it out tomorrow. Hm? Oh right, I still haven''t decided on what to do tomorrow. Should I go out to hunt some mutated beasts in the forest for knowledge points or practicebat using the virtual simtor now that I have my own ability?" Randy muttered in contemtion.


    Randy had been using the virtual simtor to practice some basic fighting techniques that anyone could get their hands on. If one wanted better fighting techniques to practice, then they will have to wait until they enter university before they can receive some such techniques.


    In any case, Randy had only been practicing some basic punching techniques in both the virtual and the real world for many years now, so he was very confident in his basics but that was when he had no ability.


    However now that he had awakened his ability, he wanted to test out his punching techniques in the virtual world again to see whether there is a difference nowpared to before. And also, there is another reason why Randy wanted to test out his abilities, that is, [Virtual Duel].


    With the current technology that had been improved with the help of magic and other forms of energies, Virtual Reality itself was now a simple feat as there are spells and techniques that can create a sort of virtual world in a form an illusion where one could fight without holding back against each other but usually one needed to enter the illusion with their physical bodies.


    But with thebination of these spells or techniques and that of science and technology, there was no need to physically enter the virtual world, one only need to just transfer their consciousness or mental form through the virtual machine, and one could use their abilities to the fullest and practice against others without actually hurting anyone or getting physically exhausted. It was the most effective method of practicing one''s abilities and techniques mentally.


    Naturally, it was still necessary to practice one''s abilities and techniques in the real world to see the effects of your mental training.


    And while all this is good, Randy wanted to practice a high-level fist technique rather than some basic technique that he had basically mastered a long time ago. And for that to happen, there was a necessity for ''Knowledge Points.''


    The system mention that he couldprehend the recorded techniques using knowledge points, so it was obviously right for him to gather some knowledge points since he needed to kill an intelligent organism or one with high mental energy to acquire these points and he had not killed any intelligent life form before, so now is a good time to try his hands on that.


    Essentially, he found out that he does not have any Knowledge Points when hest checked the system''s disy.


    Randy looked in the void again to make sure that he was not mistaken the first time he checked the system''s disy.


    ?[[Knowledge Points: 0]]?


    Sure enough, he did not see it wrong when he checked it before; it actually said he had zero points, which means he could notprehend any of the techniques he had acquired.

 Chapter 29 - Mysterious Ovoid

    Randy looked in the void of space to make sure that he was not mistaken the first time he checked the system''s disy.


    ?[[Knowledge Points: 0]]?


    Sure enough, he did not see it wrong when he checked it before; it actually said that he had ''zero'' points, which means he could notprehend any of the techniques that he had acquired.


    With things being the way it is, Randy decided that it was more necessary to acquire some Knowledge Points and see whether he could reallyprehend any of the recorded techniques that the system had saved in the ''Recorded Section'' rather than to partake in the virtualbat with his basic techniques.


    Of course, there was a mention of converting his energy into knowledge points by the system, but Randy was not sure how much it would amount or how long he had to keep converting until he had enough to learn any technique, so that was only as ast resort. Besides, based on the way the system phrased it, it was more likely for one knowledge point to cost more regr energy to be converted into it.


    ''After all, if it was that easy to get knowledge points that way, it could''ve just said to simply convert my energy into knowledge points alone without also suggesting killing living beings to actually acquire them.''


    Randy looked slightly above where the knowledge Points Icon was located and stared at a certain icon. Using his mind, he was able to select the icon, revealing a drop down list of texts.


    ?[[Records]]?


    Current Recorded History:


    Skill(s)


    <Shadow Mirage Barrage>


    <Blood Ray>


    Technique(s)


    <Void Rippling Punch Technique>


    <Unseen Sword Art>


    <Mountain Cleaving Strike Technique>


    <Traceless Form Technique>


    <Untraceable Shallow Spear Art>


    <Destructive Demonic Spear Technique>


    ''These are the current techniques and skills that I had acquired but sadly all of them required knowledge points toprehend. Not to mention the amount of knowledge points necessary toprehend them, I don''t even have one point so I might as wait until I have some points and then I can ask the system then. I don''t want to feel stressed out from the amount of points needed or not being enough even if I have some right now. I will go out tomorrow and all this will be solved one way or another; If I can somehow umte 1000 knowledge points, I might be able toprehend at least one of the skills or techniques, in any case, I hope 1000 knowledge points would be enough.''


    Randy surmised while sitting on the edge of his bed and afterwards he prepared himself to get to sleep.


    Randy did not believe that it would cost him less points toprehend these techniques and skills that were either A-rank or S-rank or perhaps some might be stronger than their actual ranks but nheless, he ns on umting just enough knowledge points and attempt atprehending one of them.


    After tucking himself under his quilt, strangely enough, he felt drowsy as he quickly fell asleep almost right away as if he waspletely exhausted and his body was at its limit.


    ¡­


    As Randy fell asleep, he suddenly opened his eyes and found out that his consciousness was drifting towards a certain direction heading towards the unknown and before he even knew what was going on, he suddenly stopped and was now standing in some dark location; it was aplete darkness everywhere with no light whatsoever no matter what direction he looked.


    ''Where am I? I thought I was sleeping just now, why am I suddenly in this strange ce'' Randy thought in bewilderment.


    After checking himself, he quickly found out that he was currently in a transparent-like form and floating in this darkness location. When he was about to react to his current self, all of a sudden, he was instantly pulled forward by apelling force as the scenery around him immediately changed.


    He found himself standing in a white empty space, with no other color besides the in white color. This gave him a strange feeling as if he was now in a colorless world. Randy looked around some more and he found something strange in this ce, no, it is more urate to say it was the only other existence in this colorless world. In front of him, he found an egg-shaped colorful crystal; the shape of the crystal was that of an ovoid.


    Randy was surprised to find something this colorful in this colorless world that he found himself in.


    ''W-What is that?'' Randy muttered in a trance as he could not take his eyes away from the colorful crystal.


    When Randy looked closely at the colorful crystal that was about a few meters away yet so close to him, he found out that inside this crystal, there were various transparent solid shapes like: Triangr Prism, Square Prism or Cube, Cone, Cylindrical Prism, Rectangr Prism, Hexagonal Prism, and many other solid shapes that were constantly alternating inside the colorful crystal, however, at the center of this [Ovoid Crystal] was a spherical substance, it was more like glittering stars in a form of a sphere, constantly changing colors between seven different colors or perhaps even more.


    Just by looking at it, this ovoid crystal was very alluring, entrancing, and enticing at the first nce, enough that one could not help themselves wanting it for themselves no matter the price one had to pay for it, however, realizing this, Randy immediately shook his head to get rid of these thoughts as he tried speaking out.


    He soon found himself unable to utter any speech and then realized that only his thoughts could be used just fine.


    ''Just what is going on? Where the hell am I? How do I get out of this strange ce?'' Randy said in confusion as he continued to look around frantically.


    He looked around to find a way out, but he did not see any exit or anything else besides this ovoid crystal that was currently floating in the distance and also in front of him. At first, he was tempted to reach out and touch it, but he did not let himself get consumed by the intense desire he felt when he firstid his eyes on it.


    ''Just what is that crystal? Was it trying to make me touch it just now?'' Randy wondered as he warily looked at the colorful crystal.


    This mysterious crystal carries with it thispelling energy around itself that causes any living being that harbors greed within themselves to not be able to resist its temptation, however, even though Randy wanted to obtain power even if it was from the devil himself at his lowest point in life, he was not greedy enough to just take some random crystal which he had no idea what it will do to him after he touched it.


    In spite of that, as long as he was aware of the source of this crystal and the benefit it will bring him, he would not hesitate to take this crystal for himself, but for now, he would not be tempted to take it before finding that out.


    Even someone like Randy knew very well that there was no such thing as free food without some sort of exchange, kindness without ulterior motives, and certainly no free power without any consequences. And with that mindset, Randy proceeded to deeply stare at the only existence in this strange space, the mysterious ovoid crystal with an attentive and cautious gaze.


    ''What does this thing want from me? Why is itpelling me to touch it?'' Randy doubtfully questioned with a frown on his face.


    At this moment, a certain thought or perhaps a certain emotion suddenly appeared inside Randy''s mind, shocking and confusing him greatly.


    ''What''s going on?! What is this feeling?! W-Who said that?!'' Randy shouted within his thoughts.


    To be more precise, this was not his own thoughts but rather someone else''s thought. This confused Randy even further as he began to look around in a panic. Eventually, as he found out that no one else was in here beside himself and the floating ovoid crystal, Randy slowly turned his attention to the crystal, and he tilted his head in confusion before he hesitatingly questioned within his thoughts.


    ''Don''t tell me¡­ Was it you who sent your thoughts just now?'' Randy doubtfully asked.


    Randy thought he was going crazy for even thinking such a thing, however, unexpectedly he received a response in confirmation to his doubts through his mind.


    "W-What?! So it was you?! W-Who are you? What do you want from me?'' Randy cautiously asked.


    At this moment, he had no idea where he is and what that mysterious ovoid crystal was and so, he decided to remain as cautious as possible.


    However unexpectedly the colorful ovoid crystal only mocked him in response to his cautious reactions.


    ''What do you mean I already who you are? Didn''t we just meet just now?'' Randy confusedly asked in return and then he continued after thinking for a bit, "I don''t recalling across something like you."


    The colorful ovoid crystal did not respond to him this time as it kept exuding its dazzling, sparkling and iridescent lights.


    Seeing that the other party did not respond to him, Randy soon fell into deep thought.


    ''The other party imed that I already knew about its existence but as far as I remember, this was definitely my first time encountering something like this and furthermore my first time evening to this strange space. Where the hell am I exactly? Never mind that for now, I clearly haven''t met it before and yet it imed that I have so the only logical conclusion is that I might''ve stumble upon it somehow without knowing but how could I not remember something with those vibrant colors, not to mention thatpelling feeling it exudes." He silently thought.


    Thinking to there, Randy pondered further as he suddenly recalled the things that happened to him recently to see if he could somehow discern the identity of this mysterious ovoid crystal that imed that he already knew about it.

 Chapter 30 - Venturing Out

    Randy pondered for a while as he suddenly recalled the things that happened to him recently to see if he could somehow discern the identity of this mysterious ovoid crystal that imed that he already knew about its existence.


    ''Besides being beaten up by Jeremiah and his goons and awakening after the rift suddenly opened, I don''t think I met anyone or anything other than those monsters that came out of the rift and then afterwards I used my personal system to record those techniques, hm? The techniqu¡ª Wait, the unknown power?! That was something that happened after I awakened my ability and obtained my own personal system; it was because of this unknown power that I can now steal¡ª no, I can now record any technique and skill. Could it be that¡­"


    Randy''s expression gradually turned serious as he turned his attention to the mysterious ovoid crystal with a doubtful expression.


    ''It can''t be that the source of that unknown power that managed to infiltrate my system is that ovoid crystal, right?'' Randy suddenly thought in disbelief.


    Just as Randy was contemting whether that was the case or not. He suddenly felt his consciousness blurred for a moment and then when he came to, he suddenly found himself awoken from his sleep, he was currently lying on his bed staring nkly ahead.


    He could hear the sound of his rm ringing in his ears; It was most likely his rm that he had set for his morning routine that woke him up from his sleep.


    Randy turned his head and dazingly looked at the time projected and it was actually 5:00 O''clock in the morning. Sure enough, this was the time that he usually goes to the gym for morning training.


    He then turned his gaze to face the ceiling as he gradually fell into thought while recalling what he had just experienced.


    ''Was that a dream? No, I still remember it clearly, so it definitely wasn''t just a dream, then what was that colorful ovoid crystal, is it like I thought? That it was the source of that unknown power that managed to infiltrate my system?'' Randy sighed realizing that there was no one to answer him or confirm his thoughts.


    After looking at the time once again, Randy finally snapped out of his daze andzily propped himself off his bed. For some reason, yesterday when he woke up, he was extremely tired and today too, he still felt tired as if he had not slept at allst night.


    Although it was somewhat understandable for yesterday since the night before that was when he went through such a devastating and life changing tribtion but for today, he should have slept early yet it felt like he never slept at all.


    Nheless, he cannot ck off now just because of this, and so, without hesitating anymore, he went to the bathroom. After spending some time brushing his teeth and washing up, he went downstairs to the first floor but did not stop there as he proceeded to head to the basement floor of this mansion.


    This was where the gymnasium was located, at the basement floor. While it says basement, but it was no different from a floor with everything avable including a bathroom, couches, television, and even a bedroom for resting. Basically, this basement was another floor of their mansion.


    Randy approached the door to the basement, after opening it, he went in, climbed down the slight winding stairs down. As usual, the moment he reached the room where the gymnasium was location, he immediately went in after opening the door.


    Once in, he slowly walked forward and pick up some dumbbells and tried them out, however, he soon felt disappointed, he found out that they were much lighterpared to before, so they were pretty much useless to the current him.


    He tried some of the other stations of the gym however they were the same. They were too light and would not serve any purpose even if he lifted them for days.


    His parents did not allowed them to use too much weight when weight-lifting and thus Randy had no choice but to quit with this kind of training method for now.


    With nothing else to do, he decided to run someps on the treadmill for about 30 minutes and just like with the dumbbells which were too light weighted for him, he was not even feeling tired after running for so long, he even picked up the pace by changing the setting, but it was still the same.


    ''Haah, it seems that I have to at least run for a couple miles or few hours before I can start feeling somewhat tired'' He sighed dejectedly and silently thought in disappointment.


    Nevertheless, it was good way to warm up his body and wash away some of his sleepiness. Immediately after that, he went to the gym''s bathroom and took a cold morning shower.


    He came out of the shower room feeling refreshed after washing away the little amount of sweat umted from his ''intense'' body training.


    He wiped himself off with a towel before heading upstairs to his room. He stood before his wardrobe pondering what to wear and finally deciding to put on some casual clothes¡ª a pair of ck jeans and a dark-blue long sleeved T-Shirt along with a dark-red hoodie.


    After that, Randy went to have some breakfast in the kitchen before leaving. He went and made himself some fried eggs mixed with some veggies along with two sses of fresh milk that was further enhanced with magic to ensure freshness while also maintaining its nutritious content.


    If one had topared it to something in the previous era, it would be equivalent to the whey protein drinks except better in terms of nutrients.


    He usually just had for himself some cereal and milk or sometimes a toast with some spread, however, he decided to go for something different today.


    Because he might have to expend some energy when fighting those mutated beasts, so he decided to get some protein in his body to feel energized when he inevitably had to engage in a fight with them.


    This was Randy''s first time trying to hunt a mutated beast and although he was very confident with his current abilities, one cannot simply be careless and thus he still could not help but feel a slight nervousness as he thought of engaging in a fight against those fierce beasts.


    Randy finished his breakfast was about to head out before he was suddenly stopped in his tracks by a sudden resounding voice.


    "Where are you going this early in the morning?" The owner of the voice asked.


    Randy flinched for no reason before he slowly turned around and replied, "I-I''m going to Jiang Chen''s house; we have a ss assignment that we need to work on together."


    "Hmm¡­"


    The owner of the voice remained silent without saying anything and only narrowed their eyes to stare at him suspiciously.


    Randy felt a cold sweat behind his back, he thought for a bit, and then added, "It is an interss assignment, so we happened to receive the same assignment; that''s why I''m visiting Jiang Chen''s house so that we can work together toplete the assignment faster."


    "Hmm¡­"


    They owner of the voice continued to still maintained their silence and all the while continuing to stare at him suspiciously.


    Randy did not like where this was going. After gathering his thoughts, he patted his chest and confidently said, "If you don''t believe me, you can simply call Jiang Chen and ask him for confirmation."


    "Is that so, then why do I feel like you''re hiding something." Riley casually stated and she continued to look at her son with a suspicious gaze.


    "W-What would I be hiding?" Randy stuttered as he replied to her statement.


    ''Was I found out? Don''t tell me she found out¡­ that I had managed to awakened my ability somehow through some method?'' Randy silently thought while maintaining his calm expression but with a stiff smile on his face.


    "I see, if you''re really not hiding anything, then why are you not informing me beforehand if you''re heading out?" Riley then said to him.


    "That''s¡­" Randy appeared helpless and did not know how to answer that.


    ''Phew so it wasn''t because she found out that I had awakened my ability? I was nning on making that a surprise when I register for the university entrance exams¡­'' He inwardly sighed and silently thought in relief.


    And then he continued his thoughts after calming himself down.


    ''It''s not like I can say that I was going out to fight some mutated beasts in order to collect some knowledge points, right?'' Randy inwardly shook his head as he helplessly thought with a wry smile on his face.


    Riley then continued speaking without waiting for his answer, "Also, that friend of yours, Jiang Chen, was it? You''re still hanging out that strange boy?"


    "Mom, I told you that he''s not strange, he''s just a ner¡ª I mean, a genius, that''s right, he is a genius, that''s all" Randy readily refused his mother''s words, however he almost failed to defend his friend just now.


    Riley was silent for a brief moment without saying in return and then she suddenly spoke up again.


    "¡­Whatever you say, just make sure toe home early this time." She paused for a bit and then sternly continued, "Remember, don''t go to ces that you shouldn''t ande home right away after you''re done with whatever you will be doing."


    "¡­I know, mom. I will see youter." Randy said as he turned around and was about to leave.


    "Hm, be careful" Riley gently said to him as he was about to leave.


    "¡­Okay, I will."


    Randy suddenly felt warm inside, listening to her words. He could tell that his mother''s attitude towards him was somehow differentpared to before.


    Unlike the way she was speaking to him right now, she usually does not show that much concern even when he goes out to hang out with Jiang Chen.

 Chapter 31 - Jiang Chen

    After the conversation between the mother and son ended, Randy turned around and started walking towards the gate in the distance.


    However, at this moment, a young girl in her pajamas suddenly poke her head out behind Riley, yawning as she suddenly spoke when she saw that Randy was heading towards the gate leading outside of the mansion.


    "Eh? Brother, where are you going?!" Lydia asked, half-sleepy and half-awake.


    Randy turned around without stopping his legs from moving and replied to her, "Dia, I''m going out. I''m going to see Jiang Chen for a while, I''ll be back before dark. Stay home with mom, okay?"


    Lydia felt disappointed, she hesitated for a bit, but eventually she still responded with a firm nod, "Hm, okay, Brother, make sure youe back quickly; there are bad guys everywhere and my teacher said we shouldn''t go out by ourselves too often!"


    "Haha, alright, I''ll make sure toe home quickly. I''m leaving now, see youter. Bye, bye!" Randy could not help butugh slightly at his little sister''s innocent but factual words before waving at her with a smile on his face.


    He reached the gate at this moment, and then opened it by tapping his key card before walking out as it closed behind him.


    "Bye, bye, Brother!" Lydia shouted her words behind him.


    Watching this, Riley only chuckled slightly and shook her head while listening to their little conversation.


    However, she immediately fell silent shortly after.


    After thinking for a bit, she disyed a saddened expression as she can feel like her son had somehow change or perhaps returned to how he used to be when he was younger.


    ''Perhaps, we were being too hard on him before? ¡­Maybe we shouldn''t have rushed him like we did and made him feel so isted in the process. Even though we thought it was the right choice¡ª no, we felt like it was the necessary decision at the time but now that I think about it, we may have been expecting too much from him even though he was only a child.'' Riley sighed and silently thought to herself as she watched her son''s departing figure.


    ¡­


    Randy had already walked out of the mansion through the gate, and he could still hear his little sister''s voice behind him. He smiled and then proceeded to turn towards a certain direction before walking away from the mansion.


    Soon, he reached a train station. The trains nowadays work on magical energy or magic crystals, so they move fasterpared to the old trains.


    At this moment, Randy was waiting for a certain train arrive.


    Shortly after, the train arrived.


    Randy took this train to his destination and then proceeded to walk for about a few minutes before arriving at a certain mansion. This mansion was not too luxurious nor was it too shabby, it was somewhere in between. This was the house of Randy''s close friend, Jiang Chen and also one of the only people who never shun him despite his situation before.


    Beforeing here, he had already notified him. Although Randy was indeed nning to go to the forest and hunt some mutated beasts, however, at the moment he still needed an alibi in case his mom asks about his whereabouts from Jiang Chen, and he was nowhere to be found.


    That will be a big blunder and thus he came to stay here for about a few minutes before finally heading out. Besides, it was only seven something in the morning right now, so it was okay to stay here for a while before setting out.


    And while he is at it, he can also take this chance to spend some time with his best friend, thus two birds with one stone.


    At this point, a figure suddenly approached Randy aftering out of gate of the mansion. It was young man, seemingly only 18 years old. He had a ck hair and a pair of sses on his eyes. His facial appearance itself was obscured. No one could tell his looks at a nce because he had always left his hair long and disheveled bangs almost covering his face; it seemed like he rarely trims his hair.


    This was Randy''s best friend, Jiang Chen.


    After receiving Randy''s text that he had arrived, he came to pick him up in front of the gate.


    Jiang Chen showed a smile and spoke out when he approached Randy: "Bro, you''ve arrived."


    ¡­


    Inside the mansion, in Jiang Chen''s room.


    A loud voice abruptly resounded in the entire room.


    "Bro, you actually awakened your innate ability?!" Jiang Chen eximed after hearing Randy''s story.


    "Shhuu¡ª¡ª "


    Randy gestured with his index finger vertically over his mouth and hurriedly said, "Keep your voice down, I haven''t even told my parents yet so please keep your voice down."


    "But why? From a rational standpoint, any human¡ª no, specifically someone in your situation would normally reveal such an important event in your life to get others to recognize your existence or do you not want the recognition even after what you had been through?" Jiang Chen confusedly asked him, after hearing that he did not even tell his parents about his awakened ability.


    However Randy shook his head and then replied sternly, "That is precisely the reason why I don''t want to reveal it until thest minute when it was time to register for the university entrance examination. I''ll show them then. I''ll show them what this loser, Randy Smith that they looked down on can do. That''ll be my revenge against them; After seeing my wless disy of my ability, they would all receive an infallible p on their faces."


    Jiang Chen was silent for a brief moment. He was aware of how people treated this friend of his and so he understood his sentiment to some extent.


    After a while, he then opened his mouth and spoke while shaking his head, "Tsk, you really have a strange taste in getting revenge. Why would you take revenge like that? Wouldn''t it be alright to tell everyone now, why wait? Also, what about your parents?"


    Randy did not mind hisment and only gave a mysterious smile before replying, "If I tell them now, that''ll ruin the fun, don''t you think so? As for my parents, I was just going to surprise themter after I finished registering that''s all."


    Listening to him speak like this, Jiang Chen could only give up trying to convince him, he sighed, and then said in a defeated voice, "Whatever, but I''m d that you have finally awakened your innate ability. So what type of ability is it? What is your ss?"


    Instantly, Randy disyed a troubled expression and did not know how to respond for a while and then finally sighed uncontrobly before saying, "Well, you see¡­ that''s the thing. To be honest, I don''t really know what kind of ability it is either and same goes for the ss."


    "What?! Didn''t you receive a system with your detailed information? I was certain that everyone who awakened received one though, even I received one." Jiang Chen eximed as he raised his eyebrow in surprise and doubtfully asked him.


    "Calm down, that''s not it. I did indeed received a system," Randy wondered if he should tell him about the upgrade of his system but eventually decided against it before continuing, "It''s just that my ss is not fully shown so I can''t tell what it is; it says something like ''Blood'' followed by question marks. I have no idea what the follow ups characters are, so I assumed that it''s ''Blood Warrior'' like my Dad''s or ''Blood Mage'' or simply ''Blood Master'' or somethings along those lines."


    Hearing these unbelievable wordsing from his mouth, Jiang Chen suddenly had a pondering look on his face, then he muttered, "That''s indeed very strange¡­" After a long pause, he continued, "I really haven''t heard of such a case before. ording to my current ess of information, there shouldn''t be such precedent unless no one had revealed such an urrence to the public before. In any case, I think I should look into this matter myselfter on¡­ Regardless, this is a very interesting development now that I think about it. To think that there was such a possibility of awakening without themonly known sses. Although I have heard of a few new sses but those are within the expectations ording to the variation data extrapted by the [Ability Management Association], [Awakening Center] and various other organizations¡­"


    Randy suddenly felt a headache iing when he heard his friend rumbling on and on and could not help but shake his head in dismay.


    "Haah¡ª" He sighed helplessly and said in a defeated tone, "I get it¡­ I get it already and why are you thinking too much about this? I only came here to use you as a sort of alibi so I can go out and hunt some mutated beasts in the nearby forest outside of the city. Not to talk about my abilities and ss."


    It was at this moment, when he heard Randy''s seemingly impatient words that Jiang Chen finally snapped out of his thoughts, disying a sudden realization, and then said, "Oh right, that''s right, you did mention that in the text. So that''s what you really came here for? You were not kidding? Are you for real?"


    Randy replied in confirmation, "That''s right, I need to test out something about my abilities."


    Jiang Chen appeared confused as he suddenly questioned in return, "Test out something? Abilities? Did you just say abilities? How many abilities did you awaken exactly?"

 Chapter 32 - Showing Off

    "So how many abilities did you awaken exactly?" Jiang Chen suddenly asked.


    "Eh? Uhm, not much. In truth, all my abilities are part of my ss I think, and they all had something to do with controlling blood, well, that''s all I can tell you." Randy gave him a response despite being caught off guard.


    "Oh? Is that so."


    Jiang Chen uttered as he looked at him and disyed a disappointed look and Randy did not miss this change in his expression.


    "Hey,e on now, don''t look at me like that. Alright, fine. I''ll just show you then. I can use an ability simr to reinforcement." Saying so, Randy transformed into his werewolf form partially with only his hair turning white, no extended ws or protruding fangs, however his eyes were yellowish-green in color.


    This transformation was only 10% out of the total 30% so the effects did not alter his appearance that much.


    "Ohhh!!" Jiang Chen''s excited voice resounded.


    "You can actually change your appearance, no, transform should be the appropriate word. You can actually transform yourself. This is very interesting. So how strong are you now?" Jiang Chen excitedly asked.


    Randy appeared to be in thought as he held his chin, and then casually said, "Let''s see, I should be as strong as a B-rank with my current appearance, give and take."


    "What?! B-B-rank? Already? You''re not lying to me, right?" Jiang Chen eximed in shock upon hearing his im and then doubtfully asked in return.


    Randy waved his hands and then tried to clear the misunderstanding, "Wait, calm down. That is only my physical state, not ounting my magical energy and other stuff."


    After hurriedly saying so to stop him from overreacting too much, he then continued with an uncertainty in his voice, "As for other things like the energy rankings, I am not too sure of it myself until I pay a visit to the hunter association or other organization."


    "Oh, I see. That makes sense." Jiang Chen finally understood and then continued, "Then again, you have been through so much without an innate ability for a long time, so I guess this makes up for all those times of shame and frustration."


    Jiang Chen genuinely said to him from the bottom of his heart.


    Hearing him say that Randy could not help but feel emotional at this moment. Indeed, he had been through a lot these past few years and finally, he can raise his head up high without any worry of being ridiculed again.


    After a while of silence between the two, Jiang Chen recalled something, then finally spoke up again, "Ah, also, you said, you could control blood, right? Do you mind demonstrating it so I can see? I need to see it for my personal research."


    Jiang Chen said with an intrigued voice. After seeing his transformation ability just now, he cannot wait to see what other ability he had awakened. Although most people only awaken one ability but there are few people who managed to awaken two or more abilities, not to mention those who could use more than one type of energy. These kinds of people are rarer than those with more than one ability from the same energy type, thus they are few and far between no matter where you go.


    However when he looked at him, Randy had a pondering expression as if he was rather troubled by his sudden request of his.


    Noticing that his troubled expression, which was rather strange, Jiang Chen looked at him for a bit before asking, "What is it? Do you not want to show it to me? Or is there some other reason why you looked troubled?"


    Hearing him, Randy snapped out of his thoughts with his eyebrows raised for a moment and then hurriedly said, "N-No, that''s not it. I don''t mind showing you, but do you mind losing some blood?"


    "You need my blood? No problem." Saying so, he hurriedly went to grab a knife from somewhere in his room. Although, he was surprised by Randy''s request but that was only secondary if he could see what type of ability he has.


    Randy appeared surprised seeing him holding a short knife in his hand without a care and he muttered, "So quick to decide? You''re not even the least bit scared of losing your blood? Or even suspicious of the fact that I need your blood specifically to disy my ability to you?"


    "What are you talking about?" Jiang Chen asked in confusion.


    Randy replied in a serious tone, "What if I use your blood for some, you know, some voodoo or some ritual or maybe use it to ce a curse on you or something? Are you not scared of that possibility?"


    Jiang Chen chuckled after listening to him and then said to him while shaking his head in disappointment, "Randy, I have known you for so long and yet you act like a stranger toward me even now? Are we even friends at this point? Stop talking nonsense and take my blood and let me see your ability."


    Although he told him all that in seriousness as if he was disappointed in him, but he could not hide the excitement in his voice as he spoke.


    Randy on the other hand was stunned speechless when he heard those words from his best friend and then he silently thought.


    ''Right, he is my only friend in all these years, so it is normal for mutual trust to exist between us.''


    Thinking so, he did not hesitate anymore, he revealed a smile, and then spoke in a yful but somewhat mysterious tone, "Although, I cannot do any voodoo, conduct a ritual or even ce a curse on you, I can do something else."


    Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows in surprise, a bit interested in what he was saying, "What do you mean by those words?"


    Randy did not bother to reply to his question and simply said to him, "Just give me your blood. On second thought, just cut your finger or whatever you want, and I will do the rest."


    "Alright" Jiang readily replied to him and proceeded to poke his index with the knife.


    ''He really arbitrary cut his finger without hesitation.'' Randy silently thought in surprise.


    Randy was shocked but still maintained his calm, and after seeing the blooding out of the fresh wound on Jiang Chen''s index finger, he stated, "Alright, that''s it, leave it like that."


    Saying so, he tried activating his Blood Authority skill but then he thought of something and then he decided to do so after undoing his werewolf transformation beforehand.


    "Damn, it really is pretty cool to transform your body like that. I wish I had something like that." Jiang Chen gasped in admiration when he saw Randy visibly changing back to his own appearance.


    Seeing him like that, Randy thought for a bit and told him, "Don''t worry, I heard that there are techniques purposely used for changing one''s appearance. If I get my hands on one someday, I will hand it to you first since you want to change your appearance so much."


    "Really? But I heard those techniques are really so expensive¡­ no, they''re definitely expensive." Jiang Chen said and then waved his other hand dismissively before saying, "Don''t worry about my nonsense and use your blood maniption ability already."


    "¡­Alright, but don''t be surprised by what you see" Randy said to him in ambiguous tone.


    "Why would I be? And why aren''t youing closer but standing in the distance?" Jiang Chen confusedly asked.


    Randy did not reply to him this time and only mumbled to himself, "Well, this distance should be enough?"


    Saying so, he fully activated his ability from about 2 meters distance away from where Jiang Chen was standing.


    [Activating Blood Authority]


    Randy felt some sort of invisible energy almost like a maic field around himself as hepelled the dripping red blood on Jiang Chen''s left hand''s index finger. Immediately after, almost like a maic attraction or like telekinesis, the dripping blood started levitating as it floated towards his direction in a straight line.


    A shocked voice resounded shortly after.


    "Whoa!"


    "Y-You can actually manipte my blood from such a distance. Do you also have a telekic ability?" Jiang Chen almost jumped in surprise as he suddenly asked with a look of disbelief.


    He knew that Randy had a transformation ability, and a blood maniption ability but he never thought that Randy also had a telekic ability. Just how many abilities did he awaken?


    While Jiang Chen was seriously thinking about this, Randy himself appeared helpless as he tried to exin, "This¡­ I don''t think it is telekinesis. It is called Blood Authority and that''s all I know about it at this point. Well, it is pretty handy as I can even detect any harmful substance within the blood I collect from others."


    "How wondrous¡­" Jiang Chen muttered under his breath.


    And then he paused as he suddenly realized something and then curiously asked, "Did you just say, ''blood I collect from others?'' Whose blood did you collect so far?"


    ''Damn! He is so sharp! Picking up on these little crumbs I identally dropped by ident..'' Randy silently eximed inwardly while looking at Jiang Chen''s curious gaze.

 Chapter 33 - Awakening Center

    After a moment of silence, Randy finally opened his mouth after being stunned momentarily, cleared his throat slightly and then told him, "Well, the first time was by ident, so this how it happened¡­"


    Randy recounted his unfortunate encounter with a rift and the monsters that came out of them without mentioning anything about Jeremiah and his goons. He talked about how one of the monsters was injured badly and was being chased by a humanoid monster. Then finally concluded with how the injured monster''s blood identally dripped down and entered his mouth as it suddenly flew away into the unknown.


    "Holy shit! You actually ran into such monsters and still managed to survive? And you said there was a humanoid monster that might be a vampire? How do you know it''s a vampire?"


    Randy replied, "Well, it had an awfully pale skin and I think it even had glowing red eyes so I kind of assumed it was a vampire by that appearance and that creature with the white fur, the one''s whose blood I identally swallowed might be a werewolf or something simr"


    ''Well I know for a fact that it was a werewolf, but I can''t let him know that?'' Randy silently thought to himself.


    "For real, a werewolf and a vampire¡­" Jiang Chen muttered in disbelief and then he realized something, and then he spoke up again after pondering something, "Wait, is it possible¡­ is that why you had such an appearance? The white hair and white fur werewolf¡­ Or am I just thinking too much?"


    He looked at him as he said this, and then immediately fell into a deep thought for a bit as he spected Randy''s transformation just now and his story about how he consumed the blood of a werewolf with a white fur which coincidentally aligns with Randy''s transformed hair color?


    After thinking for a while, he could finally connect the two pieces together and solved the mystery behind Randy''s unusual mix of abilities.


    And then a momentter, he doubtfully asked, "Don''t tell me you can take the appearance of whatever blood you consume or maybe copy their form slightly?"


    Randy was sweating as he was very shocked by his question, his facial expression suddenly froze while looking at him in disbelief.


    ''Fuck! This guy is simply too good at deduction. I only gave this little detail and he had already figured it out. Although I was going to tell him anyway but to think that he had already found it out before I even finished speaking¡­''


    Randy eximed in shock but still maintained his calm, cleared his throat slightly and then confirmed his words, "Well, something like that but not entirely. Like I said, it was only an ident that I consumed that werewolf''s blood, and it was also the factor that spurred my awakening in the ce, so in a sense, it was actually a blessing in disguise that I met those monsters from the rift."


    There were a few moments silence in the room. Nobody said anything to each other for a long while and all of a sudden and a loudughter resounded.


    "Ahahahaha!!"


    Thisugher was so loud that if some suddenly walked by the room, they would immediately assumed that the other party was probably insane or was going crazy.


    Randy was also taken aback by this development and so he did not know to react or what to say.


    A short whileter, after calming himself down, Jiang Chen suddenly said inplete admiration, "This is amazing! Randy, do you have any idea how amazing and peculiar your situation is? With this ability of yours, you''ll definitely triumph over those geniuses with deep rooted background, not to mention people in our academy. To think one of my friends awakened this kind of terrifying ability, Ahahahaha!!"


    Immediately after speaking, he burst intoughter once again. However, Randy suddenly cut in.


    "What are youughing about? Aren''t I your only friend? Since when did you have other friends beside me?" Randy rolled his eyes at him as he asked in a teasing tone.


    Jiang Chen abruptly stopped hisughter, cleared his throat in embarrassment and then seriously said, "Don''t sweat the details too much, in truth, I actually have online friends whom I converse with all the time, so it is not a lie when I say that I have other friends beside you."


    Randy rolled his eyes at him again and then said in return, "What friends? If that is the case, then even I have those kinds of friends."


    Jiang Chen appeared surprise and muttered, "What? You do?"


    They all stared at each for a while and then they immediately burst intoughter uncontrobly.


    "Pft¡ª "


    "Ahahahaha!!" Randy suddenly burst intoughter seeing his shocked expression.


    Jiang Chen could not hold himself back as he also burst intoughter shortly aftering back to his senses.


    "Ahahahahaha!!"


    The two of themughed to their hearts out while reminiscing their sad and lonely life despite them being academically smart students. They still do not have any friends that they could confide in beside themselves and so their rtionship with each other was one of closeness, like the one between two brothers.


    After a while, they all calmed down, Randy informed Jiang Chen once again about what he needed to do and also talked about other matters and then he left shortly after.


    His destination was the Sky Rise City''s forest; he ns on hunting mutated beasts in that forest to umte some knowledge points toprehend at least one of the techniques he had acquired.


    Before leaving, he obviously took Jiang Chen''s blood with him and also casually demanded that Jiang Chen cover for him in case his mother suddenly calls him and does not reach him.


    Although Randy silently stowed away Jiang Chen''s blood, he was certain that Jiang Chen would not mind it either way, so he was not too worried about that. After all, he knew his abilities and besides there was no secrets between the two of them.


    ''Except for that unknown power and my system''s upgrade but even I am unsure of what those are so for now, I think it''s better if he does not know until I am certain of it myself.'' Randy silently thought after pondering for a bit.


    As for matters regarding his mother''s concern, Randy was assured that everything would work out somehow. After all, Jiang Chen was sort of a geek and knows a lot about technology stuff thus can even connect their bracelets when necessary and thereby enabling him to talk to his mom in case she decides to call Jiang Chen instead of calling him to check out whether he was there or not.


    With that out of the way, Randy was rxed as he proceeded to head towards the outskirt of this city.


    For some unknown reason or perhaps purposefully, their school was not that far away from the outskirt of the city as the Beast Forest, where the mutated beasts are found was right after crossing the boundary set up by the government.


    Perhaps, in order to expose the students to the harshness of the current world, they built the institution next to the forest to ensure that the children were able to frequent the forest to test their abilities.


    Soon, he reached the boundary between the city and the Beast Forest, there was wall between the city and the Beast Forest that outstretch upwards for a few meters to prevent beast hordes from attacking the city.


    However, after reaching the gate leading outside, he was immediately stopped by a guard stationed near the gate as he tried to cross the boundary, who then demanded his identification card.


    Randy did not think much of this and quickly took out his student identification card and showed it to the guard, but the other party shook his head and obstructed him from passing through.


    "Student, I don''t mean to look down on you or anything, but you need to have a hunter''s ID or at least an awakener''s identification to pass through here, even if you have already awakened your ability. Otherwise you can only turn around and leave. You cannot walk through this gate until you acquire a proper identification card; that is thew established by the government to ensure no reckless actions leading to pointless deaths of civilians."


    Hearing this, Randy had no choice but to turn around and leave to conduct a test and then receive a proper identification to prove that he had really awakened and that he was an ability holder.


    But before that, he turned around again and thanked the guard for this information.


    "I understand, thank you for the advice" He said.


    "No need to thank me, I am only stating the obvious; once you have a proper ID, I''ll let you pass through then." The guard waved his hand dismissively as he urged him to leave.


    Randy nodded, bowed slightly and then made his way back where he came from to get his awakener''s identification.


    With that in mind, Randy headed towards the branch of the [Awakening Center] in this city. After walking for a bit, Randy reached his school, but he did not stop there and proceeded to head towards another direction for a few minutes and then finally reached a ce for taking a cab for transportation.


    This Awakening Center was quite close to his school, so it was not that much distance away from his current location.


    A short whileter, a cab finally came, and Randy entered the car and drove towards the Awakening Center. By taking the cab, his journey did notst long thus he arrived shortly after in less than fifteen minutes, and then got off the cab and looked a certain high-rise building in the distance.


    Randy hesitated for a bit while staring at this building that bring back memories.. After staring at this building with a nostalgic expression on face for a bit, he then proceeded to head towards that building with him no longer feeling any sort of hesitation.

 Chapter 34 - Unwanted Attention

    Randy walked towards the awakening center without hesitating any longer. Because the current him had already awakened so right now, all he was going there for was to verify and confirm the fact of his awakening.


    Unlikest time when he came here to awaken his ability, this time he was only here to get an identification after he had already awakened naturally or perhaps not naturally but they do not need to know that.


    With that thought in mind, after reaching the door to the building, it automatically opened, and he then entered without any dys in his steps as he marched forward in a calm manner.


    ¡­


    At the same time.


    On the other side, inside a certain building in the Sky Rise Police Department.


    Hong Mingyue was standing in front of a projected monitor with a respectful gaze as she exined a certain event that urred a while ago to a mysterious man with a white hair and handsome features, who carried an indifferent bearing almost as if nothing in this world could cause him to be perturbed or elicit a reaction from him.


    At this moment, the white-haired man spoke in unconvinced tone, "You''re telling me a random brat managed to apprehend a criminal with an A-rankbat power? How is that possible? You expect me to believe that?"


    Hong Mingyue was silent for a moment before replying in confirmation, "Sir, I understand that this may be unbelievable to hear without seeing it with your own eyes, however that is indeed what happened, and we have proof to justify this im."


    "Hmph! I refuse to believe that a brat who hadn''t even graduated from high school managed to subdue ''Thousand Visage'' whom we have tried our best to catch for so long but still eluded us every time with his ability to change his appearance. Do you have any footage of the event? If you do, I want to see it with my own eyes to be certain." The white-haired man snorted and spoke in a doubtful tone, unable to bring himself to believe that such an urrence had happened.


    "Alright, although we couldn''t get an on-scene footage, we instead managed to extract the satellite footage during his encounter with Thousand Visage. However, there was something strange about what transpired after they met, my men¡­"


    The white-haired man suddenly cut her off in her speech, scoffed and then said in an indifferent tone, "Something strange? Hmph! That is something for me to judge, not your men; Just hurry and transfer the footage to my monitor. I cannot trust your judgement on this matter."


    ''What did you just say, you bastard?! You white-haired freak of nature! I have already been respectful enough to you and yet you look down on me and my men''s work. Do you think I won''t fight you?!'' Hong Mingyue angrily screamed inwardly with an unchanged expression.


    "¡­Understood, right away." Hong Mingyue said and then she turned to one of her subordinates who was busy operating something on a projected screen from hisputer in the distance and then stated, "Xiao Minghao, send the footage of that brat to him."


    "Eh?" Xiao Minghao uttered in surprise as he turned his head away from theputer screen and then muttered in a low voice, "But Sister Hong, didn''t that brat not want to attract any attention to himself? Isn''t that why he said not to inform his parents about this. Why are you¡­"


    "Just do it, he said it was okay to tell my superior, although this man is not part of our police department, but he had a connection to the Chief of Police, so he''s technically rted to my superior; he will eventually find out anyway even if I don''t show him the footage now." Hong Mingyue whispered in reply.


    And then she thought of something and then continued, "Besides, I cannot refuse his request; do you really want me to offend such a personage and risk losing our jobs?"


    "That''s¡­ I understand. I will send it right away." Xiao Minghao had no choice but to give in to the reason for her choice.


    Indeed, they cannot offend this person, otherwise no one can tell what will happen to themter on. Losing their jobs is nothing, however getting another job within this district might be a tasking thing and no one wants to end up without a job in the present world, where sleeping outside might lead to your sudden death since there are no safety measures in the streets.


    Hong Mingyue returned to the projected monitor shortly after and then informed the white-haired man.


    "My subordinate is sending the footage. It should be transferred over in a short moment." She spoke in a respectful voice.


    "Very well" The white-haired man curtly replied.


    With that out of the way, Hong Mingyue stood to the side as she suddenly recalled what she and her subordinates witnessed when they saw the footage the day before.


    At that moment, they saw a young man approached the burr who was most likely trying to hijack a car. As the young man approached the burr, they immediately started a conversation with each other and then it seems like some sort of negotiation had failed as it looks like the burr was furious and tried to attack the young man in spite, however the next event was shocking and confusing.


    The burr suddenly fell t on his face on the floor of the parking lot and then the following scene that unfolded was even more confusing as the defenseless young man abruptly transformed as his hair gradually turned white in color before proceeding to threaten the burr who was lying t on the ground at that moment.


    The burr appeared frightened as he suddenly gave his storage bracelet with the stolen items to the young man and after receiving the storage bracelet, the young man proceeded to hit the burr in the back of his head for about 9-10 times only when the burr fell unconscious before he opened the storage bracelet and took out the items.


    And after a couple of minutester, they arrived at the scene and by then, the young man had already transformed back to his previous state.


    ''The situation at the time was really bizarre, because the young man did not appear to have attacked him before the burr suddenly fell to ground. Then did he really copse due to blood loss? If so, then how careless of Thousand Visage to not even know how to take care of his own wounds, but if that is not case, then how did the boy attack him and even manage to evade our perception even though we analyzed the video many times up until now?'' Hong Mingyue silently thought with a pondering expression.


    Suddenly a voice resounded in her ears snapping her out of her thoughts.


    "I have received your file; I have already watched it for a brief moment, but there seems to be something strange with that brat. And why does he have a white hair when he uses his ability; such a thing hasn''t been heard of yet, but not impossible if he was a member of my family but otherwise, that should have been impossible." The white-haired man said in disbelief.


    After pausing for a few moments, the white-haired man then said in a condescending tone, "I will have my men analyze the footage thoroughly to see any hints that your people might''ve missed due to your poor technology."


    At this point, Hong Mingyue''s eyes twitched slightly when she heard this white-haired man''s haughty words.


    She and Xiao Minghao then exchanged nces with each other but said nothing, however she gestured for the Xiao Minghao to not say anything.


    Despite not reacting outwardly, Hong Mingyue was inwardly furious as she silently screamed in her head as if to tear the white-haired man apart.


    ''How dare he look down on our police department. Does he think I am afraid of him or something? If not because of his background, I would''ve ripped that mouth of his that he dared to use to talk to us like that!''


    She roared in frustration yet still replied with an unchanged expression and a solemn voice: "Understood, then we will have to bother you to look into this matter."


    "Hmph!" The white-haired man snorted before cutting the connection to the projected monitor.


    ¡­


    Eastern District.


    At some luxurious hotel.


    A handsome man, who appeared to be in his twenties was sitting with his leg crossed in a couch while holding a ss of red wine in his right hand. He gently swirled the ss of wine in his hand, knocking the ice cubes against the ss as they made audible noises in the room.


    At this point, he suddenly spoke in apprehensive tone, "I thought we of the Silvermoon family were special with our distinct white hair and yet some no-name brat had awakened an ability that can turn his hair into a white color. Such a person cannot be left alone lest others think he belongs to our family or his existence tarnishing our nobility status."


    White hair may symbolize many things, but to him, white hair exemplified the status of wisdom, majestic and or holiness, thus a high nobility status symbol, and also, one which his family the Silvermoon family were renowned for in the high society.

 Chapter 35 - Taking Measurement

    From where the white-haired man came from, it was their believe that only nobles of the high status were born with a white-hair and so, he could not ept this brat having the ability to turn his hair into a white color, the pride of their family.


    If someone were to find out about this, they will be aughingstock. There was a slight possibility that they would also lose their high status and the uniqueness of their family, thus losing their ce in this world.


    After all, the other renowned families could simply say that their family was not any special since it seems like anybody could have their hair turn white if they were lucky enough to awaken an ability that had such an effect on their body.


    Bang!


    "That cannot be allowed happen!" The white-haired man abruptly put his ss of wine down uttering and then he suddenly took out hismunication device and then projected the holographic screen in front of himself, disying a certain individual on the other end, who appeared to be looking at him in sincere respect.


    "Young Lord, how may I be of assistance to you." A respectful voice resounded from the other side of themunication device.


    The white-haired man ignored the other party''s respectful voice and sternly said to him, "Tell the tech department to analyze the video I just send to them thoroughly and also investigate the identity of that brat in the footage; send all his information to me when it is done; do not miss a single detail. Do you understand?"


    The other party was shocked for a split second but then still replied solemnly in a respectful tone a momentter, "I understand, Young Lord!"


    "Hm, that will be all; I still have matters to attend to in the Eastern District, so I will be waiting for your good news."


    Saying so, he did wait for the other party to respond as he directly cut the connection of themunication device off.


    "Now, let''s see who you really are, brat¡­" The white-haired man muttered in a rxed tone after handling the matter.


    ¡­.


    At the Awakening Center


    Randy had already entered the building only to find out that there was a long line of people in the lobby of this building, thus had no choice but to wait for his turn toe up.


    And after waiting for a bit, it was finally his turn to head towards the reception area. The process was really quick and so he did not have to wait for too long.


    In any case, since he did not set up an appointment before his arrival, he could only wait for his turn unlike those who did and were simply led away by someone waiting on them or that they simply just knew where to go and did not have to wait in line.


    At this point, he had already reached the front desk of the reception area and was immediately greeted by receptionist.


    "Hello, wee to the awakening center; how may I help you today? Are you perhaps here to awaken your ability or something else?" The reception girl bowed slightly as she greeted him in a respectful tone.


    Randy did not reply right away as he stared at this pretty young woman in front of him. She looks like she was in her early twenties now with a decent a figure, however that was not what caught his attention.


    Randy knew this woman from three years ago, back then when Randy came here with his parents to awaken his ability, however for some reason, whenever they came here throughout the whole three years, this receptionist was always on duty and thus was always the one who took care of their checking in process and then subsequently leading them to an avable room to conduct the awakening process.


    However, right now, it seems like this woman does not remember him at all.


    ''Well, who would remember someone like me in the first ce?'' He silently thought in a self-deprecation while inwardly shaking his head.


    Nevertheless, Randy did not take this to heart and showed an amiable smile before replying to the reception girl: "Uhm, actually, I came here to register my awakened ability."


    "Oh, so you have already awakened your ability by yourself?" The reception girl appeared surprised and then asked in confirmation.


    "That''s right, so how do I go about it? I am not sure as I came unprepared and also, this is my first time doing this and I was not privy to how the process will be like." Randy confirmed and then said.


    "Ah, about that, you do not need to worry. You only needed to disy your ability and have your energy type measured and that will be all." The reception girl said to him.


    And then she recalled something before suddenly speaking again, "But before that, I need some form of identification to prove your identity."


    "Ah, okay, wait a second. Here you go." Randy said as he immediately took out his student identification card before handing it to the reception girl.


    When she saw this, she was surprised and then muttered in a low voice, "Oh, so you''re a high school student, huh? And only 18 years old."


    As she took the identification card, she examined it and then raised her voice and said, "Alright, this will do. Please wait a moment."


    "Alright." Randy replied.


    The reception girl projected a screen from herputer as she created a new page, type some information into the main system before handing the identification card back to him.


    And then said, "Please follow me, I will lead you to where you will be taking your measurements."


    Saying so, she had already step out from behind the reception counter and was heading in a certain direction in the lobby.


    "Eh?"


    Randy nced at her and at the people behind him and doubtfully muttered in a questioning voice as he followed behind, "Are you sure it''s okay to leave the reception area when there are so people waiting in line?"


    Hearing that, the reception girl only smiled and kindly responded to him, "You don''t worry about that; Someone wille and take my ce. The moment I left the counter, I had already informed another co-worker to take my ce. Come, let''s go."


    "Ah, okay." Randy replied as he picked up the pace and continued to follow her.


    Just like that, the two of them proceeded to take the elevator and then headed to basement section of the building.


    And after walking some more while passing through some maze-like intersections and other departments of the building, they finally reached a certain room, an opened space with nothing in sight except a very realistic smiling dummy positioned somewhere close to the middle of this opened space.


    At this point, the reception girl turned around and spoke, "We have arrived. For now, you only needed to physically disy your base strength by physically attacking that dummy to measure your physical strength."


    "Eh? Not virtually? I thought for sure that I will have to disy my abilities through a virtual simtor or something?" Randy asked in surprise.


    The reception girl only chuckled when she heard this and then responded, "We don''t do that here. In order to ensure urate results, we refrained from using the virtual device to measure the basic statistics thus bringing about more urate and precise data. Only the hunter association uses this method of testing and measurement, however that is only because they have a one-of-a kind virtual system."


    As recalling something the reception girl then asked, "Oh, that reminds me, what type of ability do you have?"


    Randy was slightly troubled once again when he heard this question, but he quickly decided on the course of action right away this time and abruptly answered in a somewhat weird tone: "I-I have a reinforcement-type ability? I can transform my body to enhance my strength and other basic statistics."


    And then he added: "However, since that is the case, do I simply transform and attack that dummy with all my strength?"


    "I see, so a strength-type, huh?" The reception girl disyed a pondering expression and then said, "Well, for now, you should attack without your reinforcement ability and afterwards, you can use your reinforced state to attack the dummy so that the machine can judge the extent of your ability based on that."


    "I see, I understand." Randy replied in understanding.


    And then he asked for confirmation: "Should I attack it right now?"


    "Ah, wait for a moment, I need to operate the machine first."


    Saying so, she abruptly left, walking in quicken steps out of the room. And soon, her voice resounded in the whole opened space.


    [You may begin now!]


    Randy was inwardly startled when the voice came out of nowhere but still remained his calm and looked up only to see the reception girl standing behind a ss-like window at the top section of this opened space.


    It turns out they ce the measuring device over there while they monitor and record the proceedings, but earlier Randy noticed that he could not see through that tinted ss, however now it was translucent, and he can actually see the people on the other side.


    Right now, there appears to be another person standing next to reception girl, but Randy did not pay any attention to that and only took step forward, walking towards the dummy at the middle of the opened space.

 Chapter 36 - Naturally Awakened

    Randy made his way towards the smiling dummy that was positioned in the middle of the opened space in steady but quick steps.


    ¡­


    At the Measuring Section, behind the translucent ss window.


    At this moment, the person next to the reception girl suddenly spoke, "Is this the brat who came to test and register his awakened ability?"


    "Yes sir." The reception girl replied in a respectful tone.


    "Hmm¡­ Interesting, there aren''t that many naturally awakened individualstely ever since the establishment of the awakening center that is." The person then spoke with his interest piqued.


    The reception girl did not understand why he said that and silently thought to herself.


    ''Is it really that special to awaken naturally?''


    The person continued to speak after a moment, "In any case, let us wait and see. Oh, did you happen to ask what type of ability he had awakened?"


    The reception girl snapped out of her thoughts and instantly replied but then hesitated afterwards, "I did sir, but it''s¡­"


    "What is it?" The person turned to her and demanded.


    "It is a reinforcement-type sir." She replied in a low tone.


    "Oh." The person raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise and muttered, "So a reinforcement-type ability¡­ those are not the rarest of abilities, in fact there are many people with this type of abilities out there, but still we may perhaps receive a surprise this time, since you never know."


    "Eh?"


    The person ended his statement in a slight mysterious tone, rousing the curiosity of the reception girl next to him.


    "Why do you think so, sir?" The reception girl asked in curiosity.


    The person paused for a brief moment before carefully exining to her, "You see¡­ you may not know this, but those who awakened naturally always had a good head start whenpared to those who forcefully awaken their abilities early on. That is also one of the factors why those prominent families are able to have that much status in this world. And the reason for that is due to the fact almost if not all their children awakened their abilities naturally without having to rely on artificial means or method like we do in the awakening center."


    "Ah, so that''s why." The reception girl disyed a realization expression as she heard this.


    Soon, she drew her attention to the opened space where a figure was silently approaching a dummy in the middle, with her interest piqued in this undergoing physical measurement.


    At this moment, she had an anticipation expression on her pretty face.


    ¡­


    Measurement Area, the opened space.


    At this point, Randy had approached the dummy, standing only half a meter away from it, he immediately assumed a stance with his fist clenched. He had already practiced basic fist techniques before, so this was not an issue for him.


    He took in a deep breath and then rushed forward with his fist clenched as he decisively threw a punch against the dummy that was made up of some stic material.


    "Bam!"


    A sound of his fistnding on the chest of the dummy resounded in the opened space.


    Despite the impact from his punch, the dummy was still stationary without any visible changes happening to it almost as if this weight of this punch was its base or standard when it was made.


    ¡­


    Behind the translucent ss window.


    On the projectedputer screen that disyed the recorded results conducted by the measurement machine, numbers started appearing in an increment:


    {100}


    {200}


    {300 }


    {400}


    It was only after reaching 400 did the number scrolling on the projected screen stopped changing.


    "4-400 pounds physical strength! Isn''t that equivalent to a C-rank?!"


    The reception girl eximed in a surprised voice, as usually most people who just awakened only had between a 100 pounds and a 200 pounds.


    Sometimes, some people even had less than a 100 pounds. So one could understand the reason for her sudden reaction when she saw Randy''s base physical strength.


    The person next to her only disyed a smile when he saw this and then muttered, "See, what did I tell you? This kid is without a doubt a natural awakener with that base statistical strength of his."


    He then urged, "Hurry up and tell him to him to use his ability so we can measure that as well"


    "Oh, okay."


    The reception girl snapped out of her surprised state and then announced though sound system: [Your measurement has been recorded: 400 pounds in physical strength! You can now use your ability to attack the dummy to further measure your physical strength after being reinforced with your ability!]


    Randy listened to this and only slightly nodded his head in eptance. Just now, he had used his full physical strength without overexerting himself, so it was naturally only a 400 pounds just as disyed on his status screen.


    However, if he had overexerted himself just now, it is not impossible to reach at least a 500 pounds in his physical strength.


    After thinking that, Randy then took in a deep breath again and breathed out slowly and abruptly activated his reinforcement ability, (Strength of the Werewolf King).


    Instantly, the air around him rippled a bit and his form gradually changed as his hair gradually turned white, however just like at the time when he showed Jiang Chen his transformed state when he visited him, there were no fangs nor were they any ws on this form that he took.


    He decided to use only 10% of the reinforcement ability as he did not want to attract too much attention for now, and only steadily raised his ranks in the future.


    After all, he was still just a high student, so having that much drastic change in his strength, even if it was just physical strength, it will still elicit some unwanted troubles from the unknown.


    ¡­


    Behind the translucent ss window.


    "A white hair, huh? Is that his innate ability''s trait?"


    At this moment, the person muttered in surprise and then continued, "Is this simr to those people from the Silvermoon family? Or perhaps something different? No, it should be different as those people were born with their hair already turned white; Ever since their mysterious ancestor obtained the white hair as they awakened their ability, the subsequent family members all obtained this trait of white hair and now it has be their symbol."


    The reception girl on the other hand was entranced as she found this form of Randy very attractive and mesmerizing. Right now, he looked so mysterious and exotic with that form of his, especially those pair of yellowish green eyes of his that makes one be attracted to them without them being aware of it themselves.


    After pondering for a bit, the person then turned to the entranced reception girl and then said in a confused tone, "What are you waiting for? Tell me him to strike the dummy now with his transformed state."


    "Ah, right."


    She immediately snapped out of her daze and then announced through the sound system: [E-Everything is ready so you can strike the dummy anytime you want!]


    Hearing her urging voice, Randy appeared doubtful and then asked, "Is it really okay to strike it with my full power in my transformed state?"


    "Don''t worry about that and hit it with all you''ve got; you don''t have to worry about breaking it since it can handle up to an A-rank physical strength." A sudden unknown voice said to him in assurance.


    Randy was surprised slightly by this new voice that came out of nowhere, but still took a stance right away after their assuring voice, and then he clenched his fist without hesitation and aimed his fist at the smiling dummy.


    "BAM!!"


    A loud impact of the doll-like dummy being collided with his fist resounded as the doll-like dummy twisted a little and immediately returned to ce as if nothing had happened.


    "Huh?" Randy was dumfounded as he saw that this stic smiling dummy appears to still be disying an indifferent smile on its countenance even after he went all out and smashed it with his full strength just now.


    ''No wonder he said not to worry about breaking the smiling dummy, it turns out it was very malleable, durable and doesn''t sustain any damage no matter how much force is used.'' Randy thought in amazement as he looked at undamaged dummy.


    ¡­


    On the projected screen, numbers kept scrolling down once again.


    {100}


    {200}


    {300}


    {400}


    {500}


    {600}


    .


    {500}


    After it stopped scrolling, the final result was shown. The person and reception girl watched this with bated breaths and finally let out a long breath of relief when the final result was shown on the projected screen.


    "Phew¡­ I thought it was 600 pounds for a second there. If it was 600 pounds then that will be crazy, even if it was just his physical state without any mana imbued in his fist. Nheless, this level of strength is still astonishing." The person muttered in relief and astonishment.


    The reception girl also nodded her head in agreement with a dazed expression.


    [Results: 500 pounds for physical strength, proportional ranking is: B-rank] The voice from before resounded again announcing the final results.


    With that, the physical strength measurement came to an end.


    A whileter, the reception girl came and guided Randy to another room, but for some reason, a strange middle-aged man also tagged along with them as they went to the other room.. This person was probably the man standing next to the reception girl and also the owner the voice that announced the final results.

 Chapter 37 - Official Rank

    Randy followed the reception girl to another room; however they were apanied by a middle-aged man who seemed to be a worker in this awakening center as he had on a white coat almost as if he was doctor or scientist or something along those lines.


    But Randy only nced at the other party for a bit after they greeted each other. He felt like he might have seen him before, probably when he came here in the past


    But he soon shook his head to get these thoughts out of his head since this was not strange at all, after all this was the awakening center, a ce he had frequented more than anyone else and thus running into someone he met before in the ce was not something to think much about and with that thought, he followed closely behind the reception girl.


    ¡­


    The Mana Measurement Department.


    They came here to measure his magical energy or mana and, in a process, receiving the corresponding mana ranking, after which, the result will bebined with the ranking of his measured statistical result, and thus, eventually acquiring an official ranking.


    However, this was only to assess his ability, so they did not have to measure every single basic statistic to give the final verdict.


    If one wanted a detailed measurement taken, then you can only visit the [Hunter Association] where they had specialized measurement tools for urate measurements of various energies and basic statistics including speed, agility, stamina, and many others.


    Randy decided to check for his magical energy instead of the other energies in his body after all, at the moment, he mostly used magical energy rather than the other forms of energy.


    He looked at his energy section on his status screen as he stood by the side as they prepared the machine to measure his magical energy.


    ---


    <<?List of Energies?>>


    ?[[Mana(Magical Energy): 1000/1000]]?


    ?[[World Essence(Spiritual Energy): 10/10]]?


    ?[[Qi(Life Energy): 150/150]]?


    ?[[Evolutional Energy(Blood Energy): 600/600]]?


    ?[[Psionic Energy(Mental Energy): 87.5/87.5]]?


    ?[[Mystical Energy(Soul Energy): 40/40]]?


    ----


    ?Combat System Power Level(s)?


    Evolution Realm[1]: First-Stage Evolved Human Realm (600/1000)


    Martial Realm[1]: First-Stage Martial Disciple Realm (150/200)


    Cultivation Realm[0]: None (10/100)


    Magical Realm[4]: Beginner-Level Fourth-Circle Magician Realm (1000/1299)


    Psi Realm[0]: None (87.5/200)


    Mystic Realm[0]: None (40/200)


    ---


    At this point, the middle-aged man from before urged him to ce his hand on some blue orb that had some cables attached to it.


    And then he exined to him, "This is the magical energy measurement device. It can measure or roughly estimate the amount of reserve mana or magical energy you have based on the amount of magical energy you transfer into it while also regting the magical energy within your body. It is highlyplicated to exin it in more detail, but just know that it can roughly tell how much mana you have with a slight negligent deviation, however it will not affect the general result disyed in the end."


    Listening to this exnation, Randy only nodded in understanding and then step forward, cing his right hand on the blue orb.


    Soon, he closed his eyes to sense and pinpoint the energy he wanted to use, he tried to pour some mana into the orb, but the orb did not let out any light and then as suggested by the middle-aged man, he also regted the energy within his body through cirction through his meridians.


    And sure enough, after a while, the orb visibly let out a bright light-blue light and the result were soon disyed on the projected screen right next to the measurement device.


    {Mana Points: 1000}


    ""1-1000 mana points?! Isn''t that the same amount as a fourth-circle magician."" Two unified shocked voices resounded behind Randy.


    Both the middle-aged man and the reception girl eximed when they saw the results. Indeed, this time, it was not only the reception girl that reacted to this, but the middle-aged man was also surprised by the result.


    And then he muttered in disbelief: "This much mana already and he is not even a magician?"


    ''Normally, those with reinforcement or enhancement-type abilities do not have that much mana to begin with as they were akin to those evolved human in some aspect, thus most of time associated with each other. Evolved humans usually have unique abilities that involves altering their bodies on the fundamental and due to that, they usually have variation to their abilities. For example, being able to transform into a certain wild animal inheriting their traits or simply shapeshifting into other forms. People with ordinary bodily augmentation or reinforcement-type awakened cannotpare to them, unless this young man was an evolved human that is unaware of the fact or concealed the fact. If that is the case, then that will make more sense why his mana point was so high despite being a reinforcement-type awakened. It is quite possible that this really was not just some ability awakened but an evolved human''s ability, meaning there is a possible room for growth as his mana right now is as strong as an adept magician''s mana pool. Very interesting.'' The middle-aged man deeply thought and then concluded with a full understanding of the young man''s abnormal mana pool.


    After a few moments, an electronic voice suddenly resounded after a while to confirm the results: [Measurement Complete. 1000 Mana points!]


    At this moment, the middle-aged man walked up and stood next to Randy, patting his shoulder, and then said in an amiable tone: "Your mana pool is equivalent is a fourth-circle magician''s mana pool which is C-rank andbined with your physical strength in a reinforced state, you shall receive a C-rank High-State."


    Randy purposefully showed a surprised expression, however the other party misunderstood and then quickly said: "You don''t have to feel dejected, because with your current mana pool alone, you should be receiving a C-rank Low-State but considering that your physical strength was at B-rank, we gave you a C-rank High-State instead. You should know that the amount of energy one had is more important than their physical strength."


    Randy carefully listened to him and then respectfully nodded in response: "I understand."


    "Hm." The middle-aged man also nodded as he was pleased with hisposed behavior and then said to him: "Now that we have everything taken care of, you should wait right here for now as your identification card will be issued to you in a few moments."


    "Alright." Randy replied.


    A few momentster, the middle-aged man brought him his awakener''s identification card with his name and rank listed boldly on it.


    Of course, there were other details pertaining to his type of ability and other misceneous information.


    Essentially, this was no different from his student identification card, with a slight difference. His mana signature had been imprinted on it, so no one can use this identification card, even if they wanted to, in case it goes missing.


    And also, to disy the information on this awakener''s identification card, he only needed to insert a little wisp of his magical energy for the information on it to be disyed; this card was in a sense customized for only magical energy users.


    After all that is taken care of, Randy was escorted out by the reception girl and then immediately left the building shortly after.


    ¡­


    After he left, the reception girl suddenly disyed a pondering expression while looking at the door leading outside of the building.


    And then, she suddenly fell into thought and nkly muttered without noticing her surrounding: "He really does look very familiar¡­ Why do I feel like I have seen him somewhere before¡­"


    At this moment, the middle-aged man suddenly approached her out of nowhere, and said in a knowing tone: "Lin Murong, stop talking nonsense and focus your job"


    "Ah, no sir, that''s not what I¡­" She was startled and tried to justify herself.


    However, the middle-aged man waved his hand dismissively and said to her: "Don''t worry about it. I was only teasing you. I know that you were not implying something indecent, but you''re not wrong about your statement. Even I also felt like I have met him before and it wasn''t simply just once. He sort of reminds me of a kid who came here frequently with his parents to awaken his ability, but the machine always registered him as not having even an ounce of energy inside his body every single time. Even after being exposed to various kinds of energy, it was still the same result over and over again. At the time, I only came to visit a colleague and found out that he was in distress after failing to aid the kid to awaken his ability, which ended up with me helping him out, but ultimately still failed to help the kid awakened in the end. But that kid can''t be him, right? Too bad, I did not bother to look at his name back then, so I can''t be certain if it is that kid from back then."


    "Ah, that''s right! No wonder I thought he looks very familiar. I remember that I was also the one who registered that boy and his parents whenever they came in every single time, to the point that it became quite strange. However since the parents were pretty famous in this city, I did not mind it too much."


    She said in reminisce and then a sudden realization dawn on the reception girl, Lin Murong and then she doubtfully asked in confirmation: "Sir, are you sure that''s not him? He even had the same surname ''Smith'' as the Smith family in this city."

 Chapter 38 - Into The Beast Forest

    "Sir, are you sure that''s not him? He even had the same surname ''Smith'' as the Smith family in this city." Lin Murong asked in confirmation.


    "I don''t know, perhaps." The middle-aged man curtly replied to her and then thought of something before he continued: "But if you are that curious about him, you can always check whether that is him or not by looking through the old records. Did you not check it yet?"


    "Eh? But didn''t those kinds of records get deleted since it will leave a bad reputation on the awakening center in the Eastern District, especially after failing to help someone awaken their innate ability on multiple attempts?" Lin Murong doubtfully asked the middle-aged man.


    "That''s right." He did not deny her im and continued to speak: "Then all you have to do is just check the deleted files since they were still stored somewhere else despite it still being deleted from the main system. Just check the storage and find the drive that was reced before the new one was installed."


    "Oh, okay, thank you, sir. I will do that when I have some timeter." Lin Murong replied to him.


    The middle-aged man waved his hands without saying anything as he walked away towards a certain direction, seemingly going back to do what he was doing before all this.


    ¡­


    On the other side, the border between the Sky Rise City and the Beast Forest.


    Randy hurriedly came to this ce once again immediately after obtaining his official rank from the awakening center.


    He approached the gate leading towards the forest outside of the city and was once again stopped by the guard from before, but this time, after checking and inspecting his awakener''s identification card for authentication and or scanning it for the records.


    After this verification process was over with, Randy was no longer obstructed as everything checked out that he truly was awakened human with his very own innate ability. And then he received a pass indicating his right of passage through the huge gate mounted in between sky high walls.


    "Here you go, student. And while I''m at it, I might as well tell you. Be careful out there and do not lose your life prematurely. There are so many reckless kids who ventured into the Beast Forest in order to make some cash, but most of them had either lost their lives or heavily wounded in the process due to not knowing their limits."


    Saying this, he looked at him calmly and seriously spoke in a meaningful tone: "I hope that it won''t be the same for you; do not venture too far into the forest or else you might lose your life before you even know it. Do not be too greedy and only hunt the beasts that you are certain that you defeat and proceed to run right away when there is no hope or chance of defeating a particr mutated beast. Do you understand? Your life is more important, if you survive now, you always earn more moneyter."


    Randy listened to this with a solemn expression before nodding his head and responding in an appreciative tone: "I understand, I will keep your words in mind. And thank you for your advice."


    ''It seems like this guard is not a bad person judging by how much he told me, whom he had only just met today. In any case, I am very grateful for this advice he had given; at least now, I will try not to overexert myself even if I fail to meet my quota for the knowledge points today. I can juste another time or find other means to umte more.'' Randy silently thought to himself.


    The guard nodded with a pleased expression before walking away, leaving Randy standing in front of the huge, opened gate.


    Although the gate opening would be detrimental if some beasts managed to slip through it at this moment, however there were barriers set up around the entire city to prevent this urrence from ever happening.


    The pass allocated was purposely used to pass through the barrier surrounding the city. In other words, without it, one would only trigger the security measures set up by magicians and cultivators in a form of magic formations and Spirit formations.


    Each formation from these two professions were potent enough to handle or restrict mutated beasts in the ranks of F to C and perhaps even some B-rank mutated beasts.


    And also, at most, the only mutated beasts around this city were only the F-rank to C-rank mutated beast, so there was not much danger surrounding this city overall.


    As for the other ranks like B-rank to S-rank mutated beasts, you will have to go deeper into the Beast Forest or the danger zones in every district to find these kinds of terrifying mutated beast.


    Another thing to note was that those terrifying mutated beasts were extremely territorial, especially S-rank mutated beasts and thus they rarely leave their territory, so there was a less chance of running into those terrifying mutated beasts around the city.


    In any case, since things were like this, the government did not prohibit venturing into the Beast Forest, especially for those with awakened ability and had some sort of identification like hunter''s identification or the official identification card that Randy had received.


    However, that was not what matters right now, venturing into the Beast Forest was allowed but if one stayed inside for too long, especially during night times, they may risk the chance of running into some fierce mutated beast and usually the only oue was death.


    Right now, it was already the afternoon, so he did not want to waste any time, thus when he was given the pass to go through the gate, Randy immediately started moving forward step by step in a hurried but cautious pace.


    After walking through these gates, he would be facing those mutated beasts that had evolved owing to the changes this had undergone due to the sudden outbreak of rifts and gates and the various energies they carried over from the worlds on the other side to this side.


    Randy passed through the gate, then through the invisible and intangible barrier and proceeded to the head into the Beast Forest.


    As he walked for a few steps, he abruptly stopped his steps when he reached the edge of the Beast Forest.


    After thinking for a moment, he decided to activate his skill just in case some mutated beast tries to sneak attack on him without being aware.


    [[Activating Assimted Mode]]


    [[Assimted Mode Activated]]


    [[Assimted Type: Werewolf King of Wind]]


    [[[Reinforcement(Strength of the Werewolf King) Skill Activated]]


    [[Heightened Senses Trait Activated]]


    Right at this moment, Randy could feel his body suddenly undergoing a drastic transformation. His body grew slightly bigger and more robust, his fangs and ws grew about a few inches longerpared to their original length.


    Naturally, his hair also turned white, his curly hair turned straight in appearance, however there was a slight difference whenpared to when he transformed in front of Jiang Chen and back at the awakening center


    This time, his hair visibly grew longerpared to their original short length, thus revealing the silky white hair flowing down his back and over his shoulders as he stood there while exuding a sense of fierceness of a wild beast.


    [[Due to the effects of the Assimted Mode, all basic statistics have been increase by 300 Attributes and other statistics had also been increased slightly]]


    That is right, right now, he hadpletely transformed using all the full ''Strength of the Werewolf King'' that he acquired from consuming and assimting with that wolf-like creature''s blood.


    At this point, his straight long white hair flowed down his shoulder as it was constantly being blown around by the surging wind current from the Beast Forest.


    Also, he had also activated the heightened senses trait of the werewolf king or more precisely, it was a passive ability activated when he fully activates the Reinforcement skill, (Strength of the Werewolf King).


    Nheless, he could choose to activate it independently when he is not using the full strength of the werewolf king.


    With all the necessary preparationsplete, Randy was now fully assured of his safety as he continued walking into the Beast Forest, gaining a slight confidence in dealing with any unforeseen circumstances.


    ¡­

 Chapter 39 - Hunting Beasts

    After walking for about 5-10 minutes, Randy finally saw a group of mutated beasts; It was group of big rabbits. These were mutated rabbits that were twice as big as ordinary rabbits, and they also grew little horns after mutating.


    Most of the time, they were harmless and only popr for their tasty meat, so many hunters hunt them and sell their carcasses to restaurants. But nevertheless, one can never be too careless around mutated beasts since some of them also awakened their inherent abilities or special abilities just like humans.


    When Randy noticed these big rabbits, they also sensed his presence as soon he appeared a few meters away from them and then both parties began to stare at each other for a few moments.


    ''For now, fighting these big rabbits should be enough to test out mybat prowess without any risk.'' Randy silently thought to himself while looking the big rabbits.


    At this point, Randy suddenly disyed a smile as he prepared to activate his skill to rush and kill these big rabbits, however he was surprised to see that these big rabbits suddenly turned around and scurried away without even looking back.


    Some run into other big rabbits, knocking them over without stopping to check on theirpanions as if they had just witnessed a huge cmity enough to warrant abandoning theirpanions to save their own lives.


    Randy was stunned speechless when he saw this scene unfolding in front of him; they did not even give him a chance to attack first and simply just run away as soon they saw him with reckless abandon.


    This was not what he had expected or even how he thought things would y out. He stood there for a moment and very soon, he finally realized where the problem lies after thinking about it for a bit.


    It was him!


    The problem was him!


    At this moment, when hepletely transformed into the werewolf form, he was basically akin to an S-rank human with just his physical buffs.


    And although his mana points were measured to be only at C-rank Low-State, it does not change the fact he was physically strong enough to tackle any weak S-rank mutated beast to a draw without dying or easily dealing with any ordinary A-rank mutated beast that did not have any special abilities.


    Inparison, these big rabbits were only between F-rank and D-rank mutated beasts, so it makes sense for them to have a sense of fear when a terrifying person such as him suddenly appeared in their territory without warning.


    Upon realizing his mistake, Randy sighed helplessly before suddenly activating one of his skills.


    [[Gale Riding Skill Activated]]


    Immediately he felt the surging wind currents around him was under his control and he could even manipte it anyhow he wanted, even riding on them to increase his speed.


    Whoosh!


    Instantly, Randy abruptly moved forward from his position, chasing after the running big rabbits. And very soon, he closed the distance between them and caught up to the fleeing big rabbits and immediately raised his wed hand and sh towards them.


    Wish! Wish! Wish! Wish!


    Blood spilled from the big rabbits'' bodies as they could not handle a single w attack from Randy and could only helplessly drop to the ground before going limp shortly after.


    They were insta-killed!


    Randy did not only use his ws to attack these big rabbits but also utilize his control over the wind through his Gale Riding skill to unleash a make-shift wind sh through his sharp w attack just now.


    At the moment, he was not sure how strong the hides of this creature were, so he decided to y it for now until he was certain of that fact.


    After all, he did not prepared any equipment beforeing to the Beast Forest since he did not have any money to afford those expensive armors and weapons.


    But nevertheless, those with a reinforcement-type ability usually do not rely on equipment when fighting monsters or beasts as it only serves to hinder their movements duringbat or be ufortable when the armor suddenly does not fit them after their body size or structure change slightly when their abilities were activated.


    This was a headache!


    For these various reasons, no one with a reinforcement-type or an enhancement-type ability ever wears armors.


    However some choose to use weapons such as swords, des, spears, and other long handled weapons that may not be affected or affect them after they had used their ability.


    At this moment, Randy suddenly stopped moving as he was currently looking into the void to observe the lines of texts that were quickly appearing on his system''s disy.


    ---


    [[You have in a group of harmless mutated rabbits, ''Big Rabbits'' there were between the ranks of F and D]]


    [[Through this feat, you have obtained 3.5 Knowledge Points]]


    ---


    Seeing these lines of texts, Randy instantly felt dejected when he saw the total amount of knowledge points that he had obtained just now.


    ''With this umtion rate of knowledge points, wouldn''t I have to at least fight and kill a thousand of these big rabbits to meet my goal for the day. No matter how strong I am right now, I will feel still bored due to the mental exhaustion from having to find and kill these big rabbits that usually hide in some holes in the ground to prevent themselves from running into other strong mutated beasts. It was already very rare for them to be out here like this.'' Randy silently thought as he let out a dejected sigh before shaking his head.


    ''It seems like I have to change my targets for now, but where do I even begin? This was already the outer part of the Beast Forest, and only weak mutated beast like the likes of the big rabbits from just now roam around these parts of the Beast Forest.''


    While thinking so, Randy had already took out a knife from his storage bracelet and started dismantling the four big rabbits that he slew just now to check whether they had a beast core.


    There were various different kinds of cores in this world that came from different kinds of creatures.


    For example of such cores would be the magic beast cores, monster cores, and the spirit beast cores.


    Naturally this was only the example as there were still other kinds of cores from other forms of monsters or beasts.


    But in this forest, most of the beasts were either mutated magical beasts that evolved through magical energy, mutated monsters that evolved through life energy, and or mutated spirit beasts that evolved through the now abundant spiritual energy of this as a result of the dungeon gates and dimensional rifts that started appearing in this world and connecting to worlds on the other end.


    Randy finished dismantling the magical beasts, big rabbits and soon found out with disappointment that there were no magic beast cores in them.


    Randy wondered whether he should keep the meat of this rabbits, so he could sell themter to some restaurants to make some money on the side.


    Although it would not be much, but it was still better than just leaving these carcasses lying in the forest to rot or perhaps eaten by other mutated beasts.


    After much thought, he decided to keep them in his storage bracelet.


    This bracelet was something he obtained from that burr the other day. This was only a spare storage bracelet that he found inside the other storage bracelet containing the stolen items.


    Compared to the space within that storage bracelet, this one was only a few cubic meters, so there was not that much space in it to store many things.


    However, what surprised Randy was the fact that, there was no money or anything in this storage bracelet and he opened and also, there was no seal ced on this storage bracelet after he carefully inspected it with his upgraded system.


    ---


    ?[[Storage Bracelet(no protection seals detected)]]?


    ?[[Rank: Low]]?


    ?[[Description: An ordinary storage bracelet enchanted with apressed space to store inanimate items]]?


    ---


    This is what he saw when he inspected it with the system, so obviously there were no issues with this storage bracelet and Randy was rest assured to use it without a care.


    With that thought, he immediately inserted a little magical energy into the storage bracelet as he uses his mind to urge the bracelet to take in the four carcasses of the big rabbits.


    After that was done, Randy stood up and turned his head around before venturing a little deeper into the Beast Forest. However, this time, he was only using 20% of his reinforced state, thus bringing his level of strength down to A-rank approximately.


    ''This should be enough to deal with most obstacles along the way.'' Thinking that to himself, he then marched forward with long but cautious strides.


    ¡­

 Chapter 40 - Source Of Unease

    After walking deeper into the Beast Forest for about 5 minutes, Randy abruptly stopped his movement as he suddenly felt a sense of danger through his heightened senses trait.


    Although rather than a sense of danger, it felt more like someone, or something was stalking him in the dark after he had traversed further in the Beast Forest.


    At this point, he could not shake this feeling of unease as he frantically looked around him to find the source of this feeling. However, he could not find the source no matter how hard he tried, this caused him to broke out in cold sweats.


    Danger!


    He then fully activated his reinforcement skill and still could not find the source of the sudden uneasiness that he was currently feeling.


    He could tell through his heightened senses that the other party was close to him, but he could not tell where they were no matter. This caused Randy to be more cautious as he was ready to go all out to engage the other party if necessary.


    However, at this moment, before he could even react, he suddenly felt something coiling around his body out of nowhere.


    Randy instantly flinched on the spot from fright and immediately tried to activate his Gale Riding skill to evade the unknown enemy, however he soon found out that he was toote as he suddenly heard a sound in the background.


    Hiss!


    Even now, Randy could not see the other party as they continuously coiled around his body. Almost as if they were invisible?


    ''Wait, an invisible mutated beast! Damn it, to think I would suddenly run into such a mutated beast with a special ability.'' Randy felt his heart sinking at this moment when he realized what was going on.


    Nevertheless, it does not matter whether he recognize what was going on or not as the other party was still coiling around his body starting from his legs and reaching his abdomen as it continued upwards with swift pace.


    Instantly Randy snapped out of his shocked state of mind when he noticed this mutated beast was doing.


    First, it neutralized his ability to escape by first wrapping his legs and second, using its prey''s confusion, it suddenly coiling around them relentlessly while tightening the grip around their body.


    This was a very cunning mutated beast that knows how to corner its prey, along with that invisible ability that made it possible to always sneak up on its opponents before they could even know what hit them.


    ''Damn it!'' Randy cursed inwardly as he felt himself unable to move from his spot.


    He then quickly thought of ways to deal with this situation and avoid being eaten alive by this cunning mutated beast.


    After thinking for a bit, he soon ignored the mutated beast as looked at his unrestrained pair of arms before quickly calming himself down and then disyed a cruel smile and uttered: "You damn monster, you made a big mistake by trying to corner me like this."


    Saying so, Randy had already swung his sharp wed finger at the invisible body around his body, digging his wed hand into its body without stopping.


    Wish!


    Pukh!


    Blood spilled!


    "Hiss!!"


    A sudden hissing sound resounded in the forest as Randy kept relentlessly digging his wed hand into its body.


    Pukh! Pukh! Pukh!


    The mutated beast''s body suddenly twitched from the sharp pain in its body and then continuously let out a painful hissing sound and very soon, its invisibility ability was undone.


    Gradually, the body of the mutated beast was then revealed.


    It was snake-type mutated beast.


    A mutated python!


    This mutated python was around 6 meters in length and its as wide as a quarter of a meter, its skin was covered in a green and yellow scales.


    However, these scales seemed to emanating a strange type of energy fluctuations.


    Supposedly, these scales were what it uses to activate its special ability.


    But nheless, this was already a terrifying creature with its adeptness at catching its prey of guard and then suffocation them to death and this very same creature had mutated and even gained a special ability that aligns very well with its habits .


    So terrifying!


    At this point, when Randy dug his wed arm further into its body, it then tried to run away, but ultimately failed to get away from his grasp.


    How could he let go of such a mutated python when it brought itself to him? Not mention this python had a special ability, an invisibility-type ability.


    Randy was instantly excited when he noticed this fact, after all, this was a perfect stealth-type ability that could be used for various things.


    ''Ahem, with the exception of illegal or immoral things of course. Hm¡­ well, maybe it won''t be so bad to use it for ste¡ª I mean, acquiring skills and techniques, and perhaps it might prove to be useful inbat.'' Randy inwardly cleared his throat as he seriously thought to himself.


    With that thought in mind, Randy dug his w deeper into the mutated python''s body causing it hiss out loudly and as it could not take it anymore, it tried to bite him by lunging its head towards him, however Randy easily dodged this kind of desperate attack by tilting his head slightly and then continued digging his hand into its body.


    Despite the fact that the reason why he came to this Beast Forest in the first ce was to umte knowledge points, however at this moment, Randy was more interested in this python''s camouging ability and with that in mind, he activated his skill without hesitation.


    [[Blood Authority Skill Activated]]


    Soon, the invisible maic-like field appeared around his body as he quickly but steadily drained the blood of this mutated python.


    The python could feel its blood quickly being drained as it struggled to run away to no avail.


    Randy made sure his arm dug all the way in the python''s body as he continued to drain its blood relentlessly without stopping any time soon, until it dies that is.


    A few momentster, the mutated python snake body suddenly went limp as it dropped to the ground with ''thud'' sound.


    It was only now, that Randy decided to let go of the mutated python by taking his bodied hand out of its body.


    At this moment, a blob of spherical glistening red liquid was floating in front of his very eyes.


    Upon a closer inspection using his Blood Authority skill, Randy quickly found out that this blob of blood that waspressed to the size of a ser ball contained many harmful substances that could be detrimental to him if he recklessly absorbed it into his blood stream after assimtion.


    And so, with that realization, Randy proceeded to use his Blood Authority skill to further remove the harmful substances from the blood eventually shrinking down the size of the blood to the sized of marble-like sphere,pressed enough to fit in his palm.


    The moment he was done, he immediately stopped as he looked into void of space in front of him.


    At this moment, new lines of texts started appearing on the holographic screen and Randy carefully read the contents of this lines of texts.


    [[You have in a cunning mutated beast, ''Stealthy Python'']]


    [[Attention, this was a C-rank mutated beast that mainly fights through cornering its prey using its stealth ability and then strangling them to death with its strong grip. Other than that, it does not have muchbat prowess even as a C-rank mutated beast and thus easy to kill once you strike before you arepletely coiled around.]]


    [[Through achieving this feat of ying this highly cunning mutated beast, you have obtained 500 Knowledge Points]]


    "Ohhh!! Finally something to celebrate about; it seems my efforts were not in vain just now." Randy said in delight, after reading the final line of text.


    500 Knowledge Points!


    ording to his original n, he was going to umte about 1000 knowledge points at least to see if he canprehend one of the techniques or skills, however if he can run somehow run into this snake beast a couple of times, he can umte more knowledge points than he had originally nned.


    With that though in mind, Randy could not hide his excitement anymore, nheless, there was a more pressing matters that he had to deal with.


    At the point, a new notification shed by his eyes, followed by disying lines of texts.


    [[You have obtained the blood essence of the mutated beast, ''Stealthy Python'']]


    [[This blood essence contains the Blood Knowledge of the Stealthy Python, consuming it may grant you all its abilities and possible traits]]


    The system stated after Randy used his Blood Authority skill to solidify the blood and then grabbed it with his hands.


    After reading this, Randy did not hesitate and threw the condensed ball of blood into his mouth swallowing it.


    The next moment, a new notification popped up right away after he swallowed the condensed blood.


    ---


    [[Activating Assimtion Mode]]


    [[Assimtion Mode Fully Activated]]


    [[Assimtion Commencing¡­]]


    [[Assimtion With The Blood of A Stealthy Python In Progress¡­]]


    -


    -


    -


    [[Assimtion With Stealthy Python''s Blood Completion:100%]]


    [[You have fully assimted with the blood of the ''Stealthy Python'', thus obtaining the following additional abilities and traits: Thermal Detection[100%], Stealth Scales[100%], Python Eyes[100%], Grip[100%], Reinforcement(Strength of the Stealthy Python[100%])]]

 Chapter 41 - Effective Hunting Method

    [[Assimtion With Stealthy Python''s Blood Completion:100%]]


    [[You have fully assimted with the blood of the ''Stealthy Python'', thus obtaining the following additional abilities and traits: Thermal Detection[100%], Stealth Scales[100%], Python Eyes[100%], Grip[100%], Reinforcement(Strength of the Stealthy Python[100%])]]


    ---


    The moment the system announced thepletion of the assimtion process, Randy immediately looked at his status screen to verify the abilities that he had obtained from this assimtion.


    ---


    ?[Name: Randy Smith]?


    ?[Race: Human(Evolved)]?


    ?[ss: Blood [???]?


    ?[Title(s): None]?


    ?[Bloodline: N/A]?


    ?[Physique: Myriad Energy Devouring Physique]?


    ----


    ?[Physical Strength: 400]?


    ?[Physical Resistance: 400]?


    ?[Physical Agility:? 300]?


    ?[Physical Stamina: 395]?


    ?[Soul Strength: 400]?


    ?[Mental Strength: 875]?


    ?[Mental Resistance: 845]?


    ----


    ?[Energy Compatibility: Myriad Energy Type Affinity]?


    <<?List of Energies?>>


    ?[[Mana(Magical Energy): 1000/1000]]?


    ?[[World Essence(Spiritual Energy): 10/10]]?


    ?[[Qi(Life Energy): 150/150]]?


    ?[[Evolutional Energy(Blood Energy): 600/600]]?


    ?[[Psionic Energy(Mental Energy): 87.5/87.5]]?


    ?[[Mystical Energy(Soul Energy): 40/40]]?


    ----


    ?Combat System Power Level(s)?


    Evolution Realm[1]: First-Stage Evolved Human Realm (600/1000)


    Martial Realm[1]: First-Stage Martial Disciple Realm (150/200)


    Cultivation Realm[0]: None (10/100)


    Magical Realm[4]: Beginner-Level Fourth-Circle Magician Realm (1000/1299)


    Psi Realm[0]: None (87.5/200)


    Mystic Realm[0]: None (40/200)


    ----


    ?Skills?


    [Werewolf King of Wind]


    <[Shapeshift[Werewolf(30%)](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    <[Gale Riding[30%](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    <[Superior Regeneration[30%](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    <[Reinforcement[30%](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    [Ancestral Regression]


    [Stealthy Python]


    <[Stealth Scales[100%](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    <[Thermal Detection[100%](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    <[Grip[100%](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    <[Reinforcement[100%](Only activated when in assimted mode]>


    ----


    ?Traits?


    [Werewolf King of Wind]


    <[Heightened Senses[30%](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    [Stealthy Python]


    <[Python Eyes[100%](Only activated when in assimted mode)]>


    ----


    ?ss Specific Skills?


    <[Blood Assimte]>


    <[Blood Retain]>


    <[Blood Scan]>


    <[Blood Authority]>


    <[Blood Fusion]>


    ¡­


    After reading through everything, Randy could not hide the delighted smile on his face as he looked at the abilities he had just obtained.


    Ignoring the [Stealth Scales] skill for now, which seemed to be the ability that the Stealthy Python used to hide earlier to make itself imperceptible, there was a more important ability among these abilities that will prove to be useful during this time around, [Thermal Detection].


    This skill might not seem like much if you simply just think about the fact that it was only used for detecting heat signatures, since technology could basically aplish something like this, however you would be wrong if you thought that was its only usefulness.


    ording to what Randy knows about pythons, they naturally had the inherent ability to sense and detect their preys through the heat signatures they emit.


    All this was possible by utilizing their special organ called pit organ, which can detect the infrared radiation from warm-blooded animals from a certain meter radius around themselves.


    Since humans were also warm-blooded creatures, this means that this ability even has the possibility of being useful when detecting an enemy before they try to sneak attack on you.


    This was extremely very important!


    Even if the other party had a stealth ability and thus you cannot perceive them through normal means, however as long as they neglect the fact that they will naturally emit a heat signature through their bodies, this ability can detect them beforehand and thus enabling one to find possible solutions to their dire situation before the enemy even approaches them to attack them.


    Who would not be d that they had such an ability to guarantee their safety in this current world?


    Not to mention, this [Stealth Scales] which also seems extremely very useful right now, because with this stealth ability, Randy could simply hide himself and safely hunt the beasts in this Beast Forest without alerting them beforehand.


    And well, since he is also a warm-blooded creature, if he happens to run into one of those Stealthy Pythons again, there was a chance that they might be able to find him before he even gets close to them.


    However, right now, that does not matter since Randy had the same ability as them and it even said 100% assimtion, meaning that there was a possibility that he can fully utilize the abilities of the Stealthy Python without falling short inparison to the original abilities.


    With that thought in mind, after using his storage bracelet to stow away the corpse of the Stealthy Python, Randy immediately undid his werewolf form. With his long white hair turning back to the short curly blonde hair, his fangs and ws also receded to their original forms.


    And almost right away, he activated his new form to check out the prowess of this 100% assimted blood with an anticipation expression.


    ---


    [[Assimted Mode Activated]]


    [[Assimted Type: Stealthy Python]]


    [[Reinforcement(Strength of the Stealthy Python) Skill Activated]]


    [[Python Eyes Trait Activated]]


    ---


    "Whoa! What is going on?! What happened to me?!" Randy suddenly screamed in shock from the sudden changes that urred to his body.


    However, he soon realized that it was a very bad idea to suddenly scream in the Beast Forest infested with mutated beasts of various kinds even if he was not that far away from the outer edge of the forest and could escape anytime.


    With that realization, Randy kept his voice down and started asking his questions in his mind.


    "My eyes¡­ what happened to my eyes?" He muttered in confusion.


    ''Why is my vision darker than normal? What''s going on? Why can''t I see anything?''


    ''Wait! I think I can see something, but it is not very clear so I can''t make it out''


    Randy soon fell into deep thought, pondering hard about what was going on with him. He recalled that he only activated the assimted mode, and then activated the Stealthy Python''s reinforcement and its trait, Python Eyes automatically activated by itself.


    ''What is really going on¡ª wait, is this perhaps the effect of the python eyes trait? That''s right, now I remember that I once read that generally pythons usually don''t have good eyesight and only relied mostly on their other senses to navigate their surroundings.''


    ''If that is the case, should I activate the thermal detection ability since it is used to detect their prey due to this trait¡­?'' Randy thought to himself with a pondering expression.


    With this thought, Randy acted right away. He immediately looked into the void of space and surprisingly, he could still see his system''s disy clearly almost as if the information on it were being sent directly into his mind.


    Without wasting his time to think much about this, he focused his mind on activating the [Thermal Detection] Skill.


    ---


    [[Thermal Detection Skill Activated]]


    ---


    "Whoa!" Randy could not help but utter in wonder about these new changes around his environment, which were brought about by activating this Thermal Detection skill.


    Right now, he could see various colors or more precisely various images where being sent into his mind, however these images were not in their original colors, instead they were like the outline of their true forms in alternating colors.


    There were many trees in this Beast Forest and so, he could mostly see the outline of these trees without any color, however there were other creatures emitting different colors as he looked around the forest.


    Supposedly, these were the warm-blooded creatures in this forest, and it seems they were attracted by something as they were currently rushing towards this direction, probably due to his surprised screaming voice from earlier.


    Realizing this, Randy''s thoughts moved quickly and immediately decided to activate the Stealth Scales Skill to guarantee his safety.


    But before that, he took a moment to look down at his own hands and sure enough, they were emitting different colors, sometimes yellow or green or blue or maybe thebination of them. In any case, it seems the color of his hands change based on the temperature that his body was emitting due to certain movements or reactions.


    However, at this moment, Randy noticed something strange about his current self, his body seemed to have some sort of scales all over it when he rubbed them slightly, nevertheless, it did not feel ufortable when he touched them.


    These scales seemed to be emanating a unique kind of energy or more precisely, it appears to be absorbing the surrounding energy thus emanating this unique kind of energy.


    Randy assumed that this was perhaps the effects of using the Reinforcement of the Stealthy Python.


    However, right now, he cannot see himself clearly, so he cannot be certain about what his current appearance looks like.


    Disregarding this thought, he then activated the [Stealth Scales] Skill the next moment.


    ---


    [[Stealth Scales Skill Activated]]


    ---


    Almost immediately after this notification, Randy could feel the surrounding energy being absorbed towards his body at a rapid speed. He was confused at first, but then he soon realized what was going on.


    This ability of the Stealthy Python seemed to rely heavily on absorbing the energy in the surrounding to create a sort of bodily refraction to prevent anyone or anything from perceiving one''s existence, even if one were to be right next to others.


    Nheless, unless someone had some unique detection or irvoyance ability, most people should not be able to detect his appearance when using this ability. As even he could not perceive the existence of the Stealthy Python if not because of the animalistic instinct he acquired through the werewolf form, that enabled him to perceive the danger to himself ahead of time, but not the source of the danger itself due to this strange ability of the Stealthy Python.


    After activating this stealth ability, Randy''s form was gradually fading away from the vicinity of the Beast Forest.


    And very soon, some creatures suddenly showed up to where Randy was only to find nothing in the location. They appeared confused because they clearly sensed and even heard something screaming earlier, and yet after arriving quickly to see if it was prey, there was nothing to be found in the end.


    At this point, Randy proceeded to stand right where he was before activating the stealth ability as he silently observed the creatures through his infrared vision brought about by the Thermal Detection Skill.


    Upon observing these creatures for a while, he then noticed that they were actually wolves based on their outlines.


    Seeing that the other parties could not see him or more precisely could not sense him at the moment, Randy silently moved closer to one of the wolves that was close to his position without alerting it.


    This was the most effective method of hunting one''s prey, slowly approach the prey and then catch thempletely off guard.

 Chapter 42 - Goal Achieved

    Randy slowly and silently approached one of the wolves that came to his current location when they were attracted by his surprised eximing voice earlier.


    Right now, he was supposed to be invisible, thus imperceptible with the naked eyes. Just like when he was unable to perceive the Stealthy Python when he had met it earlier, and due to that, no one should be able to perceive his existence at this moment.


    However right when he thought of that, one of the wolves who appeared to be the leader of the pack, at this moment, seemed to be frantically turning its head around from side to side as if to sense something, but ultimately could not find whatever it was trying to sense in the end.


    It was at this moment, that one of the wolves started wailing and howling in a painful muffed cry.


    Wiee~


    This immediately caused the other wolves to be alerted, jumping on the spot as they made audible noises from fright.


    After looking for the source of the wailing sound, only then did they all turn to look at theirpanion who was still screaming in a muff cry as if choking on something while its body was constantly shaking on the spot.


    They proceeded to ignore theirpanion for a moment and then rxed themselves as they now appeared relieved when they realized that there was no enemy around them.


    However they were still bewildered by the sight in front of them. For some reason, theirpanion was still continuing to wail and scream in pain as it now began to twitch uncontrobly from the ufortable and unbearable pain.


    And very soon, it breathed itsst on the spot as its body suddenly turned limp and then dropped to the ground with a ''thud'' sound, shocking all the other wolves greatly as they wondered what had happened to theirpanion.


    [[Grip Skill Activated]]


    At that moment, Randy had activated this newly acquired skill of his and silently hunted his prey without them being able to retaliate at all.


    However, he did not stop there, using the confusion from the other wolves when they saw theirpanion suddenly dying in front of them, he took that chance to stealthily approach them one by one.


    Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!


    Within the next few moments, dull sounds of something falling to the ground resounded in the vicinity of the forest.


    At this point, he had already gotten used to this newly acquired skill, thus he managed to swiftly killed them all off by strangling their necks with his arm until suffocation, leaving only the leader of the pack remaining among the group of wolves.


    Seeing his pack dropping down to the ground without it being able to do anything about it or even know where the enemy was attacking from, the leader of the wolves suddenly growled in anger disying a fierce expression the next moment.


    Grrr¡ª


    It seemed that it was ready to take revenge for the loss of its pack as it maintained a cautious expression; the leader of wolves looked around itself as it waited for the enemy to show itself, and when they do, it would then attack them before they even darey their hands on it.


    At this point, Randy was immerse in this newly acquired ability of his with an admiration expression on his face.


    And due to that, he decided to ignore the fierce leader of the wolves in front of him since the other party does not seem to be willing to run away even after what had happened just now.


    This Grip skill was in other words just what it sounded like, basically clutching tightly to your enemy without letting go until they ultimately die from suffocation.


    As one would expect of a skill from a python.


    When Randy used this skill, he found out that he can strengthen a part of his body as solid as it can get, and thus he chose to strengthen his arm, using it to strangle the wolves and eventually killing them within mere seconds by snapping their necks.


    What an impressive skill!


    Although it was akin to reinforcement of the flesh, but it was still an effective skill that would prove to be useful when used at the right time.


    And in addition to that, it will be hard for the other party to break free from this ability since it seemed to be capable of being reinforced with an energy, especially with magical energy since the Stealthy Python was a magical beast.


    Just now, Randy only used the Grip Skill without using any energy to reinforce the skill since it became something like an inherent ability that could be executed naturally, but if he were to use any energy to reinforce the skill, one could not imagine the effect it would have.


    But at least one thing is for certain and that is, it will not lose to any reinforcement-type technique or ability in terms of power when used.


    With that conclusion, Randy then turned his attention to the leader of the wolves and then he thought for a bit before deciding to undo his Stealthy Python''s reinforcement state, as he was not yet used to this strange perception brought about by this assimted state.


    And besides, the leader of the wolves was now cautious of his existence, so it would not be easy to sneak up and assault it right now in its current state of mind.


    With that thought, he immediately undid his Stealthy Python''s reinforcement state.


    ---


    [[Assimted Mode Deactivated]]


    ---


    Growl¡ª


    The leader of the wolves growled when he suddenly saw something appearing in distance from it.


    Seeing the appearing form of the other party, the leader of the wolves was momentarily shocked, but then it realized that this was probably the enemy that killed itspanions a while ago.


    "Grrrr~"


    And with that, it immediately disyed bloodshot eyes as it did not waste any time to madly lung itself forward to try and bite the neck of the enemy that suddenly appeared to take its revenge.


    However, the next moment, it suddenly stopped its charging body, halting its steps when it was only about 2 meters away from the enemy.


    ---


    [[Reinforcement(Strength of the Werewolf King) Skill Activated]]


    ---


    Randy hadpletely transformed into his werewolf form, exuding a fierce aura around himself as he red at the other party with his fierce looking eyes.


    ''Was this guy trying to attack me just now?'' Randy silently thought while looking at the wimping wolf in the distance.


    Nevertheless, at this moment, the leader of the wolves could vividly feel a sense of danger from the enemy when they had suddenly transformed, changing their appearance.


    And when it saw that transformed state, its previous aggression towards the enemy soon died down, and was now backing away slowly before it gets killed.


    As Randy red at it earlier, it immediately felt the impulse to run for its life as this was not an opponent it could face with its current strength.


    At this point, Randy silently observed the other party for a bit and then urged by gesturing with his finger: "Come, why don''t you attack first; I want to see how powerful you are."


    The leader of the wolves did not understand what the other party was trying to say, but at this point, it only cared about surviving; escaping from this enemy and so, without hesitation, it suddenly turned around and started running away in a certain direction with its tail tug between its legs.


    Randy was speechless by this sight, to say the least. He thought that the other party was going to take revenge, but it turns out it only thought of surviving the moment it saw his transformed state.


    Randy did care about the whether the wolf decided to run for its life or not, however what he really cared about was the knowledge points that it might be carrying on itself, after all, it had to be smart if it knows to run for its life.


    And with that in mind, Randy suddenly vanished from his current position, moving with the wind as he charged towards the fleeing wolf.


    Whoosh!


    At that moment, he had activated the Gale Riding Skill and very soon, he caught up to the escaping leader of the wolves, appearing directly in front of it.


    And without hesitation, he threw a punch at the head of the one meter tall wolf while controlling his strength to not identally stter its head all over the ce and thus inviting more trouble afterwards.


    "Bam!"


    This assault of his caused the leader of the wolves to be disoriented for a bit as it staggered backwards.


    Taking this chance, Randy instantly dug his wed hand into its neck, grabbing and raising the wolf upward as he squeezed its neck tightly until a clear sound of something breaking was heard.


    Crack!


    In that moment, Randy had snapped the neck of the leader of the wolves before dropping its body to the ground as it made a ''thud'' sound when it fell.


    At this moment, Randy''s hand used to kill the wolf was drenched and covered in blood, but he did not mind it too much as he instead looked into the void of space in front of his vision, specifically the projected holographic screen that was disying visible lines of texts on it.


    ---


    [[You have in eight mutated pack of Grey Wolves, whose rank range between D-rank and C-rank]]


    [[Through achieving this feat, you have obtained 1100 Knowledge Points in total]]


    ---

 Chapter 43 - Leaving The Beast Forest

    ---


    [[You have in eight mutated pack of Grey Wolves, whose rank range between D-rank and C-rank]]


    [[Through achieving this feat, you have obtained 1100 Knowledge Points in total]]


    ---


    Reading through these disyed texts in front of his vision, Randy suddenly grinned from ear to ear, because with this, he had aplished his goal for the day, meaning that he can now return home peacefully.


    But should he just give on this chance and simply head back home when he could easily obtain more knowledge points?


    Randy obviously decided to stay for a while longer. After all, it had only been about an hour or probably even less than an hour since he entered this Beast Forest to hunt mutated beasts.


    And also, upon looking out for a bit, he noticed that there were still rays of sunlight outside, although it appears to be to be getting dimmer, nheless, this only meant that it was still in the early afternoon.


    At this point, he took out his personal bracelet from the storage bracelet, after a slight tap from him, it then disyed a holographic screen that showed the current time: [1:30 PM].


    Seeing that it had only been about 30 minutes since he entered this Beast Forest, Randy did not hesitate anymore and immediately ventured forth after taking stowing away the carcasses of the grey wolves.


    He ns on spending the next two hours hunting some other mutated beasts in order to umte as much of the knowledge points that he can get within that time frame.


    Right now, at this moment, he will be the new predator of this mutated beasts, harvesting their knowledge points for his own benefit until he was either fully satisfied with the amount umted or when time inevitably runs out and had no choice but to leave the Beast Forest at that time.


    ¡­


    Within the next two hours, Randy had used the Stealthy Python''s assimted abilities to sneak up on some mutated beasts that were within the close proximity of where he had been standing before, and then covertly assassinated them without giving them any chance to retaliate.


    Luckily, most of these mutated beasts were only within E-rank to C-rank, so Randy did not spend too much effort in dealing with them.


    asionally, he had to use his werewolf form to defeat some of the mutated beasts since they were slightly stronger than the average mutated beasts.


    In which case, relying solely only on the reinforcement state of the Stealthy Python would not be enough to deal with those mutated beasts.


    Other than that, he mostly relied on the reinforcement state of the Stealthy Python to handle most of the average mutated beasts that were below C-rank.


    As for how he knew which mutated beasts were strong and which ones were weak, Randy only needed to use his Thermal Detection Skill and then sense the amount of energy within their bodies.


    Unexpectedly, the energies within the bodies of these mutated beasts or more specifically, the warm-blooded mutated beasts were perceptible through his infrared vision as they were disyed as bright distinct colors within their bodies and using those bright colors they emitted, depending on their intensity, Randy was able to ssify the stronger mutated beasts and the weaker mutated beasts.


    Nevertheless, it was only through trial and error that Randy managed to find this method of distinguishing between the stronger opponents and the weaker opponents.


    Through this method, he was able to know when to utilize his werewolf form and when not to use it.


    Naturally, his werewolf form can basically also detect the stronger and weaker enemies through his heightened senses, but Randy preferred to y it safe by sneaking up on his opponents at the moment.


    After all, at the moment, he does have any profound technique to execute in case the opponent turns out to be stronger than they may appear at a nce.


    This may be attributed to their unique or special inherent abilities that they may have awakened after going through their mutations.


    With that thought in mind, he silently hunted the mutated beasts with the stealth and detection abilities that were now part of his repertoire of abilities obtained.


    At one point, he even ran into a mutated ape that seemed to be more intelligent than the other mutated beasts that he had fought thus far.


    That mutated ape could not be killed with his Stealthy Python''s enhancement to his strength and that was due to that fact that mutated ape had an unusually strong hide, thus preventing most physical damages from causing any harm to it.


    When that happened, Randy had no choice but use his werewolf form and after an arduous battle of constantly evading its attack with his Gale Riding skill and only sometimes did he manage to w sh its face and body with his wed hand when there was an opportunity to strike.


    However, that only managed to leave slight cut wounds all over its face and body.


    Eventually, he seeded in defeating this mutated ape by constantly draining its blood for about 10 minutes straight while dodging its attacks at the same time.


    It was through this method that he was able to ultimately manage to defeat the intelligent mutated ape.


    This caused Randy to waste so much time in one ce, however the ie that he received in form of knowledge points were worth the time he had spent in doing so.


    Naturally, Randy could have defeated this mutated ape easily with his werewolf form, but that would serve to cause too much noise in the surrounding, since he would have to punch it a couple of times before he could even think about defeating it normally.


    And to avoid that, he decided to drain its blood surreptitiously instead.


    Also, Randy decided not to venture too far away from the edge of the Beast Forest, all to avoid running into some mutated beasts that were stronger than C-rank


    And with that thought in mind, he mostly stayed a distance not too far away from the edge of the Beast Forest as he continued to hunt the mutated beasts within the range of E-rank to C-rank.


    After killing so many mutated beasts within these two hours in the Beast Forest, Randy had actually managed to obtain an ample amount of knowledge points, enough to bring a delighted smile to his face.


    Right now, he could not wait to leave the Beast Forest and try his hands atprehending some profound techniques.


    The only reason why he was so excited about this matter was the fact that most high school or academy students would have to wait until they eventually get epted into a university to even think about getting their hands on one of those techniques.


    At this point, Randy looked down to check his bracelet: [3: 45 PM] and after seeing that it had only been a little more than two hours since he killed the pack of wolves from before, he decided to call it a day and right away, he proceeded to head out of the Beast Forest.

 Chapter 44 - Exposed?

    Very soon, he came out of the thick Beast Forest in long strides.


    After cautiously walking for about 15 minutes while also asionally stopping to check the trails that he had left behind in case he gets lost on his way, Randy finally came out of the Beast Forest.


    After that, he passed through the invisible barrier that was erected around the entire city and through the city''s east gate that led inside the city; this was the same huge gate that he passed through to go out into the Beast Forest earlier.


    Randy did not waste too much time and proceeded on wards after nodding slightly towards the surprised but pleased guard of the east gate of the Beast Forest.


    This was the same guard from before.


    There appears to be other guards in a small building stationed not too far away from the east gate, however it seems that this guard was mostly in charge of guarding the gate today and that was most likely the reason why Randy had ran into him more than once during his little outing to the Beast Forest today.


    ¡­


    On the other side.


    Eastern District, A Certain Luxurious Hotel.


    At this time, the white-haired man from earlier had just received the information that he had requested pertaining to the young man that he saw on that footage sent to him by the Sky Rise City''s Police Department in this Eastern District.


    At this moment, he suddenly disyed a scowl on his face and then all of sudden he rxed his expression a bit after reading through everything on the projected screen from hismunication device.


    And he proceeded to look at the portrait next to the disyed file for a while and then suddenly muttered: "So this kid is actually not a stray from my prestigious family... Since ording to this file, he was the oldest child of those two people¡­ If that is the case, then what is with his appearance changing ability¡­ is it possible that it was simply just an ability that happens to change his appearance to look simr to a member of my prestigious family?"


    The white-haired man pondered about this matter and then thought of a possibility.


    ''Wait, those two were a magician and a blood warrior ss, respectively and yet their child did not inherit any of their abilities and instead awakened to a transformation ability that alters his appearance slightly? How is that even possible?''


    ''No, wait! In this case, that will only be possible if this young man was not their own child or that this young man just happened to inherit a certain gic trait that allowed him to acquire a different variation of an ability that is unlike those of parents.''


    The white-haired man thought of these possibilities with a deep pondering expression on his face.


    At this point, the screen of hismunication device shed, causing him to lose his train of thought.


    He frowned slightly in displeasure, however, as he thought of something, he suddenly rxed his expression and then immediately reach his hand to the table in front of him to picked up themunication device.


    After picking it up, he proceeded to tap themunication device, instantly revealing the same person from before on the other end.


    And just as before, upon seeing the white-haired man''s face on the other end, that person immediately reported in a respectfully tone: "Young Lord, regarding the matter you requested from the tech department, it had been done¡­"


    "What are you waiting for? Just outright say everything that you have found out, why keep the suspense?" The white-haired man impatiently said to him.


    "Right away, Young Lord. That brat¡ª that young man on the footage¡­ after going through numerous meticulous analyses and scrutiny, the tech department found out from the footage that his appearance was very strange¡­ it looked like he had a slightly extended fingernails after his transformation, but they said they were not certain about whether it was glitch due to the quality of the footage being low or whether the young man really had ws after his transformation."


    Hearing this report, the white-haired man scowled and then silently thought.


    ''A wed finger? An extended fingernail? Isn''t this trait very familiar¡­ don''t tell me that he really is a stray from my prestigious family? Then again, howe nobody seem to know about his existence up until now? In any case, this matter requires a careful approach; I cannot afford to offend those two people, so I will only send people to probe that young man and see whether he really is a member of my prestigious family, but if it turns out to be the case, then that would mean that those two people had actually intentionally or unintentionally adopted a member of my prestigious family, right?''


    The white-haired man dismissed these thoughts for now as he suddenly spoke to the man on the other end of themunication device: "I understand what you are trying to say¡­ If there is indeed a possibility that this young man was a member of our family, then we''ll have no choice but to bring him back to where he belongs, even if we have to go against those two people. For now, find some people to probe him and check whether he really is someone of our family or just a unique ability holder with the ability to turn his hair into a white color. Furthermore, If it is just a unique ability, then we don''t have to worry too much about this. However in the likelihood that he really is a member of our family, we would have to quickly take actions as soon as possible as we cannot let people know of our true identities in this world."


    After saying so, he suddenly recalled something and then calmly spoke up again: "And also, ording to what I heard from the people from the Sky Rise City''s police department, that young man, although quite odd, might have not told his parents about his abilities just yet. And that was due to the fact that he was trying to hide the matter of him apprehending Thousand Visage a secret from them."


    "¡­ Understood, Young Lord. I will see to it right away." The man on the other side responded in a solemn tone of voice.


    "Hm, I will leave this matter to you then. And I expect good results." The white-haired man then said to him.


    Hearing his young lord''s expectation, the man on the other side paused for a moment before solemnly replying in a determined tone of voice: "The Young Lord does not need to worry, this subordinate will see to it that this matter is solved with the utmost results."


    "Very well." The white-haired man appeared pleased as he nodded to his response before cutting the connection to themunication device.


    ¡­

 Chapter 45 - Heading Home After Handling Matters

    At the same time.


    Sky Rise City''s Police Department.


    Hong Mingyue had just received a detailed analysis report from her subordinate regarding the satellite footage taken at the time when Randy apprehended the burr.


    At this time, she had a slight frown on her beautiful face as she carefully read through the file a few times to make sure that she did not read it wrong the first time.


    Eventually, she only sighed and then muttered: "How troublesome¡­"


    ''ording to this report, that kid''s appearance after transforming was indeed very strange, as he seemed to have a wed-like fingernails when he transformed at that time.''


    ''However, this should not be too strange at all, since there were many different kinds of abilities out there, some are normal and others are bizarre enough to give one a headache, but I highly doubt those people from the Silvermoon family would recognize that fact.''


    ''They would most probably try to probe him to see if he was a member of their family. After all, only their family seemed to have this trait along with their distinctive hair color when they are engaged in a fight. Furthermore, due to its simrity to ws of wolves, most people assumed that they could somehow reinforce themselves with wolf-like abilities.''


    ''Nevertheless, they are not the only ones with this type of transformation ability as there are people with the ability topletely transform themselves into tigers, monkeys, birds and whatnot.''


    ''However, most of these people came into contact with mutated beast blood and upon consumption, they inherited their bloodline. Either that or some simply just awaken to a type of transformation ability that can turn their bodies into various animals.''


    She silently thought all these with a deep frown still on her pretty face, making her eyebrows closely knitted together as she recalled how the people from Silvermoon family were always unbridled and smug as if they were some true nobles in this tumultuous world.


    After thinking about this, she suddenly recalled something else and then she tapped hermunication device to disy a certain information of a certain someone.


    This was Randy''s information that he gave her during their encounter at that time.


    At the time, Randy gave his information including his bank ount information to her in hopes that she would send the bounty money to himter.


    While looking at the information on the projected screen, she pondered for a brief moment.


    Without thinking too much, she then tapped on hermunication device to disy a holographic keyboard and then silently typed something onto the screen before silently putting it away again when she was done.


    ¡­


    On the other side.


    Randy had just arrived at the gate of a residence. This was where Jiang Chen lives. After leaving the border of the city, he immediately made his way here to have Jiang Chen take care of something for him.


    A few momentster, Jiang Chen came out and picked him up again and very soon, they were heading inside his room once more.


    The moment they entered the mansion though, before going up to Jiang Chen''s room, Randy did not miss the chance to greet Jiang Chen''s mom who was currently busy in the kitchen preparing some Asian cuisines with an apron on.


    Jiang Chen was an only child, so the parents did not have to worry about taking care of another child, thus Jiang Chen himself was always happy about this fact, since unlike Randy, his parents put all their efforts into getting him whatever he wanted.


    Although Randy was slightly jealous of him, but he still cannot imagine himself not having his little sister and well, his little brother, who had already been recruited by an organization that specialize in raising rising prodigies.


    At this moment, both of them had already reached Jiang Chen''s room and then sat down.


    "So how was the hunt? Did you manage to kill any mutated beasts?" Jiang Chen curiously asked with a hint of excitement.


    He had already dreamt of fighting mutated beasts or joining a party to clear some dungeon, however at the moment, his ability was not a physical type but a mental type of an ability, which needed improvement before it can be useful inbat.


    At this point, hearing his questions, Randy replied: "Yes, I defeated a few mutated beasts and there is something that I will like your help with and also that was mostly the reason why I came here right after exiting the Beast Forest."


    "Oh?" Jiang Chen appeared intrigued and then inquired right away: "What do you need me for?"


    "I have some mutated beast carcasses in this storage bracelet."


    Saying so, he extended his hand to give the storage bracelet to him.


    Jiang Chen received the storage bracelet and then continued to listen to him.


    Randy then he continued: "I need your help to sell them including their beast cores. Naturally, I kept some of the beast cores for myself and I only needed you to use your connections to sell the remaining beast cores including their carcasses if it can be sold at all."


    After saying so, he waited for him to say something, but the other party nkly stared at him and then down on his palm holding the intricate storage bracelet.


    "How much mutated beast carcasses are in here?" Jiang Chen asked after a while.


    ¡­


    After handling matters regarding the mutated beasts'' corpses and beast cores through Jiang Chen, Randy quickly left, took a train, and then made his way home.


    Very soon, he was in front of their family gate. After taking out his keycard and tapping it on the scanner, he proceeded to walk into the house without wasting time as it was currently almost 6 o''clock in the evening.


    The reason why he was in a hurry was due to him spending some time exining the situation to Jiang Chen including recounting to him about how he had hunted the mutated beasts, which got his friend excited for some reason after hearing them.


    Strangely enough, when he went into the mansion, his mother was waiting for him in the living room as usual, however she did not say anything and only nced at him when he walked in before turning back to watch the evening news.


    What was even more strange to Randy was the fact that he thought his mother would call and ask about him since she was acting worried this morning, however ording to Jiang Chen, she never called at all, not even once.


    Randy did not mind it too much, after all, that only meant that there was no need for him to worry about himself being busted for lying to her about where he went instead of his friend''s house.


    In any case, today was a very tiring day for him as this was his first time attempting something like this, nheless the results were more than he had original expected.


    Saying so, he looked at the section on the screen that disyed the amount of knowledge points he had right now.


    ---


    ?[[Knowledge Points: 10,540 ]]?


    ---

 Chapter 46 - Void Rippling Punch

    ---


    ?[[Knowledge Points: 10,540 ]]?


    ---


    ''Now, with this amount of knowledge points, I am certain that I will be able toprehend at least two of the techniques or skills.''


    He silently thought in both excitement and anticipation ofprehending his first profound technique.


    At this time, Randy had already taken a shower, eaten his dinner with his mother and sister and immediately came to his room to check on things regarding theprehension of techniques before sleeping since tomorrow was Monday and he had to sleep early or perhaps not.


    He does not care much about school right now, since the one thing he does not need to worry about was his academic grades.


    Before he had to worry about not having his own innate ability or type of energy, however at this moment, he had both of these things and then some.


    And so, what matters right now wasprehending a profound technique that will be crucial to surviving anything unexpected that maye his way.


    Although there are barriers erected around every district in this world, but nevertheless, that only prevented the sudden invasion of hordes of beasts and not prevent the sudden appearance of dimensional rifts.


    The only thing that one had to not worry about much was the dimensional gates or dungeons.


    As those were usually used to trap monsters or whatever creature on the other side froming over to this side for a certain amount of duration.


    And when nobody manages to clear the dungeon during the provided time limit, only then will a dungeon break ur and monsters or whatever that is on the other side will pour out of the gate.


    The various scientific departments had somehow managed to predict some rifts ahead of time, but not all rifts were predictable like the one he ran into the other day, thus there are usually casualties as a result.


    This was because most civilians do not havebat experience even if they had a powerful awakened ability and so, they inevitably end up dying to the creatures that pour out of the rifts.


    This was one of the reasons why profound techniques were priceless and only universities owned by the government or independent organizations, like sects provide them to their students.


    With that thought in mind, Randy looked into the void of space, at the Record icon on the status screen in front of him.


    Using his mind he selected the icon and then a drop down list appeared.


    ---


    ?[[Records]]?


    Current Recorded History:


    Skill(s)


    <Shadow Mirage Barrage>


    <Blood Ray>


    Technique(s)


    <Void Rippling Punch Technique>


    <Unseen Sword Art>


    <Mountain Cleaving Strike Technique>


    <Traceless Form Technique>


    <Untraceable Shallow Spear Art>


    <Destructive Demonic Spear Technique>


    ---


    And after thinking for a bit, Randy then requested in his mind: ''System, can you disy how much knowledge points I need toprehend the current skills and techniques?''


    Immediately after asking, the disyed lists suddenly changed with a few more words and numbers appearing next to the skills and techniques.


    ---


    ?[[Records]]?


    Current Recorded History:


    Skill(s)


    [1000,000 KP]


    <Shadow Mirage Barrage>  [1000,000 KP]


    <Blood Ray>  [500,000 KP]


    Technique(s)


    <Void Rippling Punch Technique>  [1000 KP]


    <Unseen Sword Art>  [100,000 KP]


    <Mountain Cleaving Strike Technique>  [10,000 KP]


    <Traceless Form Technique>  [50,000 KP]


    <Untraceable Shallow Spear Art>  [50,000 KP]


    <Destructive Demonic Spear Technique>  [30,000 KP]


    ---


    Seeing the amount of knowledge points needed toprehend the skills and techniques, Randy was left speechless for a long while and even his mouth was left wide opened as he felt like his supposed effort today was nothing in front of this exorbitant amount of knowledge points needed toprehend just the techniques alone.


    "What the fuck!"


    Seeing this, he could not help but curse out loud from the sudden frustration, however that was only momentarily as he soon calmed down when he saw that the situation was notpletely hopeless.


    Since he saw that he could at least learn the technique[RD1] that he wanted toprehend the most among the less exorbitant techniques.


    Void Rippling Punch!


    The amount of knowledge points needed was only ''1000 Knowledge Points.''


    It was the least amount of knowledge points among the skills and techniques, heck it was tremendously less than the amount of knowledge points needed for the second less exorbitant technique, Mountain Cleaving Strike.


    At this point, Randy could not help but ask with a deep frown on his face: "System, why is it more expensive to learn the skills than the techniques?"


    [[The techniques were something created by mortal through their profoundprehension of thews of the world and thusprehending these techniques does not require much Knowledge Points aspared to skills since they were morepatible to mortals or more precisely it was created to beprehended by mortals in the first ce. However, the skills were derived from thews of the through fulfilling certain conditions or have the right aptitude and thus it requires more Knowledge Points if a mortal wanted toprehend them without fulfilling the above mentioned.]]


    The system instantly replied to his question while also giving crucial information.


    "So that is how it is."


    Randy nodded in understanding and decided not to pursue the matter for now since it is not important right now.


    ''Alright, then I would like toprehend the ''Void Rippling Punch.'' How do I do so?'' Randy then asked.


    [[The host only needed to concentrate his mind on the specific technique or skill that you would like toprehend, and the system will take care of the rest]]] The system said to him.


    Upon hearing that, Randy immediately concentrated mind and focused his attention on the ''Void Rippling Punch'' technique on the disyed screen.


    And very soon¡­


    [[Would you like to spend 1000 Knowledge Points toprehend the technique, ''Void Rippling Punch''?]] The system prompted.


    ''Yes.'' Randy replied without hesitation.


    What is there to hesitate for?


    He had purposely risk his life to umte these knowledge points all in order to finallyprehend a profound technique that many in their years sought after but could not obtain.


    A moment after his reply, Randy suddenly felt dazed out as he could feel so much information abruptly appearing in his mind as if they had been there since eons ago and he had only recalled them just now.


    This may be an exaggeration but that was how Randy felt like at this moment in time since it seemed like he could not forget this ''recalled'' memory and knowledge even if he wanted to at this point.


    And after that, a series of fist techniques and how to execute them appearing inside his mind.


    Right now, at this moment, he had fully understood the essence of this technique and could fully execute it as long as his physical condition matches the requirements needed to execute the technique sessfully.


    Randy soon closed his eyes to immerse himself in this extraordinary experience as he reyed the series of fist techniques in his mind for an untold amount of times before abruptly opening his eyes with an enlightened expression.


    "How wondrous¡­" He muttered in admiration, recalling his experience just now.


    A momentter¡­


    [[You have fullyprehended the technique, ''Void Rippling Punch'']]


    The system immediately announced.

 Chapter 47 - Mental Ability

    [[You have fullyprehended the technique, ''Void Rippling Punch'']]


    The system immediately announced.


    After this, Randy was suddenly itching to try out this profound technique. Although he felt like he had just practiced it for an unknown amount of times in his mental space during theprehension process, however, nothing beats actually practicing it with his own hands and seeing his progress.


    With that thought in mind, Randy immediately stood up and walk forward to open the door to his room before suddenly recalling something that he had forgotten about for a while now.


    He turned away from the door and then walked toward a direction for a while before reaching theundry bag.


    He then picked up his pair of pants, this was the pair of ck pants that he had worn today, he immediately put his hands into his side pocket before taking out a bottle filled with some liquid.


    After thinking for a bit, he used his Blood Authority skill to take out the liquid from the bottle as it hovered in front of him and then after checking it for no issues, he used the Blood Authority skill to solidify the liquid before grasping it into his palm.


    And soon¡­


    ?[[Discovered a ''Purified Blood Essence'' of an awakened human]]?


    ?[[Due to your unique skill ''Blood Assimte,'' you are able to assimte with this blood thus obtaining its ''Blood Knowledge'']]?


    A short momentter¡­


    ?[[Detected a unique and very rare mental ability signature in this blood essence. Due to its nature epassing that of mental energy, the host had been given the following choices:]]?


    ?[[First Choice: Assimte with the ''Purified Blood Essence'' and you would be able to utilize it to retrieve the ''Blood Knowledge'' and be able to use all the abilities of the source of this blood, however, the ability will be limited to your current mental energy as the subsequent boost on mental energy from assimtion, in general, is minimal inparison to that of the basic statistics]]?


    ?[[Second Choice: Fuse and transform this ''Purified Blood Essence,'' thus converting and making it your own, this would bring about a new unique ability that can be used even without entering assimted mode and as this is not an evolved human''s blood, your Blood Energy or Evolution Energy would not increase. Naturally, you would still be able to retain the ''Blood Knowledge'' using your ''Blood Retain'' skill, allowing you to still use the enhancement effects of its assimted mode, although the enhancement effect will decrease slightly due to your fusion with this blood essence. Furthermore, the host can also choose to spend Knowledge Points to cultivate the subsequent mental ability directly or increase your mental energy or mental strength directly to match the prerequisite of the subsequent mental ability. However using this method, the host might lose the chance of possibly awakening your very own mental ability after you reach the threshold of 200 Psionic energy and breaking through to the next realm of mental cultivation]]?


    ?[[Please think carefully before making your choice]]?


    The system stated after the notifications.


    Seeing these series of notifications from the system, Randy carefully read through every single sentence two times to make sure that he fully understood the implications of what the system was stating.


    After reading everything, Randy then looked on his status screen that was next to the screen disying the notifications, specifically the Combat System Power Level Section on the status screen.


    ---


    Psi Realm[0]: None (87.5/200)


    ---


    ?[[Psionic Energy(Mental Energy): 87.5/87.5]]?


    ---


    "I see, so that was what that was¡­ I always wondered what cultivating the mental energy will elicit, however, I never thought that it would aid one in possibly awakening a mental ability of their own."


    He muttered as he nced at the number signifying the amount of mental energy next to the Psi Realm and Psionic energy icons.


    ''It seems like I still need to reach 200 mental energy, no, Psionic energy in order to even think about awakening a mental ability. However ording to what the system said, this mental ability signature detected in Jiang Chen''s blood was very rare and unique¡­ in that case, rather than hoping to acquire a mental ability of my own or actually acquiring one right now¡­ it is obvious that I would pick thetter. Not to mention, the system said, I can directly improve my mental ability and also my mental energy using my umted Knowledge points¡­. So it turns out Knowledge points do have other uses¡­''


    Randy ruminated about the choices and finally made up his mind about what to pick.


    ''System, I have decided to pick the second choice and fuse with this blood essence.'' Randy stated resolutely.


    [[Are you sure? Have thought deeply about your decision? If you choose to fuse with this blood essence, the assimted state might not bring any significant boost to your strength]]


    ''Less nonsense, of course, I pick the second choice because I thought very hard about it. And also Jiang Chen is not much of an athlete so he might not give much basic statistics boost¡­ no, I know for a fact that he will not give much boost. And with that thought in mind, I decided to pick the second choice.''


    Randy exined the reason behind his decision.


    There was another reason why he picked the second choice, that is, it was very hard to cultivate the Psionic energy. As Randy had noticed from a while ago, the mental strength or mental energy and the Psionic energy were corrted with each other.


    With that, he quickly nced above and looked at his current mental strength and his Psionic energy.


    ---


    ?[Mental Strength: 875]?


    ---


    ?[[Psionic Energy(Mental Energy): 87.5/87.5]]?


    ---


    Psi Realm[0]: None (87.5/200)


    ---


    With things being like this, how long would it take to finally cultivate his mental energy or mental strength to finally reach the threshold of 200 Psionic energy before he could even attempt awakening his mental ability?


    Although there were different methods one can use to increase their mental energy, the first one was the natural method, which is through cultivating magical energy or spiritual energy and the second method was through cultivating one''s mental energy through a mental cultivation method.


    However using the second method was very dangerous as it could damage your mind with the slightest disruption or mistake in execution, and thus only some people with confidence and various contingencies already set up would attempt using these mental energy cultivation methods to increase their mental strength or mental energy.


    As Randy was thinking about this, the system''s notification suddenly popped up with lines of texts disying in front of his eyes.


    [[Response Acknowledged!]]


    [[To begin the fusion process, the host must consume the ''Purified Blood Essence'' in your hand or¡­]]


    "Ah, right."


    Seeing the notifications, Randy abruptly snapped out of his thoughts and immediately popped the solidified blood in his hand into his mouth.

 Chapter 48 - Unwillingness

    Immediately after consuming the solidified blood, it melted in his mouth and the usual sensation washed over him, however this time, Randy did not resist the urge of wanting to swallow the blood in his mouth.


    Strangely enough, this blood tasted very unique when Randy swallowed it.


    <em>''Is this perhaps because it was rich in a type of mental energy or something else?''</em>


    He briefly thought of this possibility but soon dismissed the thought and looked in front of himself, specifically on the screen in front of his eyes.


    A momentter, notifications started popping up on the holographic screen in front of his eyes.


    Lines of texts were appearing on the screen one after another.


    ?[[You have consumed the purified blood essence of an awakened human]]?


    ?[[Due to the response given by the host, currently activating ''Blood Fusion'' skill]]?


    ?[[Blood Fusion Skill Activated]]?


    ?[[Blood Fusion Commencing¡­]]?


    -


    -


    -


    ?[[You have fully fused with the blood essence]]?


    ?[[Currently determining what ability to receive¡­]]?


    ?[[Notice: Due to the effects of your unique bloodline, you are given three choices between which ability to acquire, the possible abilities are as follows:]]?


    ?[[All Supernatural w Perception:This mental ability allows you to see the ws or shorings of all supernatural abilities and techniques in existence through your psionic field. Through this perception, you can always counter any supernatural ability or technique with the right amount of force or by hitting the precise detected w]]?


    ?[[All Law Seeker: This mental ability allows you see the rules of all things and all beings thus determining their w through your psionic field. However, at the early stages of this ability you can only perceive the minor weaknesses of all things and all beings]]?


    ?[[Absolute Psychokinesis: The mental ability to bend all objects around you with only your psionic energy. However when this mental ability is improved further, you can even affect living beings with this ability by ignoring all barriers and physical defenses]]?


    ?[[Please think carefully before you make your choice]]?


    ---


    Seeing these notifications, Randy quickly read through them and was immediately delighted with these rows of abilities, however he was soon caught in a headache inducing dilemma shortly after.


    He does not want to give up on any of these abilities!


    In fact, he wanted to keep them all if possible and with that in mind, he acted quickly and asked the system.


    ''System, is possible to acquire all these abilities and not just pick one of them?'' Randy carefully asked.


    [[Negative, the host can only pick one of these abilities otherwise, thews of this world would not allow such an urrence as you will be too strong in a short time through acquiring these abilities. Furthermore, you can only acquire one mental ability at every realm of mental cultivation, thus it is impossible to do so at your current mental cultivation realm that hasn''t even broken through the first realm of mental cultivation. Thus, in order for the host to obtain this mental ability, the system will have to spend some of your Knowledge Points to increase your psionic energy level slightly to meet the requirement]]


    Reading through this, Randy sighed dejectedly without saying anything to that.


    However, the moment, he immediately fell into thought and then contemted which ability he should be kept and which ones he should discard.


    The first mental ability: All Supernatural w Perception.


    <em>''Just from the description alone, one could see how effective this mental ability would be when used during abat against an enemy. You can basically tell the weakness or w of their profound techniques or supernatural abilities through your psionic field.''</em>


    <em>''Doesn''t that mean that the opponent would lose even before the fight begins if one used this ability during a fight?''</em>


    Randy thought in wonder and yearning towards wanting this ability for himself.


    And also, he remembers that this ability was simr to Jiang Chen''s ability to see through the ws of others and was even predicted to have the capability to see through the weaknesses of the abilities of monsters or beasts.


    Randy really wanted to have this ability; however this was only one of the abilities he could choose from and with that thought in mind, he looked down to the next line of texts.


    The second mental ability: All Law Seeker.


    <em>''Well, this mental ability seemed to be the same as the first mental ability, except that it said ''all things'' and ''all beings'' what does that mean? Does it mean I can basically tell everyone''s weaknesses just by using this ability? If that is the case, then this is broken. However it also said that at the early stage of this ability, it will only tell the weakness of all things and all beings. I wonder which is better? All supernatural abilities and all profound techniques? All things and all beings?''</em>


    <em>''¡­Wait! All things and all beings¡­ Doesn''t that mean¡­ hehehe¡­ This mental ability really is broken if it is what I think it means. In any case, let''s put this aside for now and look at thest ability.''</em> Randy silently thought with excitement.


    The third mental ability: Absolute Psychokinesis.


    <em>''Fuck! Another broken ability! This mental ability is just an enhanced version of the real psychok¡ª no, that''s not right, it is more urate to say that this is the true psychokinesis and not the ordinary ones awakened by other people. But still, does that mean those people can evolve their psychokinesis ability to this level if they try hard enough? I mean, who wouldn''t want the ability to ignore defenses and physically attack an ability user who might let their guard down due to having some expensive armors on? Tsk, tsk, tsk¡­ I definitely would want this ability.''</em>


    After reading though the mental abilities once again and analyzing them, Randy finally made his choice or maybe not.


    <em>''I hope I am making the right decision here¡­ after all, the descriptions were somewhat vague and doesn''t really tell me how the mental ability would be like when used, and even the terminologies like supernatural, rules,ws, and absolute are just vague even though they sound awesome just from hearing or reading them.''</em> Randy silently thought in uncertainty before making his reluctant final decision.


    After hesitating for a bit, he finally opened his mouth and stated his choice.


    ''System, please give me the second mental ability, all w¡ª I mean, All Law Seeker.'' He said in reluctance.


    <em>''Damn it, I really wanted them all and see how they work but now I will never get to know before losing them forever.''</em> Randy painfully thought while gritting his teeth in unwillingness.


    However, the system did not really care what he was feeling as it simply disyed new lines of texts in his vision.


    ?[[Response Acknowledged!]]?


    ?[[Awakening the new ability. Please wait¡­]]?

 Chapter 49 - Virtual Realm

    ?[[Awakening the new ability. Please wait¡­]]?


    -


    -


    -


    ?[[You have sessfully awakened the mental ability, ''All Law Seeker'' in a form of a skill]]?


    ?[[Please check your status screen for more information regarding this new ability]]?


    ---


    ?[[Knowledge Points: 7,915 ]]?


    ---


    ?[Mental Strength: 2500]?


    ---


    ?[[Psionic Energy(Mental Energy): 250/250]]?


    ---


    Psi Realm[1]: Beginner Level Psi Apprentice (250/499)


    ---


    Reading through all these, Randy could only sigh dejectedly as he shook his head in regret.


    <em>''Haah¡­ Whatever, it is already gone, so there is no need for me to feel any regrets at this point. Well this mental ability is good enough, I guess.''</em> Randy silently thought in self-constion.


    <em>''And also, I can feel my mind bing clearer, is it due to breaking through to the first realm in mental cultivation?''</em>


    <em>''Originally, I should have 9,540 knowledge points remaining afterprehending the fist technique, but I guess the system must''ve spend 1625 knowledge points to increase my mental strength from 875 to 2500 and it seems like I finally had a Psi Realm of cultivation, which is the Beginner Level Psi Apprentice Realm.''</em>


    <em>''Alright then, now that this is done, I think I need to go to my virtual station and try out my profound fist technique by fighting against some opponents in the virtual world. At this point, with my currentprehension, just air punching or sand punching is not going to cut it as I need to experience fighting against tough opponents to fully see my progress.''</em>


    Randy had a series of thoughts as he immediately stood up and walked out of his room.


    A few momentster, he stood in front of a door to a room that was next to his bedroom. This room was where he kept his virtual machine. Due to its size, Randy did not want to ce it in his room even though there was enough room to ce this virtual machine.


    Randy did not hesitate as he quickly opened the door to the room and proceeded to walk in.


    Inside the room was nothing but the virtual machine with some cables connected to it. The shape of this virtual machine was like some space pod. One can even say that it looked like a coffin due to its size and shape. Although, unlike an actual coffin, this one was shaped around the edges enough to look close to a cylindrical shape.


    Anyway, this is the virtual machine that his parents acquire for him before he entered high school. At that time, things were not as bad in the family, as his parents believed that he could awaken his innate ability when he turns 15 years old. However that expectation did not ur like they had hoped.


    In any case, Randy rarely used this virtual machine like it was intended and it had already been four years since his parents had acquired this virtual machine for him.


    And although for some reason, his parents still had the maintenance team of thepany where this virtual machine was manufactured,e often to check on the virtual machine and rece some parts with the newly improved ones.


    Naturally, his parents bought two extra virtual machines for his siblings, but his little sister never used it and as for his little brother who was not home, he only used it to train his basic techniques just like Randy did when their parents bought it for him.


    However, there was another feature of this virtual machine besides entering a training room and virtually training your skills and techniques. And that was the Virtual Duel System or V.D.S and the Role ying Game System where one can practice their techniques on virtually generated beasts or other creatures.


    Nevertheless, this virtual machine was really expensive when it first came out so not many people can afford to purchase one.


    However, over the years, the price had reduce to the point wheremon families that had a little bit of riches could afford it for their children, thus, nowadays, it had be very popr among the high school students and even the university students, as it was part of their curriculum, especially for the practicalbat sessions.


    In spite of that, the government on the other hand heavily advised against simply using the virtual reality generated by virtual machines to train their students since there were instances where some people were overconfident with themselves simply because they can respawn even if they were to die in the virtual world.


    And with that mindset, they do not take the virtual reality seriously and only choose to see it as nothing but a game for entertainment.


    And the oue of that mindset ultimately led to their real life experiences bing almost nonexistent, and thus leading to their early deaths when they meet an actual monster or beast that do not have their health bars disyed in front of them.


    With all that as the reason, in addition to using the virtual machines, there were times where real life sessions of practical trainings were offered by the institutions.


    At this point, Randy approached the virtual machine and then pressed a button which then projected a screen on the translucent ss on the surface of the virtual machine. Randy tapped some button on the screen and the pod-like virtual machine lifted the cover on top open, revealing the interior of the virtual machine.


    Inside of the virtual machine was nothing but an intricately designed helmet with a visor on the forefront of the helmet, that will cover one''s eyes when put on.


    The helmet itself was designed to only cover the top of the head and the eyes while the nose and mouth would not be covered when put on.


    This was probably to ensure nobody suffocating due to there not being enough air to breath in the case of having to identally stay in the virtual world for too long.


    This virtual machine has a build-in venttion system to prevent such urrence from ever happening and also to keep the body at the room temperature with the help of the temperature regtor installed in the virtual machine.


    Randy did not think too much and immediately entered the virtual machine and then closed the lid over himself.


    Right away, there was a screen projected in his vision the moment that he put on the virtual helmet, followed by lines of texts from the virtual system.


    <Wee back to the Virtual Sacred Realm>


    <Would the yer like to return to yourst departed location?>


    [Yes/NO]


    "No." Randy replied.


    <In that case, then please select the location where the yer would like to enter from>

 Chapter 50 - Blood-Red Light

    <Wee back to the Virtual Sacred Realm>


    <Would the yer like to return to yourst departed location?>


    [Yes/NO]


    "No." Randy replied.


    <In that case, then please select the location where the yer would like to enter from>


    After stating so, the screen projected from the virtual helmet suddenly refreshed and soon, there were many options to pick from, like the training room that he always used and the actual virtual world locations.


    However, Randy was not interested in ying the role ying game part of the virtual world, instead, he was more interested in the virtual duel where one can be pit against opponents from different professions to test out their abilities, skills, and techniques.


    It is the most useful method to hone one''s skills in general. And of course, there was a ranking system for those who defeated most opponents and one can even attract some universities using this method of achieving fame.


    <em>''I can''t wait to test out my profound fist technique. In any case, it doesn''t matter if I lose since right now, I only wanted to test out my skill level with the technique.'' </em>


    Randy silently thought in excitement, and with a wide grin on his face.


    <em>''I should pick the virtual duel option. But still, this virtual machine really is a top of the line achievement of humanity. I also remember that this virtual machine can basically create an avatar that looked exactly the same as the yer and it was hard to differentiate it from the real person.'' </em>


    Randy thought in admiration and then suddenly realized something.


    <em>''Wait, if that is the case, then wouldn''t my face be disyed to the whole world due to the recording feature of the virtual duel system. For some reason, only the virtual duel system had this feature of recording, not even the actual role ying game had this kind of recording feature. For now, I don''t want to be on disy and for everyone to put me on a pedestal of their own choosing¡­ if only I could buy some equipment to hide my face, then that would be great¡­ wait, hide my face? Now that I think about it, don''t I have an ability to change my appearance? Although I haven''t test it out yet, but it wouldn''t hurt to try it out now before I enter the virtual world. That way, even if they see my face, they could not connect it to me as that would technically not be me."</em>


    With that thought in mind, Randy concentrated his mind and soon, his personal system''s disy came into his mind. After looking at one of his skills, he concentrated on activating it.


    Randy suddenly felt the whole world receding from his vision, even the virtual machine that he was currently lying in was nowhere to be found in sight.


    There wasplete darkness.


    A total andplete darkness, before all of sudden, there were different colors of lights shinning in the distance. These lights range from red, blue, yellow and many other colors.


    Randy thought of approaching these lights and before he knew it, he was already standing in front of one of the lights.


    This light was glowing in blood red color and for some reason, Randy felt something familiar about this blood red light and without hesitation, he quickly reached his hand to grab the glowing red light.


    As soon as he grabbed it, the blood red light glowed blindingly bright until it suddenly scattered and then absorbed into Randy''s body and before Randy could realize what had just happened, he suddenly found himself back inside the virtual machine.


    <em>''How strange¡­ why did activating the Ancestral Regression lead to such a scene and what are those lights?''</em> Randy thought in confusion.


    He really was mystified by this sudden urrence from just activating the skill that he thought was simply a transformation skill with some benefits in the form of obtaining a possible bloodline ability.


    [[Ancestral Regression Skill fully Activated]]


    [[Ancestral Bloodline had been selected]]


    [[As the selected ''Ancestral Bloodline'' had now became your dominant bloodline, the host''s outward appearance had been altered slightly, thus gaining an ''Ancestral Form''. Furthermore, some of the host''s base abilities had also changed or improved in ording with this selected ''Ancestral Bloodline'']]


    [[From now on, when the host uses any blood rted abilities, it would be further enhanced by this Ancestral bloodline''s ability]]


    [[Reminder: The duration of this ''Ancestral Form'' is indefinite, however your ''Blood Energy'' and vitality would be consumed rapidly whenever the host uses the enhancement effects of this Ancestral Form with your current level of strength]]


    The system announced after he had activated the Ancestral Regression skill for the first time since he acquired it.


    At this moment, Randy did not bother to check his appearance since he was assured from the system''s words just now that his appearance had indeed change and so, nobody should recognize him even if he were to go wild in the virtual world.


    And also, Randy did not feel any different after obtaining this ancestral form, which was unlike the werewolf form where his body mass increased slightly with his already buff up muscles getting more vigorous.


    With that thought in mind, he immediately selected the virtual duel system tomence his training session.


    <You have selected the Virtual Duel System>


    After hearing this notification, Randy soon felt his vision blur for a brief moment, losing consciousness and when he opened his eyes again, he was standing in some space ofplete whiteness.


    He had nevere here before since he had always selected the training room system where he will be transported to a random room full of training puppets that one can practice their techniques on until they gain some proficiency.


    The proficiency gained in the virtual training room would somehow also affect yourprehension towards the said technique when executing the practiced technique in the real world.


    After looking around and seeing nothing but white, suddenly the virtual system''s notification appeared in front of his eyes again.


    <Does the yer wish to select the opponent you will be facing>


    [Yes/No]


    Randy thought for a bit and then replied: "No."


    Naturally, one can talk in this virtual world since this is a manifestation of one''s consciousness through some unknown method.


    <Then would the yer wish to be randomly assigned to another yer>


    [Yes/No]


    "Yes." Randy quickly replied.


    He does not want to fight someone he knows¡­


    Well, more like he does not know anyone in this virtual world besides maybe his ssmates who probably also use the virtual machine.


    But nheless, Randy wanted to fight against random opponents as that was more practical than fighting someone he already knows.


    And very soon, the virtual system prompted him again with a new line of text.

 Chapter 51 - Virtual Combat Commence

    With that popped up notification, various kinds of equipment were disyed in front of his eyes: Swords, des, Maces, Axes, Spears, Gauntlets, and there was even a Gun with a magazine of magical bullets.


    There were other forms of equipment as well, like the armors, but Randy did not have the time to look at them all.


    Without wasting too much time, he quickly selected his equipment.


    He had obviously chosen a gauntlet since he only knows a profound fist technique but not any of the techniques that required any of the other weapons.


    Randy did not select any armor since those type of equipment requires one to spend some exorbitant amount of money to acquire them.


    Randy did not have the kind of money that amount to 1,000,000 Alliance Credits, this was the price of the cheapest armor on here.


    He only had a few hundred alliance credits before, but he had already used them to buy some low grade potions when he visited the academy''s training center.


    As for the weapons on the same level as the type of gauntlets that he had chosen, they were given for free since they were quite cheap to afford even if one were to lose or break them.


    The first time selecting an equipment, everyone will be given a free gift, however if one loses or breaks them in a middle ofbat, then they can choose to buy the same equipment again with their own money as it will not be given for free on the second selection.


    And of course, there were some equipment which you have to pay handsomely to acquire but Randy settled with this free equipment for now.


    Nheless, it was better to not rely too much on one''s equipment as it hinders one''s growth so, that was mostly the reason why even the virtual equipment cost so much money, but the rich brats do not mind these prices at all, as they actually had enough money to afford these expensive weapons and armors.


    At this moment, Randy had on a training clothes that he normally wears to train in the training room. Which was only a red martial arts robe and pants.


    He picked these amongst the clothes provided for free in the virtual.


    After selecting his equipment, a new notification popped up¡­


    <You have selected your equipment>


    <You will now be transported to a random Combat Arena>


    After stating so, a portal-like rift appeared where Randy was standing and then sucked him in before he could even react.


    Before he realized it, he was standing on a tform in a form of a square shape that spans a few cubic meters in size.


    He had already being transported in the selected Combat Arena.


    And the strange part was that this arena was floating in space, however there seemed to be something akin to barriers erected around the arena so there was no way one could fall outside the arena from being thrown outward in heat of the moment during thebat.


    Randy once heard that, one can even pick thebat arena that they would like to have their duel in, however since he selected the random opponent option, he lost that privilege and only the opponent would have that privilege to pick thebat arena that they werefortable in.


    Usually, when thebat arenas picked from both parties were different, the virtual system would randomly select one of thebat arenas before transporting the yers into the chosenbat arena.


    After arriving at this ce, Randy proceeded to wait as suggested by the virtual system.


    And very soon, a figure suddenly appeared in the virtual arena with a sh of light, adorning all kinds of equipment on their body.


    When the other party saw Randy''s equipment, they immediately gave him a look of disdain and then spoke in a mocking tone.


    "Tsk, and here I was wondering who it was¡­ it turns out to be a newbie like I had thought. I was wondering why the virtual system even bothered to send a challenge to me with some unknown yer''s name. And what is with your selected name? ''Blood Venerable Fist God''? I thought it was some professional yer with that character name and I even rushed here."


    The selected yerined in annoyance immediately upon his arrival.


    Indeed, this was Randy''s character''s name. Before he only whimsically typed in ''Fist Saint'' since he could not be bothered to think too much about the name.


    However, beforeing here, he specifically changed it to the current name since most of his ability had to do with blood and he had a fist profound technique, and with that train of thought, Blood and Fistbined together and then he added the awe-inspiring, the respectable god of fist.


    And thus we have the character name: ''Blood Venerable Fist God''.


    Hearing the other party''sints, Randy did not feel dejected or anything and only curtly replied: "Well, nice to meet you too."


    "Tsk!"


    The other party did not even bother to look at him.


    "I get that you are annoyed but hey, since you are already here, do you want to fight or not?" Randy said to the other party who clearly did not want to be here.


    "Tsk! You''re only a newbie and you think you can defeat me, a professional yer? Fine, don''t cry to me when you lose. I personally don''t like beating newbie since they''re mostly weaklings who had no experience in this virtual world." The other party begrudgingly said.


    "Alright, you don''t have to worry about that since I won''t be crying or anything?" Randy replied with a smile.


    As soon as the challenge was acknowledged, the virtual system notification popped up, followed by an AI voice resounding.


    <Baby Sword Master Vs. Blood Venerable Fist God>


    <The virtualbat will begin in 10 Seconds>


    <10>


    <9>


    <8>


    <7>


    <6>


    <5>


    <4>


    <3>


    <2>


    <1>


    <The virtualbat shall nowmence!>


    ---


    Pft¡ª


    At this point, Randy could not hold back hisughter when he heard the other party''s name. He had thought that the other party had some cool character name since they were criticizing his character name, but it turns out it was this, ''Baby Sword Master''.


    "Hahahaha!"


    The other party frowned in displeasure when he saw Randyughing while holding his stomach, and then coldly asked: "What is so funny? Why are youughing like a mad man all of a sudden?"

 Chapter 52 - Overwhelmed

    "Hahahaha!"


    The other party frowned in displeasure when he saw Randyughing while holding his stomach, and then coldly asked: "What is so funny? Why are youughing like a mad man all of a sudden?"


    "Huh?" Randy abruptly looked up, waved his hand dismissively and then said: "Oh, nothing, nothing. I just thought that your character name was really funny. I mean why add ''Baby''? Why not just keep it as Sword Master?"


    Hearing hisment, the other party looked at him as if he was an idiot and then spoke in a mocking tone: "What do you know? Someone already chose that nickname, so I had no choice but to pick something on the spot. Besides, what is wrong with ''Baby'' since I am not an actual sword master yet."


    Randy still did not understand the other party''s choice of words at all and so, he continued to ask in confusion: "But still why a ''baby'' specifically? Why not something that sounded cool, like ''Armored Sword Master'', you know, since you have so much armor on right now. Then again, why do I care? Alright, shall we begin with our fight then."


    "Hmph! Since you are a newbie without even the proper equipment, I will let you attack first, after all I don''t want to bully a weakling." The other party snorted and then said in response.


    Randy appeared surprised and then he doubtfully muttered: "R-Really? Are you sure?"


    "Less nonsense! Just attack first. Like I said I don''t want to feel like I am bullying someone who was clearly weaker than me." Baby Sword Master impatiently said to him.


    "Alright, if you say so."


    Hearing his confidence from his words, Randy could only give in to his suggestion.


    The next moment, Randy took a deep breath and then proceeded to close his eyes.


    Soon, images of theprehended fist techniques yed inside his mind: Void Punch, Void Wave Punch and the finally Void Rippling Punch.


    The void punch was just an ordinary punching technique thatys the foundation for the void wave punch, which sends out waves ofpressed air towards the opponent and the then finally the void rippling punch, which will send shockwaves which will pervade the opponent''s body through their pores to cause internal damage.


    After recalling the essence of the fist technique again, Randy abruptly opened his eyes as a glint of light shed across his opened eyes.


    Without any hesitation, Randy suddenly kicked the floor of the arena and then activated his Gale Ride skill and in a blink of an eye, he had already approached the other party, standing in front of him while clenching his fist, preparing to attack.


    At this moment, Baby Sword Master realized that he had made a mistake as he could not keep up the other party''s speed just now and btedly said: "Wait."


    However, Randy had already thrown a punch towards the other party''s head that was covered in a head gear.


    "BAM!"


    A loud sound of a solid object being hit resounded, and the air picked up around them as if the surrounding air in the atmosphere was shaken by this fist attack.


    [Void Punch]


    The next moment, Baby Sword Master was sent flying a few meters away, feeling his head spinning from the sudden attack to his head making him feel almost as if he had a vertigo.


    He had shocked expression behind the head gear as heid on the floor of thebat arena, because despite the expensive protective head equipment he had on, the other party''s punch still managed to cause damage to his head slightly.


    Nheless, despite being sent flying away, he did not relent as he quickly got back up, straighten his back, raised his sword, and then charge towards Randy to unleash his sword technique, however Randy did not give the other party a chance to approach him as he took the liberty to approach them instead.


    Whoosh!


    Gliding through the wind, Randy faced the iing opponent head on and then when the other party''s sword was about to sh his head, he quickly bent his head down to dodge the cold sword attack and then right away, after positioning himself, he threw an uppercut at the other party''s chin that was barely covered by the head gear.


    Bam!


    This punch from him caused Baby Sword Master to feel disorientated. Which was due to the shock from Randy''s sudden punch to his unguarded chin.


    If it was a normal punch then it would have been nothing, however with the reinforcement of the gauntlet, this punch pack a powerful effect on Baby Sword Master''s chin.


    Taking advantage of the other party disorientation, Randy did not stop there, as he continued to unleash the next fist technique with absolute fluidity, raining down consecutive punch at Baby Sword Master''s body.


    Face.


    "Bam!"


    Stomach.


    "Bam!"


    Dodge!


    Wizz¡ª


    Consecutive Chin Uppercut!


    "Bam!" "Bam!" "Bam!" "Bam!"


    Randy continuously rained down punches on the other party without giving him the chance tond a hit.


    And whenever the other party tries to frantically sh his sword around due to being overwhelmed, Randy would swiftly dodge his sword attack with his Gale Riding skill.


    And then taking that chance, he would throw consecutive Upper cuts at the other party''s chin since it was the only thing that was not thoroughly protected by their head gear.


    In the virtual world, anything was possible as long as one''s imagination of their skills was great or high enough, they can be used in here.


    In Randy''s case, although the Gale Riding Skill was a skill that required him to be in his assimted state, however in here, it was easily executed without entering his assimted state.


    After all, this was a mental world, not a physical world with limits on the physical body.


    With that in mind, Randy kept raining down punch after punch on the other party''s face and asionally barely dodging their sword attack by fully executed the Gale Riding skill that basically lets him almost fly a few inches on the ground surface.


    "Arghhhhh¡ª"


    "You bastard! You were clearly not a newbie at all! Why do you have such profound techniques if you''re only a newbie?!" Baby Sword Master screamed in exasperation and frustration, of not being able to evennd a single hit at the other party.


    "Oh?" Amidst his continuous punching, Randy appeared surprised when he noticed that the other party can still move and talk despite his relentless against him.


    <em>''Is this because of his equipment?''</em> He silently thought with a frown on his face, as he continued raining down his punches unceasingly.


    During the time when he dodged the other party''s sword attack, which was when he could catch a breather, using that time, he replied: "Well, I never said that I was a newbie, now did I?"


    "Bam!"


    "Kuhk!"


    He then threw another uppercut at the Baby Sword Master''s chin again, sending him backwards a few steps and then he continued: "It was you who assumed it by yourself!"

 Chapter 53 - Change Of Plans

    "It was you who assumed it by yourself! And you''re not wrong that I am a newbie, however I had already mastered the foundation techniques a long time ago." Randy said in indifference to him.


    After saying so, while taking advantage of the other party''s disorientation due to his punch to the other party''s chin, Randy abruptly charged forward.


    However, this Baby Sword Master was no pushover as he gritted his teeth and quickly unleashed a desperate sh infused with a wisp of sword aura towards the approaching Randy.


    Wizz¡ª


    When Randy noticed this, he stopped midway through his charge and then fully unleased hisprehension of the Gale Riding skill to barely dodge this deadly approaching attack.


    Even though he managed to dodge it at thest moment, however, right now, there was a cut on his left cheek, with blood spilling down his face from the wound.


    Seeing the blood trickling down his face, he wiped it with the thumb of his left hand, observe it for moment and then muttered: "Interesting, so that was your sword technique?"


    Realizing that the other party had gotten serious, Randy did not want to hold back anymore and decided to go all out on this Baby Sword Master.


    Whoosh!


    He abruptly vanished from his position, quickly appearing in front of Baby Sword Master, who was catching his breath as he propped himself up with his sword after the attack he unleashed just now.


    Randy simply did not care about whether the other party was unprepared for his attack, as that only meant that he had less things to worry about when facing him.


    After he approached the other party, he only clenched his fist, and then he rained down consecutive punches all over Baby Sword Master''s body without giving him a chance to react at all this time.


    BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!


    A series of dull but heavy sounds resounded in the background of thebat arena.


    Randy did not want to give the other party a chance to unleash their sword technique again, which was really dangerous if it were to connect with him.


    And with that thought in mind, when he approached Baby Sword Master just now, the first thing that he punched was the hand that was holding on to the handle of his sword, this in turn knocked the sword away from the other party''s grasp.


    At this point, the other party was defenseless, if not because of their expensive equipment, they would have already dropped to the ground a long time ago.


    After getting the hang of the fist technique, Randy then charged his fists with his magical energy, and he immediately threw a single punch from a distance at the other party''s face.


    Boom!


    [Void Wave Punch]


    As he threw this punch, there were waves of air current surging towards the other party''s head.


    Randy then threw another punch with his other hand that was also charged with magical energy.


    BOOM!


    [Void Rippling Punch]


    As he threw this punch, those waves in the atmosphere suddenly turned in ripples in the air which then turned in shockwaves a momentter.


    And when this shockwave reached Baby Sword Master''s head or more like his entire body, It pervaded his body through the holes in his armor and through the various pores on his body, which then shook the insides of his body, causing his internal organs to stir violently thus eliciting an unbearable painful sensation throughout his entire body.


    Followed by his brain receiving severe damage due to the residue shockwaves that struck his head, eventually falling to ground with a ''thud'' sound and then losing consciousness before he suddenly turned into sprites of light, disappearing from thebat arena shortly afterwards.


    He did not even get the chance to scream before disappearing from this virtual world altogether.


    Luckily, this was only a virtual world, so he would not get hurt physically, however this attack will most likely affect his mental state, meaning possibly even affecting him in the real world, that is if he has a weak mental state.


    A short momentter, the virtual system announced¡­


    <Blood Venerable Fist God had achieved victory against Baby Sword Master>


    Before Randy could smile in delight over his achievement, another notification suddenly popped up in front of his eyes, this time, it was not from the virtual system.


    This was from his own personal system''s disy.


    [[You have fought and overwhelmingly defeated your opponent inbat, thus obtaining 400 Knowledge Points]]


    The system announced to him.


    "¡­"


    Randy was speechless by this turn of events.


    And then he muttered shortly after: "What the hell! That was possible? Why didn''t you tell me before this?"


    Randyined to the system when he read the line of text from the notification.


    However, he soon fell silent and immediately began to ponder to himself after realizing something crucial.


    ''Wait, wait, wait, hold on a minute. If that is the case, then isn''t this ce a treasure trove for me to harvest? No, more like a farm to harvest my knowledge points from without the need to even risk my life in the Beast Forest.''


    ''This is really amazing, such a game changing turn of events. All I have to do is ''train'' my skills and I can even obtain knowledge points in doing so, Hahahaha! With these useful and fruitful benefits, I cannot afford to lose even a single match, as losing even once will mean losing a handful of knowledge points."


    "Change of ns. Originally, I was going to leave after fighting a single opponent, however, looks like I will have to stay in this virtual world till morning. Besides, it is not like I will be tired or anything¡­ I am technically still sleeping right now."


    Randy had a series of thoughts and then finally concluded in satisfaction.


    With that decided, Randy turned his head and then looked up at the new notification prompted by the virtual system at this moment.


    <Would the yer like to continue with the duel?>


    [Yes/No]


    "Yes.." He seriously replied without hesitation.

 Chapter 54 - Realistic

    A few moments of waitingter¡­


    Another yer finally epted his challenge and then arrived in the samebat arena. It seemed like the other party also choose thisbat arena, since he was not transported away from thisbat arena.


    "Oh? Are you the one that defeated that Baby Sword Master just now? I was really curious about who you were, so I immediately epted this challenge." The new yer said immediately after appearing in thebat arena.


    Randy was shaken a little by his words and then silently thought.


    ''How did he know about this? I only just defeated that guy a few moments ago¡­ Is the streaming system that fast or was it live the entire time?''


    However, despite thinking this, he still replied to other party: "That''s right. Do you know him?"


    "If you are the one, then I will have to thank you for defeating him. Because I was aiming to defeat that fucker for a long time ago but couldn''t because he never epts my challenge whenever I send it to him. However, since you defeated him, I will have to make do with you for now." The other party did not respond to Randy''s question and then only stated in return.


    Randy did not respond to this statement from the other party and only proceeded to observe the other party instead.


    ''Unlike that Baby Sword Maser from earlier, this guy did not have much armor on. Besides some leader armor and a pair of gauntlets, there was nothing special about him, in terms of equipment that is.''


    Thinking of this, Randy unconsciously revealed a smile, catching the attention of the new yer.


    "Huh? What are you smiling about? Did I say something funny just now?" He asked with raised eyebrows.


    And then he narrowed his eyes before continuing: "Or were you perhaps thinking that I was a petty weakling?"


    "That''s right, ah, no, that''s not what I meant." Randy curtly replied without thinking much about the other party''s question, but soon realized his mistake.


    ---


    <Iron Knuckle Fist Vs. Blood Venerable Fist God>


    <The virtualbat will begin in 10 Seconds>


    <10>


    <9>


    <8>


    <7>


    <6>


    <5>


    <4>


    <3>


    <2>


    <1>


    <The virtualbat shall nowmence!>


    ---


    The other party was stunned for a brief moment, however after the virtual system''s announcement, he immediately shouted in anger.


    "Bastard!!"


    Saying so, the other party madly charged at Randy while clenching their fists all the while disying a furious expression on their face.


    After reaching Randy''s position, he immediately threw a punch at his face, however Randy easily dodged this attack by tilting his head sideways.


    Haah¡ª


    At first, Randy watched this guy who was a fellow fist user with a slight interest, however upon closer observation of his clumsy fist technique just now, he only sighed helplessly in disappointment and then randomly threw a punch at him.


    BAM!


    "Urghhh!"


    Blood sprayed everywhere.


    Iron Knuckle Fist groaned in pain as his nose was crushed from Randy''s casual punch just now.


    "H-How is that possible?"


    That was hisst words before losing consciousness, turning into sprites of light before vanishing from the virtualbat arena.


    Watching the residue sprites of light, Randy only shook his head and then muttered: "No wonder that Baby Sword Master did not want to fight you. With his personality of looking down on weaklings and newbies, why would he fight someone as weak as you?"


    Shortly after that, his system''s notification popped up once again.


    [[You have fought and easily defeated your opponent inbat, thus obtaining 200 Knowledge Points]]


    The system announced to him.


    "What the hell! He was so weak that he only gave this much knowledge points, Tsk." Randyined when he saw the little knowledge points that he received from defeating this Iron Knuckle Fist.


    Naturally, this was a lot of knowledge points, however when he thought of how much knowledge points that he needed toprehend the remaining techniques, this amount was really too little for him, not to mention the skills which cost more knowledge points than the techniques.


    After thinking of that for a brief moment, he immediately said ''yes'' when the virtual system prompted him about whether he wanted to continue with the duel.


    Another few moments of waitingter¡­


    Another opponent appeared in the samebat arena, confusing Randy greatly about why they kept picking the samebat arena.


    At this point, the new yer suddenly spoke in surprise: "You¡­ You just defeated that Iron Knuckle Fist guy? I always wanted to defeat that bastard¡­"


    "Enough! If you want to fight, then let''s fight¡­ At this point, you are only wasting my time to get more benefits."


    Randy impatiently said to him, as he could care less about whether they wanted to fight each other or not.


    What does that have to do with him? He only cared about knowledge points, not fulfilling someone''s wishes¡­


    <The virtualbat shall nowmence!>


    "You bastard!"


    However, this caused the new contender to feel offended as he shouted in exasperation.


    "Don''t be arrogant just because you manage to defeat those weaklings. I will show you what is true power and make you kneel in front of me." The other party dered with confidence as he red fiercely at Randy.


    "Whatever! Are youing or not. Or you want me to attack first¡ª"


    Saying so, Randy had already appeared in front of the other party as he smashed their face with his fist.


    "BAM!"


    This impact caused blood to spray everywhere once again.


    Since this guy also had no helmet on like his second opponent which was unlike his first opponent, Baby Sword Master who had an expensive head gear, thus taking them down like this was the most efficient and saves much time.


    His fist techniques were also more effective on them this way.


    Just like his second opponent, this guy whom Randy did not bother to look at his name or remember his name''s nose was bleeding unceasingly as blood spilled from all of his orifices before vanishing shortly after.


    [[You have fought and easily defeated your opponent inbat, thus obtaining 300 Knowledge Points]]


    The system announced.


    At this point, Randy was once again dejected by the notification that popped up in front of him, specifically the amount of knowledge points that he obtained from this fight.


    The next moment, he shook his head and decided to think of something else that caught his attention, then he muttered in admiration: "How mystical¡­ How can people even bleed in the virtual world? Just how much time did they spend to even program this cutting edge technology, enough to make it this realistic?"


    ¡­

 Chapter 55 - Attention

    At the same time.


    At a certain location within the Eastern District.


    At this moment, two figures were silently savoring and drinking their alcohol as they sat across from each other.


    At this point, they had just finished watching a sparring match between two individuals who faced each other within the virtual world through the streaming system that was currently projected on the wall of the room they were in.


    For a while, no one said anything to each other until one of the figures who was wearing a white robe suddenly spoke.


    "Old Jin, what do you think of this youngster?"


    "Hmm¡­ Not bad."


    The other figure who had a bulkier figure and adorning a golden robe said indifferently as he took a swig of his liquor in loud audible gulps.


    "Huh? That''s all you have to say? I thought for sure that you will be interested in this youngster. After all, aren''t you a fist user yourself?" The white robe figure appeared surprised as he said.


    "¡­That''s not what I meant¡­ I meant that his foundations were not bad." The golden robe figure said after a finishing his gourd of liquor.


    And then he continued to speak in praise: "Even though that is only a virtual world, his movements indicates that he had at least practiced the government''s devised foundation techniques to the maximum. Although those techniques were only for the mundane world to practice, nheless, it is still a great achievement."


    "Ah, so that was what you mean by that. But still, is that it? Are you really not interested in the youngster¡­" The white robe figure asked in an unconvinced tone.


    "Oh, now that I think about it, I recall my disciple was in the top 5 in this virtual duel. Why don''t we have him test this youngster and see whether he has some promise." The white robe figure suggested to the golden robe figure.


    Hearing this suggestion, the golden robe figure pondered his words and then replied: "Well, that will be good since we can judge whether¡­.


    The golden robe figure suddenly paused and then after thinking of something, he spoke up again in a condescending tone: "Let''s make this interesting, if your disciple happens lose to this brat, then that will only serve to prove my point that martial artists were superiorpared to you cultivators. How about we bet on this match with that as the wager? If I win this bet, you will have to admit it in front of everyone and likewise if your disciple wins against the brat, I will admit it that martial artists were instead inferiorpared to cultivators, how about it? Do you dare?"


    "Are we still talking about this matter? Fine, I highly doubt that my disciple, Weisheng would lose to this youngster that came out of nowhere." The white robe figure scowled and confidently said in response.


    After saying that, the white robe figure immediately took out amunication talisman and then contacted someone on the other side of the talisman.


    A short whileter, a young man suddenly approached the room where the two figures were in and then proceeded to knock on the door to the room.


    At this moment, the white robe figure suddenly urged: "My dear disciple, Weisheng,e in."


    "Yes."


    After replying, the young man slowing opened the door and then walked in with gentle but hurried steps without making any sound or noise in the room despite moving quickly through the hall of the room.


    Seeing this, the golden robe figure praised: "Not bad. You really have a good disciple. If only my disciple can be as good as yours in terms of character."


    "Haha, no need to tter this one." The white robe manughed heartily upon hearing his praise.


    "Hmph! Why would I tter you? I am talking about your disciple, not you." The golden robe figure snorted and said in annoyance.


    At this point, the young man had finally reached them, stood before them, and then bowed slightly.


    "This disciple greets teacher and Uncle Jin." The young man greeted them.


    "Hm. Weisheng, have you seen the new virtualbat recording just now." The white robe man nodded and asked in a gentle tone.


    "No, teacher. This disciple was in the middleprehending a new sword technique, so this disciple hasn''t watched it yet." He respectfully answered.


    "In that case,e and watch it now." The white robe figure said to him.


    The young man was confused by his teacher''s words, however he still went to the side, where there was a projected screen on the wall.


    After receiving instructions from his teacher, he then on tap on the device that recorded the virtual matches that urred a while ago.


    The next moment, the recording started ying and immediately showcasing an armored swordsman and a red robe fist user who were engaging inbat¡­


    A whileter¡­


    "So, what do you think of this youngster, do you think you can defeat him." The white robe figure immediately asked in anticipation.


    "This¡­ this disciple is not sure, teacher. But if this disciple tries his best to fight against him, then perhaps, this disciple might be able to defeat him." The young man humbly responded in uncertainty to his teacher''s sudden question.


    "Good! I want you to fight this youngster. Don''t make me lose face. Your uncle and I have a bet on whether you win or lose this match." The white robe figure revealed to him.


    "¡­"


    The young man was silent for a brief moment and then solemnly responded: "Understood, teacher. This disciple will do his best."


    "Hm. You should take your leave now and whenever that youngster sends out a challenge again, quickly ept it before anyone else does." The white robe man nodded in satisfaction after hearing his response and then said to him.


    "Understood! Then this disciple will take his leave now teacher, Uncle Jin."


    Saying so, the young man cusped his fist with one hand, bowed and then retreated gracefully before turning around and walking away in long strides.


    Soon, he left the room entirely, leaving the golden robe figure and the white robe figure alone in the room.


    After the young man left, there was a brief moment of silence.


    Then, the white robe figure could not help but speak at this moment.


    "If you think about it, it is quite strange. Just where did this youngstere from? To be able to defeat Baby Sword Master who was the apprentice of the that man, why haven''t we heard about him before today?" The white robe figure frowned and questioned in a puzzled tone.


    "Hm, his appearance is also quite strange. I have never seen anyone like that before, even with so many innate abilities that alter the appearances, I still find his appearance quite strange or rather unique." The golden robe figure agreed with him.


    "Ah, that''s right, I also think so too. His appearance is indeed unique.." The white robe figure also agreed with the golden robe figure''s statement as he immediately pondered for a bit.

 Chapter 56 - Another Peculiar Name

    The two figures from earlier who turned out to be two men, one a cultivator and the other a martial artist were still in the middle of their conversation.


    After thinking for a bit without answers, the white robe man sighed a few momentster and then said: "In any case, let us wait and see. Perhaps, we might be able to recognize his origin from the technique he was using. Although, for some reason I feel like I have seen those fist techniques before somewhere."


    "Now that you mention it, I also feel quite strange when looking at this fist technique. Does it not look like the military devised technique that the general sought our help in creating, which was originally intended for the soldiers? However, that can''t be possible."


    The golden robe man agreed; however he immediately refuted his own words after stating so.


    And then he continued: "Although I heard that it was recently stolen along with other items from the government''s vault by that Thousand Visage bastard from the western district, but he was supposedly captured, and the items stolen including that technique had been retrieved safely."


    "¡­Are you talking about the Void Rippling fist technique, that was made for those with less talents in the army? If it is the same technique then¡­ no, I have seen that technique performed once before, however, no one had been able to cause that many shock waves like that youngster did with his fist technique. So that can''t be it." The white robe man said in a certain tone of voice.


    "Hmph! What do you know?" The golden robe man snorted and then said.


    And then he continued: "That fist technique was derived from a certain technique from my sect, and it was originally meant to send shock waves through condensing the surrounding atmosphere with minimum power output from the user but carrying a strong impact when executed with the help of the natural air or wind in the atmosphere."


    "Oh?" The white robe realized something after hearing his exnation and then he said: "You mean to say that your sect master specifically was the one that came up with this technique?"


    "That''s right, however, I never practiced this technique as it was for the mundane people to use." The golden robe man said in an indifferent one.


    "So that was the case, I always thought that either you or someone from your sect created this technique. I never would''ve thought that the Martial Emperor himself created this profound technique." The white robe man sighed and then said.


    <em>''In any case, I will be observant of this youngster¡­ Perhaps, he might be rted to the military in some way. But then again, his appearance is the only thing that makes it hard to guess his identity. Unless he was a foreigner in this eastern district and happened to receive some guidance from someone in the military¡­ but that can''t be right since the military techniques always stays in the military and only those part of the military had the privilege to learn them¡­''</em>


    The white robe man sighed helplessly as he silently thought these to himself without drawing any clear conclusion.


    ¡­


    On the other side.


    In the virtual world.


    Randy had just defeated another opponent that had epted his challenge.


    From the time he faced his first opponent till now, he had already fought ten yers and achieved victory over them all since they were weaker than he had thought.


    And also, he received an ample amount of knowledge points in doing so, and although it was not much, it was still better than nothing.


    At this point, Randy was waiting for the next opponent.


    After a few moments of waitingter...


    Another yer abruptly appeared in the same virtualbat arena.


    For some reason, not a single one of his opponents picked a newbat arena when they epted his challenge.


    And Randy did not know why they did not pick a newbat arena and so, he was confused in the beginning but now, he had already forgotten about such trivial matters and fully immersed himself in obtaining knowledge poi¡ª that is not right, he fully focused himself on obtaining victory over his contenders without holding back too much.


    At this point, Randy carefully observed the new yer that arrived in thebat arena with a scrutinizing gaze.


    ''Hmm¡­ That white robe and then the sword in his grasp¡­ is he perhaps a sword cultivator?" Randy silently thought to himself.


    With that thought out of his mind, at this moment, Randy proceeded to look at the new contender with his eyes shing with greed.


    When the other party noticed his gaze, for some reason, they suddenly felt a chill down their spine, but their expression remained unchanged.


    The sword cultivator gracefully walked forward towards him with a solemn expression and when he was only few meters away from Randy, he suddenly cusped his fist with his other hand before he spoke.


    "Might you the ''Blood Venerable Fist God''? This one is Li Weisheng, a disciple from the Sword¡ª"


    "Oi, why are you suddenly saying your true name in this virtual world?" Randy suddenly cut in when he heard the other party''s introduction just now.


    And then he questioned in confusion: "Are you not afraid of people causing you trouble or something, with you revealing your name like that?"


    Hearing these words, Li Weisheng appeared surprised as his eyebrows raised slightly


    And then he smiled and replied: "There''s no need to worry about that. Everyone already knows who this one is, so it does not matter whether this one hide or reveal his true identity as they could still identify who this one was."


    He stated that as if it was an obvious answer, which took Randy by a surprise.


    "A-Ah, is that so?" Randy said with a bitter smile.


    ''So he was a very popr guy? No wonder he dared to reveal his identify so brazenly.''


    Randy silently thought to himself.


    The next moment, the virtual system announced while disying a line of text in the air.


    <Sword Fool Vs. Blood Venerable Fist God>


    "Ahahahaha! Not you too. You actually had ''Sword Fool'' as your character name? No wonder you would rather introduce yourself with your true name instead of your character name."


    Randy immediately burst intoughter upon seeing the character name of this Li Weisheng.

 Chapter 57 - Why Were They So Weak?

    <Sword Fool Vs. Blood Venerable Fist God>


    "Ahahahaha! Not you too. You actually had ''Sword Fool'' as your character name? No wonder you would rather introduce yourself with your true name instead of your character name."


    Randy immediately burst intoughter upon seeing the character name of this Li Weisheng.


    A few momentster, Randy suddenly realized that his reaction was a little bit uncouth considering that the other party had been polite towards him from the beginning.


    "Ah, sorry, sorry, I didn''t mean to sound rude but if you don''t mind me asking, how did you¡ª no, why did you even pick this character name?" Randy genuinely asked him in curiosity after calming himself down.


    "This¡­"


    Li Weisheng suddenly disyed a helpless reaction upon hearing this question.


    A momentter, he smiled bitterly and then said in a slightly dejected tone: "This humble one''s Junior sister happened to select to this name without consulting this one''s permission and this one had unknowingly entered the virtual machine without checking his character name before entering the virtual world. Before this one had realized it, everyone had already seen this one''s character name, so it was pointless to change at that moment."


    At this point, his dejected expression rxed a little bit and then he continued: "My teacher also said that it was better to not dwell too much on this matter as it was better to not let these trivial matters faze this one''s mindset. As the more tolerant one bes towards embarrassing deeds or anything of the sort, the stronger one''s path of the sword would be, and thus they would not be hindered by any obstacle in their path, let alone such a simple thing like an embarrassing name."


    "¡­"


    Randy was shocked as he listened to this exnation with a slightly agape mouth.


    This was not what he expected to hear when he asked about his character name at all.


    ''The hell is wrong with your teacher? Tolerant towards embarrassing stuff will make you be a great sword cultivator? And to think he actually listened and believed that. And also, who is this Junior sister of his that managed to mess with him like this, how wicked could they be to do that to their own Senior Brother?''


    Randy silently thought as he looked at this Li Weisheng with pity in his eyes.


    At this point, Randy could not help but ask in curiosity: "Did you happened to do something to this Junior sister of yours enough for her to do something like this to you?"


    After hearing his question, Li Weisheng thought for a bit and then replied: "Not that this one is aware of¡­ Ah, now that this one thought about it, this one''s Junior sister was very close with him ever since entering the sect and eventually she became interested in this one romantically, asking to be this one''s Dao Companion, however this one only wanted to devote himself and everything to path of the sword at the moment without any distractions and so, this one had no choice but reject her offer. But who would''ve thought that she woulde to hate this one the following days afterwards due to this matter."


    He sighed helplessly and concluded in an emotional voice almost as if recalling what happened right at this moment.


    "¡­"


    Randy was once again speechless when he heard this Li Weisheng''s story and did not know whether to console him or to simply call him an idiot at this point.


    ''Turns out this guy had actually hurt his junior sister''s feelings which then elicited her wrath in a form of messing with him like this. But then again, why would you reject someone who actually liked you simply because you wanted to devote your heart to the sword, aren''t you actually a sword fool like she had imed? But I guess it was better to be this way than to be someone that was a lovesick fool instead, but even so, I feel sorry for this junior sister for falling for this sword fool that sees nothing but the sword¡­''


    Randy also sighed and then shook his head as he thought this to himself.


    He then spoke to him a momentter: "I-I see¡­ Well, then shall we begin our fight now."


    "Ah, very well. However beforeing here, this one had already seen your previous matches so this one basically knows your attack patterns, so to make this fair, how about you attack this one first?" Li Weisheng suggested to him.


    "What? Already seen it? I thought that I was only a newbie to this virtual duel system. Why am I suddenly popr enough for my match to be streamed?" Randy appeared confused as he asked this question.


    He had only joined the virtual duel system today and it seems like he was already popr, however that does not make sense under normal circumstances.


    Hearing him ask this, Li Weisheng smiled bitterly before answering him: "You may not know this but the people that you defeated were all either in the top 20 or the top 10. For example that Baby Sword Master that you fought in the beginning was the 10th ce in the virtual duel ranking, thus within the top 10. And the second opponent was the 11th ce and so on. In any case, due to that, all your matches were recorded and streamed all around within the eastern district."


    "Ah, so they were in the top 20? Then why were they so weak?" Randy asked after his initial surprise when he heard this.


    And then he continued with a slight frown: "Besides the full body armored guy¡­ that Baby Sword Master that was a little stronger due to his armor, the rest were just weaklings who were simply acting arrogant. Shouldn''t the top 20 be strongest elites with the strongest individuals and the strongest profound techniques, how could they be so weak?"


    Li Weisheng was slightly surprised by his words and then he disyed a bitter smile again before saying: "That was only because they did not get the chance to unleash their techniques and power before ultimately getting defeated by you."

 Chapter 58 - Not Holding Back

    "That was only because they did not get the chance to unleash their techniques and power before ultimately getting defeated by you." Li Weisheng exined to Randy after hearing his question about why the people he faced were too weak


    "Ah, so that''s why¡­"Randy muttered in understanding.


    A momentter, he then said in indifference: "But even still, that was not my fault. All I did was defeat them before they could use their techniques, it was their own faults for not being able to use their techniques in time since in an actualbat that will only mean certain death."


    "This one also agrees with that, and that was also the reason why this one''s teacher wanted this one to fight you in order to test this one''s sword techniques on someone with your level of strength and hopefully defeat you." Li Weisheng agreed with his statement before saying to him.


    Hearing this, Randy was surprised and could not help but ask in an intrigued voice: "Since you are so confident in defeating me, that means that your ranking is very high in the virtual duel system, and your strength is also quite considerable, and with that in mind, I would like to ask, how strong are you right now?"


    After hearing his question, Li Weisheng pondered for a bit and then replied: "This one''s strength should more or less be the same level as you."


    "No, I meant the actual realm of your cultivation, as you may have already observed, my primary energy is magical energy, and since you seemed to be a cultivator, you should be cultivating the spiritual energy¡­ In any case, I just wanted to know your realm of cultivation for reference."


    "Oh, so that was your reason, in that case, then this one does not mind telling you that he is currently in the Spirit Grandmaster Realm which should be equivalent to a fourth circle magician or a fourth rank magical warrior." Li Weisheng said to him after hearing his reason for his earlier question.


    After hearing his answer, Randy immediately pondered his words for a bit and then muttered: "I see¡­ so we have the same level of strength somewhat, however¡­"


    He sighed ignoring this matter and then said: "Shall we begin then, but I''ll have you know that I don''t like being treated like a weakl¡ª"


    Wizz¡ª¡ª


    Drip!


    Before Randy could finish speaking, he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his face.


    At some unknown time, the other party had already unleashed their attack, injuring him on his face.


    Randy wiped the blood on his cheek and then proceeded to look at it with cautious but fearful expression.


    ''Shit! What did he do just now? What was that sh of light? It was so fast that I couldn''t react in time.''


    Randy screamed inwardly as he stared at the other party''s nonchnt appearance with a sense oftrepidation.


    This was the first person amongst the contenders to make him feel this unprecedented sense of fear.


    Seeing his confused expression, Li Weisheng exined to him: "That was this one''s sword qi¡­ due to this one''s fortune, this one had already attained a small achievement in the qi of the sword, so this one is much stronger than most people with the same level of strength as him."


    And then he smiled warmly and then continued: "Which is why you should attack first; this one was not looking down on you when this one suggested that you should attack first. As this one had already said before, this one had already seen your method ofbat and so, to make this duel fair, you should attack first before this one attacks."


    For some reason, Randy suddenly broke into cold sweat when he heard his exnation just now.


    ''Hey, that was really dangerous, that cold but sharp light just now seemed to cut the air itself, and you are telling me that was only a sword qi? Just what kind of monster am I facing this time? I thought that was his innate ability or something, but it turns out it was only his sword attainment. Is it even normal for someone at his level of strength to already attained this level of swordsmanship?''


    Randy silently thought with a disbelief expression.


    At this moment, Randy suddenly realized something after thinking for a bit, and then his expression immediately turned serious.


    ''If I want to defeat this sword foo¡ª no, this Li Weisheng, I have to use all my abilities efficiently and effectively without holding anything back like I did with the other yers that came after I initiated my challenge. This guy seemed to be on another levelpared to them with just that executed sword qi attack just now. So I will use my first attack to test him by not holding back and then I will see how he reacts to it before thinking of the next course of action.''


    With that thought in mind, Randy then opened his mouth before speaking in a solemn tone: "Since you are so insistent about this matter, then I will not be humble anymore and attack you first."


    "Hm, that is how it should be." Li Weisheng was also pleased that he finally epted his suggestion.


    Boom!


    After Li Weisheng finished his statement, all of sudden, Randy kicked the ground as he fully executed his Gale Riding skill.


    With his control over the surrounding wind currents, he immediately vanished from his position.


    And then a momentter, he was suddenly in front of Li Weisheng and without hesitation, he threw his magical energy infused fist at him without holding anything back at that moment.


    A momentter¡­


    "Bang!!"


    A loud sound of impact resounded after the sh, causing invisible ripples to appear in the air.


    However, despite this, Li Weisheng seemed to have not been moved even a single step backwards by the impact of Randy''s technique, as he calmly stood in the same position with his sword brandished in front of himself, seemingly having used it to block Randy''s attack.


    Randy on the other hand, had been pushed backwards a few steps despite being the one to initiate the attack.


    At this point, Li Weisheng suddenly spoke in admiration: "Hmm¡­ what an interesting fist technique. So it was just like this one had thought.. To think this fist technique sends an invisible ripple-like shockwave into the body through the pores, thus causing internal damage to the opponent."

 Chapter 59 - Determination

    Li Weisheng then continued: "Luckily this one had known about this technique of yours before epting the challenge and also, just now, this one had used his spiritual energy to block the pores on his skin thus blocking most of the shockwaves from pervading into this one''s body."


    While standing a few meters away Randy had aplicated expression as he looked at Li Weisheng in shock.


    ''Damn! Is this guy a monster or something? He already knew how to counter my fist technique just from observing it from the virtual stream¡­ Now, what should I do? How can I win against him now that my fist technique''s special effect seemed to be useless against him? Right now, I don''t want to lose to this guy, because, on one hand, I might be able to obtain more knowledge points from defeating him and on the other hand, I just wanted to see how far I can go with my current skill and ability against an expert like him who had obviously trained his skills and techniques for way longer than I did with mine.''


    Randy quietly thought to himself with a pondering expression.


    As he was busy thinking of a way to defeat his opponent, Li Weisheng opened his mouth once again and then said: "Now then, since you have already finished with your attack, now it is this one''s turn¡­"


    Saying so, within a blink of an eye, he had appeared in front of Randy and catching him off guard, causing him to gasp from the other party''s sudden appearance.


    At this moment, Li Weisheng wielded his sword with his right hand as he abruptly created a sword phantom that was infused with sword qi with his sword before shing diagonally at Randy who was only about a meter away from him.


    At this point, Randy felt the encroaching sense of danger that he felt from earlier bing stronger and heavier.


    He could tell that if he does not do anything right now, he would be chopped into two and then lose his life afterward.


    How could he let that happen at this point in time? He would at least give it all he got before then.


    And so, not willing to let that happen, he immediately executed the Gale Riding skill with all he got and when the sword phantom was only a hair''s breadth away from shing diagonally on his chest¡­


    Whoosh!


    He vanished!


    A momentter¡­


    Wizz¡ª


    A cold gleam of blue light shed!


    The sound of the wind being cut by a sharp weapon resounded through the air.


    Boom!


    A loud noise resounded in the distance.


    However, it seems this sword phantom had missed its target when it passed through the wind just now.


    The following moment, Randy appeared a few meters away from Li Weisheng and was breathing heavily as if he had just escaped a death sentence or something along those lines.


    He realized something through this near-death experience.


    That he had greatly underestimated this Sword Fool, Li Weisheng.


    He noticed that this Li Weisheng seemed to haveprehended and learned some profound movement techniques that enable him to close the distance between them by moving so fast without even making any audible sounds.


    This was a deathly movement technique that the other party had used just now, because he had no idea when the other party had executed it and before he could even realize anything, the other party was already in front of him while brandishing their sword.


    If he did not have the Gale Riding skill, then he would have already lost to this attack of his opponent.


    Thinking of this, Randy was more certain that he could not afford to ck off in using his abilities if he really wanted to win this duel.


    From the beginning, he never nned on using any of his other abilities.


    Essentially, his main purpose in participating in this virtual duel system was to train his newly learned profound technique and also to gain experience with both the technique andbat through dueling others from different professions.


    But now, things are very different from his original ns.


    Now, he wanted to defeat this guy not just for umting knowledge points or gaining experience, but to see the full extent of his current self against a professional with top-notched skills.


    And to do that, he wanted to try beating Li Weisheng in this duel.


    With that thought in mind, Randy took a deep breath and then breathed out slowly to calm down his stressed-out nerves and after a moment, his temperament abruptly changed.


    Now he was exuding an aura of calmness and determination.


    Seeing this from the distance, Li Weisheng was slightly surprised by the sudden change in him.


    He noticed that the other party''s temperament was now full of resolution.


    And with such expression, he could tell that the other party probably felt the need to use all of their power in this virtualbat and he too was willing to fight him with all he got if that was the case.


    "It seems that you n on fighting with everything on the line, then this one would also not hold back with his attacks from this moment onwards." Li Weisheng said with a smile.


    ''What the hell! Do you mean to tell me that his earlier attack was not his best attack? Tsk, it seems I really have to use my other abilities after all. But I have to make him stationary for a little bit¡­ How do I do that¡­ wait, there was something that I felt was possible, but I had always dismissed this thought due to how absurd it was. However, if my feelings were not wrong, then I might be able to pull it off and at the same time achieve victory without fighting this Li Weisheng head-on. I will lose if I were to fight him head-on as he seemed to have fought his share of battles so there was clearly no way I could defeat him head-on.''


    After thinking of that, Randy looked straight at Li Weisheng and then solemnly said: "Alright, let us fight with all of our power and strength from this moment onwards."


    "Come at me.." Randy waved his hand as he beckons the other party to attack him first.

 Chapter 60 - All Law Seeker!

    "Come at me." Randy waved his hand as he beckons Li Weisheng to attack him first.


    "Very well, then be prepared because this one would be attacking right¡ª" Li Weisheng said as he instantly vanished from his position.


    And then he reappeared once again in front of Randy before continuing: "¡ªnow!"


    After saying so, he had already unleashed multiple sword phantoms consecutively within close range.


    However, this time, Randy was prepared for his attack, and thus, he dodged some of his sword phantoms with minimal movement as he does not want to separate from him.


    As for the remaining attacks that he could not dodge, he used his gauntlet infused with magical energy to block the attacks.


    Chiik¡ª


    A metallic sound resounded in thebat arena after blocking the sword phantom with his gauntlet.


    This went on for a few moments with Randy barely dodging Li Weisheng''s relentless sword phantoms and then all of a sudden, while in the middle of swinging his sword, Li Weisheng appeared to have been frozen in ce.


    He could not move his body.


    At this moment, he had a confused expression on his face and then he muttered: "What did you¡ª"


    He immediately stopped his speech as he realized that his blood was not flowing within this avatar''s body almost as if his blood had been frozen or solidified.


    However, as a cultivator, even without the flow of his blood, as long as it was not for too long, he could still survive something like this without too much hassle.


    Using that little time where he was still alive, he suddenly spoke telepathically into Randy''s ears: "Is this your innate ability? I see now. No wonder your character''s name was Blood Venerable Fist God, it turns out you can even manipte the blood flow of others. This is a really terrifying ability you got there."


    Randy did not say anything in response and immediately activated another one of his abilities.


    Right away, invisible, and ethereal mental energy escaped his body forming a dorm-like sphere around himself and then around the frozen Li Weisheng.


    [All Law Seeker], Mental Ability.


    This was the ability that he had just acquired before entering this virtual world and for now, it has the effect of pinpointing the weakness of others.


    The next moment, Randy''s perception drastically changed as he could now see Li Weisheng''s figure without his clothes on, but this form was not his actual physical form but a grey silhouette of his actual body.


    However, this grey silhouette had some red dots on some parts of Li Weisheng''s silhouette.


    Randy observed closely and then he looked down at where one of the red dots was located with a strange expression on his face.


    This red dot was located on the location where the crotch would be located if the grey silhouette were to disappear from Li Weisheng''s body.


    ''Obviously, that would be one of the ces that would serve as a weakness, of any man that is. To think that this mental ability could even detect this kind of weakness too.''


    Randy sighed as he silently thought to himself.


    In the following moments, he searched all over Li Weisheng''s body for any weakness that would cause him much damage when struck.


    After looking for a proper weakness on Li Weisheng''s body for a few moments, he suddenly found one weakness that was glowing in a colorful light, clearly the most detrimental weakness on the other party''s body.


    Randy had no idea why that is the case, but he does not have the time to be selective right now as his Blood Authority skill''s control was wavering.


    If not because of his ancestral form which enhanced his blood-rted abilities, he would not have been able to use the Blood Authority skill to restrain Li Weisheng.


    As he thought of this, suddenly¡­


    Spark!


    Rumble¡ª


    Boom!


    At this moment, there was a spark of lightning in thebat arena.


    At some unknown time, Li Weisheng had activated his innate ability as he forcefully tried to move his body.


    Seeing this, Randy''s heart immediately sank, and he hastily vanished without wasting his time thinking too much, instantly closing the distance between them and then threw a punch at Li Weisheng when he reached him.


    This punch contains his full strength and all the magical energy that he could muster from his avatar''s body.


    Before the punchnded on the other party, they had already started moving their body forcefully, causing Randy''s control over his Blood Authority skill to weaken slightly.


    Nevertheless, Randy gritted his teeth as he focused his mind and kept the skill activated.


    And the next moment, his fistnded on Li Weisheng''s chest.


    Boom!!


    A loud sound of impact resounded, and Li Weisheng was helplessly sent flying a considerable distance across thebat arena.


    "Cough! Cough! How did you¡­ how did you know that this one''s weakness was on his chest area? You shouldn''t have known about this before this duel."


    Li Weisheng coughed up a mouthful of blood as he suddenly asked in confusion.


    At this moment, he held his chest as heid on the floor of thebat arena.


    "Well¡­ I just know and that is all I can tell you, sorry" Randy responded in a weak voice as he felt drained at this moment.


    However, he could not hide the delighted look on his face as he anticipated how many knowledge points that he would receive from this battle alone.


    The next moment, he turned his attention to Li Weisheng who kept coughing up blood, seemingly from an internal injury caused by his attack just now.


    "You lost¡­" Randy curtly said to him.


    "That''s right, this one had indeed lost this duel¡­ to relieve myself of this unnecessary pain that will continue until this one loses consciousness¡­ With that in mind, this one had better give up on this duel." Li Weisheng barely managed to respond to him.


    <Sword Fool had chosen to forfeit this duel>


    <The victor of this duel belongs to Blood Venerable Fist God>


    After the virtual system''s announcement, Li Weisheng''s body gradually turned into sprites of light, slowly scattering.


    However before hepletely disappeared, he muttered onest time: "That was truly an eye-opening duel¡­ This one hopes that we''ll be able to fight ag¡ª"


    He did not even get to finish his sentence beforepletely disappearing from thebat arena along with the sprites of light.

 Chapter 61 - Combat Power Level

    On the other side.


    The two figures from earlier had just finished watching the conclusion between Randy and Li Weisheng''s virtualbat.


    ''Impossible! How could Weisheng lose to that youngster! What tricks did he use to stop his movement, that was clearly a foul y.'' The white robe man was clearly agitated unlike his usual attitude of being calm, as he silently thought this.


    "Heh¡­ now that your disciple had lost to that brat, you have to fulfill your promise. Admit it, you will have to admit it that cultivators are inferior to martial artists in front of everyone in your sect."


    The golden robe man said after observing his agitated reaction despite him trying his best to maintain his calm.


    "Bullshit!"


    "Do you really believe that I will say that in front of my entire sect and the many disciples? Did you not see it for yourself? That youngster used his unique ability to defeat my disciple, so it was not entirely a fist user and a sword user duel, thus it does not count. Otherwise, do you think my disciple would have lost? My dear disciple, Weisheng would have won very easily in terms ofbat prowess."


    The white robe man said in a confident tone as he tried to justify the reason why his disciple had lost to Randy.


    "Hmph! Excuses" The golden robe man snorted in disdain and then said: "Are you trying to go back on your own words?"


    "No" The white robe man readily refuted and then said: "It was your words and not my words in the first ce; if you really believe that this is enough to prove your point then let me give you a suggestion since that youngster was not a Qi user like you. Considering that he uses magical energy, technically he should be a magical warrior instead of a martial artist¡­"


    "What are trying to suggest with that argument?" The golden robe man demanded.


    "I was thinking, why don''t we let your disciple fight with him and also on the premise to see which was stronger, a magical warrior or a martial artist? If your disciple wins then obviously martial artists are supreme, otherwise, they would only be inferior to magical warriors. How about it?" The white robe suggested to him.


    "Nonsense!"


    ''Hehe¡­ he actually fell for it¡­'' The white robe man silently thought.


    "Do you think magical warriors are superior to us martial artists? Fine! I will inform my disciple to ept this brat''s challenge next and then we''ll see¡­"


    "Eh?"


    The white robe man uttered a surprised sound.


    "What''s wrong? Do you really think that I wouldn''t dare or¡­"


    The golden robe man frowned in displeasure as he spoke.


    "No, no, that''s not it. It''s just that the youngster seemed to have logged out of the virtual world; his virtual streaming channel had suddenly stopped streaming."


    The white robe man waved his hands before he exined to him.


    "¡­"


    After that, they all turned silent afterwards as they did not expect the other party to have suddenly logged out of the virtual world since it seemed like he was busy challenging random opponents.


    A few momentster, the white robe man decided to speak.


    "W-Well, you can have your disciple fight him next time when hees back onler and issues a challenge. For now, we shall put this matter aside." He said to the golden robe man.


    ¡­


    At another location.


    In a certain luxurious building in the Eastern District.


    At this moment, a youngdy was busy practicing her sword technique without using any form of energy, she had on a tight training outfit that entuated her fit and slender figure.


    Due to practicing for a very long time without any reinforcement from her energy, her clothes were currently drenched in sweat, making her already tight clothes hugging tightly to her perfect body.


    This scene was so alluring, so much so that if some impulsive young men were to see her right now, they would most likely go crazy and try to approach her.


    While unaware, she continued to swing her light sword continuously without minding her appearance. Luckily, she was inside her own residence, so there was no need to worry about her current appearance.


    However, at this moment, a figure approached the youngdy from behind and then reported: "Your highness, there is something that you might be interested in, that I would like to report."


    "Speak!" The youngdy urged without turning around.


    However, she still continued with her sword practice as she listened.


    "The thing is¡­ someone had defeated the 2nd ce on the eastern district''s Fourth Rank Combat Power Level in the virtual world." The figure reported to her.


    "What?!"


    When she heard this, she stopped swinging her light sword and she eximed in shock from the unexpected news.


    And then she demanded in a curious tone: "Who did it? Was it one of the ones below the top 2 or the remaining top 10 yers?"


    "This¡­"


    "No, your highness, it was an unknown individual."


    The figure was not sure of this themselves but still respectfully replied to her question.


    "An unknown individual? How is that possible? How could an unknown individual defeat that blockhead? Although I managed to defeat him back then, however that was in part due to having to use my enhancement spell and the other reason was that he was looking down on me as a female and so he went easy on me, thus I was able to win without having to fully exert myself."


    The youngdy said as she recalled the situation back then in irritation.


    A few momentster¡­


    "Tsk, do you have the recording of the duel between him and the unknown individual?"


    "Ah, yes, your highness" The figure quickly replied.


    "Very well, then lead the way. I would like to see this unknown individual who managed to defeat Li Weisheng with my own eyes."


    The youngdy said as she sheaths her sword into the sheathe on her waist.


    "But your highness, your attire is a little¡­"


    The figure said as she pointed at the youngdy''s clothes that were drenched in sweat, making her clothes almost see-through.

 Chapter 62 - A Message

    Following the figure''s gesture, the youngdy looked down at her clothes that were revealing her alluring body underneath, and then her face immediately flushed in red before muttering: "I-I suppose, I will take a shower first and then change out of these clothes before that."


    And then she looked up at the figure and ordered: "Have the recording prepared for me before I return."


    "Understood, your highness."


    The figure bowed and replied respectfully before turning and walking away into the building behind them.


    The youngdy was the only one standing in the open space where she was training.


    ''Just who could''ve defeated someone like Li Weisheng, I am curious about this individual and also whether they are worth challenging to improve my swordsmanship.''


    The youngdy quietly thought before walking towards the building from a different direction from where the figure entered the residence just now, seemingly entering the residence through a different entrance.


    ¡­


    Back at the Smith Household.


    Randy had just logged out of the virtual world, he opened his eyes a momentter, and right away, he quickly took off the virtual helmet, cing it to the side as he opened the cover of the virtual machine.


    He then checked the time projected on the virtual machine which said that it was still midnight.


    Originally, Randy was nning to stay till morning, but after fighting Li Weisheng, he was mentally and physically tired and so, he decided to log out instead.


    Not to mention, his avatar''s body was already at its limit after being drained physically.


    Although one cannot run out of energy during virtualbat since it will be recovered after each fight. Nheless, that does not mean that one would not umte fatigue throughout the virtual duel.


    That was one of the realistic aspects of the virtual world, as one could even get tired while ying the game and they would have to rest before continuing on with whatever they were doing.


    Randy himself had not experienced the game aspect before so, he did not know how it would feel like to y the game before.


    But from how he was so tired from fighting in the virtualbat arena, he could now tell how it would feel like to live in the game world.


    He could tell that it would not feel that much different from living in the real world.


    Another thing he noticed was the fact that while in the virtual training room, one could not get tired, and furthermore, one could only train their techniques without using their energy in the training room.


    At this point, Randy proceeded to look into the void of space, specifically on the notification from his system.


    [[You have fought and decisively defeated your opponent inbat, thus obtaining 1000 Knowledge Points]]


    After reading through this, Randy was satisfied with the amount of knowledge points this time.


    ''If only I can fight people like Li Weisheng daily, then I will be able to gradually umte more knowledge points.''


    Randy silently thought to himself as he got out of the virtual machine and then walked towards the door to the room.


    As he was about to open the door, he suddenly remembered something and halted his actions.


    ''That''s right, I forgot that I had activated Ancestral regression skill. I should deactivate it before going out in order to not cause any confusion in case my mom or my little sister sees my new appearance. Then again, what does my current appearance look like? Whatever, I will check it tomorrow when I use the skill again.''


    Thinking so, he focused his mind to quickly to deactivate the skill.


    [[Ancestral Regression Skill Deactivated]]


    With that out of the way, Randy was now relieved, and he proceeded to open the door and then walked out.


    Once outside, he made his way into his bedroom which was next to the room he came out from.


    After entering his room, he did not do anything else and proceeded to lie on his bed, falling asleep shortly afterwards.


    ¡­


    The following day.


    Randy woke up early in the morning, washed up, ate his breakfast, and then made his way to the academy as usual.


    Throughout the weekend, so many things had happened to him.


    The first thing was that he had finally awakened his ability, the second thing was that he had apprehended a criminal immediately after acquiring his abilities and was even promised a bounty reward, and then he went hunting in the Beast Forest to umte knowledge points to learn a profound technique.


    And finally having to test out his newly learned profound technique for the first time in the virtual world''s virtual duel system.


    With all that had happened, his temperament was no longer the same as the gloomy loser that he was.


    At this point, he was an ability holder, and he even had energypatibility which he thought he never had before.


    After all, even though one''s ability was important, without the energy, how could one nurture such ability?


    As such, even if one could not awaken their ability early, there was still a chance to awaken their ability in the future if they had energypatibility.


    That was because as one cultivated their energy, their energy level would increase, their mental strength might also increase, and the most important part was that their bodies would even get stronger and eventually meet the requirement to awaken their own innate ability in the process.


    However, Randy''s case was really peculiar as he not only failed to awakened his ability, he also did not have any energy type that he waspatible with and thus he was even more useless than those that could not awaken their abilities.


    As Randy walked through the streets towards the academy, he went through his smart bracelet, specifically his message section, and then he found out that an unknown contact had sent him a message from yesterday.


    Randy pondered for a bit and then he tapped the projected screen to reveal the message and he was immediately surprised by what he saw when he read the first few lines.


    However, upon reading further down, his expression slowly turned serious as he had a frown on his face until hepletely finished reading through the entire message.

 Chapter 63 - Back To School

    After walking for a few minutes more minutes, Randy had finally reached the vicinity of the entrance of the academy.


    There were other students walking with their friends happily talking about various things.


    Randy walked past a group of the students as he made his way towards the academy''s gate in the distance.


    However, some of the students recognized him when walked by and immediately started pointing fingers at him.


    "Hey, isn''t he that loser who still hadn''t awakened his ability yet, even though he was already 18 years old?" A student said.


    "Eh? Really? There was someone like that in our academy? Howe I didn''t know about it?" A student who was ignorant asked the other student.


    "You''re probably a freshman, that''s why. They said that he tried to awaken his ability so many times already but ultimately failed to do so. And I even heard that he does not even have any energypatibility."


    "Wow, someone like that actually exists in this academy? Especially with how easy it was to awaken nowadays if you simply visit the awakening center, but you''re telling me that he failed even with that?"


    "That''s right, he is most likely the only one in this academy who hadn''t awakened even though he went to the awakening center so many times. His parents wasted so much, but he still failed to impress them, Tsk, tsk, tsk. What a trash!"


    "That''s right, that''s right, why is he even still in this academy?"


    "I heard that his basic statistics were higher than some of the awakened, hell, I heard he best base basic statistics before awakening in the entire school. But none of that matters if he cannot awaken his ability now does it?"


    "That''s true, after all, physical strength alone is not enough to survive in this world."


    ¡­


    As he walked by Randy heard this, but he did not react to this at all.


    After all, who cares what they think about him when he had already awakened his ability?


    With that thought in mind, he did not pay them any heed as he continued walking forward and soon passed through the academy''s gate, making his way towards his ss.


    ¡­


    The ss went on as usual with the instructor basically reviewing some of the subjects needed for their university entrance examination.


    However, unexpectedly, at the end of the day, their instructor suddenly spoke to them after theirst lesson.


    "Alright, settle down! I have a piece of important news to announce to you all!" The instructor said.


    And then he proceeded to wait after mentioning this.


    Everyone in the ss tacitly understood his intention and so, they immediately stopped whatever they were doing and then attentively perked up their ears to carefully listen.


    After the instructor saw that everyone had shut their mouth, only then did he open his mouth once again to speak: "As you all know, the university entrance examination is only about a month away and due to that, every student participating should be preparing themselves to register depending on whether they want to participate this year or not, as some of you might have to repeat your year if you do not meet the basic requirement. This week is the only time to register for the university entrance examination that will be taking ce in early July."


    He gave them time to digest his word and then he continued: "Every student who meets the necessary requirement both academically and in terms of ability mastery shoulde after school to register themselves for the exam. Although you have until Friday to register, it was still a better standard of practice to register earlier if you want to be ced in the best location for your chosen examination center."


    He paused and after recalling something, he then added: "That''s right, those who register for the entrance examination would be receiving special practical training from the academy during their break; this would be a closed-off practical training, meaningmunication would be isted from the outside world to better enable full concentration of the students during the entire. And so, after registering, those who would like to gain experience fighting beasts should sign up for this real-world practical training. Also, you could consider this practical training session from the academy as the same as the practical session of the university entrance examination so if you decided to sign up, I can guarantee that it will boost your chances of entering a good university."


    After he finished speaking, there was a brief moment of silence in the ssroom.


    And then there was a mor within the ssroom, some were engaged in discussion, some were excited, and others had dejected expressions on their faces.


    That was because, those who did not meet the requirement will have no choice but to go to ordinary universities that focused mainly on raising elites in magical engineering, technology, and or other forms of sciences.


    A few momentster, those who did not meet the requirement suddenly found sce as they immediately turned to the one person in this entire academy who had not even managed to awaken his ability, let alone meet the requirement.


    Randy felt several strange gazes on him at this moment and after pondering why, he immediately understood what these fellow ssmates were thinking, however, his expression did not change as he packed his stuff since the school was about to end.


    Only he knew that he had awakened, so it does not matter. Wait, there was one other person who knew, which was Jiang Chen, but there was nothing to worry about since he knew that Jiang Chen was not the kind of person who would spread his secret.


    In any case, he ns on registering, and only then would they be made aware of his awakening.


    At this point, Jeremiah who was slightly in front of him was ring at him from the corner of his eyes.


    Randy had noticed for a while that Jeremiah had been asionally ring at him throughout the entire day during the ss.


    However, he did not pay anything to him as now was not yet the time for him to exact his true revenge.


    He had to find a perfect time and ce to exact his revenge, after all the other party was the son of the director of the ministry of education, so he could not directly confront them.

 Chapter 64 - Registration

    Everyone was busily moving about to do their own thing. Some of the students were heading towards the instructor''s office.


    Those who had not yet confirmed their requirement headed towards the academy''s gymnasium to test out theirbat power and mastery over their ability


    Because there exist many different kinds of innate abilities, which were in the form of physical abilities, mental abilities, and other bizarre abilities. For example, the ability to cause natural disasters or misfortune.


    And so, generally, there was only one way to test out the capability of one''s ability.


    And that is by using one''s ability to strike a testing device which would then record the destructiveness of such an ability.


    Furthermore, in case that the type of ability was not a tangible type of ability, then the ability user could only exhibit their abilities as the machine measures their control over their abilities through their brainwaves or other data collected from their body.


    In any case, it gets moreplicated when it came to those bizarre type of abilities as they were no specific way to measure thebat prowess of those abilities as they could be destructive sometimes and other times, they were useless.


    And that was because the prerequisites to use these abilities were unique, and thus, one could not simply measure their full capability. However, those who had that kind of dangerous abilities were very rare.


    Otherwise, the world could be brought to harm by them from just losing control of their abilities. But with the limited amount of people, it was easy to manage these kinds of ability holders.


    At this point, those that had already tested and knew their ability''sbat power and were confident about meeting the requirement could only proceed straight to their instructor''s office to register for the university entrance examination.


    Randy was among these people who were heading towards their instructor''s office to register.


    When everyone saw that he was also heading towards the direction where the instructor offices were, they looked at him strangely as they thought for sure that this guy should not be able to register for this year''s university entrance examination.


    However, they did not say anything and instead kept silent as they waited for the good show that would soon ur when he tries to registerter.


    ¡­


    Inside the Instructor''s Office.


    "Gu Yang, let me see awakener''s identification, oh, a D-rank Low State. So you have reached this level already? Very good, very good. As expected of my student."


    "Cao Ling, D-rank Middle State, hm, you can also register your name here."


    The instructorplimented his students as he checked their awakener''s identification.


    And very soon, it was Jeremiah''s turn, and everyone immediately shut their mouths, as they waited for his results with bated breaths.


    Jeremiah walked forward towards the instructor in rxed steps as if there was nothing for him to care about.


    After all, as the son of the director of the ministry of education, even if he could not get into a university using the normal means, there were always other methods to enter one of the top universities.


    However, he did not have to worry about that. After all, with the resources that he was provided with by his father, how could he becking when it came to his level of strength or the mastery of his ability?


    When he stood in front of the instructor, he casually handed his identification card to him.


    "Jeremiah Zhang, C-rank Middle State, not bad, Pass. You can register name over there."


    "Yes." Jeremiah curtly replied and then walked to the side to register.


    Behind him, almost everyone instantly burst into a discussion when they heard his rank.


    "Amazing,he is already a C-rank? D-rank was the highest rank anyone had ever used to register for a university entrance examination in our academy and most people usually had an E-rank High State which was the minimum requirement needed to register."


    "Damn, as expected of the director''s son, I am so jealous. I wish my rank was that high."


    "It''s impossible for people like us to increase our ranking just by hardworking alone."


    "I know right, sadly, we don''t have as many resources as he does to increase our ranking besides through hardworking."


    "Indeed, only the rich families can afford such enormous resources for their children to cultivate their ability to such a degree in such a short time."


    Jeremiah did not show any reaction when he heard their words, as he raised his chin up and arrogantly walked away, not giving these plebians a single nce, however as he walked past the group lined up, he noticed an oddity in the line of people.


    ''Randy! What the fuck is he doing here? Did he awaken his ability? No, that''s impossible! Then is he here to beg the instructor to let him pass just because his basic statistics are high or something? Hahaha! That must be it. I do remember his physical statistics should be equivalent to an E-rank, but isn''t he dreaming too much, let wait and see his loser faceter.''


    Thinking so, he halted his steps as he stood to the side, waiting for when it was Randy''s turn.


    Nevertheless, he was not the only one thinking such thoughts when they watched Randy standing in the line.


    A whileter, a group of students went toplete their registration, and very soon, it was finally Randy''s turn.


    Randy casually walked towards the instructor. However, unlike before, where he always kept his head down, afraid to make eye contact with their instructor, this time he stared straight as he walked towards him.


    ''Strange, something is off about this brat today¡­ What is it? Wait, what is this brat doing here? Does he think he has a chance at registering for a university? Did he not hear what I had been telling him all this time? Tsk!''


    The instructor watched the approaching Randy and then had a series of thoughts about why he came to register for the university entrance examination, despite not meeting the requirement.


    "Randy? What are you doing here? Have you not disgraced yourself and the academy enough? Why did youe here? Get out of here."


    The instructor suddenly said when he saw Randy standing in front of him.

 Chapter 65 - Confirmation

    "Randy? What are you doing here? Have you not disgraced yourself and the academy enough? Why did youe here? Get out of here. I thought I told you that you''re not fit to register without an awakened ability no matter how high your basic statistics are?"


    The instructor suddenly spoke without giving him a chance to even respond to his series of questions.


    Randy was stunned momentarily when he this from his instructor, however, he instantly came back to his senses as he confidently took out his identification from his pocket under the watchful gaze of everybody standing behind and on the side.


    And then he outstretches his arm, disying the awakener''s identification for everyone including his instructor to see.


    "What is this¡ª" The instructor impatiently spoke but then stopped in his sentence before uttering in disbelief: "Impossible, how can this be, let me see that."


    Saying so, he abruptly swiped the identification card from Randy''s hand and then proceeded to examine it for a brief moment to check for its authenticity.


    However, after a while, he disyed a doubtful expression and then questioned: "Who did you get this from?"


    "This is my awakener''s identification card, teacher." Randy instantly replied to him.


    Thinking of something, he decided to exin: "I had only recently acquired this¡ª"


    "Don''t talk nonsense!"


    The instructor suddenly cut in before he could finish his sentence.


    "You did not have any ability allst week and all of sudden what? You have awakened? And what''s this saying, C-rank High State? Do you expect me to believe something like that? Even if you had indeed awakened your ability, it shouldn''t have increased that much in rank. Did you have someone fabricate a fake identification card just to register? How despicable."


    The instructor condemned him without listening to him for an exnation, causing Randy to scowled when he heard his instructor''s words.


    ''What is this person saying? All I did was awaken my ability as he wanted and even got my awakener''s identification card to prove this fact and yet he is doubting the fact that I had awakened?''


    Randy looked at the instructor as he silently thought in displeasure.


    "Eh? He was using a fake ID? However, that makes more sense. After all to get a C-rank High State, which was even higher than Jeremiah''s was impossible for someone like him, who did not have any ability before."


    One of the students said when they heard their instructor''s words just now.


    "That''s right, even he had indeed awakened his ability as he imed, how could he surpass someone like Jeremiah who had all the resources."


    Another student agreed with the other student.


    ¡­


    On the other side.


    Jeremiah who was standing by the side, anticipating Randy''s downfall to ridicule him, suddenly lost interest in the matter after hearing the instructor''s initial words.


    As he was walking away and he suddenly stopped in his tracks when he heard thest part of the instructor''s words, about a C-rank High State.


    At that moment, he could not help but turn around with a disbelief expression.


    ''A C-rank High State, did this trash actually awakened with a C-rank High Statebat prowess? Or is it like the instructor imed, that he was using a fake ID to register for the university entrance examination? What if he actually awakened his ability and this was indeed his current rank, then isn''t his rank higher than mine?''


    Thinking about this, Jeremiah''s expression turned serious as he frowned while looking at Randy''s figure in the distance.


    ¡­


    At this point, Randy continued to stare at his instructor with a deep frown on his face as he thought.


    ''This person kept saying that I have disgraced the academy on many asions and now, I have awakened my ability, and what? You''re still not happy about that fact and instead doubted me when I am telling you the truth? What''s with that logic? Why don''t I understand his intention?''


    Randy was very confused about his instructor''s action the moment he started speaking just now.


    In reality, he had already noticed that despite them being a student and a teacher, this instructor had never acted like one and was more antagonistic towards him on basically everything he does in the academy.


    "Teacher, if you don''t believe that I have awakened my ability, then it is simple to confirm this. You can just confirm through my ID card using a scanner, or you can check my ability directly."


    Randy said with a determined look on his face. He was not going to let this instructor keep looking down on him, not anymore.


    Originally, this was supposed to be his revenge against them, however it seemed like this instructor was more unreasonable than he had thought.


    "Huh? So you''re confident about this, huh?" The instructor said in surprise when he heard Randy''s resolute words.


    However, he soon revealed a smirk and then said: "Very well, you said it yourself so don''t me me about what happens afterward. Since I am your instructor, I cannot fight you myself. Hm? It says here that you''re an enhancement-type ability user, so how about you use your supposed ability and fight one of your ssmates? Through that, we can confirm whether you have awakened your ability or not. And we can also confirm whether your rank was fabricated or the real deal."


    And then he pondered as he spoke: "The gym should mostly be empty right now, except those using the other floor to measure their¡­"


    However, Randy suddenly cut his thoughts and then dered: "There''s no need to go to the gym for this. We can just decide it right here, and now."


    Saying this, he proceeded to stare straight into his instructor''s eyes and then continued: "Teacher doesn''t mind right? Since you can always use your telekinesis ability to prevent any damage from urring to this room or to anyone."


    The instructor was surprised by this proposal stated by him, as he did not expect the brat to be this gutsy enough to say something like that.

 Chapter 66 - An Insignificant Victory

    Although the instructor was surprised by Randy''s proposal, nheless, he still responded to him: "Very well. Gu Yang, why don''t youe and fight with him. You''re a martial artist with a shock wave ability so you should be able to deal more damage to him since he is a physical body enhancer."


    "Understood, teacher!"


    Gu Yang responded as he disyed a vicious grin and then gestured indifferently for Randy to attack fist.


    ''This loser thinks he can register for the university entrance examination by faking his awakener''s ID? Not to mention that rank? I have worked so hard for many years and yet I am only at the D-rank Low State and you who did not even have an ability four days imed to have a C-rank High Statebat prowess? Who are you kidding?''


    He thought in annoyance as he watched Randy assuming his position.


    "Are you sure you want me to attack first? Don''t regret your choiceter."


    Rand casually said to him as he stood in front of the other party.


    "Hmph!"


    Gu Yang scoffed when he heard his words.


    And then he continued in a disdain tone: "Loser, don''t act high and mighty just because you have awakened your ability. You''re still a loser no matter what. I have awakened my innate ability for years and you had only awakened yours, naturally, I will have more experience with my ability than you."


    Saying so much, he then impatiently said: "Just attack and stop talking nonsense¡­ Unless you want to give up this fight to save your face from ruing more shame?"


    Hearing this, Randy appeared surprised slightly as he raised his eyebrows.


    However, a momentter, he revealed a smile and then replied: "There''s no need to say too much. Then I will begin now."


    Saying so, Randy instantly transformed his form partially with his hair turning silverish white. His eyes were yellowish-green in color with a cold glint shing across his eyes as he stared at Gu Yang, who flinched in response.


    Everyone was immediately shocked by this sudden change of his appearance and then proceeded to stare at him nkly, as they doubted their eyes.


    ''H-He really awakened his ability?''


    They all thought in disbelief as deep down, they did not believe that Randy had actually awakened his ability until just now when they were visibly seeing it with their own eyes.


    Jeremiah was among the people who were stunned by this disy from Randy''s awakened ability. He immediately felt apprehension when he watched Randy''s figure that was exuding an inexplicable aura of fierceness.


    ''Fuck! This loser had actually awakened his ability?! Don''t tell me that he would be taking revenge for what happened to him in the past?''


    He quietly thought in fear as he could feel that if he were to fight Randy right now, he would not be able to win against him.


    At this point, Randy abruptly spoke: "Alright, now that I have activated my ability, so it should be enough to, ah, you said I should attack first, right?"


    Gu Yang realized that he had made a mistake when he sense the aura surrounding the other party''s body.


    This was an aura of a beast!


    As a martial artist, his senses towards aura or Qi surrounding others were rtively high and so, he could vaguely tell that the other party was most likely even stronger than he had imed.


    ''Damn it, why did I have to open my mouth to¡­"


    Randy did not let him finish his thoughts as he suddenly: "Alright, here I¡ª"


    The moment he finished saying that he had already moved through the wind as he approached the other party using the Gale Riding skill.


    And then raised his arm backward as he swiftly outwards, and he finished his words: "e!!"


    "Ah, wait!"


    Gu Yang btedly spoke when he saw the fist approaching at a speed that he could barely see with his eyes.


    The next moment¡­


    "Bam!"


    He was sent flying with his nose broken from the impact of the punch as blood spew from it, shocking everyone greatly.


    Luckily for him, Randy held back greatly, afraid to identally or permanently cause damage to him.


    And so, he only had a broken nose due to that, otherwise, with Randy''s newly learned profound fist technique, there was no way someone as weak as him could survive a punch a normal from him.


    Nevertheless, the current result was clearly not something that someone that was weak or amateur could aplish.


    The next moment, Randy immediately undid his transformed state and when he turned around, he was met with a look of astonishment, shocked, incredulous, and disbelief.


    Randy did not pay any attention to them as he approached the instructor and then he casually stated: "Now there should be no problems, right, teacher?"


    The instructor was stunned speechless from the moment he transforms to the end, where he easily defeated his opponent, however when he heard his words just now, he snapped out of his daze-like state before looking at him.


    "Huh? Right, there are no issues, you can go to the side to register when it is your turn."


    He nkly said to him, clearly still in shock. He even forgot to catch Gu Yang was sent flying with one punch, causing him to crash into the wall of the room.


    As Randy walked away, only then did hee back to his senses and silently thought to himself in regret.


    ''This brat had really awakened and has such as strong ability too. I could barely keep up with his movement just now. I only managed to see his punch as he struck that Gu Yan¡ª wait, shit, I actually forgot to catch that useless brat. Damn it, hopefully, nothing serious happened to him.''


    After thinking this, he immediately stood up and went to check on him and was shocked to find out that that Randy punch had managed to break his nose, enough that if he was not healed right away, it could leave a mark on his face.


    With that thought, he told one of the students to help him into the infirmary before it was toote as he still needed to precede over the registration process.

 Chapter 67 - A Presence

    Randy registered his name for the university entrance examination under the watchful andplicated gazes of everyone present in the instructor''s office.


    And then he left right away, but before he left, he proceeded to give Jeremiah a nce for a brief moment and as he walked past him, he mouthed ''thank you'' in his direction.


    Jeremiah appeared even more confused by his mouthed words as he was already shocked by Randy''s sudden awakening.


    ''Why did he thank me? How did he even awaken his ability? I thought he could awaken since had already turned eighteen years old¡­ Damn it! He is definitely going to take revenge! That look just now was not that of someone that was grateful but someone confident about something¡­''


    He was currently in distress as he quickly thought these to himself.


    After recalling what he and his goons did to himst week, Jeremiah was even more stressed while biting on his fingernail on the spot.


    ¡­


    Randy walked the streets as he made his way home.


    At this point, Randy suddenly felt that something was strange as he entered the residential area.


    For some time now, there was a presence following his trail almost as if he was being followed, however, Randy could not see who was following him.


    Randy scowled and his gaze became focused and then he continued to walk normally down the path he was taking without alerting the other party, and then when he reached an intersection, he randomly picked a path.


    And very soon, after making some random turns, and taking more random paths, he then entered a path between two buildings.


    ¡­


    At this moment, a figure''s appearance suddenly manifested out of nowhere, showing the appearance of a man.


    It seems like this man was the one who was following Randy ever since a while ago.


    At this point, he suddenly slowed down his movement as he spoke to themunication ear gadget.


    "Young Lord, I found the kid, yes, I am on his tail right now. He just entered an alley just now; I will keep following him." The figure reported to the one on the other side.


    [Very well. Make sure to check whether that brat is someone from our Silvermoon family or just a simple awakener with a white hair trait due to their ability and confirm whether he really had ws.] The one on the other side said in amanding tone.


    "Understood, Young Lord. I will not let you down." The figure solemnly replied in a respectful tone.


    [Hm. I heard from Jack that your stealth and tracking abilities were amongst one of the best, so I expect great results from you.]


    Saying so, the one on the other side then cut the connection to themunication gadget of the figure.


    After thatmunication, the figure expression turned serious as he continued to follow the young man that entered the alley in long strides, afraid to miss him.


    With that thought, he entered the alley a whileter, however, after entering the alley he was instantly confused.


    He did enter the same alley as the young man earlier, but he could not find any existence or a trace of anyone beside himself.


    After pondering for a bit, he muttered: "Where did he go? I was so sure that he entered this ce just now? Did I see wrong¡­ No, he was definitely entered through here. Then what is going on? This ce is also dead-end. Wait a second! There is no one here, despite this ce being a dead-end? Unless he jumped up this building or maybe he was still he¡ª Kukh!"


    The man suddenly stopped talking as he clutched the region close to his neck due to a certain ufortable feeling that stem from his neck.


    At this point, he could feel that something or someone had wrapped around his neck so tightly and it was hard to get them off despite his effort.


    ''Damn it! What is going? Was someone here, after all, Kukh! I can''t seem to break, oh no, I am gradually losing my consciousness¡­ Kukh! Not enough air¡­ I need air¡­ W-Who is it¡­ who is doing this¡­?''


    The more he tries to break free, the more the thing around his neck keeps increasing the strength around his neck.


    And at some point, he could not breathe anymore, causing him to struggle for air with his body shaking and was even scratching the thing around his neck.


    Eventually, he stopped struggling altogether and soon fainted when he ran out of air to breathe.


    His eyes rolled upwards to the back, revealing only the white of his eyes as he turned limp.


    At this point, Randy suddenly manifested while holding onto the man by his neck, and then a momentter, they dropped him to the floor, making a ''thud'' sound when hended.


    "Phew¡­ he finally fainted, if he still had not fainted after all that, I would''ve been forced to kill him instead since he seemed to be a very strong person. Who was this guy anyway, and why was he following me? Was this someone sent by Jeremiah?''''


    Randy''s expression turned cold when he thought of this, however after thinking about it some more, he immediately shook his head.


    ''No, that can''t be right. School had just ended a while ago even if Jeremiah was meticulous, he couldn''t have been the one behind this man in this short time. Then, is this perhaps¡­''


    Randy thought of something and then muttered: "Could this be¡­ was this someone sent by that Silvermoon family that the female police officer called Hong Mingyue mentioned in that message that she sent to me along with the reward for catching that burr?"


    "Haah¡ª"


    ''At any rate, I didn''t think that just transforming briefly would be captured by the satellite and even catching some unwanted attention. What a headache!''


    Randy sighed helplessly and then silently thought in dejection as he did not foresee this turn of events when he thought of robbing that burr at that time.

 Chapter 68 - Revelation

    After pondering for a brief moment, Randy looked down at the unconscious man and then muttered: "What should I do now with this guy? Should I just kill him? But what if¡­ No, then maybe I should¡­ Haah, I will leave him here. I am assuming that whoever sent him, when he does not report in, they would send someone to check what happened, at this time they would probably take him from here. I just hope that this would be enough to deter the other party froming after me again for no legit reason."


    ''After all, we have no enmity towards each other so if they still choose toe after me again, then I will not be as kind as I were today.''


    Randy thought with a cold expression on his face.


    Although he had never killed someone before, that does not mean that when he was forced, he would remain passive without retaliating in response.


    He had not made any enemies with anyone in this life and yet there were always people thinking that just because someone was meek then they were weak and thus, they always pick on him for this very assumption.


    Even if he was just a high school student, that does not mean that when threatens his life, he would just cower and let them do what they want.


    Back when he had no ability to fight against these people, he decided to y it safe and endured their bully but where did that lead him? He was tortured by them and ultimately leading him to despair.


    However, now that he had awakened through that nightmarish event, he no longer wants anyone to think lightly of his existence, not anymore, not now, and definitely not ever again.


    With that conviction, Randy nced at the unconscious and after thinking for a bit, he searched his clothes for anything valuable, and then he left shortly after.


    ¡­


    After leaving the alley, Randy quickly went home without dy.


    Although, he usually stays in the school for a while to train, however that was no longer necessary with his current strength and so, he decided to go home earlier today.


    After reaching home, he quickly entered the mansion with a smile on his face,


    "Mom! I''ve got something to tell you. Here is my register¡­"


    However, he was surprised to see a new face sitting on the couch along with his mother.


    "Eh? Dad? You''re home?" Randy said in surprise, feeling that this was a little unexpected.


    "¡­"


    Quite unusually, his father did not say anything when he heard this.


    He did not know how to talk to this son of his whom he had ignored for so long.


    A few moments of silenceter, when he was about to say something seeing how excited his son was earlier, he cleared his throat instead and then said: "It seems you have something to say to your mother, so why don''t you go first. I will go upstairs to take care of something."


    "Oh, okay. Well, I was originally going to tell you mom, but since you''re here too, then that is even better; you might as well stay to listen to this piece of good news."


    "Me too? What is it? What happened?" His father was intrigued when he heard these unexpected words.


    ''A good news, huh? I wonder what this child could consider a piece of good news besides awakening his innate ability'' He silently thought as he looked at Randy.


    At this point, Randy spoke with exaggeration suspense: "So¡­ Uhm¡­ Here is the thing, how do I say this¡­"


    "Just say it already!"


    Riley could not take the nonessential suspense and then spoke out to him.


    "I have registered for the university entrance exams!" Randy revealed to them.


    ""Impossible!""


    Two simultaneous voice that harmonized unusually well with each other resounded in the living room of the mansion.


    "Whoa! What''s with those reactions?" Randy almost jumped from fright when he heard this response from both of his parents.


    After a while, his father could not help but speak in a stern voice: "Randy, I know that you wanted to attend university, but it is impossible to do so without awakening your ability or having energypatibility. That was why we¡­"


    After saying this, he stopped himself in the middle of his speech, and then his expression gradually turned gloomy, filled with sadness.


    He recalled how they had treated their son in the past after finding out that he could not awaken his ability no matter what they tried.


    At this moment, Riley also had the same expression on her face as she looked at their son.


    Randy noticed this change in the atmosphere, however, he ignored this ufortable atmosphere and then casually replied to his father: "But I have already awakened my innate ability though, so that should not¡­"


    "What?!"


    Two shocked voices resounded this time around as well.


    "Y-Y-You have awakened your innate ability?" Riley stuttered as she muttered in surprise.


    Seeing the surprised look on his mother''s face, Randy smiled and then confirmed: "That''s right."


    Riley appeared doubtful as she silently thought when she heard his words.


    ''He really awakened his innate ability? That can''t be right, I don''t notice any energy fluctuation on his body, so how could he have awakened? What is going on? But he should not be lying to us, right? That''s right, Randy would not lie about something like this.'' She concluded after thinking about it in her mind.


    However, she could not help but ask in confirmation: "Why can''t I sense any energy fluctuation on your body if you have awakened your innate ability, Randy? You should at least have some¡­ "


    Randy''s father, Nathan, raised his hands at her words to stop her from finishing her sentence and then seriously asked: "If what you say is indeed true, then when have you awakened your innate ability?"


    Hearing this question, Randy thought for a bit, and then replied: "About four days ago, I think?"


    Riley did not like his tone of voice and said: "Why do you sound uncertain about this¡­ wait, four days ago, that was Friday, isn''t that the same day that you¡­"


    As Riley spoke, her eyes gradually widen when realization was dawning on her, and she immediately stopped speaking as she proceeded to look at Randy with a strange gaze.

 Chapter 69 - Emotional Exchange

    Sensing the gaze on him, Randy quickly replied in a genuine tone: "That''s right, I just did not inform mom, because I wanted to surprise you all."


    ""Surprise?""


    Listening to his response, the two parents could not help but mutter these words in surprise.


    "That''s right, that was my n. Since it took me so long to awaken my innate ability unlike my peers, so I thought that revealing it on a special asion like this would be more impactful; I have already registered for my university entrance examination, so this was the perfect time to reveal the truth, don''t you think so?" Randy responded with a smile.


    Hearing his exnation, they did not say anything and proceeded to look at their son who was standing in front of them with a smile on his face, and instantly their expression turned gentle for a brief moment before abruptly returning to their gloomy state.


    ''To think that he was thinking of something like that when he could have simply told us about it as soon as he had awakened his innate ability¡­?


    Even after treating him with so much istion all this time, he still respected and treated us like his parents, enough to want to surprise us like this¡­ Just what were we doing all this time? Was it really the right decision? Were there other ways we could have handled the situation?''


    Both parents silently thought as they looked at their son with aplicated expression.


    After a moment of silence, all of a sudden, Nathan then doubtfully asked: "Randy¡­ Don''t you hate us¡­ for the way we treated you in the past?"


    "Why would I hate you?"


    Randy answered without thinking much of his question, seemingly could not understand why his father would suddenly ask such a question.


    "I am serious, so give me a serious answer, Randy."


    Nathan said in a serious tone, seemingly thinking that his son was not being honest with his response.


    Hearing the serious tone from his father, Randy instantly turned quiet for a brief moment without saying anything.


    After a while, he suddenly sighed and uttered: "Of course, it will be a lie if I said that I did not harbor some hatred for you all at some point when I did not receive any attention from you all, but¡­"


    Randy paused for a bit and then continued: "Buttely, I don''t feel that way."


    ""Why is that?"" Both Nathan and Riley carefully asked simultaneously.


    "You''re my parents and I feel like there must be some underlying reason why you would start treating me like that even though I have no idea why. I remember that when I was young, you both never treated me like that. I think it all started when¡­ it was only when I had started exhibiting changes in these eyes of mine... Only then did I begin to sense a difference in your treatment towards me¡­" Randy answered them.


    And then he continued: "And also, when I couldn''t awaken my innate ability, that was when you all started being stern and while constantly telling me that I was useless since I could not awaken my innate ability and that I will not be able to survive in this world if I stay like this."


    After saying so much Randy concluded: "But none of that matters, as I have already awakened my ability now. In that sense, there is no need to know why you both started treating like that."


    "¡­"


    Listening to him, Nathan, and Riley both were stunned and immediately felt emotional with a gentle expression, almost tearing up on the spot, especially Riley who was clearly more emotional than she actually seems.


    "I''m sorry, Randy¡­ we only thought that was the only decision to make at the time, but we did not mean to make you feel isted, it was only because¡­"


    With teary eyes, Riley gently looked at Randy as she said this.


    Despite all that he had to bear with all this time, he never once cried about it, however when he heard his mother''s voice just now, Randy was almost at the brink of tearing up himself, as all his pent-up emotions gradually surfaced at this moment.


    In spite of that, he did not shed a single tear. He does not want to appear like a weakling who cries so easily over everything that happens in his life.


    He immediately controlled his emotions by clenching his fist tightly.


    On the other hand, Nathan put his arm around his wife, holding her in his arms, and then seriously spoke: "We are very happy that you do not hate us for this matter, however, it is still too early to inform you of our reasons. I can only tell you that you would naturallye to understand everything in the future. Once you get strong enough, I will tell you everything that you need to know, but for now, that will have to wait."


    After saying that, he did not wait for Randy to respond and immediately changed topics.


    "Right, what type of ability did you acquire through your awakening? And what does it say about your ss?" He asked.


    "Ah, I am not sure about the ss, but it has something to do with blood like dad''s ability, I guess." Randy appeared troubled as he answered this.


    This was the second time someone asked him about his ss, and he did not really know what to say to them. After all, even he does not know what ss he has, so how could he inform others about it?


    Hearing this response, Nathan was confused and could not help but question him further: "What do you mean that you are not sure about your ss, did it not explicitly say what it was on your system''s disy? Wait, did you not receive a system?"


    "That''s not it, I received a system, but it said on the ss section that it was Blood and then followed by some question marks, so I have no idea what the subsequent words were."


    Randy waved his hand as he responded to his father.

 Chapter 70 - Minor Reaction

    "Question marks¡­?" Nathan muttered.


    He then held his chin as he muses these words for a bit.


    After a few moments, he then said: "What is your ability then?"


    ''He was not at all surprised by this? I thought he would ask further, but surprisingly¡­'' Randy silently thought this, but soon ignored this thought of his and quickly answered his father''s question.


    "Well, it says that I can assimte with other creatures'' blood and then use their ability for myself when the assimtion isplete. Actually, I have absorbed a creature''s blood already."


    Randy honestly responded to his question.


    This was his own father and mother, so there was no need to hide anything from them, rather it would be strange if he were to hide it from them at this point.


    Well, he would notpletely reveal everything to them though, like how he went and apprehend a criminal right after acquiring his ability or the fact that his system seemed to have upgraded itself.


    These are things that could lead to some unwanted troubles, after all, no one had heard of a system upgrading itself before, so it was better to not tell anyone for now, not even to his own parents.


    He could feel like by telling them, he would be putting them in trouble in the case where someone tried to probe them for some sort of answers using their unique ability, for example, a mind-reading ability or more terrifying kind like a mind invading ability.


    Randy could not afford to bring this risk on his parents, so he decided to keep it to himself.


    As for whether someone finds out about it through him, at least they would only target him and not his family when that timees, so he does not mind.


    "So your innate ability is assimtion with blood? And you said, you already absorbed a creature''s blood? What creature was it?" Nathan asked him upon hearing his response.


    "A werewolf," Randy replied.


    "A werewolf?!"


    This time even Riley joined her husband as they both eximed when they heard their son''s response.


    At this point, they were both standing since they immediately jumped from their seat.


    Nathan had a look of dread on his face and then he inquired after him in a concerned tone: "Are you okay, how did you even encounter such a creature and how did you survive such an encounter? From what I knew, those creatures like to feast on the flesh of humans the most."


    Saying so, he turned to Riley who suddenly spoke at this moment: "Dear, I forgot to mention this earlier since you had only juste home, and I did not want to bother you much during your working hours, so I did not tell you about this¡­"


    Randy decided to continue with the story without waiting for his mother to finish. After all, he should be the one telling the story, rather than his mom.


    "Well, I had already told mom about running into a rift that suddenly opened¡­"


    Saying so, he recounted his experience once again while leaving out some details and then concluded by saying that: "During their fight, the one that was bleeding, its blood flew and entered my mouth, causing me to feel extreme pain when I swallowed it unintentionally. After enduring the pain for a while, I suddenly fainted and when I came to, those monsters had already left. At the time before fainting, I suddenly heard a mysterious voice in my head and when I awoke, I was informed through my system that I had already assimted with that werewolf''s blood and obtain its abilities."


    After saying all that, he did not wait for them to ask, and he abruptly transformed his form into the werewolf formpletely, with his fangs and everything on disy.


    Once again, these were his parents, so there should not be any secret between generally.


    Unless it was detrimental to them, otherwise he would not hide anything like this from them.


    And well, this werewolf form was not something that he could hide forever anyway, so he might as well disy his full strength to them; In that way, they will be aware of how truly strong he had be rather than underestimate him due to showing them the weakened transformation.


    With that thought in mind, Randy brazenly showed them theplete transformation of the reinforcement(Werewolf King of Wind), so right now, his physical strength was at least an S-rank level, but not his magical energy or any of his other form of energies.


    Sensing the fierce aura emanating from Randy''s body, Riley was shocked, and then she muttered in a low voice: "Oh my god¡­"


    However, for some reason, at this time, Nathan looked at him and then suddenly doubtfully asked: "This can''t be all there is to your ability, right?"


    "Eh? How can you tell?" Randy was genuinely surprised by his father''s words this time.


    "Don''t worry about the details¡­ So what other abilities do you have?" Nathan waved his hand dismissively as he asked further.


    "Well, let''s see, I have Blood Assimte, Blood Authority, Blood Fusion, Blood Scan, and some that were still greyed out at the moment due to not meeting the requirement, so I don''t know what they were either" Randy replied to him.


    Naturally, he did not mention any ability that he had acquired through blood fusion or blood assimtion.


    Nheless, both Nathan and Riley were speechless when they heard this, but strangely enough, they did not react as much as one would expect from this list of abilities and only asked Randy about these abilities work.


    Without any hesitation, after undoing his transformed state, Randy briefly exined to them the gist of how his abilities work.


    "I see¡­ So Blood Authority allows you to manipte your own blood and even other people''s blood? Just as I thought you really are¡­" Nathan muttered to himself in a low voice.


    "Dad, what did you say?"


    Randy asked after seeing that his father was saying something, he could only vaguely hear thest part of his sentence.

 Chapter 71 - Secret Conversation

    "Ah, nothing. Pay no mind to my words, I was only thinking to myself. But still, those are some useful abilities you got there. However, why can''t we tell how strong or more precisely what type of energy you''re emanating before?" Nathan suddenly asked him.


    And he continued: "If you hadn''t transformed into that state by which we could sense magical energy fluctuationsing from you, we wouldn''t have known your energy type."


    When Randy heard this question, he immediately pondered for a bit, thinking that it was indeed very strange that his parents could not sense his energy fluctuation even with their level of strength.


    "Ah, about this I am not sure if it is rted but I have a certain physique¡­" He said after pondering about it.


    "A physique?! Ahem, continue¡­" Nathan was initially surprised but urge him to finish his exnation.


    "That''s right, it is called Myriad Energy Devouring Physique, and presumably, ording to my system, it seems capable of absorbing all types of energy," Randy said to him.


    "What?!" Both parents were genuinely surprised this time, even Nathan could not keep his calm over this matter.


    ''What kind of physique is that? To be capable of absorbing all kinds of energy, but how is Randy going to store all those different kinds of energy¡­?''


    Both parents silently thought in shock and bewilderment.


    Randy watched their reaction, he inwardly shook his head and then said: "Well, I know that it is very shocking to hear this because I was shocked too when I found out about this from my system. Anyway, I am assuming that it is the reason why you both can''t tell my energy level or fluctuation? Then again, that is only my guess but¡­ "


    "No, you may be right about this" Nathan shook his head and said.


    And then he continued after thinking for a bit: "Perhaps, all the energies about by you emanate together, which prevent probing due to its chaotic nature¡­ Unless you disy the energy yourself as you did just now when you transform into that werewolf form, otherwise, it would be hard to tell your level of strength."


    At this point, Riley also chimed in: "So you mean to say that you can somehow cultivate all types of energy? Or do you convert all kinds of energy into mana or something?"


    "That''s right, no, I mean the first one. It seems I can cultivate all types of energy. For now, I have magical energy, spiritual energy, Life energy, Psi energy, Mystic energy; these five are the ones that I cultivate at the moment." Randy answered as he emphasized by giving more details.


    When they heard this, both Nathan and Riley visibly took a deep breath and proceeded to stare at him, speechless.


    They did not know how to respond to this as they were really baffled by this revtion.


    ''How could he have that many energiespatibility? And also, what was thest part, Mystic energy? Why haven''t we heard of this one before or is it some new type of energy that we are unaware of?''


    They proceeded to think to themselves as they continued to stare at him with a gawking expression.


    Noticing how his parents were not saying anything after so long, Randy suddenly opened his mouth and then asked: "Mom? Dad? What''s wrong?"


    ''Why did they suddenly turn silent? This is getting awkward¡­ As I thought, maybe I shouldn''t have told them about this¡­ At most, perhaps, I should have only mentioned two energies for now, but it is already toote now that I have said everything.''


    Randy inwardly sighed helplessly and then silently thought to himself while looking at his parents'' expression.


    Hearing his concerned words, they immediately snapped out of their daze and suddenly Riley asked in curiosity: "Randy, what is this mystic energy that you mention? Is it a new type of energy?"


    Nathan also nodded expressing that he too was curious about this matter.


    "Uhm, well, ording to my system, it was the soul energy but like I thought, even mom and dad have not heard of this before, huh?" Randy replied.


    "The soul energy¡­ I know that the soul had an energy that we all call the ''soul power'' and other names, but I did not know that it can be cultivated¡­" Riley muttered under her breath.


    "So that''s what it is." Nathan expressed his understanding, and then he continued: "If you can really cultivate all the energy mentioned by you, then that is an unprecedented feat, and I can tell that your future prospect would be unimaginable."


    After saying this, he paused for a moment and then solemnly said: "However, if you choose to cultivate them all, you will only waste your time and so, you have to pick the ones that you find suitable for you; cultivate the ones you pick so as to not waste your time during cultivation. Otherwise, you might have to spend decades or more just to cultivate all of them"


    "I understand." Randy expressed his understanding as he firmly nodded his head when he responded.


    "Anyway, go and change your clothes. Your mom had already prepared dinner and your little sister is in her room doing her own stuff. Once youe down, we will all begin eating dinner together." Nathan then said to him after receiving his response.


    "Okay."


    Randy responded as he immediately made his towards the stairs leading to the second floor, and very soon, his figure departed from the living room.


    After he left, Nathan disyed a deep gaze at the stairs and then muttered: "This child¡­ if only¡­"


    However, he immediately sighed and did not finish his sentence.


    Riley who was sitting next to him said to him: "Let us wait until he attends university and gets stronger enough and also umte enough experience. At that time, we can tell him then and as for the rest, that will be up to him."


    "Hm, what you say also makes sense, but we have alienated him for so long that it is now strange to be amicable with him again.. Don''t get me wrong, I honestly appreciated the fact that he did not hate us despite all that, but¡­ Haah¡­" Nathan agreed with her and then said in a distressed tone.

 Chapter 72 - Beast Core

    Looking at him, Riley chuckle and then poked him before saying in a yful tone: "What are you saying? Wasn''t I the only one ying the bad guy in this household? All you did was ignore everything and leave for work as an excuse and don''t evene home. All because you could not bear to do it yourself."


    "H-Haha¡­" Nathanughed sheepishly, clearly embarrassed about his own actions.


    And then he seriously spoke: "Well, who would be able to do that to their own son."


    After saying this, he then turned to his wife, looking at her with a gentle gaze before saying: "But it''s been hard on you¡­ Having to act like a bad mother to him all this time¡­"


    Hearing his words, Riley''s expression froze for a brief moment, and very soon, she was instantly ovee by emotions.


    And she started tearing up once again, clearly unable to hold back her tears unlike before: "Hic¡­ Hic¡­"


    Nathan was also overwhelmed by emotions when he saw his wife crying next to him, however, he held back his emotions, and instead patted his wife''s back as he gently caressed her in his arms.


    Under the luminous light in the living room, the couple held each other as they sat on a couch, the woman was crying fervently, and the man held her as he gently caressed her back to calm her down.


    They stayed in that position for a long time and only when their daughter came downstairs, did they fix their appearance, revealing a warm smile.


    "Mom, Dad, where is brother? I thought I heard brother speaking a while ago." Lydia asked her parents.


    "Dia, why do you know that your brother was speaking a while ago? Were you perhaps not in your room this entire time?" Riley smiled and said to her in a slightly hoarse voice.


    "Ah"


    "So you were not, huh? Forget it, your brother went upstairs to take a shower. He should being out soon to join us for dinner." Riley said to her.


    "That''s right, your brother does not spend too much time when taking shower after all." Nathan also chimed in.


    "Okay, then I will wait for him with mom and dad."


    Lydia said to them as she quickly said between them, separating the couple.


    Seeing this, Nathan and Riley exchanged nces before they both shook their heads with a bitter smile on their faces.


    ¡­


    After a while, Randy finally came down to have dinner with his parents.


    That night, the family was full of smiles and happy conversations about things that were relevant and irrelevant.


    Randy felt like he had returned to when things were very peaceful, and his parents were not acting differently towards him.


    He had always missed those days, so much so that when he awakened his ability, he quickly tried to get along with his family despite withholding the fact that he awakened his ability.


    At the time, he thought of whether they would ept for him regardless, and not for the fact that he had finally awakened his very own innate ability.


    He may not be aware of it; however, he was afraid that even if he had awakened his ability, he may not be treated any different from before.


    And the thought of that possibility weighed heavily on his consciousness, leading him to withhold the fact of his awakening and thus revealing it in a form of a surprise to his parents.


    And although things were not as simple as he had thought initially, nevertheless, he was still able to confirm his second doubt, that was his parents were indeed acting strange, rather actually being bad parents.


    When he was a child, he remembered that they had never treated him like that, so what could make them change so drastically enough to treat their child like that?


    Randy pondered about his matter for a long time as he sat next to the dinner table, however after a long deep thought, he could note up with any logical reason as to why his parents acted the way they did.


    In the end, he decided to heed their words and get stronger, because it seems only by getting strong would he be able to know the truth.


    With that thought in mind, Randy smiled as he answered some questions that his parents were asking about his registration and various other things regarding his school life.


    After dinner, Randy immediately went upstairs to his room under the excuse that he had some assignment to attend to, when in fact there was no such thing.


    Nevertheless, Randy still had to leave them since there was something that he wanted to try when he heard his parents'' words of encouragement that he should get stronger.


    And Randy had a method by which he could potentially increase his strength if his guesses were correct,


    And as such, there was no time to waste as the earlier he does this, the better.


    Very soon, Randy sat on him his bed with a few shining blue crystal-like stones strewn on his mattress.


    Randy quickly grabbed one of the crystals that was visibly smaller than the rest of the crystals and tightly held it in his grasp.


    A momentter¡­


    ?[[Discovered a ''Magical Beast Core'' of a mutated beast]]?


    ?[[Due to your special physique ''Myriad Energy Devouring Physique,'' you would be able to absorb the energy essence contained within this beast core and thus using it to increase your cultivation in the corrted type of energy of this beast core. In other words, the host can increase his magic energy cultivation by absorbing the magical energy contained within this magic beast core]]?


    ?[[Would the host like to activate his special physique, ''Myriad Energy Devouring Physique'' to absorb the energy contained within this magical beast core]]?


    The system''s announcement shed across the projected screen in front of Randy''s eyes.


    This was not the first time that he had seen this notification from the system.


    In actuality, ever since he had acquired his first magical beast core from one of the mutated beasts that he hunted in the Beast Forest, Randy had received this very same notification, shocking him greatly at the time.


    And so, when he was leaving the forest, he decided to keep some of the magical beast cores for himself before giving the rest to Jiang Chen to sell for him.


    But now that he had heard those words from his parents, he was now motivated to use these beast cores more than anything, since he already had them anyway.

 Chapter 73 - Different Paths

    ?[[Discovered a ''Magical Beast Core'' of a mutated beast]]?


    ?[[Due to your special physique ''Myriad Energy Devouring Physique,'' you would be able to absorb the energy essence contained within this beast core and thus using it to increase your cultivation in the corrted type of energy of this beast core. In other words, the host can increase his magic energy cultivation by absorbing the magical energy contained within this magic beast core]]?


    ?[[Would the host like to activate his special physique, ''Myriad Energy Devouring Physique'' to absorb the energy contained within this magical beast core]]?


    Reading through this once more time, Randy deeply thought about his other choices.


    Originally, for one to increase one''s magical energy or mana, one will have to meditate using some magical cultivation methods or magical energy gathering techniques that were only provided by universities, military and or when one acquires it by themselves.


    And the only way to acquire one''s very own magical cultivation technique was through venturing into the rifts and entering the world behind them and those who take on this quest were called¡­


    Seekers!


    This was a profession that was simr to hunters in a sense that they entered dimensional portals toplete their tasks.


    But unlike the hunters who ventures into the predetermined dungeons in the gates, seekers on the other hand would have to venture into the rifts and into the world behind it without any way of knowing whether they would be killed upon their arrival or be lucky enough to even survive their first day in the other world.


    The reason for this was because the other worlds were usually developed or more precisely their history in general were deeply rooted, meaning that their people and the magical beasts or other creatures in their world were more adept at using the type of power that their world was prevalent in.


    For example, even if someone in Randy''s world were at the same level of strength as a native in the other world, when they fight against the native, they would find that they are weaker than them when ites to experience ormon sense.


    And these factors could lead to the death of seekers who acts arrogant because they think that they are strong enough to roam free in the other world.


    There was also the matter of the natives of that world not epting your existence, especially if you were found out by someone with a terrifying strength that you were a world traveler or an outsider that do not belong to their world.


    There were instances where some people were hunted down by the natives of the other worlds, thinking that they were invaded who came to destroy thier world or and or simply their country.


    Those that survived those encounters immediately gave up on being seekers and settled with being just a hunter.


    After all, hunters do make a lot of money, however they still needed to spend an exorbitant amount of money just to buy techniques to increase theirbat prowess.


    It was due to this that many tried to be seekers that can obtain their very own techniques simply by going to the other worlds and obtaining them through their journey or simply stealing them if one was daring enough.


    And even though, one would still need to spend some money to acquire techniques in the other world, nevertheless, it would be cheaper than what one would have to spend in their world since the techniques are scarce, so the government and various organization sell them for more money.


    In any case, while one could obtain cheaper techniques in the other worlds, one could not neglect the dangers thates with it.


    Because of this reason, being a seeker tend to be riskier than being a hunter who would mostly likely be aware of the rank of the dungeon that they would be tackling beforehand, thus they would be well prepared before entering the gates housing those dungeons.


    At this moment, Randy was thinking about bing a hunter since he had already obtained his official identification and rank when he went to the awakening center.


    In reality, bing a hunter was something that Randy would have to do sooner orter after entering university. One of the activities mandated in the universities was registering for one''s hunter license and participating in dungeon raids to improve one''s skills and increase one''s strength.


    However, being a seeker was something that was generally not allowed in universities, but that does not mean that those that choose this route do not exist in the universities.


    It was just that the universities do not want to lose outstanding individuals due to their reckless actions.


    Although, if the student was not someone with noteworthy abilities to write home about, the university would turn a blind eye stating that those students were responsible for their owns lives and they were not obligated to interfere.


    Due to that, only those that were so desperate to improve their abilities through acquiring techniques attempt using the rifts to traverse into other worlds.


    Also, the moment rifts appear on this side of the world, it would automatically connect both worlds, and it has been that way in the beginning of their first appearance, which then allowed all kinds of creatures toe through the portals and arrive to this side.


    However, over time, the scientists and researchers of the rifts and gates found a way to seal or camouge the rifts on the other side.


    In which case, people on this side could enter the other worlds, but the other worlds would not be aware of the rifts, unless someone strong ended finding out the traces of the rift and then forcefully opens it to venture to this side.


    During those times, there would either be a friendly and intelligent lifeform or a terrifying ferocious creature with insane power level enough to topple a whole city by itself.


    In the case of it being an intelligent lifeform, there was still the chance of them being hostile.


    For example, if a vampire were to traverse through the portal created by the rift to this side, they might not be friendly towards the weak humans on this side of the world and only see them as nothing but food that were easy to procure.


    With things being like this, one could only imagine how chaotic things had been during the era where the humans had only just discovered how to use the various energies to power themselves up.

 Chapter 74 - Devour

    Randy thought about the various ways that he could use to improve his strength within a short time.


    After deeply thinking about it for a while, he deeply sighed and then muttered in dismay.


    "For now, I could only rely on using these beast cores and my physique to increase my strength¡­ Right now, I don''t even have a cultivation manual for the other professions like spiritual energy cultivation, psionic energy cultivation, and even that mystical energy. As for the magical energy, maybe I can ask mom about whether she still has cultivation method with her and for life energy or Qi, I think my dad practices martial arts a little along with his blood maniption which relies on his evolutional energy."


    Evolutional energy was a type of energy that causes species to evolve, and it might not be the same for everyone. For example, in Randy''s case, it was blood energy, but in his father''s case, it might be something else entirely despite both of them having the ability to manipte blood.


    There were even others who evolve themselves using magical energy and other forms of energy. These people do not cultivate the energies normally like everyone else who needed to gather the energies into their bodies using a specific technique.


    Those who evolve using the energies only needed to feast on magical creatures and upon consumption, they would be able to absorb the energies within the meat of the creatures, but this method was very slow so no one would want to use this method to get stronger and so, they also chose to use the energy gathering techniques to increase their evolution stage.


    But unlike ordinary humans, they do not store the energy in a specific part inside their bodies, rather they only needed the energy to enter their body and into their bloodstream, thus triggering their evolution.


    The onlyparison to these types of humans would be mutated beasts since they too evolved due to the sudden outburst of that invaded this due to the gates and rifts that started appearing decades ago.


    Thinking of this, Randy shook his head and immediately looked at the magical beast core in his hand and then at his Combat System Power Levels on his status screen.


    ---


    ?Combat System Power Level(s)?


    Evolution Realm[1]: First-Stage Evolved Human Realm (600/1000)


    Martial Realm[1]: First-Stage Martial Disciple Realm (150/200)


    Cultivation Realm[0]: None (10/100)


    Magical Realm[4]: Beginner Level Fourth-Circle Magician Realm (1000/1299)


    Psi Realm[0]: None (87.5/200)


    Mystic Realm[0]: None (40/200)


    ---


    ''ording to this, I am only a beginner level fourth circle magician realm, but I have been wondering this for a while now¡­ Why does it say that I am a magician and not a magical warrior? I don''t recall learning any magical spells or anything like that¡­ is it because I am not a proper magical warrior? Whatever! I will think about thister and I can even ask the system¡­ but for now, it says that I need about 300 points of mana to break through to the next realm of the magical realm.''


    Randy deeply thought about this to himself, and he looked at thebat power level section on his status screen.


    With that out of the way, he turned back to the notification from before¡­


    ?[[Would the host like to activate his special physique, ''Myriad Energy Devouring Physique'' to absorb the energy contained within this magical beast core]]?


    While looking at these lines of text, Randy concentrated on this and then firmly replied: "Activate my physique."


    [[Response Acknowledged!]]


    [[Activating physique, ''Myriad Energy Devouring Physique'']]


    [[Your Physique''s ability, ''Devour'' is being activated]]


    [[Physique ability ''Devour'' is fully activated]]


    ---


    Swoosh!


    Immediately after these lines of notifications appeared, Randy could feel the beast core in his hand suddenly being drained of its energy as all the energy pervaded his body through his pores.


    The feeling of the energy entering his body was so natural that it made him feel as if he was taking a warm shower of magical energy.


    He could feel the energy coursing through his veins and then traveling his blood vessels as they made their way towards his heart area before setting in his mana seed that was created during his awakening.


    Randy had no idea what this mana seed was since it appears to be different from what he knew about a magician energy core.


    Nheless, with this mana seed, he could still umte mana just like an actual magician or magical warrior.


    With that thought in mind, Randy closed his eyes to savor this otherworldly feeling that he had never felt before¡­


    No, this feeling was akin to the feeling he felt when he took those energy recovering potions and health recovering potions during his physical training at the academy.


    He had always thought that it was so strange for someone like him who did not have any energypatibility to feel the rush of energy increasing within his body.


    And it was not simply just magical energy, but also all the different energy potions that he bought.


    At this moment, he finally understood why he always felt that way. It turns out it was because of his ''Myriad Energy Devouring physique'' that allowed him to devour all forms of energy, in other words as long something had energy within them, he could always devour them if he activates his physique like now.


    [[You have fully absorbed the energy essence contained within the magical beast core]]


    [[Due to absorbing the energy essence within the magical beast core, your magical energy had increased slightly]]


    The system announced to him after all the energy within the beast core was drained dry.


    "Crack!"


    The crystal-like core broke apart as it fell on his bed like a husk that had been drained of it contains.


    Randy did not waste any more time and quickly grabbed two magical beast cores, holding them in both hands.


    His physique''s ability was still activated, so the moment Randy grabbed those two magical beast cores, he could feel the rush of energy entering his body once again, revitalizing his blood vessels as they traveled to his chest area.


    The system disyed more notifications after he finished absorbing the energy.


    But Randy did not bother to look at them as he continued picking more magical beast cores and absorbing the energy within until they werepletely drained of energy, leaving the beast cores having no semnce to their previous shining luster.

 Chapter 75 - Magic Spell

    [[You have fully absorbed the energy essence contained within the magical beast core]]


    [[Due to absorbing the energy essences within several magical beast cores, your magical energy had increased slightly]]


    The system announced to him once again after all the energy within the beast core was drained dry.


    Randy could feel a surge of energy rising through his blood vessels and meridians before settling down in his chest area, next to his heart.


    This was where the mana seed that the system had created for him was located and at this moment Randy could feel the magical energy in his body was currently increasing.


    However, he could feel like it was not enough to break through to the next realm in the magical realm and so, he kept on absorbing the remaining beast cores on his bed until eventually, he had absorbed the fourteen magical beast cores that he had on him.


    The only downside to these magical beast cores was the fact that they were of a lower level, most of them were E-rank and the highest level was only at the rank of D.


    Naturally, Randy actually had a few C-rank magical beast cores, but he did not want to waste those since he could sell those for money instead of using them for his test, but now he really regretted his choices.


    At this point, opened his eyes from immersing himself in the feeling of the energy absorption and then he quickly turned his eyes and looked at his status screen.


    ---


    Magical Realm[4]: Advanced Level Fourth-Circle Magician Realm (1299/1299)


    ---


    ?[[Mana(Magical Energy): 1299/1299]]?


    ---


    Looking at how much had increased aspared to be before, Randy was pleased.


    However, for some reason, when he was absorbing the magical energy into mana seed, he could feel like the amount of energy that he had absorbed was enough to break through to the next level and yet it felt like something was blocking that from happening, causing Randy to be confused about what was really going on.


    He thought that perhaps the amount of energy has not reached the threshold of the current realm, but even after he kept absorbing more energy, it felt like a bottomless abyss that kept absorbing but never breaking through.


    At this point, he fell into thought with a pondering expression.


    As far as he knows, most magicians absorb the magical energy in the atmosphere and then turn them into a magical core chest or under the navel.


    Due to there being various methods of magical cultivation, different people end up using different techniques, but essentially, they all gather energy into their bodies to create some sort of core by condensing a considerable amount of magical energy.


    And when that core was formed, only then would they truly begin the path of magic cultivation and also the time to start absorbing the magical essences in the atmosphere to create their firstyer of power, which was the first circle.


    But right now, Randy seemed to have a mana seed instead of a magic core, so he was not sure if they were the same or whether the system was just using a different term to refer to the same thing.


    After pondering without any answers, Randy decided to ask the system since there was nothing he could understand at this point, and besides, it was better to ask than to forcefully try to understand something that he had no idea about.


    With that conclusion, Randy looked at the system''s disy as he immediately used his thoughts to ask: ''System, why can''t I breakthrough? I feel like I should be able to break through, however, no matter how much energy absorb, I don''t think I will be able to break at this rate.''


    [[The host does not need to worry as the reason why you are not breaking through was not the matter of whether you have enough mana or magical energy in your mana seed or not, but it was just that the prerequisite to break through to the next realm required the host to master magic spells or techniques, thus understanding thews of this world to a certain degree. Other than that, you will not be able to break through to the next realm no matter how much energy you absorb. The path of magic is the path that needs the practitioner to master or manipte thews of the world. For example will be elementalws like fire, water, wind, earth, and so on. As of this moment, the host has not mastered any of the magic spells, and you need to at least master one of the spells of your current magical realm.]]


    [[Reminding the host: During the first three realms of the magical realm, one can break through without practicing or mastering any spells as those realms were only considered elementary or foundation on the path of magic. In other words, one bypleting the first three realms would one be considered a true magician]]


    The system gave him a very long exnation regarding his questions.


    Randy took some time to carefully read through the notification with lines of texts and then he sighed after carefully reading through everything.


    ''So, that''s the reason why¡­ Now that I think about it, I haven''t learned any magic spells despite it saying that I was a magician and not a magical warrior. But even if I was a magical warrior, I still needed to learn some physical enhancement spells or how to use aura or something, but I haven''t done any of that either, so I really need to think about this¡­''


    Randy deeply thought about this as he looked at the projected screen in front of his eyes.


    Indeed, ever since he awakened his ability, he had already broken through the first three realms that the system was talking about, so he did not know anything about this.


    But now that he was going to break through to the next realm above the fourth circle, he found out that he needed to learn some magic spells to naturally breakthrough without rely on simply the amount of energy that he could absorb.

 Chapter 76 - Popular?

    Randy sat on his bed as he thought about how to procure these magic spells and what fortune to use to buy these magic spells.


    Instantly, he recalled that he had received the bounty reward from Hong Mingyue, that policewoman, but the amount of money would not be enough to buy fourth circle magic spells and so, that choice was out of the way.


    He thought some more, and soon, remembered that he gave Jiang Chen the mutated beast carcasses and C-rank beast cores that would fetch a lot than those E-rank and D-rank if they were sold.


    ''If I get the money from that and then add it to the money that I received from that Hong Mingyue, I should be able to afford at least one magic spell that would be useful. I don''t want to rely on my parents on something like this; I cannot be too dependent on them. I need to learn to take of things with my own effort.''


    Randy silently thought with conviction and immediately he got off his bed.


    He then grabbed the shells of the beast cores, cing them in some rubber bag and then putting it into the drawer on his desk.


    Now that things were done with, it was time for him to sleep, he does want to waste any more time on this since tomorrow he had to go to school, thus he had to wake up early, and right now, it was already 10 o''clock in the evening.


    With that thought in mind, after stowing away the shells of the beast cores, Randy quickly got into bed and then fell asleep shortly afterward.


    ¡­


    The following day.


    Randy woke up early as usual and took a shower and then came downstairs to have his breakfast.


    "Good morning, mom."


    Randy said when he saw mother returning to the living room.


    "Morning, I have already cooked breakfast, so go ahead to have it before leaving."


    Riley said to him after taking off the apron that she had on, seemingly she had just finished preparing breakfast.


    "Okay, mom."


    Randy replied with a smile as he quickly went and sat behind the dining table and began to eat his breakfast.


    Randy had just put a fried omelet into his mouth before he suddenly raised his voice and asked: "Mom, where is dad? Is he inside the room or¡­?"


    "Your dad had already left early this morning saying that there was something to deal with at work."


    Riley replied to him as she sat on the couch watching television.


    The living room and the dining room were not far away from each other, so you simply raise your voice enough for it to resound throughout the whole floor, enough for one to hear you.


    ''Again, huh?'' Randy thought to himself when he heard his mother.


    "I see, but when is he going to take a break or vacation? Isn''t it tiring staying at work all the time?" Randy asked.


    "¡­"


    Riley did not say anything a few moments before saying: "Well, there are so many incidents urring because of the sudden rifts, so you tell me whether it''s the right time to have breaks or vacation."


    "¡­"


    This time, it was Randy''s turn to be silent.


    He knew the kind of work his father was doing at least generally what he does but the definite tasks that he deals with.


    His father, Nathan work in some secret organization that he was not aware of, but his mother told him that it was tied to the government, and they deal with rifts and other matters rted to rifts, so, his father was always busy since there are rifts appearing every now and then.


    Randy was aware that his mother would also love to have her husband stay home all the time while only doing some simple jobs instead of being out there constantly at the risk of death, but is there really a safe ce in this chaotic world?


    With that thought, he silently ate his breakfast.


    After he finished eating his breakfast and cleaning the dishes, he said to his mother.


    "Mom, I''m leaving now. Ah, I might note home early today, but I am not sure yet, I will let you know whether or not I wille home early after school."


    "¡­ Well, take care ande home safely."


    Riley replied after a brief silence.


    ¡­


    Randy made his way through the streets as he headed towards the Sky Rise Academy.


    After walking for about 20 minutes, he made it to the vicinity near the academy''s gate, and instantly he saw some students watching something on their projected screens while discussing what they were watching.


    At this point, a student approached another group of students and then said: "Hey, have you guys seen the trending virtual stream?"


    "Huh? What are you talking about? Did something happen?" One of the students amongst the group of students asked intrigued.


    "Did you not know? Well, let me tell you now. Some guy had managed to defeat Sword Fool, the number sword cultivator amongst the current young generation, and the duel''s recording had been popr nowadays with so much hype and you''re telling me you haven''t heard about it? Were you leaving under a rock or something?" The student that asked them said to the student that was intrigued.


    "What?!"


    The group of students eximed in shock when they heard this piece of news.


    "Oi, are you for real? You''re not kidding us, right?" One doubtfully asked.


    "Hmph! Why would I lie about something this significant? Here, take a look for yourself and see whether I am lying or not."


    The student said so as he showed them the screen projected from his smart bracelet, revealing two figures engaged inbat.


    "Oh my god!


    "What kind of technique did he use?"


    "Just who is this guy?"


    "What''s up with his appearance though, is he a foreigner?"


    "Hehe, he looks badass with those looks though."


    "Maybe that''s his ability or something that changed his appearance into that."


    The group of studentsmented when they watched the virtual recording projected on the student''s smart screen.

 Chapter 77 - Sudden Reaction

    The group of students continued to watch the virtualbat on the student''s smart bracelet a few more times with scrutinizing eyes.


    They had reyed the scene where the fight was concluded a few times as they continued walking towards the gate of the academy.


    They were so immersed in watching the fight scenes that they had forgotten something crucial as they did so.


    At this point, the student who was showing them the virtual stream was annoyed by how they were basically hogging his smart bracelet without reserve.


    "Hey, what are you guys doing? Give me back my smart bracelet. If you want to watch it, go, and search it up yourself. I only intend to show you, not give you my smart bracelet."


    The student said to them in displeasure and immediately snatched the bracelet from the group of students.


    "H-Hey, what are you doing? It was at a good scene too. Tsk."


    One of the students amongst the group of students said in a grumpy tone.


    "Right, do you know that guy''s name, I mean the guy that defeated Sword Fool? I don''t see his name disyed on the video just now."


    One of the students amongst the group of students asked in curiosity.


    Hearing this question, the student said: "Let me check¡­ oh?"


    "What? Let me see¡­ Oh?"


    Hearing his reaction, the student that asked was also curious and went to peek his head to check the screen projected and he was also surprised by what he saw.


    The others were also intrigued and so, they all went to check what was on the projected screen by surrounding the student holding the smart bracelet.


    "Now, that''s some cringe-worthy name¡­" One of themmented.


    "I know right¡­ This person might be into some stuff like that." One of the students agreed and alsomented


    "Anyway, forget the name. He is definitely some hidden genius in the eastern district. And if he was able to fight head-on against the Sword Fool, then he was at the 4th Rank Combat Power Level."


    One of the studentsmented after a while.


    "Right, now that you mentioned it, but why did he note out until now? If he was that strong, then we should''ve heard about him already, right?"


    A student doubtfully asked with a confused expression.


    "Are you an idiot?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "As I said just now, he was a hidden genius¡­ Do you not understand what ''hidden'' means?"


    "Ah, right, so he was hiding his abilities until now¡­ doesn''t that mean he was already part of a sect or a university by now? Or¡­?"


    "Who know¡­"


    At this moment, a group of female students walked by them, and they saw the projected screen, they momentarily stopped to watch the screen and then immediately started discussing with their friends.


    "OMG, did you see, he was so handsome, do you know who he is?"


    "I don''t know but I wish I could get his contact number, hehe."


    "Ah, what a shame, I would ask those guys, but they just look in, I don''t want to waste my time on them. I can just search it up myselfter.


    The girls spoke as their voices receding in the distance ahead of the boys.


    "Tsk~ Those girls only care about the looks of that guy when they saw the screen."


    One of the boysmented in displeasure.


    "What bad luck. They don''t even give us any nce before, and now, when they saw a handsome guy, they started swooning like a bunch of little ducks chasing after their mama."


    One of the boys said in disdain, clearly had some bad history with girls.


    "Bro, why you gotta say it like that, Hahaha. You''re just acting like a loser, bro."


    "Who''s a loser? Aren''t you the loser for chasing after girls that do not like you?"


    "Huh? What are you talking about? I''ll have you know that I am actually very popr among the girls with my shapeshifting ability."


    "Hmph! Do you mean you turning into a cat and deceiving those girls is you being popr? Who are you kidding?!"


    "Shuu¡ª bro, why you gotta say that out loud? Do you want the girls to grill me alive or something? Do you not care about your bro?"


    "Hmph!"


    All this time, Randy had been following behind this group of students without picking the pace because he was interested in what they were talking about.


    However, at this point, when he heard thest conversation between the group of students, he suddenly had a look of admiration.


    ''That guy actually turns into a cat to get close to girls without their notice¡­? What a brilliant idea! But if he gets caught, I can''t imagine what would happen to him. I can only pray for this poor soul then. But wait, since earlier, were they talking about Sword Fool? Was that Li Weisheng, the Sword Fool? Now that I think about it, I haven''t checked the virtual stream of our fight just yet. Let me see my battle against him for reference. After all, that guy was so strong that if not because of me using my other abilities, I highly doubt that I would''ve been able to defeat him normally. Not to mention, he did not even use his lightning ability during our fight, well, he barely used it at thest moment though.''


    Randy silently thought these to himself as he suddenly lifted his left arm that was wearing his smart bracelet.


    Randy tapped his smart bracelet, visited some sites before projected the recording of his match and he was shocked when he saw the projected video of the virtualbat.


    "What the fuck!" He shouted.


    "Hm?"


    At this moment, everyone that was walking beside him instantly turned to his direction.


    ''What is wrong with that loser? Did he finally lose his mind?''


    Someone who recognized him thought as they looked at him with a weird expression.


    "A-Ahem¡­"


    Randy cleared his throat in embarrassment as he continued to watch the video projected from his smart bracelet with a strange expression.

 Chapter 78 - Practical Test

    At this point, Randy was outside the ssroom while sitting on a side bench inside the school''s stadium or more specifically practical training field.


    After watching the entire battle between him and Li Weisheng a few more times after entering the academy and partaking in some sses, at this point, Randy could not help but think to himself.


    ''What the hell is wrong with my appearance? I know that I had used the ancestral regression to change my looks, but I lookpletely different from what I had imagined. Even my hair color looks different from both my parents'' and even grand parents'' hair color. And my eye color had also changed into something else. Wait, this is not the first time my appearance had changed drastically, so why am I reacting like this much?''


    Randy deeply thought with a frown as he looked at his depicted appearance on the screen with discerning eyes.


    Randy slowly rxed his gaze as he carefully observed the depicted appearance on the screen.


    His hair was actually blood-red color with the same length as his original hair length, and his eyes were amber-colored which was slightly golden.


    However, his facial appearance was sharp and emotionless, and he was carrying this look of indifference on his face even when he was speaking normally.


    Randy was actually shocked by this appearance that he assumed after using the ancestral regression.


    At the time, he simply grabbed at a random color as if grabbing at a random straw that stuck out in front of him, but who would have thought that it would lead to this kind of appearance.


    Although, in terms of his body size and everything, he looks almost the same, however, his facial features were slightly different with his eyebrows straightened almost like it was carved in perfection by some sculpture or something.


    Overall, this appearance of his was disying a sense of domineeringness and overbearingness as if he were some god or demon due to his sharp looks.


    ''Ahem, well, not that I look carefully at it, this is not too bad. And nobody should know who I am if I look like this.''


    Randy silently thought in admiration and satisfaction as he appraised his appearance on the screen.


    While he was thinking of this, at this point, Emilia and her friends were coincidentally walking by as they saw him grinning from ear to ear to himself.


    ''Randy¡­? Why is he here? He usually neveres here and instead goes to the training center instead during this ss¡­ is he here to participate in the practical training today? But I''ve never seen him participate in these sparring sessions before, so I wonder why he came today¡­''


    Emilia silently thought to herself with a look of curiosity as she walked with her friends in a different direction.


    At this point, one of her friends noticed the direction of her gaze and uncharacteristically tapped her shoulder diverting her attention.


    "Hey Emilia, let''s go find somewhere to sit. The instructor would being soon."


    "Ah, oh, okay. Let''s do that." Emilia replied.


    Saying that she turned away from Randy and followed her friends towards where the sits were located.


    ¡­


    A whileter.


    The instructor of their ss came, and everyone instantly put their smart bracelet away afraid they would get scolded by this instructor.


    "Teacher Yang is looking so serious today."


    "I know right, is it because of the uing university entrance exams that were right around the corner."


    The studentmented as they sat on their sits.


    "All of you settle down!"


    "Today we will be doing something different besides sparring and groupbat. We will be testing your abilities for the final time as next week will be the beginning of your break and some of you might be going to the special practical training session so with that in mind¡­"


    The instructor surnamed Yang said announced to them.


    And then he continued: "Alright! Without further ado, today''s session will be split into two: The usual sparring session and the ability test or more precisely, thebat or attack power of your abilities. So keep in mind and use the full capabilities of your abilities when you attackter on."


    "First and foremost, you will be testing your ability''s attack power by striking this specially designed dummy doll."


    Saying so, he pointed at a group of dolls stationed on the field in the distance.


    "Those dolls can withstand a force of 500 pounds, which is equivalent to a B-rank physical strength. Then again, I highly doubt that any of you had that much physical strength. So those dolls should be enough to test your currentbat strength overall."


    "Just like before, those dolls can also disy the force of your ability''s attack power, whether it be physical or elemental attacks. Unless you have a mental ability that cannot be measured this method in which case you are excused from participating in this test. In the first ce, those with those abilities were not supposed toe to this ss, but I see some new faces today so that is why I am stating this fact once again. Alright, we got off on a sidetrack, as for the elemental attacks, the dolls will only determine the destructiveness of your attacks and thenpare it to the force of normal physical damage."


    "Alright! That is all! All of you get in line in front of the five dolls and take turns unleashing your attacks. I have some helpers today who would be helping to take the records for the other four dolls. Meanwhile, I will oversee the first doll."


    Instructor Yang finally concluded with these words.


    Hearing the students all stood up from their sits and started walking towards the dolls in an orderly manner.


    No one was pushing the other since this instructor had the tendency of beating the students who misbehave during practical training under the guise that it was part of the practical training session.


    One can say that most of the students were more tamed during the practical training sessionpared to other sses.. Randy was also among the students making their way towards their chosen doll.

 Chapter 79 - Difference In Their Ability

    Randy followed his ssmates as they made their way towards the five dolls that were stationed in the center of the field of their school''s training field, which was as big a stadium for sports.


    Randy did not bother to pick any doll specifically and only followed some of his ssmates that picked the first doll as their testing doll.


    Unexpectedly, Jeremiah was among this group of students as they stood at the forefront of the group, seemingly nning on being the first one to take his ability test.


    At this moment, when he noticed that Randy was also in his group, he revealed a confident smile as he silently thought to himself.


    ''Hmph! So what is if you had awakened your ability? You''re nothing but a body enhancer. My me ability can easily burn your skin even if you reinforce your body.''


    Thinking this, he raised his chin high as he nned on showing Randy the difference between their abilities through this ability test.


    With that thought in mind, he quickened his steps and eventually stood in front of the first doll, and immediately the aura around his body changed.


    At this moment, there was a sudden change in the air as one could feel the temperature bing hotter from the natural elemental aura that he currently exuding from his body.


    This was not a spell but an innate ability that he awakened during his awakening process. Unlike a spell that needed an incantation or an invocation to execute, this was an ability that can be controlled by him unconditionally and the only limit was his own imagination.


    ''Whoa! What a terrifying me aura, I can feel my skin burning from the heat."


    "As expected of Jeremiah, he really is a genius of our ss."


    "Isn''t that an elemental fire spell that is he is using? How can it be so strong?"


    "You idiot! Did you forget that he had an innate me attribute? That is only a me technique that works the same as an elementary fire spell, but it is way stronger than an ordinary elementary fire spell."


    "Ah, now I remember, I keep forgetting because it is not much different from a fire spell used by mages¡­ No wonder he is the top of our ss."


    Indeed, Jeremiah was at the top of their ss due to the innate me attribute that allowed him much over me techniquespared to any mage in their ss.


    Because of this, he was able to unleash more destructive powerpared to his peers that can use fire attacks.


    And if one looked at the ability score alone, he was among one of the best of the best in the entire entirely due to the destructiveness of his me techniques.


    Due to this, over time, he gained confidence and was able to triumph over his ssmates, coupled with the fact that he was the son of the director of the ministry of education in the eastern district, no one was able to go against him.


    If someone who did not know him, confront him out of spite or being treated wrongly by him, they all end up being beaten with their skin burned badly, however, the school never really reprimand due to the fact they encourage challenges between students to ensure that they improve themselves or gain a reason to improve themselves.


    Nevertheless, Jeremiah had taken advantage of this policy, and oppressed so many talented individuals in the school, causing some to not be able to raise their heads in the academy.


    However, he enjoyed beating the poor and inept students who had no decent ability to speak of the most.


    And one of the people that he enjoyed beating and hated the most was Randy, who came from a decent family but had no ability, unlike those poor students who had defective abilities.


    What was worse, he was a childhood friend of one of the popr students with high prospects in the academy.


    This was obviously Emilia, whom he wanted to have as his girlfriend when he noticed her prominence in the entire school.


    In reality, he never really cared about her in terms of romantic feelings, it was only because of her talents and also because she was always with that loser who had no awakened ability that he decided to approach her.


    However, as she was always with Randy, this thus prevented him from making any progress with Emilia no matter how many resources or opportunities that he had promised to offer to her.


    Howevertely, she had been avoiding that loser and at that time, he thought that she was finally done with him, and yet she still refused his offers, nheless.


    This caused him to be furious as he was someone who had everything that he wanted, whether it was women or anything else that these poor students could only dream of, and yet he had been refused so many times already by this woman.


    He was so exasperated, and he wanted to release his anger on someone; he could not do anything to Emilia since the academy had high expectations for her thus their eyes were on her well-being.


    And so, Randy was the perfect person to release his anger on since Emilia used to spend her time with him all the time.


    Whenever he thought of those times, he felt more infuriated and so, he had his goons capture him that day to beat him up to release his pent-up anger.


    Although that was not the first time that they had beaten him up, that day especially, they went too far their beatings and even tortured him by breaking his bones and even burning his face.


    And then the following week, he found out that Randy had awakened his innate ability, he was shocked at that time, especially when Randy disyed his ability by knocking out Gu Yang with one punch.


    Ever since yesterday, he had been stressed out thinking of ways to prevent Randy''s revenge and after much deliberation, he could on think of hiring someone to deal with him without his father''s notice, but that was only at thest resort.


    That was because since the academy wanted them to disy their ability in front of their ssmates, he would use this chance to show Randy the difference in their strength and hopefully shatter any hope of his when he ever thinks of taking revenge against him.


    After all, Randy had nevere to these practical training sessions, and thus he had not fully seen his all-out attack just yet, so today would be the day that he would show him.

 Chapter 80 - Attack Damage

    After thinking of all these, Jeremiah immediately gathered hispatible energy, which was mana, from his body to enhance his me ability that gathered around his hand hands.


    The reason why he was his energy was mana and not magical energy was because he was an evolved human that awakened an innate fire ability and not a magician that uses the mana as magical energy when they use their spells.


    Although the names could be interchangeable depending on the group of people or type of world one visited in the future.


    That was because, in some worlds, the concept of mana itself was defined as the energy of their and when humans or other creatures absorbed that energy into their bodies, it bes a conduit to conduct magical spells or supernal phenomena.


    And thus, it was called magical energy instead of mana since mana was the raw energy without being cultivated and magical energy was the cultivated mana.


    Mostly, mages or those that use magic are the ones that refer to mana as magical energy, and the other sses or ability users refer to the energy as simply mana.


    Jeremiah was not a mage or sorcerer, but he could use the mana in his body to perform me techniques that were way stronger than an actual magician''s me spells and this was his advantage when ites to the me attribute.


    At this point, he continued to gather more mana into his arms to enhance his conjured me further, causing the vicinity surrounding him to be filled with scorching heat.


    This then caused the students behind him to back off further away from him, afraid that they would be caught up in his me technique.


    After a while, when he judged that the intensity of the me and the size was enough, he muttered: "zing me!"


    Whoosh!


    At that moment, he threw a giant me that was around two to three meters in diameter at the doll in the distance.


    A momentter¡­


    "Boom!!"


    Siss¡ª


    The giant me had hit its target, the doll was engulfed in an intense me for a while and soon, a sound came from the doll, seemingly not damaged from Jeremiah''s me attack just now.


    [Ding! 450 Attack Damage!]


    Immediately there was an uproar as everyone was shocked by the amount of damage that Jeremiah''s attack had caused to the doll.


    That was because, at this moment, Jeremiah was only a C-rank Middle State thus his attacking power should be within 300 to 400 at most.


    However, just now, his me attack had caused 450 damage to the doll, which was an unbelievable feat considering his rank was only C and also only those with a B-rank or higher can unleash this kind of attack power.


    "S-So terrifying, he actually surpassed the threshold of 400 attack power of a C-rank ability user!"


    A male student said in disbelief.


    "So amazing~ Jeremiah really is handsome when he is serious!"


    A female student praised, barely able to hold herself back from approaching him.


    Randy on the other hand watched all these with a look of indifference and he silently thought to himself.


    ''This is nothing,pared to Li Weisheng''s sword attacks and even that destructive lightning attack that he unleashed at thest minute, this attack was only subpar inparison. This was only a me technique with a lot of magical energy infused into it without essence.''


    Due toprehending the Void Rippling Punch, Randy''s understanding of techniques had increased slightly.


    And so, he could tell that attack might have used too much energy to unleash despite the technique itself being of a lower rank, which means the technique should not be capable of unleashing this kind of attack in the first ce, thus without essence and only a waste of energy.


    If Jeremiah had a higher rank technique instead of this lower rank technique, perhaps the attack damage would have increasedpared to what it is now.


    And since the attack damage was proportional to the physical damage after calction, his 450 attack damage should be equivalent to 450 pounds of physical damage to a human body.


    And if there was a chance to increase his attack damage higher than what it is now, then he could potentially have 500 attack damage with a proper technique that matches his energy level rather than using lower rank techniques.


    This was one of the reasons why the human physical strength''s damage was nothing whenpared to the damage that having an ability orpatible energy could inflict.


    At this point, the instructor Yang who was overseeing the first doll suddenly announced: "Jeremiah Zhang, B-rank Low State attack power. However, this should have used up most of your energy, so this should be considered your all-out attack. Well done, you pass this test. You can take your leave now and proceed to wait for the second test; in that time, you should try to recover your expended energy."


    Jeremiah walked away as he immediately took out a potion from his storage ring and popped it into his mouth, gulping it all down.


    That was a mana recovery potion, and it seems to be a high-quality potion which means a very expensive product, but to someone like him, it was nothing since his family was rich.


    The instructor Yang was momentarily surprised, however, he continued to announce once again: "Next, Gu Yang, him? Are you okay? I heard that you were badly hurt yesterday."


    The instructor suddenly asked the next student, seemingly concerned about his health.


    "Thanks to nurse Yao, I was able to recover quickly, teacher!" The student named Gu Yang bowed and responded to him.


    This was the student that Randy had fought against during the registration process for the university entrance examination in their instructor''s office.


    "Hmm¡­ It seems like you really are okay. Alright, go ahead and take your test." The instructor Yang said to him after checking and seeing that he really was okay.


    "Yes!" Gu Yang respectfully responded.


    He then stood in front of the first doll that seemed to have recovered from the earlier attack.


    Shortly after, he assumed a stance with legs, one in front and the other behind as he clenched his fist powering it with his vital energy that had been strengthened with his life energy.


    He took a deep breath at this moment, and then suddenly threw a punch at the doll with all his might.


    "Bang!"


    A loud impactful sound resounded in the vicinity and shortly after the doll announced for everyone to hear: [Ding! 300 Attack Damage!]

 Chapter 81 - The Effects Of Breaking Through

    "Gu Yang, D-rank High State, not bad. I remember that your rank was D-rank Low State, but your attack power is actually a High State. Alright, you can move on now."


    Instructor Yang praised and immediately urged him to leave since there were still other students who had yet to take their test.


    "Next!" He then called out.


    Following the next few minutes, a group of students went to take their test, however, most of them were either Rank E or Rank D.


    Randy was thest person in line, so he had to wait his turn as various students went to take their ability tests.


    None of them were able to get a Rank C attack power and thus the test proceeded smoothly.


    And very soon, it was finally Randy''s turn to take his test.


    He had been waiting for so long since he was thest one to take his test, but now it was finally time for him to get this ability test over with.


    As he walked forward, the instructor proceeded to stare at him for a while before thinking to himself.


    ''Hmm¡­? Isn''t this kid the trash who couldn''t even awaken his ability throughout his entire time in the academy? Although I heard that he had awakened his ability recently from Instructor Liu, and yet the one whom he had supposedly hurt during his bout yesterday was doing surprisingly okay, so based on that, it couldn''t have been a noteworthy ability that he had awakened, right? As expected, once a trash will always be a trash.''


    Thinking so, he immediately lost interest in the student that was going to take his ability test.


    At this point, as Randy walked towards the doll that was not too far away from him, a group of students started jeering in his direction.


    "Hey, isn''t this our ss''s loser, Randy? Why is he taking the test? Did I miss something?"


    "I heard that this loser had somehow awakened his ability and even managed to defeat that Gu Yang who took his test a while ago. I even heard that his ability was a body reinforcement-type and that he even had a higher rank than Jeremiah''s rank."


    "Oh, I heard about that too, they said that he had some transformation ability that changed his hair color in a silver white color and his expression was really terrifying. I really am curious about it now that I think about it."


    "So that''s why¡­ No wonder that loser is now participating in the practical training ss."


    "Tch, do you believe that his recently awakened ability could be better than those that had awakened it for a long time than he did? Did you not see Jeremiah''s attack power just a while ago? He had a fucking B-rank attack power, do you think Randy would be able to surpass that kind of difference in strength with his physical attack?"


    "Well, I guess that makes sense¡­"


    "Hehe¡­ does this loser think that he could beat Jeremiah''s record just now, he shouldn''t embarrass himself by even attempting this ability test. As for me, I don''t believe that he awakened any ability, you guys are probably exaggerating his ability¡­ Did you all forget that he was the strongest in terms of raw physical strength? I think that he probably broke through to the next stage in his physical strength, and as for the hair color, that''s probably a lie told by some idiots."


    While the students were discussing this matter, Randy had already stood in front of the dolls with a pondering expression.


    Although he could hear what these students were saying as he passed them, all the way until he stood in front of the doll, he did not pay them any attention and continued to ponder about something.


    At this point, Randy had pondered whether he should use his profound technique or use his transformed state, or perhaps both.


    After deliberating for a while regarding the ruckus using them both would cause, he eventually decided not to use his transformed state and simply use his profound fist technique as it should be enough to get a good score with his currentprehension of the technique.


    With that decided, he stood casually in front of the doll while looking at it for a while.


    Meanwhile, the other students who were watching him immediately shut their mouths as they waited with bated breaths. Some had a look of anticipation after hearing that he awakened his ability, and others, the look of mockery as they could not wait to ridicule him when he gets a worse score.


    As they watched Randy''s figure, he suddenly assumed a random stance with his fist clenched, however, if one looked closely enough, they could feel that the air around his fist rippling just from him clenching his fist.


    This aroused the attention of the instructor, as he suddenly focused on the student partaking in the test.


    After infusing his fist with magical energy, Randy casually throws a punch without putting much strength in his fist.


    Void Punch!


    "BOOM!!"


    A loud smashing sound resounded and the doll which seemed malleable, simr to the one back at the awakening center, actually broke apart, or more precisely, it was carved inwards.


    And very soon, the result was announced for everyone to hear: [Ding! 505 Attack Damage]


    Immediately after announcing this, the doll suddenly turned dim, seemingly affected by the impact of the punch just now, thus destroying some of its functions.


    There was a sudden eerie silence¡­


    All the students including the practical training instructor gasped in shock and disbelief as they stared at Randy''s figure with a gawking expression.


    They were so baffled by this unexpected urrence that it rendered them speechless and some even had their mouths left agape wide, and even if a fly were to fly into their mouth right now, they might not even notice it due to the shocking scene.


    ''Damn! I used too much energy to attack just now. After reaching the peak of the 4th circle magician realm, I could vaguely feel a qualitative change in my current magical energy, so it seems that this was most likely the result of that effect? Is that why I could feel an increase in my total magical energy''s strength and also, the density of my attack power just now?"


    Randy wondered with a pondering expression as he looked at the mess that he had caused from his attack just now.

 Chapter 82 - Reason For Separation

    Randy continued to think to himself about the reason why his attack power had abruptly increased drasticallypared to before.


    "Is it because¡­ at thest moment, I could feel like the strength in my arm was abnormally denser than when I had used it in the virtual world¡­ at that time, I had thought it was because this was the real world instead of the virtual which led to this difference, but now¡­ it seems like my magical energy''s change had even affected my attack power. Haah¡ª"


    Randy deeply for a brief moment and then he sighed in dismay when he thought of the ruckus that he had caused just now with his sudden strength gain.


    "Haah¡­ whatever what is done is done, but still, I wish that I knew this beforehand¡­" Randy sighed once again as he muttered in a low voice.


    After a moment, he suddenly thought of something and then turned to his instructor before saying with hesitation in his voice: "Uhm¡­ teacher Yang, about this¡­ would I have topensate the academy for this?"


    Randy sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he asked this. That was because he did not have any money topensate in case, they demand that he pay for the slightly broken testing doll.


    And so, he was hoping that they do not me for this idental urrence.


    "Huh?''


    The instructor, who was still dazed from shocked, upon hearing his question, immediately snapped out of his daze, and then said: "Oh right, A-Ah about that¡­ you don''t have to worry about it, the academy would take care of the repair since it was our fault for bringing this doll that could not withstand our student''s ability. This was a mistake of our academy so you can leave without worrying about being med for the damage."


    Hearing this response, Randy appeared pleased and then he muttered in relief: "That''s good."


    After saying so, Randy walked away from the testing doll under the watchful eyes of every student present in the training field.


    When he walked past the students, he exchanged nces with the shocked Jeremiah without saying anything.


    Jeremiah still had his eyes wide open and mouth slightly agape in incredulity.


    At this point, the instructor''s voice resounded as he announced for everyone to hear: "Randy Smith, A-rank Low State Attack power! Very excellent! To think that there would be a dark horse in instructor Liu''s ss, I really envy him!"


    Although Randy''s attack power was the lowest for the Low State of Rank A, which was 5 whereas the highest Low State was 33, thus the highest for an A-rank Low State attack damage would be 533, followed by 566 and then finally 599.


    However, this was only the attacking power, and only those with 600 statistic points in physical strength or corresponding destructiveness of an ability''s attack power would be able to unleash a 599 attack damage, and also, those people were ssified as A-rankers.


    Nheless, there are those with special physiques or ability that allowed them to bypass this threshold and even capable of fighting those of higher rank than them, meaning their attack damage could even surpass an ordinary A-ranker''s attack damage limit of


    599, thus reaching 600 or more attack damage while their official rank might just be B-rank or even lower than that.


    Those people are the so-called geniuses that belong to big families or sects and most of these people had awakened naturally so their abilities themselves were stronger in the early stagespared to those that awakened with the help of science and technology.


    And because of all that, one could only imagine what the students might be feeling right now when they heard that Randy''s attack damage had reached an A-ranker''s level despite being officially ssified as a C-rank ability user.


    At this point, Emilia stood in the distance with a look of surprise and then followed by a pleased expression.


    And she quietly thought to herself as she gazes at him, ''Thank goodness¡­ it is great that Randy had finally awakened his innate ability, now no one can look down on him anymore¡­''


    She thought in dness, however, she did not have the courage to approach him or say anything to him.


    Because she believes that it was better for them to not get close even if he had awakened his ability.


    That was because she believes that her mother might still not like him and will only find some random reason to cause him trouble in the future if they were to get close now that he had awakened.


    In the first ce, she did not distance herself from him because Randy did not awaken his ability, but only because her mother threatened to cause trouble for Randy if she does not cut ties with him.


    With that thought in mind, she proceeded to gaze at Randy''s figure in the distance with a lonely expression for a while before ultimately turning away from his direction.


    ¡­


    The sparring session of the test carried on and when it was Randy''s turn, his opponent gave up instantly when they recalled how he smashed that doll that Jeremiah was not even able to put a dent in.


    And so, the day went by, and all sses ended and now, it was the end of the school with everyone excited to go home.


    Randy also walked out at this point, and then after thinking of something, he tapped his smart bracelet as he walked.


    After browsing through the list names, he selected one by tapping on the projected screen.


    Instantly, he put on an earpiece that was connected to his smart bracelet.


    Du~ du~ du~


    Dialing tone responded in his ears and soon, his bracelet had connected to the dialed number, and immediately a surprised voice resounded from the other end.


    [Randy? Why are you calling me? What happened?]


    "Nothing, I was just wondering if you had sold the items that I had given you." Randy said to the owner of the voice.


    [Oh? About that, I did. I was busy with something when the payment was transferred into my ount a while ago. But I can transfer the money to your ount right now if you want.]


    The owner of the voice said to him.


    "Alright, oh, by the way, Jiang Chen, you did take some of the money like I told you before, right?" Randy replied and then he suddenly asked in return.

 Chapter 83 - Suspicion

    [Don''t worry, I did. You were so insistent back then, that If I don''t you might force it in on me... anyway I am currently busy right now, I am helping my ssmate with something.]


    [ Oh~ Who is that Jiang Chen? Is that your girlfriend?] A female voice suddenly resounded on the other end.


    [No! What are you talking about?] Jiang Chen quickly refuted.


    [Hehe¡­ I was just joking. There is no way a nerd like you will be able to find a girlfriend.] The female voice seemed to be teasing Jiang Chen judging by their yful voice.


    [Tsk, as if you''re one to talk, do you think any guy will fall for someone like you?] Jiang asked in return.


    [Huh?] The female''s surprised voice resounded.


    "Oi, Oi, I am still here bro, what are you guys doing¡ª wait, is that a girl you are talking to? Bro, when did you have a girl friend?" Randy suddenly asked in astonishment.


    [What are you also talking about, Randy? You should know better than anyone that I don''t have a girlfriend.]


    "Huh? No, I mean a friend that is a girl bro, what do you think I meant¡­ I even slowed down the sybles and yet you still got confused. Forget it, just transfer the money over after taking your share of it." Randy said to him as he continued walking towards the gate of the academy.


    [Alright, I will transfer it now. Wait for a moment]


    [And done, did you receive it yet?]


    "Ah, I just received it. Alright, take care and take your time with your girlfriend, hehe." Randy said in a yful tone.


    [You¡ª] Jiang Chen shouted.


    Du~


    However, Randy immediately cut the line to his smart bracelet as he revealed a smirk on his face at this moment and then continued walking towards the gate in quicken steps this time.


    Very soon, Randy walked through the academy gates as he made his way towards a certain direction.


    One might be wondering why he was heading in a different direction from his house, but right now, Randy was not simply taking a stroll in the city or anything like that.


    He was now heading the magic shop in the Sky Rise City.


    Fortunately, the magic shop was not that far away from the direction of Sky Rise Academy, his school and so, Randy decided to walk towards the magic shop instead of taking a cab like he did when he went to the awakening center the other day.


    There were many branch shops of many different professions around the vicinity surrounding the Sky Rise Academy and due to that, students could very easily procure different techniques or spells pertaining to their ss or ability in general.


    At this point, Randy continued to walk along the streets with a pondering expression.


    He was currently thinking about whether he should visit a technique shop, specifically a martial arts or cultivation store instead of a magic shop where he could only acquire magic spells.


    The reason for this was because he was currentlycking a certain quality as a warrior. And that was hisck of movement techniques or footwork techniques duringbat, which could be detrimental in the future if he does not have at least a proper foundation.


    He may have learned some basic movement techniques in the past, but those cannot bepared to the profound techniques and thus, this time, he was reallypelled to at least buy one of those profound movement or footwork techniques.


    So far, he had been relying on the Gale Riding Skill during the virtualbat, however, in the real world, he could not use the Gale Riding skill as much as he wanted since he had to enter his assimted state, meaning his transformed state in order to activate the skill.


    And besides, he could afford to spend money this time, after all, he had already received the bounty reward from the female police officer, Hong Mingyue, and coupled that with the amount of money that he had just received from Jiang Chen after he had sold the beast cores and carcasses of the mutated beasts that he had hunted in the Beast Forest during the weekend.


    With that thought in mind, he immediately raised his arm, propping his smart bracelet up in front of himself. After that, he tapped the bracelet and selected the contact list, then selected his mom''s contact.


    He tapped on it and began to type something on the projected screen, and after a while, he put his arm down.


    Just now, he had already informed his mother of him noting home early today because he had to go somewhere to buy something with his saved up money.


    Although it was a lie about him using his saved up money, nheless it was indeed true that he had saved up money, just that right now, he was using a different kind of money instead.


    He remembered that when he was a kid, he used to save up some of his allowances whenever his parents gave him money, this was something that both he and Emilia partake in as they decided that they would save up enough money to buy whatever they want when they grow up¡­


    For some reason, at this moment, Randy suddenly recalled what happened earlier during the practical training ss.


    At the time, as Emilia was looking at him, Randy could also sense her gaze on him. At that moment, he thought something suspicious was spying on him, but after ncing at the direction the gaze wasing from and noticing that it was Emilia at the corner of his eyes, he only sighed and then drew his attention away from her.


    At that point, Randy also chose to ignore her too, when he noticed that she suddenly turned away from him.


    He had no idea what she was thinking about, but he could feel that the things that happened between them were not as simple as they may appear on the surface, especially how she suddenly started ignoring him in the academy when she was not like that even when she knew that he had not awakened his ability.


    However, he could not afford to think about these kinds of things right now.. What he needed to do right now, was to get his hand on a magic spell, master it and then proceed to break through to the next realm of his magician realm.

 Chapter 84 - Magic Shop

    At this point, Randy was standing in front of the building of a certain shop, this was the magic shop that was close to the Sky Rise Academy.


    In the end, he decided toe to the magic shop first and see if he could get his hands on some magic spells with his current asset before thinking about buying any movement or footwork techniques.


    After walking quickly for about 15 minutes, he had finally arrived at his destination, Sky Rise City Branch Magic Shop.


    Randy stared at the three-story building and proceeded to take a deep breath. Today would be the day that he finally acquires a magic spell after awakening as a part magician.


    Although he had only recently awakened, he had been through his share of battles with his awakened abilities, and he had even learned a profound fist technique.


    But today, he came here to buy magic spells instead of a profound technique, and the difference between profound techniques and spells lies in the fact that the spells rely on the energy in the environment or one''s surroundings to take effect, meanwhile, profound techniques, on the other hand, generally relied on the energy in one''s body.


    And so, sometimes, spells, in general, are more destructive than profound technique, but that was only if the attack hits since no matter how destructive or powerful the spell was, if it does not hit the target, it would be considered useless.


    The likable perk of profound techniques lies in one''s ability to precisely control their energy to evoke certain attack forms and even gradually enhance the executed techniques since the more oneprehended the technique the less likely they would miss their target.


    Nheless, one could not shake the allure of having a powerful spell under your belts when facing a certain opponent or being surrounded by a group of people during a fight, especially the area of effect type of spells.


    With a slight excitement, Randy did not hesitate anymore and proceeded to walk through the door leading to the interior of the magic shop.


    nk~


    "Hm? Wee to the Sky Rise City''s Branch Mystic Magic Shop!"


    The shop owner, who appeared to be a very beautiful woman, seemingly in her twenties or thirties, greeted Randy as soon as he walked into the shop.


    "Hello, Miss Feng. It''s been a while since west met." Randy smiled and said to the shop owner.


    "Hm?"


    The shop owner raised her head and narrowed her eyes slightly and then looked intently at the young man in front of her for a brief moment before raising her eyebrows in surprise.


    "Ah, is that you, Randy? Is it really you? You have grown up into such a fine young man." The shop owner said to him in praise, as she was pleasantly surprised to see him.


    And then she asked after saying that: "Did youe here with your mom as usual? Where is she? Hm? Hm?"


    Asking this, she had already begun to turn her head around a couple of times to nce around Randy in hopes to find his mother.


    "No, I did note with my mother this time; I came here by myself. I was thinking of buying some magic books with spells to learn and of course, my mother is aware of this." Randy shook his head and then said to her.


    "Oh, I see, but still, how long has it been? 3 or 5 years? I haven''t seen you tagging along with your mother whenever shees here to visit me nowadays." The shop owner said in reminiscence of the past.


    The shop owner paused for a moment as she recalled what Randy said just now and then said: "You said that you came here to buy magic spell books, did you perhaps awaken your ability? When was it? I remember that you still hadn''t awakened your ability after all this time, I was just discussing this with your mother just a few days ago."


    "Hm, Miss Feng is right, I had indeed only awakened my ability recently." Randy nodded and then answered her.


    "¡­"


    The shop owner called Miss Feng went silent and proceeded to look at him with a gentle gaze as if recalling something.


    And after a few silent moments, she nodded and then muttered: "I see¡­ that is good to hear. I can see that you are back to your lively self again. Anyway,e in and have a look around. There are all kinds of spell books, check and see if there is anything that suits your needs."


    Saying so, she gestured with her hand for Randy toe inside.


    "¡­I will do that then. Well, if you''ll excuse me." Randy politely said as he immediately headed toward the bookshelf in the distance.


    "Just go ahead. It''s not like this is your first timeing here anyway." Miss Feng said to him when he was polite with his words.


    "Haha¡­ I guess that''s true." Randyughed as he continued to walk forward towards the bookshelf.


    Indeed, this was not his first timeing here so he was somewhat familiar with this ce one or another due to how frequently he came here with his mother in the past.


    Soon, he reached the bookshelf that had so many magic spell books of different sizes and shapes. The covers were also in different colors, signifying their element or other factors.


    For example, a red cover signifies a me type of spell, and a blue cover signifies a water type of spell, and so on.


    Randy stood in front of a shelf, picked some spell books, and then nce through them. This was a first circle spell category spells, which included a spell called Spark, a me spell that allows one to lit a spark of fire at the fingertips, this was some basic stuff that only first circle magicians learn to perfect their control over such a spell before learning the subsequent spell, fireball.


    Naturally, there were other spells as well like ice needle which was simr to the me spell which only creates a tiny ice needle, but none of these spells were what Randy was after when he came to the magic shop.


    And so, he quickly nced through a couple of shelves on the first floor with interest before suddenly realizing something that he had almost forgotten about.


    ''Wait a second, why did I suddenly forget that I can simply record these magic spells without actually spending money on them? To think I will forget about something this crucial¡­ Haah¡­''


    Randy immediately sighed helplessly after this realization suddenly dawned on him.

 Chapter 85 - Black Object?

    After realizing that he had forgotten about the record function of his system, Randy could not help but shake his head in dismay because he never thought that he would actually forget about something like that.


    Perhaps, due to having so much on his mindtely, he could not think of this useful function of his upgraded system that he had yet to use after identally activating and using that one time.


    Right away, Randy''s thoughts turned quickly, and then he started thinking about what he needed to do.


    And with that in mind, he walked around the rolls of bookshelves and then selected some spell books that he thought might be useful to him.


    But he did not have time to look at all the books, so he only randomly picked up some books from each shelf that seemed useful to the current him.


    After that, he had the system record them, and surprisingly, the recording duration only took a few seconds, so Randy did not spend too much time looking through the first circle and second circle magic spell books.


    Right now, what he needed the most was some fourth circle magic spell books since he was now at the peaked advanced fourth circle magician realm.


    Thinking of that, he made up his mind to head to the next floor where the third circle and fourth circle magic spell books were kept.


    The first circle and second circle magic spell books were on the first floor of the magic shop and as for the third circle and fourth circle magic spell books, they were on the second floor.


    As for the rest of the magic spell books, those kinds of spell books were usually sold in biggerpanies or the main building of this branch shop that was not situated in the Sky Rise City.


    The main building was located in the Western District, so if one wanted to purchase the fifth circle and above magic spell books, they would have to order it online by visiting thepany''s website or simplye to this branch shop to order through the shop owner.


    Either that or one could simply visit the main building in the Western District, but no one would be willing to make such a trip since it would cost so much money to travel to other districts using those special transportation portals.


    Since he was more interested in the fourth circle magic spells right now instead of those above it, he immediately turned around, walked towards the shop owner, and then asked: "Miss Feng, can I go take a look at the second floor? I need to take a look at the fourth circle magic spell books."


    "Oh, okay, go ahead¡­ wait, you''re a fourth circle mage already? How long have you been awakened?" Miss Feng suddenly asked in a surprised tone.


    Hearing this, Randy thought for a bit, and then answered: "A few days, I guess. But why do you ask?"


    "A few days?! Was it perhaps naturally awakened?" Miss Feng eximed in shock and then curiously asked in return.


    "Eh¡­ Uhm, I think so?"


    Randy had no idea whether his awakening was natural or not since he had to consume that wolf-like creature''s blood¡­ not right, the werewolf king''s blood to ultimately awaken his innate ability.


    With the situation being like that, it was more urate to say that he had used an external source to finally awaken rather than naturally awakening his innate ability.


    "No wonder, but why does it sound like you''re not too sure about it yourself?" Miss Feng said and then asked after hearing his tone of voice as he responded.


    "Haha, you''re probably imagining it. Anyway, I will head to the second floor now." Randyughed and then said to her.


    Saying so, he walked towards the stairs leading to the second floor and soon he started climbing and eventually his departing figure disappeared.


    After he left, Miss Feng looked at the stairs leading to the second floor for a while, and then she muttered: "As expected of the son of one of the most prominent mages in this city; For him to already be at the fourth circle right after finally awakening¡­ He had already skipped years of hard work with this¡­ was this part of god''s n or something?"


    Saying this, she turned away from the second floor''s stairs and then sighed.


    "This pitiful young man couldn''t even awaken his ability no matter how much energy that he was showered with and yet now he had suddenly awakened bing a promising young man. His parents are probably assured with this hopefully."


    She said as she immediately returned to doing whatever she was doing before Randy called out to her.


    ¡­


    On the second floor of the magic shop.


    At this point, Randy had just arrived on the floor, and just like the floor before, there was a bookshelf with magic spell books on them, and even the size of space in the room was roughly the same as that of the first floor.


    However, there were fewer spell books on these shelves whenpared to the first floor that had more spell books that were stacked on top of each other to form a mini mountain.


    This floor only had a few books on each categorized shelf.


    At this moment, Randy had walked to a shelf and then browse through some spell books with interest.


    After a few moments, he had his system record the ones that were more intriguing or better fitted to his fighting style.


    And very soon, he arrived at the other end of the bookshelf, and at that moment, he saw a familiar ck object that was ced on a disy table as it silently floated on top of the table.


    At this point, Randy was looking at the ck object that seemed to be a book with slight hesitation to touch it.


    The appearance of this book was so ck and thick in size so much so that if one did not look closely enough, they would easily mistake it for a rectangr box instead of a book.


    Randy remembered that thest time he saw this book was when he came here with his mom, around five years ago, but at the time, when he asked Miss Feng about the floating object, she only said something about someone pawning it off due to some circumstances.

 Chapter 86 - Black Tome

    While thinking of something, Randy approached the thick ck book and after thinking for a bit, he then observed the book up close with scrutinizing eyes.


    Upon a closer look, he could see some indiscernible characters and designs on the cover of the book, however perhaps due to age, those patterns were hard to see since it seems to be worn out by the ravages of time, coupled with the fact that the cover of the book itself was pitch ck in terms of color.


    ''Why does it feel like this book was reacting to my magical energy when I came to this floor? No, it should be the opposite, I think my magical energy is reacting to this book since earlier. I thought I was imagining things, however, the more I get close to this ck book, the more I could feel the stir in my mana seed. Is it some magical tool or something? Does that mean that it could somehow resonate with those with mana in their body? But if that is the case, why did Miss Feng never mention anything about it being a magic tool with this kind of feature?''


    Randy silently pondered as he looked at the floating thick ck book in front of him.


    After pondering without understanding what was going on, Randy quickly thought of a method that could answer his questions.


    Although this method might not work seeing as how nobody had been able to recognize what this ck book was or how to even open the book ording to what he had heard from Miss Feng a long time ago, nheless, it could not hurt to try and see whether it works or not at this moment.


    With that thought in mind, he outstretched his right arm forward without hesitation, and then he ced his hand on the floating ck book.


    There was no reaction whatsoever, however, based on his previous experience, he proceeded to wait for a few moments.


    A few momentster¡­


    [[Attention!]]


    [[Discovered the Ancient ck Tome of an Arch Sorcerer!]]


    The system suddenly announced after a while.


    After quickly reading through the notification that abruptly appeared on the holographic screen in front of his eyes, Randy was instantly shocked.


    He had his doubts about whether it would work or not, but it was now confirmed with this notification from his system.


    And then he proceeded to skim through the description given by the system, and immediately after that, he unconsciously revealed a delighted smile on her face.


    After ncing through the description of the ck book, Randy suddenly walked away from the table where the thick ck book was floating on.


    Now was not the time for him to be excited, only after he fully obtain this ck book would he feel excited about his discovery, and thus he went downstairs to the first floor.


    A short whileter, he came back to the second floor with the shop owner, Miss Feng.


    They both walked toward the other end of the bookshelf when they arrived on the second floor.


    At this moment, they stood in front of the thick ck book that was floating on top of the disy table.


    At this point, Miss Feng could not help but speak: "Randy, so I did not hear you wrongly when you mentioned the ''ck book floating on the table''? It turns out you were indeed referring to this useless unknown book on this floor?"


    "Yes." Randy replied.


    "Why would you want to buy this unknown book of all things... instead of choosing from the various magic spell books on this floor?" Miss Feng asked in confusion.


    "Well, I just felt like this book might be special and that it might contain some amazing spell if I could somehow manage to open it someday." Randy thought for a bit and then replied to her.


    "Even so, wouldn''t you be wasting your money instead if you cannot find a way to open it after purchasing it? Do you even know how much this book cost?" Miss Feng said in an unconvinced tone after hearing his response.


    She did not understand why Randy would rather buy a useless and unknown book instead of buying a spell book like he had intended to.


    "Ah, about that, I brought you here precisely because of this matter. I don''t have much money, but could you please tell me how much this book cost and I will happily buy it off your hands if I can afford it afterward." Randy said with a smile as he rubbed his palms against each other in anticipation.


    Looking at him like this, Miss Feng gave up on convincing him and then replied: "Actually, this book does not cost much money despite its size which seemed to indicate that it would cost quite a sum of money."


    "Huh? Why is that?" Randy asked in curiosity.


    At this question, Miss Feng responded: "You remember that I once told you about the origin of this book, right?"


    "That¡­ Can you please tell me again? At the time, I was still a kid, so I did not think much of your words back then so¡­" Randy said to her as he scratched the back of his head.


    "It''s alright, I don''t mind telling you again." Miss Feng waved her hand dismissively as she said to him.


    Saying this, her expression immediately turned solemn as she suddenly spoke: "This may somewhat be shocking to the current you or perhaps not, but in truth, this ck book was found in a world that was once on a verge of destruction which stemmed from countless geniuses and prominent figures in that world fighting over who should possess the mysterious ck book that suddenly appeared in their world through a space rift."


    "Wait, the book appeared in their world? How is that possible? Can the book itself warp through space or something?" Randy appeared surprised as he doubtfully asked with a confused expression.


    "Haah¡­ Just wait and let me finish first." Miss Feng sighed and then said to him.


    And then she continued: "In the midst of their war for possession, countless lives were lost, and eventually someone had managed to take ahold of the mysterious ck book during the chaos. That person tried to ply it open, however, they soon found out that they could not open the book no matter how much effort or trick they use on the book. When all the other powerhouses saw that someone had managed to take the book and even failed at opening it, they instantly rushed over and then took the book from that person with a doubtful expression.. Afraid that something might happen, they did not try to open it themselves instead, one by one they let their men try to open the mysterious ck book with no one being able to open it in the end."

 Chapter 87 - The Black Books Origin

    As Randy listened to Miss Feng''s story, he could not help but mutter with a pondering expression: "So they could not open it, huh¡­?"


    "That''s right," Miss Feng replied, and she then continued: "Although only their subordinates tried to open this mysterious ck book, they were still considered to have some significant strength, enough to fight alongside their lords and masters, and yet they could not open the mysterious ck book. When the various powerhouses realized this fact, they reluctantly went to try and open the mysterious ck book thinking that perhaps their subordinates were not strong enough to open the book. However, they were soon disappointed when none of them even with their tremendous strength and excessive knowledge could even manage to open the mysterious ck book."


    Miss Feng took a deep breath before continuing: "It was during this time, only after this realization that the prominent figures and geniuses from the various powerful families of that world called a truce and then after various arguments decided to conjointly study the mysterious ck book. Thissted for a few decades without any results."


    "However, as time went by, their world was somehow connected to ours through the dimensional rifts that appeared in our world." Miss Feng said as she looked at Randy who was attentively listening to her with a focused expression.


    At this point, Randy suddenly opened his mouth to ask doubtfully: "So, are you saying that the mysterious ck book somehow manage toe to our world through warping through space and dimension just like how it arrived in that other world?"


    "No, that''s not it."


    Miss Feng readily refuted and then she exined: "After our world discovered that it was a magical world that was on the other side of the dimensional rift, many mages and magical warriors of various backgrounds who were licensed as Seekers decided to travel through the stabilized dimensional rift in hopes of finding some treasures or valuable resources."


    "Ah, so the Seekers were the ones that brought the mysterious ck book to our world?" Randy doubtfully asked.


    "Indeed." Miss Feng agreed and then she said: "The Seekers entered that world through the dimensional rift and during one of their searches for precious things, they stumbled upon a group of people in a tavern, that was discussing the events that transpired a few decades ago, events prior to the appearance of the mysterious ck book and after the world-shaking event that took ce in their world afterward, right after the appearance of the mysterious ck book. Hearing this discussion among the group of people, the seekers who craved rare items and resources were instantly intrigued by their conversation and the discovery of a potential rare treasure book. However, not all of them were willing to take such a risk, especially after hearing about how their world was almost destroyed just from the appearance of that mysterious book."


    "And with that thought in mind, some of them gave up on searching for the mysterious ck book, nevertheless, those who were daredevil and adventurous decided to invade the Imperial storage of the most powerful Empire of that world using their bizarre and unique abilities. And then, they sessfully managed to steal the mysterious ck book, however they neglected the possibility of everything being too easy and that the mysterious ck book itself had an enchanted spell on it, which then allowed the imperial knights and imperial magicians of that Empire to track them down."


    Randy suddenly said: "That''s true, how could an entire empire not be aware of their most prized possession being stolen¡­? That was too reckless of them."


    "You''re right, and they paid a heavy price for this recklessness." Miss Feng agreed with him.


    And then she continued to with her story: "After they were tracked down and hunted by the forces from the empire, an inevitable fight broke out when they caught with them. There was bloodshed in the aftermath as the many seekers on that expedition ended being ughtered or burned to death. They could not retaliate against the forcesprising of the imperial knights and imperial magicians that served the imperial family of that empire, after all, the strength of such individuals was not something that those seekers of our world couldpare to no matter how many special abilities they might possess."


    "Wait a second, if they all lost their lives, then how did the ck book still end up in our world?" Randy asked in confusion, because earlier when he assumed that the mysterious ck book came to their world by itself, Miss Feng imed that was not what happened, so how did the mysterious ck book still end up in their world?


    "Well, somehow one of the seekers survived this ordeal. Luckily or unluckily, the sole survivor also managed to bring with him the mysterious ck book, eventually leaving that world through the concealed rift on the end of that world. Although the imperial magicians most likely noticed that the other party had used some sort of spatial traveling technique to leave their world, however, they did not pursue them."


    "Why is that?" Randy suddenly in curiosity.


    Miss Feng replied: "That was because for some reason when the seekers were exploring that world, they discovered that the other world also had dimensional rifts, however whenever they appear in that world their strongest magicians with spatial spells closed them right away and they also made the habit of not attempting to open a dimensional rift since thest time they did, some terrifying monsters came out to their world and started wreaking havoc, which then took them a lot of effort to eventually defeat them. And thus, many on our side assumed that was most likely the reason why that sole survivor was not pursued despite clearly leaving behind traces as he left that world."


    "Sometimes, though, the people on that side follow the departing seekers, but fortunately we had the energy detection and also the identification confirmation chip that was enchanted and ced in every identification card of an awakened individual. And so, usually, after sensing a powerful but unfamiliar fluctuation of energying from the other side without being able to identify them, we would have no choice but to forcefully close down the dimensional rift to prevent an invasion of a powerful being, even if we have to abandon the said seeker that was being followed."


    "I see.... But even so, how did that survivor manage to escape the forces of that other world''s most powerful empire? Since all hisrades had died to them, and only they survived, then by logic, It shouldn''t have been easy for him to escape, right?" Randy pursued further by asking, after hearing her exnation about various crucial things and then pondering the events for a bit.

 Chapter 88 - Hope For The Future

    Hearing his question, Miss Feng immediately answered: "Perhaps they used some sort of ability that they never disclosed to the government or the hunter association to escape the pursuit of those forces of that other world''s Empire...? But who knows because the survivor never mention how he did so. In any case, no one really knew how he survived their pursuit, nor did they pursue the matter due to how unstable that survivor''s mental state was at the time."


    "However, even though, hisrades had lost their lives in order to obtain this ''cursed book'', he called it, nobody seemed to know how to open the ck book either. Which then led to some iming that it was nothing but a piece of wood that was carved to look like a book due to how solid the ck book was." Miss Feng said.


    "What?! How could something like that be made out of a piece of wood?" Randy said with a dazed expression; however, he was only putting on an act at this point.


    At this moment, he silently thought to himself while maintaining the same expression, ''Well, even I would have assumed that this was a piece of wood if I hadn''t already discerned the true value of this mysterious ck book. Too bad though, now it is going to be mine; there''s no way I am going to tell anyone about its true value.''


    At this point, Miss Feng responded to him: "That''s right, even after he recounted and exined the origin of the mysterious ck book, no one believed him and so, having no choice, he begrudgingly pawned off the book to ourpany for a cheap price since the government did not want to purchase a useless book and he also needed money so badly at the time."


    "So yourpany decided to buy the book off him, but why? Didn''t you say that it was deemed as useless by everyone?" Randy asked in puzzlement.


    Hearing this question, Miss Feng had a helpless expression and then said: "The thing is, the head of our Mystic Company was instantly intrigued when he heard about the origin story of the ''mysterious'' ck book, so he decided to buy it off him to study and perhaps identify its properties in hopes of using that to open the ck book."


    "However, even he failed to identify the ck book''s properties after trying for so long using various artifacts that could appraise items. As you already know, after awakening, each individual would receive their very own system and each system had an appraisal function which was pretty useful as we could easily identify most items using this function of the system. Nevertheless, not all things could be identified by the system''s appraisal function as there were cases where the system could not identify an item, and thus, during those times, we had no choice but to rely on some rare artifacts for such cases." Miss Feng said and then paused for a bit.


    "¡­I think I heard about that before, so what happened?" Randy mused for a bit and then agreed with her before urging her to continue.


    Miss Feng pointed her finger at the floating ck book and then said: "This ck book was among the few cases where the system could not identify the origin or the properties of. As always, the system would say something along the lines, ''unauthorized ess to information or You have not met the minimum requirement in terms of power level to learn about such information'' regarding said items. And it was always frustrating when that happens because that would mean nobody could figure out the uses of the item which in turn makes it useless."


    At this point, Miss Feng could not help but sigh as she said this, seemingly recalling something.


    Randy had no idea what she was thinking of at this moment, however, he continued to wait for her to continue with her story.


    Although, none of these matters to him, however, at this moment in time,he could not let an opportunity to learn more about their world slip past him.


    To the current him, who had awakened his ability, that would be too stupid if he did.


    After all, obtaining information was the most important thing in this current world. Even if the information was nonessential at the moment just by hearing it, you might be pleasantly shocked in the future when it proves to be useful in an unexpected situation.


    Well, at least, that was what his friend, Jiang Chen constantly said to him, so he had also ended up somehow adopting that mindset, and thus, he patiently waited for a few moments until Miss Feng started speaking again.


    "Anyway, after hearing that kind of message from the system, everyone was shocked by this. After all, our boss was not weak, and thus, one could only imagine how much stronger one needed to be in order to get ess to the information regarding the ck book. Because of this, the boss had no choice but to give up in the end." Miss Feng concluded with this exnation.


    "So well, do you now understand, about why nobody would spend their money on this ck book?" Miss Feng said and then continued: "I''ll have you know that the only reason why it was even on disy in this shop was that our boss, with his enigmatic behavior, believed that since the ck book existed then that means that there would eventually be someone out there who could someday open it. And with that thought, he asked for this ck book to be kept in this branch of all the many branch shops throughout the districts; in other words, it was simply a coincidence that this book ended up here in the first ce, and even so, no matter where it had ended up, it would be the same as it would not even sell. That was because every time one hears about the ck book''s background, they immediately lose interest in the book."


    After he carefully listened to this long narration from Miss Feng, Randy immediately fell into thought for a brief moment.


    A few momentster, he suddenly recalled the information that he had previously read from his system''s disy and the other version that he had just heard from Miss Feng''s story, and after pondering the difference for a bit, he could note up with a proper conclusion for now.


    Nevertheless, after hearing this story, he was more determined to purchase this book now more than ever.


    At this point, Randy abruptly reached out his hand to touch the floating ck book to confirm the descriptions of the ck book once again.


    And after confirming that it was indeed like he had seen before, he inwardly nodded in satisfaction and then silently thought to himself.


    ''Sure enough, this book is a treasure that is probably, no it is without a doubt a priceless treasure, but it seems like no one could recognize its true value except for my upgraded system. Hehe¡­ now that I have found this book, there is no need to be polite about it because it is now mine for the taking. Although I wish that I could simply copy the contents using my system''s record function, however, that seemed to be impossible at the moment, so I will need to buy and keep it for now.. Essentially, there is still hope for the future.''

 Chapter 89 - Young Master Slandar

    Seeing as how Randy was still touching the ck book with an eager expression despite what she had told him, Miss Feng sighed helplessly and then said: "Judging from your expression, It appears that you really are hellbent on buying this unknown ck book. Well, I won''t stop you if that is the case. After all, the whole point of this ck book being on disy was to search for someone that would be willing to buy it for themselves."


    And then she continued after a moment of pause: "On the other hand, up until now, whenever people hear about the origin of the ck book, they all end up not interested afterward. So as a shop owner, how can I refuse when someone wants to buy my product?"


    ''Then again, maybe this young man knows something or had found out something by touching the ck book. Otherwise, why would he insist on buying this useless book that we are not sure whether it was even a spell book or something else entirely¡­''


    ''However, that should be impossible since not even the boss with his various means was not able to find out anything after carefully studying this ck book¡­''


    Miss Feng silently thought as she deeply peered at Randy beside her.


    "¡­I see, so how much are you selling this ck book for?" Randy turned towards her after a while and then seriously asked.


    At this point, upon hearing his question, Miss Feng was still slightly hesitant for a moment before sighing once again before saying: "Well, did you know that the price for this unknown ck book was originally 1 million?"


    "1 million?! Even though no one was able to open it, how can it cost that much?" Randy eximed in shock and then he inquired.


    ''Damn it, that is exactly the amount of money I have on me right now, but if I spend all of it on this book then how am I supposed to buy the other spells in this shop? Not to mention, I still need to buy movement and footwork techniques. But I really need to buy this ck tome at all costs¡­''


    Randy inwardly gritted his teeth in frustration as he was conflicted about his choices at this moment.


    Looking at his shocked expression, Miss Feng then said: "There is no need to worry. I said that it was ''originally'' going to be sold for that amount. The reason for this was because when that survivor came to sell the ck book to us, we purchased it for 500,000 Alliance Credits, and to make a profit out of reselling it, we were decided to sell it for twice the purchased price, but not anymore. That was after considering that no one seemed to be interested in the ck book afterward. So you can now buy it for 600,000 Alliance Credits instead¡­ Ah, it''s okay if you did not bring enough¡­"


    "Alright, I will pay for it." Randy abruptly said to her.


    "Huh?" Miss Feng appeared surprised as she stared at him with open eyes.


    And then asked in curiosity: "You had that much money on you?"


    "No, I have it in my bank ount." Randy replied to her.


    "Did your parents provide you that much money just to buy spell books?" Miss Feng pursued further by asking this.


    "Well¡­ something like that." Randy nodded as he calmly said with a smile on his face.


    However, he silently thought, ''I can''t tell you that I actually received this money from catching a criminal or that I sold the carcasses and beast cores of the mutated beasts that I hunted in the Beast Forest, now, can I?''


    As he thought this to himself, all of a sudden, a peal of mockingughter resounded behind Randy and Miss Feng, arousing their attention.


    "Hahaha!"


    At this moment, both Randy and Miss Feng quickly turned around to see the source of this suddenughter.


    When they did, they saw a young man who was wearing an intricately designed purple magician robe with a hood behind it.


    The young man appeared to be in his early twenties but looks could be deceiving in the current era.


    Standing beside both sides of the young man were two men in ck suits wearing a pair of ck sunsses, seemingly the bodyguards of the young man.


    At this point, the young man spoke after his suddenughter.


    "Feng Yun, don''t tell me¡­ did you cheat this brat standing next to you, enough for him to want to buy that useless book that you always kept on that disy table?" The young man said in a derision tone.


    Hearing these words, Miss Feng''s expression suddenly changed as the looked of displeasure was disyed on it at this moment.


    ''This arrogant bastard, how did he get in here, and why couldn''t I even sense his presence as he approached us...?''


    Her eyebrows knitted tightly together, disying a deep frown as she thought this.


    And then she red at the young man in front of her for a moment before saying: "Young master ndar, what do you mean by saying those words? Are you trying to cause trouble in my humble shop yet again?"


    "Hmph! What do you mean, cause trouble again? Just now, I saw you trying to sell that useless book to that clueless boy next to you, and I even went out of my way to try to find justice for him and you say that I am causing trouble? Am I not even allowed to say the truth when I see someone being deceived? Or are you trying to cover up your deeds with these words of yours?"


    The young man called young master ndar continued to speak in a mocking tone.


    "This unbridled brat¡­" Miss Feng muttered under her breath as she red at the young man in front of her.


    "Do you even have any idea what transpired before this transaction, young master ndar? Are you not aware that you''re currently trying to nder me and my shop''s reputation with those casual words of yours? Are you ready to bear the consequences for your actions at this moment?" Miss Feng stated every sentence in one breath as she stared intently at Young master ndar.


    Young master ndar only scoffed at these statements of hers and then said: "Do you think I would be scared or even care about your little shop? Or have you forgotten which tradingpany is trending right now, even as we speak? What can your little shop in this eastern district amount to inparison to even just my Anz magic shop in this eastern district, huh?"

 Chapter 90 - No Need

    After saying that, young master ndar then walked towards Randy and then patted his left shoulder with his right hand before he leaned forward to his ears and said: "Brat, I''ll tell you this, that book behind you is useless; you can''t even open it even if you buy it. You''ll only end up in regret, so how about this, if you''re looking to buy something that isn''t trash, thene to my Anz magic shop which is not that far from this rundown magic shop. My shop has all kinds of rare magic spell books and other rare items. And so, I can guarantee you that you''ll be satisfied after your purchase."


    He said inplete confidence as he moved his hand away from Randy''s shoulder; he did not even wait for Randy to respond to his words before turning to Miss Feng.


    He then said to her in an indifferent tone: "Actually, the reason why I came to your little shop was that I ran out of magic spell books to sell, so would you be so kind and sell all your first circle to third circle spell books to my Anz magic shop? I can pay for all of them right now, what do you think? This would save you the trouble of waiting for customers toe to your shop, right?"


    "Impossible! Don''t even think about it!"


    After hearing his condescending words, Miss Feng who could not take it anymore furiously shouted in response.


    ''Both of our shops were branches that belong to twopetingpanies, and you want me to sell our magic spell books to you, then what would be the point of me selling the spell books in my shop in the first ce? This crazy bastard!'' Miss Feng silently cursed at his words.


    Indeed, both of theirpanies are at odds with each other due to the ndar family that owns the Anz Trading Company using the Mystic Trading Company of selling fake products due to aint they received from anonymous customers that bought magic crystals from the Mystic Tradingpany''s shops.


    These allegations then led to the downfall of the Mystic Trading Company that was the reigningpany in the western district as they lost customers to the Anz Trading Company.


    And ever since then, the twopanies that already had some altercations before, to never seen eye to eye.


    Even though it came to light after the investigations that it was false allegations, and that the ones that spread the news were supposedly caught and confessed to their false usations.


    Nevertheless, the prominent people who had lost their trust in the Mystic Trading Company still continued to remain with the oppositionpany.


    After all, for such a thing to happen to apany as big as theirs, the impact was so tremendous which then made it hard to recover.


    And due to that, the Anz Trading Company who imed that they had no hand in the false usations on their oppositionpany instead became famous and more renowned throughout the whole western district.


    And now, this young master ndar of that same ndar family wanted to buy off their products just so he could resell them in his shop? Does he think she was an easy target or something? What if he uses these spell books to use theirpany once again?


    Not to mention, from what she knew about this young master ndar, he would surely sell the purchased spell books to their customers for more money than they are worth.


    With that thought in mind, how could she allow this transaction to ur?


    At this point, young master ndar, upon hearing her response, narrowed his eyes and then said: "Are you not selling these magic spell books that you have on your shelves? Or are you telling me that you won''t sell it to my Anz magic shop?"


    "You seem to catch on very quick young master ndar. With this, I won''t have to waste my time exining. Now would you care to take your leave now? I still have to attend to my customer here." Miss Feng said in a cold tone.


    "Hah! Now, why would you say something so unpleasant like that? In the first ce, why won''t you sell to my Anz magic shop?" Young master ndar appeared confused as he asked this, with his expression turning ugly.


    And after a moment of pause, he then said in a condescending tone: "Or could it be that you think that this was still five years ago when yourpany was still the leading sellers when ites to magic products? Hahaha!"


    After saying this, he immediately burst intoughter, causing Miss Feng''s facial expression to turn ashen in anger.


    At this point, she could barely hold back her anger as her body shook on the spot.


    She would have assaulted this arrogant young man in front of her a long time ago, had it not been for the fact that he was the young master of the ndar family, and also because he had those two bodyguards with him.


    Randy who had been observing the situation for a while also noticed Miss Feng''s trembling body and he could vaguely tell how much she was holding in at this moment.


    ''Does this guy even have a brain in his head? Why does he not listen when people talk to him? And also, Miss Feng clearly doesn''t want to sell her magic spell books to him, and yet he kept on bringing up things from the past instead of just leaving when told to.''


    Randy silently thought to himself as he looked at this young master ndar, who was stillughing as if he had gone crazy.


    After calming herself down, Miss Feng opened her mouth to speak: "Young master ndar, as the son of the prestigious ndar family in the western district, how could you not mind your speech in public?"


    "What are you trying to get at?" Young master ndar suddenly stoppedughing and then said with narrowed eyes.


    "Are you not afraid of someone using your own words against you someday? And for your information, you have been misunderstanding the situation since earlier, this young man beside me, is the son of my close friend and he was the one that wanted to buy this book for himself. In contrast, I only urged him not to buy it, however, young master ndar imed that I cheated him, so how would you exin your actions while barging into my shop''s second floor unannounced? Do you think this ce was your very own residence where you can do and say whatever you pleased without any repercussion?" Miss Feng slowly said to him.


    As she spoke, her voice was turning colder and colder almost as if she wanted to strike him directly with these words, however, this speech of hers went into deaf ears as not even this was able to cause the arrogant young master to be fazed.


    "Hahahaha!!"


    Instead after hearing her words, he burst into momentaryughter before he turned back to Randy and then said: "Brat! Is there something wrong with your brain? Or are you blind? Can you not see with your own eyes that this book was trash, and where did you get that amount of money from to waste it in this shop?"


    "And as I said before, you can get better spell books in my shop, so leave this ce ande with me after this." He genuinely said in confidence afterward while revealing a triumphant smirk.


    "¡­There is no need for that."


    At this moment, Randy who disyed a slight scowled expression on his face finally spoke out his own opinion on the matter.

 Chapter 91 - Targeted

    "There is no need for that."


    Randy curtly replied when he was asked by young master ndar to leave Miss Feng''s magic shop to buy spell books from his shop instead.


    "What?" Young master nder muttered in a daze, clearly in disbelief and even doubting his hearing at this moment.


    He did not expect to be turned down by this clueless kid that was clearly being deceived by that woman, especially after hearing about the name of his magic shop and his family name.


    Randy did not pay attention to him, only proceeded to ignore him as he then turn to Miss Feng.


    He showed her the magic spell books that he took along with the ck book and then said to her: "Miss Feng, can you tell me how much for all these?"


    "Oh, right, that would cost you 650,000 Alliance Credits in total." She quickly replied.


    "I see, then how do I pay?" Randy then asked.


    "Can I see your bracelet''s screen with your bank ount projected on it? I only needed to scan it with my device toplete the transaction." Miss Feng said to him.


    As she said this, she took out a device that looked like a smartphone from the previous era, however, it was tterpared to those smartphones.


    Randy also opened his bracelet''s screen before disying his bank ount with his information on it and then he showed it to Miss Feng.


    This was the same method he used to give his information to Hong Mingyue when they met that time, and she was able to scan it on her device to get his information.


    Although it seemed like it was the same method, however, Miss Feng used his information to extract money from his bank ount instead of transferring money to him.


    Just like that, after typing some things on the screen of the payment device, she used it to scan his information, and the transaction waspleted with that.


    He had already paid for the ck book and some spell books that he took just in case. That was because he did not want to look suspicious by not purchasing any spell book other than the ck book.


    After all, he had recorded some spell books already without paying for them and he was already feeling guilty about that, so he decided to buy some less expensive third circle and fourth circle magic spell books to make up for that.


    With that out of the way, he checked his bank ount only to see that money had indeed been extracted from his ount.


    He was already done here, now it was time to leave this ce before it gets too dark outside.


    "Miss Feng, I think I will be leaving for now. I have already spent almost all the money I brought with me, so I can only afford these spell books along with this ck book." Randy then said to her as he turned to face the direction where the stairs that led downstairs were located.


    "O-Okay, do you need something to store them? I can give you a storage ring if you don''t already have a storage tool." Miss Feng suggested.


    However, Randy declined by shaking his head as he disyed his wrist and then said: "That will not be needed, I already have a storage bracelet with me, Miss Feng."


    "Alright, it was nice seeing you again, Randy. Tell your mother that I said hi." Miss Feng said in return after seeing the bracelet around his wrist.


    "Okay, I will. It was nice seeing you too, Miss Feng." Randy said and then walked away.


    He walked past the dazed young master ndar and his men without even looking their way.


    When he walked a few meters away and was about to descend down the stairs, young master ndar suddenly snapped out of his daze and was instantly infuriated as he shouted behind.


    "You insolent brat! I was being nice in talking to someone like you and you dare to ignore me? Men! Get this brat to kneel in front of me!" He said as he gritted his teeth in anger.


    Hearing his words, at this moment, Miss Feng suddenly raised her voice.


    "Paul ndar! Don''t you think you''re being too unreasonable?!" She said.


    Saying so, Miss Feng instantly cast a spell in a split second as she moved to intercept the two men in ck who were without a doubt magical warriors based on the magical aura emanating from their bodies.


    However, the next moment, she was intercepted by young master ndar.


    "Where do you think you''re going?!" He said with a smirk on his face.


    "You¡ª"


    ''Damn it, I was caught off guard! It takes time to cast teleport magic so I can only enhance my physical abilities momentarily, otherwise, this bastard wouldn''t have been able to stop my movements.''


    Miss Feng thought in frustration as she watched the two men draw closer to Randy.


    ''Right now is not the time to be dealing with this guy. If I don''t hurry and something happens to that person''s son in my shop, then I don''t know how I would exin myselfter.''


    Miss Feng thought as she tried moving once again and even attempting to cast some basic spells to hinder those two men''s movement in the distance.


    "¡ªRestrain my enemies!"


    "Binding magic thread!"


    Whoosh!


    As she said this, a magic circle appeared in front of her outstretched hand as thread made out of mana instantly shot out, aiming toward the two men that were only two meters away from reaching Randy.


    "¡ªProtection shield that can block my enemies'' attacks!"


    "Magic Barrier Wall!"


    Bang!


    The magic thread was easily countered by young master ndar''s magic barrier.


    "Ahahaha! Did you already forget that we''re both fifth circle mages? There is no way that I will let you stop me from dealing with that unruly brat!"


    Young master ndar proudlyughed in triumph, and then arrogantly said after blocking her attack.


    "Hehehe¡­"


    However, he was shocked when Miss Feng suddenly startedughing instead of feeling despair like he had thought.


    Seeing her like this, he felt like something was wrong and so, he narrowed his eyes at her and could not help but ask.


    "What? What is so funny?" He demanded.


    Miss Feng only smiled and then said: "You have no idea whose child you''re messing with here, do you?"


    ''What is this woman talking about?'' He thought as he continued to stare at her in confusion.


    "What are you trying to say?" He carefully asked this time.


    "Even in this entire Sky Rise City, there aren''t many who could be her match in the same profession, and yet, you dare to hurt her son? It appears that you''re not afraid to lose your life in this eastern district."


    Young master ndar frowned slightly when he heard these words, however, at this moment, something else caught his attention, a sound of something falling to the ground resounded behind him.

 Chapter 92 - Easy Victory

    A few moments ago.


    When Miss Feng''s magic spell was stopped by young master ndar, the two men in ck had already approached Randy.


    "Brat! Time to pay for being arrogant in front of our young master!"


    One of the men said as he reached his hand out to grab Randy''s shoulder.


    Meanwhile, the other man in ck did not find the need to interfere since just one of them is enough to deal with a brat like him, so he stood back to prevent Miss Feng from interfering in case she tried to cast some spell.


    Randy appeared clueless about what was going on as he did not even feel the need to turn around when one of the men in ck shouted behind him.


    However when the man''s hand was about to grab hold of his shoulder, in that instant, Randy vanished on the spot.


    "What the fuck! Where did he go?!"


    "Hey! Watch out! Behind you!" The other man in ck shouted from behind.


    "What are you¡ª"


    At this moment, a figure silently appeared behind the man in ck at the front.


    This was Randy.


    At thest moment, he used one of the spells that heprehended from the recorded spells to increase his speed and easily dodged the opposition''s attack.


    At this moment, he did not waste time and casually threw a punch at the other party before they could react to his presence.


    "Bam!"


    "Urgh! Who the fuck¡­"


    The man in ck cursed and tried to turn to see who hit him in the back of his head, however, the next moment, he lost consciousness and shortly fell to the floor.


    "Thud!"


    Seeing this, the other man in ck was instantly enraged as he immediately closed the distance between him and Randy.


    "You fucking brat! Do you think I will let you go after hitting my junior?!"


    Saying so, he threw a punch at Randy''s face.


    "Die!"


    "Mountain Shaking Punch!"


    Randy watched the approaching fist with a calm expression.


    And when the other party''s fist was only a hair''s breadth away from his head, he muttered: "Bind!"


    Instantly strings made out of mana appeared on the floor of the shop and quickly wrapped around the figure of the man in ck who was trying to punch him, halting his movement afterward.


    "What?! How is that possible! Isn''t that a third circle magic spell, ''bind'' which was higher level magic than the second circle magic spell, ''restrain''? How are you able to use this spell?" The man in ck muttered in disbelief.


    ''Fuck! Is this brat also a mage?''


    ''Damn it! I thought he was a warrior with that physique and that he only came here to buy enhancement techniques.'' He thought in frustration when he noticed that he could not move his body no matter how much he tried.


    He was only a third rank magical warrior and judging by the fact that he could not break free from the magic spell despite the strength of the spell itself being only third circle magic, at that moment, he could only assume that the other party was most likely stronger than him.


    "Brat! If you know what is good for you, you will let me go right now." He tried to threaten the other party.


    Randy responded with a scowled expression: "Now why would I do that? On another thought, I think you should just sleep for now..."


    "What do you mean¡­"


    "Bam!"


    "Ahhk!"


    He was also strongly struck in the back of head and immediately fell to the floor.


    "Thud!"


    Randy looked at the two men in ck on the floor with an indifferent expression.


    ''You should all feel lucky that Miss Feng is here, otherwise, this wouldn''t have been all the treated you would receive from me.'' Randy thought in spite as he turned his attention to the source of all this trouble.


    ¡­


    On the other end.


    Miss Feng was momentarily shocked when she saw how Randy easily took down two magical warriors as if it was nothing.


    However, when she thought about whose child he was, she could not help but giggle as he looked at the arrogant young master ndar.


    "Why are youughing? What is so funny?" The confused young master ndar questioned.


    Miss Feng stoppedughing, shook her head, and replied: "I guess I was worrying for nothing, and you, I am assuming you have no idea whose child you''re messing with here, do you?"


    "What are you trying to say? Just get to the point!" Young master ndar impatiently said to her.


    Hearing him, Miss Feng smiled and shook her head once again and said: "Even in this entire Sky Rise City, there aren''t many who could be her match in the same profession, and yet, you dare to hurt her son? It appears that you''re not afraid to lose your life in this eastern district."


    When he heard this, young master ndar was still perplexed by her statement and immediately fell in thought as he pondered her words for a bit and then he realized something before muttering: "You don''t mean¡­"


    At this point, a sound of something falling to the ground resounded behind him, making him turn around to look at the source.


    Earlier, when one of the men in ck fell to the ground, he had initially thought that his men had apprehended the brat.


    However, a moment ago, Randy had knocked the restrained man in ck unconsciousness and he fell to the floor shortly after.


    And coincidently, at that exact moment, young master ndar was deeply pondering about Miss Feng''s words so after suddenly hearing the noise in the background, he unconsciously turned around to check the source of the noise.


    When he turned around though, he was shocked to find out that all his men were already defeated by the brat, and the brat was at this moment looking straight at him.


    Randy looked at the other party for a brief moment before muttering: "Body Enhancement!"


    Whoosh!


    His figure disappeared and a few momentster, he appeared right in front of young master ndar, shocking him greatly.


    And then he opened his mouth and spoke in a displeased tone: "Mr. ndar, do you only know how to nder people, and then attack them when things don''t go your way? In that case, would you like it if I refer to you as Mr. nder or Mr. Unreasonable instead?"


    Randy said in a slightly cold tone and did not wait for the other party to respond as he continued: "I really don''t understand this situation. I only met you today and here you are acting aggressively towards me. Do you think I would not retaliate or something? Or perhaps you thought I was an easy target?"


    "You insolent brat!" Young master ndar, who could not take his words anymore shouted angrily as he gritted his teeth.


    And then he continued to speak in an exasperated tone: "Do you know who you are talking to in that tone of voice. I''ll have you..."


    "Badabada¡­ I don''t care who you are, but I do care that you tried to harm me just now. So while we''re on that topic, what do you think I should do when someone tried to attack me, huh?"


    Randy waved his hand dismissively as he suddenly cut the other party''s speech short, and he then questioned in a meaningful tone.

 Chapter 93 - A Duel

    Randy''s words caused the arrogant young master ndar to be stunned for a brief moment.


    And then heughed and said: "To think that you will be acting this arrogant just because you managed to take down my bodyguards? Did you think I need those bodyguards to take care of me? If you thought so, then I''ll have you know right now that you are sorely mistaken about that notion."


    Saying so, he started exuding the vast magical energy in his body, which was so solid enough to form a sort of ayered barrier-like armor on the surface of his body.


    Randy immediately sensed the vast energying out of the other party''s body and he could tell right away that the man in front of him was much stronger than him in terms of the amount of magical energy that he had in his body.


    A momentter, Randy thought for a bit and then said in a serious tone: "Since that is the case, young master nder¡­ Do you mind testing out whether you''ll be able to hurt me first or I''ll be able to hurt you first? After all, you seem to be confident in your abilities, and you also seem to hold some sort of animosity towards me for some reason, even though I have no idea why you will act like this toward a stranger you met for the first time."


    ''Either this guy is simply too conceited because of his family background or something else is at y here enough for him to act like this toward me even though all I did was decline buying stuff from his magic shop.'' Randy silently thought to himself.


    "Hahaha! You impudent little brat! It seems like you really do not know the limits of your little strength. Fine, I will let you feel the difference between our strengths in a moment. Judging from the fact that you only used that third circle magic spell, I can infer that you''re only a third circle mage."


    Saying this, he snickered in disdain and slowly said: "To think that a measly third circle mage dares to pick a fight against me, who is a fifth circle mage? Very well, I shall entertain you. Do not me me for what happened afterward."


    As he said this, he turned to Miss Feng and then said in an indifferent tone: "Feng Yun, you shall bear witness to this duel, and do not interfere no matter what happens because I did not suggest this duel to begin with, so you cannot say afterwards that I am unreasonable when the brat gets hurt on his own ord."


    Hearing this from him, Miss Feng was instantly worried and then she turned to look at Randy, about to say something, but Randy shook his head to stop her.


    And then he said to her in assurance: "Miss Feng, don''t worry, he will never be able to defeat the current me; I can easily handle someone like him."


    "What a bold statement, hope you can back it up and not simply rely on your words." Young master ndar scoffed and said when he heard Randy''s confident words.


    Hearing these words, Miss Feng stopped what she was about to say before and nodded her head in response and instead said with concern: "If you say so, then I will not interfere. But if something happens or that you''re not certain about winning, you should immediately give up on this duel; there''s no reason risk getting hurt. In the event that you get hurt from this duel, I don''t want to be med by your mother for what happens here today. After all, whenever your mother gets angry, she gets really scary."


    "Haha¡­" Randy onlyughed at her words and did not say anything in return.


    And then he turned to young master ndar, who seemed to be chanting an incantation for a spell in the distance.


    When Randy saw this, he narrowed his eyes and then thought in his mind, ''This guy really is unscrupulous, we haven''t even decided when to start the duel and he is already chanting an incantation for his spell.''


    Right now, Randy was only standing about 3 meters away from the other party and thus, he would not be able to dodge the other party''s spell attack if it came suddenly.


    Miss Feng also noticed this and then frowned in discontent before saying: "Young master ndar, don''t you think this is considered cheating if you''ve already started chanting your incantation before the duel even begins?"


    Saying so, she activated the protective barrier to protect all the spell books on the second floor and also to separate themselves from the bookshelf.


    Right now, they were standing on the wide opened space that came into view the moment one walks in here, right before one could even see the bookshelf at the back.


    Young master ndar did not pay any attention to her words and only continued to chant the spell in audible voice this time.


    "O'' me of the heavens the burns everything in its path, bring down the arrogant opponent in front of me. Let your scorching heat render their flesh¡­"


    At this point, Randy was observing the formation of the spell from the other party and then he suddenly disyed a surprised expression as his eyes were left wide open.


    ''He is actually taking that long to cast a single spell? Well, this is good for me, I guess.'' Randy silently thought to himself in surprise.


    This thought of his onlysted for a moment as he instantly dashed forward when his enhanced body from the earlier magic spell that he had cast.


    This was the ''body enhancement'' spell that heprehended with the system''s help during the time when he was looking through the spell books on the shelves.


    This spell was one of the spells that intrigued him right away and so, he decided toprehend it on the spot, but he never thought that he would have to use it right away in this ce.


    Although the spell itself had a duration, and it even consumed a quarter of his magical energy to increase his basic statistics by fifty percent in total.


    However, there was still enough time left for him to end this fight.


    The next moment he traversed the distance of 2 meters and appeared in front of young master nder and immediately threw a punch at him.


    "Bam!"


    The sound of an impact resounded a momentter.


    [Void Punch]


    However, the other party already had erected a barrier upying 1 meter radius around themself, so Randy''s punch did not faze the other party a single bit and they instead smirk when Randy punched reach them.


    "Do you think that will be enough to get through my barrier? How na?ve, what did I even expect from a brat like you." Young master ndar said in contempt when he saw that Randy''s attack was rendered useless by his protective barrier.


    At this moment, he had almost finished with his spell and he was about to direct his spell at Randy, however at this same moment, without hesitation Randy threw another punch with his other arm.


    "Bam!"


    "Hmph! Do you think that the same technique would work on my barrier even though it did not work on it the first time? How ignorant. And now, y time is over, take this¡ª Incendiary m¡­"


    However, the next moment, he immediately shut his mouth when he suddenly noticed that at some unknown time, he had received multiple internal injuries as he could feel his muscles and his internal organs shaking from an unknown attack that pervaded his body.


    [Void Wave Punch]


    "What did you¡­" He muttered but he soon noticed another punch raining down on his barrier.


    "Bam!"


    [Void Rippling Punch]


    "Crack!"


    At this moment, when he lost concentration momentarily, his magic barrier also broke down as it seemed to stem from an artifact rather than a spell that he had cast.

 Chapter 94 - Defeat

    When young master ndar noticed that his carefully erected barrier was breaking down, his heart immediately sank to the bottom.


    However, he could not simply ignore the sudden pain in his body, and due to that, the barrier continued to break down.


    That was because when he stopped inserting magical energy into the artifact, the artifact he was using to shield himself also stopped working altogether thus leading to the magic barrier breaking down.


    Randy on the other hand did not waste this time and rushed toward the other party when they were still confused about his earlier attack and immediately threw another punch at him.


    "BAM!"


    Randy struck him directly on his face without holding back too much, after all the other party was a rich young master with profound background, meaning that he might still have some other tricks up his sleeves to counter his attack.


    Sure enough, although he was sent flying away, however young master ndar seemed not to be hurt that badly in contrast to how impactful Randy''s attack may seem, probably due to another artifact or defense equipment that he always carried with him.


    Nheless, Randy was certain that the other party could still feel the impact from his punch due to the effects of his technique, Void Rippling Punch.


    This fist technique''s specialty was to send wave after wave outwards the more one struck out.


    And then the waves stack or ovep to form a sort of ripple effect or chaotic shockwave that permeates the pores on one''s body, which then causes internal damage depending on how strong the opponent was.


    And also, from this encounter, Randy could finally infer that the ripple from his fist technique could even permeate through an erected magical barrier.


    Since the attack itself, was not physical and mostly relied on the atmosphere, in other words, the air or wind that naturally existed in the atmosphere was what Randy depended on to execute the fist technique.


    Everybody needs to breathe in the air in the atmosphere if they want to continue living and thus, one that could manipte this element of nature could essentially cause significant damage to a living being.


    Although this technique of his was not powerful enough to manipte the air directly, nevertheless, the effect it had on humans was quite satisfying.


    "Urghh! You fucking brat! How dare you punch my face; I haven''t evenpleted casting my spell, how shameless. Do you know how much healing potion it would cost to restore my body back to normal? You will have topensate me for this damage!"


    Young master ndar said as he held his nose that seemed to be bleeding from Randy''s attack.


    Randy observed him and he noticed that the other party was not physically hurt but most likely due to his fist technique, his nose was bleeding from inside out.


    At this moment, Randy opened his mouth and said: "What are you talking about? And you got the wrong idea here¡­ Did I say that I was going to wait for you to finish with your spell? And also, judging from how long you were taking to cast that spell of yours, you must''ve been casting some shy and dangerous spell, am I right? Otherwise, why would you be taking that long tounch your attack? You''re not going to tell me that I am lying about this, right?"


    "¡­"


    The whole ce suddenly turned silent with young master ndar not having a way to exin himself because if he were to lie and say something like, ''You''re only trying to avoidpensating me by saying this or your assumption is wrong, that was only a low ranking magic spell, how could that have been a dangerous spell?'' The moment he says something like that, he would be proven wrong by the bystander, Miss Feng.


    And thus he could not respond to Randy''s im at this moment.


    Although he was an arrogant young master of a prestigious family... no, precisely because he was from a prestigious family that he knew when to stop embarrassing himself.


    Randy also did not care for his response and so, he turned to Miss Feng who was standing by the side with a stunned expression as she did not expect Randy to win against the other party so easily.


    However, that was not what caused her to be shocked, it was the way Randy carried himself and the way he spoke to the other party enough to cause them to be unable to talk back to him.


    ''Has this boy always been this overbearing? Does he take after his mother perhaps?'' She thought to herself as she continued to look at Randy.


    "Miss Feng, I am sorry for inconveniencing you like this today, but I will be taking my leave now that this matter had taken care of." Randy said to Miss Feng snapping her out of her daze.


    "Oh, okay." She then replied to him.


    "Oh," Randy then turned to young master ndar in the distance who was propping himself up at this moment and said in a calm tone: "You guys had better leave this shop if you''re only here to cause trouble, because the next time we meet, I won''t be holding back my punches then."


    Saying that Randy turned to the stairs and then walked away in calm but quick steps.


    And very soon, he descended the stairs and then left the Mystic Magic Shop shortly after.


    ¡­


    After he left, everyone on the second floor had dumbfounded expressions on their faces including Miss Feng, especially from hisst speech that sounded like a warning to young master ndar.


    ''He won''t be holding his punches? Who does this brat think he is?'' Young master ndar gritted his teeth as he thought with a furious expression.


    He had never been embarrassed like this before.


    "Men, what are you all doing still lying there,e and help me up?" He then shouted at the two men in ck.


    They were unconscious the whole time but woke up right before Randy said hisst speech and then left afterward.


    "Our apologies, young master." The two men quickly bowed and said in unison.


    "Save your nonsense ande help me up." Young master ndar said in an impatient voice, clearly irritated.


    "But young master, just who was that brat? To be able to take us down before we even got close to him..." One of the men in ck said with a frown.


    He was the one that was taken down before he could even throw a punch.


    "His mana fluctuations indicate that he was almost at the peak level of a fourth rank magical warrior, but he was also a mage judging by how he was using magic spells along with his physical attack." The other man also said as he helped young master ndar up.


    He was the one that experienced Randy''s binding spell firsthand before he was ultimately taken down.


    Young master ndar was also curious about this matter and so, when he heard his men''s words, he instantly turned to Miss Feng.


    "Hehe, so you''re still curious, huh? Well, it doesn''t matter anyway¡­ I will tell you now, so get it through your thick skulls. That ''brat'' you were talking about is the son of that person." Miss Feng said in a mysterious voice.


    "Who?"


    The other parties all asked in unison.


    "¡­The Angelic Ice Mage. And well, I don''t need to say anymore, right?" Miss Feng took her sweet time to say this, she enjoyed watching their anticipation expressions as she built up the suspension.


    "What?!"


    The other parties all eximed when they heard this.


    "D-D-Do you mean that seventh circle mage that mostly specialized in ice spells and techniques?" Young master ndar stuttered as he muttered these words in shock.


    It would appear that he did not anticipate this kind of answer.


    ''Fuck! So he was the child of those two monsters from 19 years ago during that tragic incident?''


    ''Damn it, how could I have run into that woman''s child in this ce? ...Then again, I could say that I was very lucky to not have managed to hurt that brat and was instead hurt by him.''


    "Phew¡­"


    Thinking about all these, he could only sigh in relief for some reason in the end, as if some sort of burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

 Chapter 95 - Cornered

    Young master ndar was silent for a brief moment before a sudden realization dawned on him.


    ''Wait a second! that damned guy from the Silvermoon family did not mention any of this when he asked me to help him catch that brat by luring him into my magic shop.''


    ''¡­Fucking bastard! Did he already know about the true identity of the brat and choose not to tell me?!''


    ''Hmph! Since this is how you''re going to y it, then don''t me me for not saying anything regarding what happened here.''


    ''That bastard actually thought that the brat was only a warrior with some special concealment ability, but that was far from it. Who would think that someone with such a muscr body would turn out to be a mage? Hehehe¡­ Now I would like to see how you bastards are going to deal with him then.''


    He thought all these in satisfaction and also somehow pleased that he did not harm the son of that woman.


    With that thought in mind, he did not bother saying anything else to Miss Feng before leaving her shop with his men.


    Miss Feng was bewildered by the expression that young master ndar was making as he left her shop.


    That was because upon hearing her words the other party was instantly shocked, and then the next moment, he suddenly disyed a satisfied expression which was very strange.


    And then without saying anything to her, he left her shop with his men.


    ''What is wrong with that guy? His expression at the end was very strange; It was unlike someone who was afraid a moment ago, instead, he seems satisfied about something.'' Miss Feng thought in confusion.


    And then she thought about it and muttered after a moment: "Well, as long as nothing had happened here today, I don''t particrly care about what that arrogant Paul ndar was thinking as he left."


    "And also, he seems to be scared when I mentioned Riley''s title so that should be good enough to prevent any thought that he might have towards Randy after today''s event." Miss Feng muttered to herself in conclusion.


    After saying this, she released the protective barrier on the second floor''s bookshelves and immediately went downstairs to take care of her things.


    ¡­


    As Randy left the magic shop, he kept on thinking about what he should do after this.


    He contemted whether he should go to the nearby shops to check out the movement techniques and or footwork techniques that they had in stock.


    However, after deliberating about it for a bit, he suddenly paused in his step, changed his direction, and decided to head home instead since it was already getting dark outside.


    When he checked his smart bracelet a while ago, it was already way past 6 o''clock in the evening, and he was certain that he would spend too much time picking what technique would suit him.


    And with that thought in mind, he chose to head home instead of heading to the other technique shops.


    Randy walked the streets for a while and then all of a sudden, he felt like something was wrong with his surroundings.


    In reality, for a while now, he noticed that someone had been tailing him ever since he decided to head to themercial section to buy magic spell books.


    And this time, unlikest time when he was being followed by one person, he could feel more than one person on his tail.


    He could tell this because, ever since he came to themercial section of this city, he noticed strange pairs of eyes gazing in his direction.


    And even though the other parties pretended to act normal by reading something on their smart bracelets and or smoking as they followed him, however, Randy could tell that these people were poor actors at a nce and that they were without a doubt tailing him.


    But he did not pay them any mind and he went to handle his matters as he was certain that the other parties would not dare to do anything in themercial section where there were a lot of people that could serve as eyewitnesses if they were to attempt something.


    However, now that he was out of the shop, it seems the other parties were acting bolder whenpared to before, not even bothering to act like they were preupied with something like before as they continued to follow behind him as he made his way home.


    At this point, Randy could not tell the intention of this group of people, however, he was not going to let them follow him home.


    And with that thought, he made a detour on his way as he headed towards the direction of that abandoned building that he was taken to before by Jeremiah''s goons.


    Despite making this choice, he took notice to not get too close to that abandoned building since there was a dimensional rift that was currently being managed by the government inside that building after his incident.


    The good thing about this location was that no one found this ce safe and so, there was no one was living in the buildings within the vicinity of that abandoned building.


    That building was a factory and ever since the massacre that urred in that factory that took the lives of many workers in the factory at the time when a dimensional rift appeared in the building of the factory a few years back, most people chose to move away from the vicinity of the factory out of fear.


    Thinking about this, Randy decided that this was a good ce to deal with this group of people without causing too much trouble.


    He slowly and calmly walked into one of the alleys that had enough space between two buildings, the path of the alley seemed too big for an alley, but it was just right for the current situation.


    After walking into the alley for a while, Randy suddenly stopped.


    The reason for stopping in his tracks was not because he thought the distance was good enough, but because in front of him was a wall preventing any further movement.


    It seems like there was a dead-end at the end of the alley and so, Randy also stopped as he turned around to face the group of people.


    At this moment, he opened his mouth, about to say something but then he stopped and immediately scowled when he noticed that something was wrong with the space that he was currently standing in.


    At this point, someone suddenly spoke in a mocking tone: "Tsk, tsk, tsk. I really don''t know what to say about this situation. Are you just confident in your abilities or are you just in stupid to lead me all the way to this abandoned location on your ord? Have you thought of the possibility of being cornered because of this decision of yours?"


    As the other party said this, they slowly walked toward Randy from the entrance of the alley.


    When he walked for some more, he shook his head and continued to speak: "I don''t know what they had been teaching you brat nowadays at those fancy academies of yours, but now that I see how you reacted to your current situation, it seemed that it was anything noteworthy. And now, this reckless action of yours is going to lead to your death."


    Hearing these words, Randy did not say anything in return as he stared at the other party and around them cautiously.

 Chapter 96 - Challenge

    After the other party''s figure came into view, Randy was able to look closely at their appearance.


    Despite their odd appearance, Randy could still tell that the other party was a man with disheveled but long ck hair.


    They had on brown sunsses and a ck leather coat that fluttered along with the movement of the wind.


    At this moment, the man had his hand in his pocket as he continued to walk towards Randy with a nonchnt expression.


    Looking at the approaching sunsses man in the distance, Randy scowled further as his gaze focused on the surroundings of the sunsses man.


    And shortly after, he disyed a confused expression while carefully observing the surroundings.


    ''Could it be that I was wrong or¡­? Maybe they are hidden somewhere around the two buildings¡­ Or behind that man¡­ no, but that can''t be right, there is no one but this man in this alley right at this moment.''


    Randy deeply pondered for a brief moment, and then his expression gradually became serious as he continued to look at the man with a cautious gaze.


    The sunsses man also noticed that the young man in front of him was not even paying attention to him, causing him to narrow his eyes to observe the young man''s actions.


    He realized that the young man was instead looking around him as if to find something.


    Observing his actions for a while, the sunsses man instantly understood and then inwardly praised him and said: "Brat, your senses are not bad for a stupid brat that is. You seem to notice that there are more of us judging by how you have been looking around so frantically."


    And then he paused for a moment, revealed a confident smile before saying: "But it''s no use; no matter how good your senses are, you cannot possibly discern the location of my subordinates in this ce."


    "This ce¡­" Randy muttered words when he heard the sunsses man''s words, and then he immediately fell into thought.


    ''So that is what I was feeling since earlier¡­? Just like I thought, something was indeed wrong with this ce. The moment I arrived here, I felt like I walked through some thin barrier before entering this alley.''


    ''I can''t tell what it is, but it felt like we are no longer in the same location or space and yet at the same, we are in the same location. This truly is a strange feeling¡­ Wait, don''t tell me¡­''


    Randy suddenly thought of one possibility, but he could notplete his thoughts as the other party started to speak again.


    "Well, enough with the talking, I heard from the young lord that you seem to have something akin to their bloodline ability¡­ beatification. So, why don''t I have you show it to me? Hmm? I am quite very interested in what could attract that arrogant bastard''s attention." The sunsses man bluntly said to him.


    "What are you talking about? And who sent you?"


    Randy chose to speak this time however, he tried ying ignorant even though he could essentially tell who was behind this.


    "Little brat, no need to ask too many questions, I don''t particrly like talking too much with my prey. Just do as told, and this situation would swiftlye to an end. I might even consider letting you go after this, so what do you think?" The sunsses man said to him as he showed a not so gentle smile.


    Randy was silent for a moment as he looked at the other party, and then he instantly understood that he had no choice but to fight this one out.


    Although there was a chance that he might lose his life during this event, nevertheless, since he had already decided to change his previous lifestyle, so there was no turning back at this point.


    Unlike before, where he had to endure every single humiliation thrown at him without saying anything or fighting against it, this time, he will be facing the opponents'' attack head-on and aiming to win.


    Other than that, he was willing to bet his life on the line fighting off these people who thought he was an easy target without any hesitation.


    At this moment, this is a challenge that he must take on to prove to himself that this path that he ns to continue walking in the future was the right one and not just him spouting nonsense to feel good about himself or newfound strength.


    With conviction, Randy clenched his fist tightly as he peered at the man in the distance who suddenly stopped when he was a certain distance away from him.


    Using his senses, Randy was able to tell that apart from the sunsses man standing in front of him, there should be others beside him.


    That was because his base senses had grown sharper and keen after he had broken through to the first realm in his psionic energy cultivation.


    While still using his senses since earlier, he was able to deduce that those people might not be as strong whenpared to the sunsses man in front of him, but he cannot rule out the possibility of them having some strange abilities.


    With that thought in mind, he did not let his guard down as he prepared for any random attack from the front and the top of the buildings.


    Also, he could vaguely tell that the sunsses man in front of him might have abat prowess akin to an A-rank''s power level at most, but that was when hepared it to that burr that he encountered a few days ago.


    Since that burr was also an A-rank in terms ofbat prowess, Randy was able to use his power fluctuations to estimate this opponent''s strength in general.


    "So how about it, have you made up your mind?" The man spoke upon noticing that the other party seemed to not respond to his words and instead appeared to be thinking about something else.


    "¡­"


    Randy still did not respond to him, which then annoyed the other party.


    And then he questioned in an impatient tone: "Brat! Are you going to show me your transformation or not?! If not, then you leave me no choice but to beat you up until you''re willing to do so."


    "¡­"


    Randy remained silent as he stared at the other party. He was not willing to give in so easily to them.


    To be more precise, he was thinking about how to execute his attacks without incurring the wrath of the other party''s subordinates.


    Thinking about that, he remained vignt as he prepared to active his skill depending on the situation.


    Looking at him being so cautious, the sunsses man remembered something and then said: "Oh right, do not even think for a second that you''ll be able to defeat me as you did with my subordinate the other day.


    And he continued with a cold tone of voice: "You should know, I was quite shocked that a mere brat of the academy managed to defeat one of my strongest subordinates. And judging from the state he was in when we found him, and also his recount of what happened, it seemed that he could not even put up a fight before he was easily defeated by you."


    "That got me interested, and so, to redeem my gang''s reputation in these parts, I came here to deal with you myself. You should feel very honored that you''re receiving this kind of treatment from me."


    After saying that, the man with long ck hair and brown sunsses readied himself as if he was about to dash toward the other party at any moment.

 Chapter 97 - Ruthless

    Hearing these words from the other party, Randy raised his eyebrows in surprise and then casually said in return: "Is that so? Then I will let you experience what your subordinate experienced right before he fainted."


    After saying so, the next moment, he suddenly vanished from the spot that he was standing on, causing the sunsses man to be shocked momentarily.


    However, unlike the other times, where Randy was either dashing forward or executing his skill to increase his speed, this time, on the other hand, he stood in the same position without any movement.


    A momentter, his appearance and presence instantly disappeared altogether as if he had vanished from this world.


    [[Assimted Mode Activated]]


    [[Assimted Type: Stealthy Python]]


    [[Stealth Scales Skill Activated]]


    [[Passive Assimted Ability, ''Python Eyes Trait'' Activated]]


    [[Thermal Detection Skill Activated]]


    [[Due to the effects of the trait, ''Python Eyes'', the skill, Thermal Detection''s effectiveness has been greatly improved]]


    [[Reinforcement(Strength of the Stealthy Python) Skill Activated]]


    [[All your basic statistics had increased by 25% due to the effects of the Reinforcement Skill]]


    The sunsses man started sensing around to find where Randy might be or where he was going to attack from to no avail.


    "Hmm? Where did you go, and how can you make even your presence disappear?"


    The sunsses man realized that he could not find him no matter how much he had tried even though this stealth skill of his Randy was not too high leveled at the moment.


    "How interesting¡­ What an interesting ability you have there." The sunsses manmented in admiration.


    After observing around for a brief moment, the sunsses man continued in a mysterious tone: "So that was how you dealt with my subordinate, but did you know we anticipated you using this ability beforehand? Did you already forget what I said just now about how you won''t be able to defeat us as easily as you did with my subordinate?"


    Randy was bewildered by the other party''s words, but he decided to ignore it for now as he was currently adjusting to his assimted state.


    After a while of adjustment to his new state, and as he was trying to make his move based on his new perception, he suddenly noticed two presences through his infrared vision lurking behind him.


    At this point, one of the presences looked like they were throwing a punch at his back.


    ''Shit! I let my guard down.'' He cursed.


    "Bang!"


    "Ugh!"


    Randy groaned in pain as he was sent flying away after being struck directly from behind.


    Although he had been vignt this whole time, however, when he entered the assimted state just now, he instantly became vulnerable.


    That was because of this new assimted state that took away sight and even his perception that changed.


    Due to that, he could not help but take some time to adjust before facing his enemies.


    However, in the end, this gave his enemies the edge they needed tounch their attack on him when he was nothing paying attention for a brief moment.


    "Hmm? Are you kidding me, to think you managed to react in time to dodge my attack¡­?" The presence said in disbelief as they seemed surprised that the other party managed to dodge their attack at such a close distance.


    And then they continued: "Interesting¡­ I even aimed for your spine to avoid too much struggle, but as it turned out you shifted your body at thest moment before my attack even hit. Now I understand why you were able to defeat that Ghost Hands; I thought that he was just negligent, and he let his guard down, but now I see that was not the case and it was the target that was a tricky one¡­"


    After saying this, the presence stopped talking, stood back, and made some gesturing to the other presence beside them regarding something.


    Randy observed these actions from the other parties without reacting to them much as he quickly thought of ways to handle the current situation.


    Just now, he barely managed to dodge the attack at thest moment.


    Otherwise, he would have sustained more damage than just some skin damage.


    Randy held his back with his hand as he surreptitiously continued to observe the presences that appeared on his infrared vision with a pained expression.


    ''Damn it, that bastard did not back on his attack just now; how ruthless. If I did not notice him ahead of time, my spine would have been fractured, or worse, broken from just the impact of his fist. I was lucky that he did not use a weapon to attack me, otherwise...'' Randyined in his mind.


    "Ahahaha! You are an interesting brat. Judging from those words from my subordinate, it seemed that you somehow managed to escape from getting significant damage. I should apud you for your battle sense." The sunsses manughed and said while staring in the nk space.


    And then he continued: "But I guess now you understand what I mean by you cannot escape from this predicament no matter how you try, let alone defeat us."


    "¡­"


    Randy did not respond to the other party as he pondered his next course of action.


    However, at this moment, the sunsses man suddenly dashed forward as if he could perceive his location.


    Without giving him much time to react, the other presence standing with the first presence suddenly approached Randy from the side.


    Right now, Randy was leaning against one of the buildings, and despite the presence approaching him from the side, they did not initiate an attack.


    They just stood there without any movement as if waiting for something.


    Right away, Randy understood what was going on, and without giving the other parties a chance to sneak up on him, he abruptly threw an all-out punch at the presence who was standing on his side.


    "What?! Impossible! How can you see me!" A voice screamed in shock, but it was toote.


    "BAM!"


    "Ahhhhhhh!"


    The presence was hit directly on their chest.


    And right away, they were sent flying while screaming at the top of their lungs.


    Boom!


    And a momentter, they flew past the other presence, crashed into the dead-end wall.


    And soon, the screaming voice abruptly stopped as theyy there limp, bleeding from all their orifices.


    [Void Rippling Punch]


    Randy did not hold back as he used his fist technique at that moment to strike the unguarded presence seemed to be a nonbatant type of awakened and ability holder rather than an actual fighter.


    These sses of people were usually not allowed to enter battles unless they were truly necessary for said battles.


    ording to what Randy had guessed, this guy was most likely the one that identified his location and even hid his gang members'' presence to avoid notice from him.


    However, they did not know that Randy could essentially perceive any entity that was warm-blooded, so it does not matter the technique or ability they use.


    As long as they could not fundamentally mask their entire existence, he could still perceive them through the heat signature or the slight energy fluctuations they may give off.


    Not knowing about this information, this particr gang member lost his life before he could even realize what hit him, and Randy did not even bat an eye at this person.


    After all, these people were so ruthless enough to attack an unguarded student like him.


    So why would he feel the need not to reciprocate such ruthlessness?

 Chapter 98 - Challenging Fight!

    Randy had already suffered enough at the hands of others for way too long, and if, at this moment, he does not fight back, then when does he n to do so?


    If the other parties had the intention to cause him harm and he does not have the determination to harm them, then when would he be able to do so?


    That night, when he was knocked unconscious and taken and helplessly beaten by Jeremiah and his goons, that night was especially vividly memorable for him.


    Enough to the point that it always made him angry whenever he thought back to what he experienced that day.


    The excruciating pain that Randy felt when he was beaten by Jeremiah and his goons that night, was unlike anything that Randy had ever experienced throughout his years.


    And that was because he was already exhausted and worn out from using the training center back then before they even started beating him up.


    And thus, the pain from every punch was etched into his memory, and today when he was hit in the back by the first presence, Randy instantly recalled that sensation from back then.


    Although it was notparable in terms of the force of this attack, but because back then, he had not awakened just yet, so it was pretty much the same in terms of the pain inflicted.


    But so far, he had been keeping his calm, waiting for the suitable time to exact his revenge.


    At this moment, an enraged voice resounded as it approached his position.


    "Fucking brat, show yourself! Are you going to be a coward even after you''ve killed my subordinate?!" The sunsses man exasperatedly shouted and dashed forward.


    "¡­"


    Randy did not respond to the other party''s provocations because right at this moment, their other subordinate had already approached him as soon as the sunsses man started moving toward him.


    The distance between the subordinate and Randy was short, so the other party closed the distance and approached him very quickly.


    The other parties could not see him since Randy couldpletely hide his presence from these people except the one that died by his hand.


    However, if he moved around to attack or dodge their attacks, they could instantly pinpoint his location.


    That was because the moment he makes a move, he would instantly give away his position just from the impact on the ground as he uses it as a foothold to lounge himself forward.


    Due to that, it would make it easy for those experienced inbat to pinpoint his position attack him right away.


    That was an unavoidable situation as it was not like he could fly to avoid their iing random attacks.


    Nheless, he had prepared for this other person''s attack.


    They were the same presence that attacked him before in his back.


    And so, Randy especially had a grudge with this presence from before due to them almost breaking his spine.


    Had he not shifted his body in time to avoid getting his spinal bone from being hit, he would have been left crippled.


    With that thought in mind, he immediately shifted his body as he dodged the subordinate''s attack.


    ording to what he perceived through his infrared vision, it seemed to be some materialized hard substance entirely made up of energy.


    Or at least that was what he saw through his infrared vision.


    Swish!


    A sound of something sharp, cutting through the air, resounded in the background, causing Randy''s heart to beat usually fast at that moment.


    ''What the hell, that was an actual weapon! Now that it hase to this, I need to undo this assimted state.'' Randy inwardly eximed in shock when he realized what was going on.


    As he was about to undo his assimted state, he suddenly stopped.


    ''But wait, if I do that, then I would be risking my life without knowing where the other members of this group of people were hiding beforehand. That is too dangerous¡­'' Randy surmised as he continued to dodge the attacks from the subordinate.


    "Tsk!" Rand felt annoyed after thinking of this.


    "Ahahaha, you are one of the most interesting people that I have met who could avoid my attack at such a close distance." The subordinate said as he continued to attack him, seemingly enjoying this situation.


    And he then continued: "Earlier I only materialized a gauntlet to attack, but this time, would your skin be able to handle the brunt of my scythe''s shes? Ahahaha!"


    Even though he seemed to be mocking Randy, he still kept his eyes on the ces Randy movements as he dodged his attacks, thus chasing after Randy''s position and continuing with his attacks.


    Within the next few moments, the other party kept on shing through the air relentlessly in hopes of cutting him into pieces.


    Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!


    sh!


    Drip!


    ''Damn it!'' Randy cursed as one of the other party''s attacks zed his cheek even though he had already avoided it.


    Blood started dripping down his cheeks from the attack.


    ''I can only see the energy in the weapon and notpletely make out its true form. This is too troublesome; I need to undo my assimted state, regaining my sight to predict the trajectory of the weapon and also its true form.''


    Randy deeply thought as he continued to barely avoid the attacks from the other party using his instincts at this point.


    Although he was able to dodge the attacks sometimes, he could not avoid them all.


    And so right at this moment, there were shallow cuts all over his body, ripping his school uniform apart.


    "My uniform, you bastard! Do you know how much this cost?! Hah!"


    Randy could not take it anymore and shouted in fury when his uniform was gradually ripped by the other party''s weapon attacks, turning it into tattered clothes.


    Until now, he was still second-guessing his decision, but when he noticed that even his clothes were being torn apart by the other party''s attacks, he could not help butsh out by throwing a punch at them.


    However, the other party easily dodged by moving backward before the punch could reach them.


    "Whoa there, what kind of fist technique is this? For it to be capable of causing a ripple in the air, it must be some high-ranking fist technique. Too bad though, I can easily cover my skin with my ability, so whatever that is won''t be able to cause any significant damage to me as you did with our supporter."


    The subordinate proudly dered as they stood in the distance right next to the sunsses man.


    For some unknown reason though, the sunsses man did not bother to intervene during his subordinate''s attacks just now, despite him making a move as if he was going to attack earlier.

 Chapter 99 - Double Enhancement!

    After pondering something for a few moments, the sunsses man suddenly opened his mouth and said to his subordinate.


    "Fashionable Garment Reaper, change of ns, we have to kill that brat."


    "Boss, are you sure?" The subordinate doubtfully asked in return.


    "Hm, I am well aware that we were only supposed to interrogate him, but that young lord did not tell us to bring the brat to him alive and only said to confirm his ability. But so far, the brat hadn''t even used his transformation ability, hell, I don''t even know what ability he is using right now against us." The sunsses man said in clear annoyance.


    The subordinate pondered his words and then doubtfully asked once again: "Boss, are you saying that maybe that young lord had been mistaken¡­?"


    The sunsses man slowly nodded still with a pondering expression.


    The subordinate also thought about it for a bit and said: "Boss may be right. That brat had somehow killed our gang''s most important member that had rare support abilities. I can''t evenprehend or fathom how our supporter suddenly died. After all, we gave him so many protective artifacts that we got our hand on."


    And then he paused for a moment and continued: "That brat''s attacks seemed capable of ignoring the many protective artifacts like nothing and then killing him instantly. Now that I am thinking about it, just what kind of terrifying technique is this brat using? Just now, he almost hit me with some ripple attack¡­"


    The sunsses man cut him off and coldly said: "Enough nonsense! Since when do you use that head of yours? Don''t you understand that it is because of this reason that he has to die? We cannot leave someone like him alive no matter what. Otherwise, in case hees to our doorstep to cause us trouble in the future, no one can stop him."


    "Understood, boss. I hate thinking with my head as it hurts my head to think about unnecessary things. I was originally thinking of killing him too with my earlier attacks; it''s just that the brat is too nimble coupled with his headache-inducing stealth ability." The subordinate quickly agreed with the sunsses man and said.


    "I suppose it''s about time to get more serious¡­" He then muttered with an excited voice.


    After saying so, fashionable garment reaper, as the subordinate was called by his boss, suddenly tossed his precious scythe into the air to let it fall back down.


    And almost right away, his clothes changed into a fashionable armor set made entirely out of energy, but at the same, they were so thin as if they were his real clothes.


    A secondter, the scythended back into his hand as it immediately dissolved.


    To be more precise, it was absorbed into his hand, disappearing into his palm.


    The next moment, from his palm, a new weapon started to appear as it gradually morphed into something.


    And very soon, the manifested new weapon''s appearance was then revealed to be a long solid object.


    An intricate Long Handgun!


    This handgun seemed not to have any magazine slot to insert ammunition.


    However, he was capable of charging the gun with his energy to shoot an energy st, capable of causing some devastating damage, almost as if it were a massive explosion.


    This subordinate of the sunsses man, most of the time, preferred to be referred to as, ''Fashionable Garment Reaper'' due to his insane fascination and attachments towards scythe-type weapons, coupled with his weird sense of fashion.


    Nevertheless, whenever the situation called for it, the things he would create with his creation-type ability would be full of innovation.


    Right now, they were facing an invisible yet somewhat perceptible enemy and the only way to win is to track him down and then kill him off with this new creation of his, the ''sma'' Handgun.


    The new weapon he created was based on the sma gun developed by the magical technology division of the current world.


    At this point, he had already manifested the intricate but fancy gun and taken a hold of it.


    And the next moment, he immediately started charging it with his internal energy.


    ¡­


    On the other end.


    A few moments ago, when the two people, the sunsses man and his subordinate were having their discussion among themselves, Randy took this chance to stand still without making any movement.


    That was because the other parties roughly knew where he was currently, so they were most likely loud enough so that he could hear them.


    Probably to rile him up so that he makes a move just so they could elicit some reaction from him, most likely to confirm what kind of ability he would use against them.


    Nevertheless, no matter the reason behind them speaking so loudly, they appeared to be very serious about killing him based on what Randy had heard from them alone.


    At this point, Randy ignored theirter discussions as he quickly thought of ways to defeat these opponents without exposing himself to danger.


    He thought about maybe using magic, but then he disregarded this thought as that would give him away since a magic circle would need to be constructed and then manifested to use a magic spell.


    His thoughts quickly turned, and then he thought of undoing his current assimted state and using his werewolf form instead since that form could drastically increase his basic statistics.


    However, after deeply thinking about this solution, he realized a certain fact, that is, the possibility of making himself vulnerable to any long-range attack if there are any.


    ''What do I do? If only I could use more than one assimted state¡­


    ''Wait a minute, more than one?! Why didn''t I think about this before?''


    ''Now that I think about it, did the system say anything regarding using more than one assimted state?''


    ''No, I don''t think so. This is worth a try, and if it is possible, then I can get double enhancement from both states.''


    ''But before that¡­''


    After thinking of this possible solution, he quickly nced in front of himself.


    Right now, he was looking at his system''s disy, and then he silently said in his mind.


    ''System, is it possible to use more than one assimted state at the same time?'' Randy asked.


    [[Indeed, it is possible. The host can use more than one assimted state at the same time, however, bear in mind that using more than one assimted state at the same time would put a heavy strain on your physical body and possibly your mental state. In any case, that would solely depend on which assimted states were activated together.]]


    [[Warning: It is rmended that the host only use two assimted states at this point, otherwise there would be some tremendous aftereffects.]]


    The system exined and then warned.


    ''So it is indeed possible¡­? Hahaha... Ahem, now then, time to get serious too¡­''


    After hearing the system''s confirmation, Randy was suddenly filled with joy and instantly gained more confidence than before.


    As for the assimted states'' warning, it does not matter because right now, he only had two usable assimted states anyway.. That burr''s assimted blood had converted into his very own blood and thus lost its effect to perform a true assimted state transformation; the same goes for Jiang Chen''s blood.

 Chapter 100 - The Determined Sunglasses Man

    After regaining some of his confidence, Randy immediately urged the activation of his second assimted state.


    [[Assimted Mode Activated]]


    [[Assimted Type: Werewolf King of Wind]]


    [[Reinforcement(Strength of the Werewolf King) Skill Has Been Fully Activated]]


    [[Passive Assimted Ability, ''Heightened Senses Trait'' Activated]]


    [[Due to the effects of the trait, ''Python Eyes'' your sense of hearing has been greatly improved]]


    Right at this moment, Randy could feel various changes urring to his body.


    Besides his overflowing hair that was grown touching his back, he could also feel changes urring to his senses.


    It was a very miraculous feeling, almost as if he could tell the position of his opponents just based on the sound of their breathing alone.


    Moreover, his infrared vision remained, but it seemed that he got more blindpared to before.


    Assuming this dual-state caused him to be confused for a moment, especially with how heightened his senses were currently due to the werewolf''s trait.


    If he is not careful enough, he might permanently cause some damage to his senses due to how overloaded they were currently.


    That was because, at this moment, all his senses were screaming at him as a form of warning.


    But he does not have the time to worry about such a thing right now.


    Boom!


    The next moment, Randy had kicked the ground and immediately closed the distance between him and the subordinate, as ording to what Randy could perceive with infrared vision seemed to be umting some energy into something like a weapon.


    He stood there unguarded due to this, so Randy decided to get rid of him before he turned too troublesome to deal with if he were to finish umting energy into that weapon of his.


    As Randy reached the subordinate and was able to hit the other party, all of a sudden, another presence appeared in front of him as if they could see him despite his stealth form.


    "Weight Change, Heavy!" The sunsses man shouted as he blocked Randy''s punch with a punch of his own.


    "Boom!"


    The two of them shed, causing the wind in the surroundings to pick up and start howling from the force of their attacks.


    Randy was pushed a few inches backward, but the opposition remained stationary like a mountain in front of his subordinate, who was still concentrating on charging his handgun.


    "Fashionable Garment Reaper, how long do you need to charge that thing." The sunsses man asked without looking back.


    "Hmm¡­ Just a few seconds more, boss." The subordinate replied after thinking for a bit.


    "How many seconds exactly? Are you sure that the thing in your hand would be enough to take him down?" The sunsses man asked in doubt.


    "I only need about 20 seconds, and don''t worry boss; have I ever disappointed you with my creations?" The subordinate confidently said in assurance.


    The boss thought about it and then nodded before saying: "Very well, then I would hold the brat back until you''re done. Just now, I used 70 percent of my attack power, and yet he still appeared unscathed judging by the fact that he was not groaning or wailing in pain as we speak, so you better hurry up with charging that thing."


    Randy, who had been listening in on their conversation while he tried to get used to his dual-states at this moment, spoke out.


    "Are you guys done talking? Then I will not be holding back from now either." He said.


    Saying so, he took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to prepare himself.


    And then he muttered in a low voice: "Body Enhancement."


    [[The Magic Spell, ''Body Enhancement'' had been activated]]


    This was the type of spell that could temporarily enhance one''s physical abilities, which was dependent on the amount of magical energy used to cast it.


    With this requirement, just about anyone could use it as long as theyprehend the spell.


    Naturally, since it depends on one''s magical energy, the effect could vary depending on who used it.


    And right now, Randy was under the effect of two assimted states, causing his basic statistics to rise to S-rank alone.


    So what would happen if he were to use body enhancement on top of his already buffed-up body?


    With that thought and anticipation in mind, after chanting the spell, Randy quickly observed the changes to his body with a smile.


    Whoosh¡ª¡ª


    The next moment, Randy abruptly vanished, as he moved as quickly as lightning and suddenly appeared at the back subordinate''s back within a mere second.


    This movement in the wind caught the sunsses man off guard as he did not anticipate the other party''s speed to increase out of nowhere.


    At this moment, he suddenly felt a terrifying aura behind him, and he immediately turned around and bted screamed.


    "NO¡ª¡ª Watch out!" He said to his subordinate.


    "Huh?" The subordinate, unaware, only said this before¡­


    "BAM!"


    He was punched in his back just like he did with Randy, snapping his spine and shattering it.


    He did not even have the chance to scream before the handgun he was charging exploded due to the sudden disruption.


    "BOOM!"


    As the subordinate was propelled forward from Randy''s punch, the earth-shattering explosion also affected the sunsses man, who was on his path.


    Boom!


    Very soon, they both crashed into one of the buildings, burrowing a hole right through the building wall due to the tremendous force from both the explosion and Randy''s punch.


    "Arghhhhh!"


    At this moment, a figure suddenly jumped out of the hole and madly charged forward.


    "You detestable brat! I will kill you with my own hands. I will avenge my subordinates today with your head on a spike!" The sunsses man had bloodshot eyes as he shouted this.


    As the leader, how could he stand by and watch people his men right under his own eyes? Where would he put his face if someone found out about this?


    And so, he made up his mind to fight the brat himself and stop relying on his subordinates.


    Randy, on the other hand, weed the other party''s enthusiastic deration by charging forward to confront them.


    And very soon, both of them had already exchanged blow after blow, but the sunsses man''s punch was mostly hitting the air, as he could not see Randy''s form as they fought, only making his form after he throws a punch.


    Nevertheless, he did not relent and continued to exchange blows with Randy despite being on the losing side because his very pride was on the line.

 Chapter 101 - Go To Hell With Me!

    In the alley, the two people were still exchanging blows vigorously, one was a middle-aged man, who had adorned a long ck coat, and the other party was not even perceptible with the naked eye.


    However, if one looked closely, one could see that the middle-aged man with the long ck coat was being bombarded with punches unceasingly that seemed.


    He was currently being suppressed helplessly by the punches of the invisible entity that he was fighting.


    And naturally, the middle-aged man was the sunsses man who was currently engaged in a fierce fight against Randy that had activated his dual-assimted state.


    Bam! Bam! Bang! Bam! Bam! Bang! BAM!


    "Kukh!!"


    At this moment, the sunsses man was abruptly thrown and sent flying backward from the impact of Randy''sst punch.


    However, despite the force of his attack, the sunsses man still somehow managed to withstand it by blocking in front of himself with his two arms that seemed swollen at this moment.


    Just from this exchange, one could only imagine how many battles the sunsses man had fought for his battle sense to be this great, even against an imperceptible enemy.


    After exchanging blows with the sunsses man for a while, Randy discovered something about the other party.


    He noticed that the sunsses man seemed to possess an ability that can instantaneously increase his speed and, at the same time, increase his burst of strength drastically.


    However, it seemed like this ability of his could only be used one at a time.


    Nheless, the time between each activation was most likely a second, which was more than enough to avoid some of Randy''s deadly attacks.


    With this cooldown between activation, the sunsses man hadsted for about 50 seconds under Randy''s assault.


    "Fucker! What kind of fist technique is this?! Why are my insides stirring as the fight went on."


    The sunsses man cursed when he noticed that as the fight between them progressed, he had umted internal damage from the other party''s relentless attacks.


    He then fiercely red in the nk space with bloodshot eyes that disyed his endless anger and said: "You have to die today, you detestable brat. Even if I cannot defeat you, I have to at least die with you today. Otherwise, even I go to hell, how could I raise my head proudly in that ce."


    "Weight Change, Light!" The sunss man shouted as he abruptly disappeared toward where Randy was supposedly standing.


    Whoosh!


    "Ahhhhh!!!" He then screamed on top of his lungs as he dashed forward.


    Randy could not be bothered to pay any mind to the other party''s earlier words as he also charged forward and soon umted his punches on the sunsses man''s body.


    This time though, he firmly punched out in session without holding back.


    And because of this, each one of his punches was packed with more weight, enough to shatter an ordinary person''s bones into countless pieces.


    BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!


    Sounds of dull punches resounded in the background of the alley, and asionally one could hear a ''crack'' sounds, seemingly the sound of bones snapping or breaking from impact.


    A few momentster, the two people separated from each other, the sunsses man was now bleeding through his orifices: from his eyes, nose, mouth, and even from his ears.


    He looked like someone who had received an attack from some destructive sound-based ability, or a sonic ability used by some monsters to shatter the eardrums of humans and other creatures alike.


    However, that was not the case at all, and that this was merely the effect of Randy''s fist technique that gets stronger the more fight drags on, thus leading to the opponent sustaining various kinds of internal damages.


    Moreover, he had sustained injuries on both of his arms as they seemed to go limp from his bones crushed into two from Randy''s heavy punches.


    With that much damage, the sunsses man, who was barely managing to stand on his two feet, suddenly plopped down and knelt on the ground panting heavily.


    This exchange between the two of them just now onlysted for about 30 seconds.


    And judging from that, one could infer that the sunsses man''sbat prowess was without a doubt close to an S-rank''sbat power, that is, if one added his ability to increase his speed and strength.


    At this point, Randy did not bother asking pointless questions as he approached the worn-out enemy.


    When in front of them, he bent down and aimed his wed hands at the other party.


    Although the sunsses man could not see him, he could still feel the slight killing intent from the opponent.


    "Haa¡­ Haa¡­ To think that I would lose to a brat like you¡­ however, don''t get your hopes up too much, you ignorant brat!"


    Saying so, the sunss man weakly raised his hand and made a gesture, confusing Randy regarding his sudden action.


    A momentter, Randy understood what was happening because, at some unknown time, two arrows were quickly traversing through the distance approaching their location.


    For some reason, Randy could not perceive any sound from these arrows, almost as if they were silent.


    And only when it was within a few meters away from them was he able to sense the energy-encased arrows within the range of his infrared vision, which was only a few meters around himself.


    However, before Randy could react appropriately, he was struck in his shoulder by one of the arrows even though he quickly acted on time and dodged one of them as if the second arrow was tracking his movement.


    ''Was that a diversion?'' He thought.


    But the arrow only prated slightly into his shoulder before bouncing off shortly after.


    Due to the multiple enhancements of his physique, ordinary weapons could not prate through his skin easily.


    However, the same could never be the case about arrows infused with energy.


    "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! DIE! DIE! YOU DETESTABLE BRAT!! THIS IS YOUR END; WE SHALL DIE TOGETHER! GO TO HELL WITH ME!!" The sunsses shouted these words with the remaining strength that he had left in exhration and madness.


    "Why are you so excited? Have you gone insane?" Randy confusedly asked the other party when they started screaming at him.


    The next moment, he soon realized the meaning behind the sunsses man''s sudden outburst.


    And the only reason that he could tell right now was because of the notification popping in front of his eyes with red text instead of the regr white text.


    [[Attention! The host has been poisoned with a very potent toxic poison, capable of deteriorating the body tissues and causing instant death if not removed right away from the body. Rmended that the host take the necessary precautions to prevent his impending doom]]


    [[Attention!! The host has been poisoned with a very potent toxic poison, capable of deteriorating the body tissues and causing instant death if not removed right away from the body. Rmended that the host take the necessary precautions to prevent his impending doom]]


    [[Attention!!! The host has been poisoned with a very potent toxic poison, capable of deteriorating the body tissues and causing instant death if not removed right away from the body. Rmended that the host take the necessary precautions to prevent his impending doom]]


    The system disyed these red lines of texts three times in a row to emphasize how detrimental the current situation was.

 Chapter 102 - Merciless

    The hystericalugh of the sunsses man resounded in the background as Randy carefully but quickly read through the red texts disyed by his system.


    A momentter, Randy stood up back up, ignoring the helpless and hysterical sunsses man.


    ''So that''s why he was so excited¡­ it turns out those arrows were not only encased in energy but also in poison¡­ but too bad you guys pick the wrong opponent to use this method of attack on.'' Randy calmly thought to himself in confidence.


    Thinking so, he activated one of his skills right away.


    [[Blood Authority Skill Activated]]


    The moment that this Blood Authority skill activated Randy immediately closed his eyes.


    And almost right away, he was able to sense and identify toxins that managed to enter his body.


    And while utilizing his control over blood with the activated skill, he quickly but carefully expelled those toxins from his body through the small opening wound caused by the arrow earlier.


    Which, in turn, prevented the poison from invading further into his body, thus ultimately saving his life.


    This method used by Randy was more advanced andplicated than someone using a hemokinesis ability or a medical unit using some specific technique to extract the poison from someone''s body.


    But if one wanted topare his Blood Authority Skill with another ability of the same effects, at that time, they would only assume that it was simr to a hemokic ability user.


    After all, those kinds of ability users also have control over blood other than their own.


    But the rate of their control was always less when used against someone other than themselves.


    However, Randy does not have such weakness.


    That was because, the current him, right now, as long as the target remained stationary, he was confident in quickly controlling their blood as if they were his very own, just like how he stopped Li Weisheng''s blood flow in the virtual world during their virtualbat session.


    For now, the only weakness would be his evolution stage, but that increases someday.


    At that time, perhaps he might not be limited to controlling stationary targets.


    ''At that time, I tried using this blood authority on Li Weisheng as he moved, but my control over his blood wavered each time he made sudden quick movements¡­ Haah... If I didn''t find the perfect timing, I don''t think that I would''ve won that virtualbat.'' Randy reflected on his fight against that sword cultivator, Li Weisheng.


    At this moment, he hadpletely gotten rid of the poison in his bloodstream without much difficulty.


    And then¡­


    [[Superior Regeneration Skill Activated]]


    Very quickly, the small cut wound on his shoulders disappeared without leaving behind any scar.


    This was one of the assimted skills that he obtained from the werewolf king during that night.


    Up until now, he had never activated this skill, mostly because he did incur any injuries and that today was the only day that he had received a flesh wound.


    Even when he cut his finger that time as he was checking out his abilities, he did not bother to activate this skill because the wound somehow closed by itself after a while.


    After all that was taken care of, Randy looked down once again.


    The sunsses man who was stillughing madly earlier, had all of sudden, shut his mouth with the look of disbelief on his face when he saw that Randy was standing there without agonizing in pain as he had hoped.


    Randy did not wait for him to regain his senses and instantly bent down, grabbed him by his neck, and then raised him high above the ground with one hand.


    At this moment, Randy''s figure was taller than before, his height reaching more than 6 feet or 2 meters.


    That was due to his transformed state, caused by using the reinforcement of the werewolf king, which drastically increased his body size in general.


    At this point, the sunsses man came back to his senses when he felt something grab his neck and immediately started struggling to break free to no avail.


    "Krghhh! H-How is this possible¡­ How are you able to continue standing. T-That shouldn''t have been possible with all that poison in your blood. W-W-Why are you not screaming in pain, groveling, and begging me for mercy¡­? J-Just why¡­?!"


    The sunsses man said in disbelief, unwilling to ept the current situation, as he continued to struggle to break free from Randy''s tight grip.


    At this moment, the sunsses man had a look of resentment, and Randy observed this look on his face in indifference for a moment before he opened his mouth to speak.


    "Well, that doesn''t matter to someone who is about to die, right? But then again, I am curious about something, why did you attack me? We have never met before until now, and I have a good memory, so I am very certain that this should be our first encounter with each other, meaning we had no grudges whatsoever to speak of in the past or anything for that matter."


    "So are you telling me that just because someone hired you guys¡­ no, let me rephrase that, just because that Young Lord or whatever from the Silvermoon family hired you guys to check on me, you guys tried to kill me? Is that the order that he gave you?"


    Randy took his time to demand this series of questions that had been on his mind this entire time.


    Because ording to what he heard from the female police officer, this Young Lord from the western district was an arrogant and egotistical individual who viewed their bloodline in some inexplicable awe.


    And one of the traits of the people in their family was the unique silver-white hair color that they had due to their bloodline ability.


    Furthermore, with theirbat prowess, and their contribution in the past during the monster and beast outbreaks, they had obtained a very high nobility status in the western district.


    And they were so proud of this, and so, they viewed their white hair, the symbol of their family, in high regard, and that was the reason why that Silvermoon Young Lord would try to investigate him to see if he belonged to their family.


    Randy was not going to let someone walk over him again like in the past.


    And so, when he sensed that someone was tailing him before, he quickly got rid of them as a warning to the one who sent them.


    But the other party still did not give up and sent this group of gang members to assault this time, and judging by their actions, they all carried some hostility towards him rather than someone who came to confirm something with him.


    With how things were, how could Randy wait to be killed by them? Why would he show them mercy?


    At this point, when the sunsses man heard this question, he was shocked and started trembling.


    "How¡­ H-How¡­ Howe you know who hired us¡­? That bastard said that you have never met him before, so how¡­ Kukk¡­ Damn it, don''t tell me¡­ we were yed by that fucking bastard¡­ That fucking bastard knew how strong you were but lied about it when he hired us. Arghhh! I will kill him!!"


    The sunsses man cursed in resentment and exasperation at this moment, and he continued to struggle even more in Randy''s grasp before suddenly turning limp.


    [[Blood Authority Skill Activated]]


    Randy stopped his blood flow in annoyance and instantly activated another assimted skill.


    [[Grip Skill Activated]]

 Chapter 103 - The Combat Prowess Of Shapeshift

    "Crack!" The sound of something breaking reverberated.


    "Argh!" A pained sound resounded before turning silent shortly after.


    Randy was annoyed by the fact that he did not get the answer that he wanted.


    And also because the other party was struggling even more after hearing his questions.


    And with that, he put some force into his grip using his Grip Skill and snapped the sunsses man''s neck, mercilessly killing him to prevent him from attempting something else.


    "Thud!"


    After observing the lifeless body in his grasp for a brief moment with a serene expression, Randy dropped the sunsses man''s corpse on the ground with a look of relief.


    After that, he undid his stealthy python''s assimted state since having more than one assimted state was mentally and physically tasking on him.


    And soon, his figure slowly appeared, standing over the corpse of the sunsses man.


    Randy then looked down at the lifeless body of the sunsses man and spoke in a cold tone: "I did tell you that I will let you experience what your subordinate experienced right before he fainted, didn''t I? Except in your case, you would not be waking up again; this is something you all brought upon yourselves, so you shouldn''t me me for this oue."


    Saying this, he turned away from the corpse with a look of conviction.


    With this, his first challenge hade to an end, and now¡­


    At this moment, more arrows rained down from the top of one of the buildings, followed by the screaming voices that contained animosity.


    "You bastard! How dare you kill the boss! Ahhhh!! Die! Die! Die!!"


    Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!


    The sound of the wind simultaneously being cut through resounding air.


    As multiple arrows were now aimed towards where Randy was standing.


    Randy, on the other hand, calmly gazed at the approaching arrows with an unfazed expression.


    When the arrows were only a few inches away from him, he muttered: "System, activate the skill, Shapeshift."


    This skill was also one of the assimted skills of the werewolf king of wind, however up until now, Randy had never used this skill inbat, or rather, there was no chance for him to use it.


    Nheless, he had already confirmed how this skill worked after assessing his abilities the day that he awakened.


    It was just that when he used it, there were no significant changes except his physical form.


    [[Shapeshift (Werewolf) Skill Activated]]


    The next instant, Randy felt all his bones making crackling sounds.


    Ka! Ka! Kak!


    And with that, his appearance also changed drastically.


    His hair, which was already long and flowing down his shoulder after using the reinforcement of the werewolf king, had grown longer.


    And that was not all.


    Even his two hands were now growing silver-white hair all over, and his wed arm, bing sharper than before.


    His back and legs were no exception to these changes.


    In a sense, his entire skin was now growing silver-white hair except for his chest, which had less hair that amounts almost to nothing.


    Randy''s head now also looked like the head of a wolf, except that he still maintained some semnce of his human head.


    That was because the protruding of his jaw and mouth still looked the same as his human head.


    Even though his head and face now had silver-white hair growing all over.


    Most likely, because his assimtion with the werewolf king''s blood was iplete, and so, he could not fully transform into a werewolf.


    He also grew a tail, and his two legs became hinged like that of a wolf''s legs.


    Furthermore, just like his transformation, he did not fully grow his tail as the length was only a few inches from his back.


    And even his hinged legs were notplete either.


    Nevertheless, it was more than enough to deal with the current situation.


    This transformation happened within mere seconds.


    And without hesitation, Randy ignored his ripped clothes due to the Shapeshift Skill and instantly vanished from his position.


    Whoosh!


    [[Gale Riding Skill Activated]]


    A momentter, four to five arrows struck the position where he was standing before.


    However, at this point, Randy traversed the distance and had already run up the opposite building.


    At the top of the roof was where the two archers were shooting the arrows from; Randy climbed the building like a wild beast.


    ¡­


    On top of the roof of the opposite building.


    "Shit! He ising this way!" One of the archers who appeared experienced and older eximed when he saw a figure climbing the building by digging their ws into the building walls.


    "What the fuck is that appearance! How could he climb the building walls? Isn''t this a 7 story building!" The other archer, at this moment, saw the appearance of the figure and eximed in shock.


    "You idiot! What does not matter right now? we have to get out of here...!" The older archer grabbed the other archer and started running towards the other end of the roof.


    Whoosh!


    At this moment, a figure shot up the building in the curve andnded on the roof a momentter.


    "Boom!"


    A loud and dull sound resounded shortly after, kicking up dust and debris due to them breaking the dpidated roof from theirnding.


    "Fuck! We are toote. Now that it hase to this, we can only fight it out! I don''t believe he can dodge my arrows at this distance." The older archer said as he quickly drew his arrow and ced it on his bow, ready to shoot.


    "Shit! I don''t want to die to that thing! Leave me out of this."


    Saying so, the other archer who was less experienced ran without looking back, leaving behind the older archer.


    "That idiot¡­ Tsk!" The older archer ignored him and faced where the figurended since he was certain that they could not outrun that thing.


    The moment the dust cleared the older archer madly shouted in a vengeful voice.


    "Die! You monster!"


    Swoosh! Swoosh!


    Randy did not bother to talk or negotiate with these people and instantly charged forward after getting a proper foothold.


    Whoosh! Whoosh!


    He moved side to side and dodged the other party''s attacks.


    Right now, all his sense of battle had improved tremendously, not to mention his control over his body had also improved with this transformation brought about by the shapeshift skill.


    He was now like a wild beast hunting his prey.


    Right now, he was like a wolf that was pouncing towards his prey without stopping in his tracks.


    And very soon, he had already grabbed the older archer''s neck, and even the one that was escaping could not escape his grasp because Randy was faster than them.


    At this moment, he had both of his hands grabbing their necks, and without hesitation, he increased the force in his grip.


    "Crack!" "Crack!"


    ""Ugh!""


    The sounds of necks snapping reverberated throughout the vicinity as two lifeless bodies dropped to the ground shortly after.


    "I guess this concludes the end of the first challenge and obstacle on my path¡­ From now on, I will not hesitate to face my enemies, even if I have to kill them as I did to these people..." Randy muttered with resolute and a calm tone of voice.


    Saying this, he immediately took the corpses of the two archers and jumped down the seven-story building without hesitation.


    A momentter, hended safely with the two corpses in his grasps.


    Because of his hinged legs, he could very easily control the impact or the weight of his body as hended.


    And thus, he ultimately controlled his fall to prevent any damage to his legs.


    This feat was only possible because of his control over his body and not his physical strength.


    Afternding on the ground, Randy quickly went to the other locations within the alley and grabbed the corpses of the other dead gang members.


    After that, he then aligned them in the same ce, even if some of them had destroyed bodies.

 Chapter 104 - Crystallized Ability

    A whileter.


    After gathering the corpse of the gang members in one ce, Randy immediately undid his assimted state right away, mostly because of the stress on his body due to using more than one assimted state at a time.


    [[Assimted Mode Deactivated]]


    The next moment, he searched the gang members'' bodies for anything valuable that could be salvageable or useful to him.


    Although this could, in a sense, be counted as him desecrating the corpses of the dead, however, he did not care one bit as the other parties were the ones that aimed for his life first, and so, he does not need to show them any consideration.


    Besides, why would he not take advantage of them?


    A few momentster, Randy found some rings that were still undamaged but had seals ced on them, and with no way to open them at the moment, he put them into his very own storage ring for now.


    Since he could not afford to trigger those seals without knowledge about them beforehand, and if he forcefully tried to open them regardless, then who knows whether he would be able to keep his life?


    With that thought in mind, he decided that it was right to take a look at themter.


    In any case, there was one thing that Randy was able to find in the clothes of all the corpses of these people, which was a bottle containing some fluid.


    And the good thing was that these bottles did not appear to have any seals engraved on them.


    Or at least that is what Randy thought when he saw the bottles since they somehow looked familiar to him.


    When Randy was about to urge the system to appraise the contents of the bottles of liquid, a notification suddenly rang from the system instead, catching Randy''s attention since the system usually does not appraise things by itself unless urged to do so.


    [[Attention! Detected crystallized ability stones in three of the avable corpses]] The system suddenly announced.


    [[Does the host wish to extract and store these crystallized ability stones in the system''s storage space and absorb themter?]]


    [[Or record the crystallized ability stones'' properties in the system''s record function''s storage andprehend themter?]]


    "¡­Wait, what? What do you mean by these? Absorb abilities and recording abilities? Hold on, I am confused, how is that even possible in the first ce?"


    Randy was shocked and bewildered at the same time by these lines of text disyed by his system as he found them so unexpected.


    He knew very well that his system might have been altered after it was upgraded by that unknown power from before, and so far, he could only assume that it might have something to do with that mysterious ovoid that appeared in his dream the other day.


    However, despite him expecting some changes to ur in his system, he did not expect this kind of change.


    To be capable of taking abilities from others, is that not too much? How does that even work?


    Is it not enough that he could extract hidden special abilities from artifacts? How is it that the system says that he could also steal¡ª no, take abilities from others?


    Would that not cause some disturbance in the current world''s order if people suddenly lost their abilities or something like dying because they could not use their abilities at a critical time of war?


    Thinking about this, Randy could not help but disapprove of the thought of taking advantage of other people in this way.


    After all, no matter how many abilities he has, there is only one of him, so it is pointless to have more than one ability in the first ce.


    Since he cannot be in more than one ce at a time to deal with whatever crisis the world may face in the future.


    With that thought, he decided to ask the system about what it meant by extracting ability stones and recording abilities from the gang members'' corpses.


    ''System, can you please rify what you meant by extracting and recording abilities? Are you telling me that I can steal people''s abilities, or am I misunderstanding something here?" Randy carefully asked this to the system.


    [[Answering to the host: It is not possible.]]


    [[rifying: The host himself cannot steal ability nor could the system''s new function. Only when the entity with the ability had attained a certain level ofprehension toward the true essence of their ability could they form a core-like form of their ability. Which were generally referred to as the ''Crystallized Ability Stone'']]


    [[As such, it is the physical manifestation of one''s innate ability as one develops their ability; these abilities take different forms, but most of the time, it depends on the personality of the individual who owns the abilities. Furthermore, not all beings or entities could form a crystallized ability of their own as it usually takes years ofprehension towards their awakened ability before it would start to form a shape pertaining to their very nature.]]


    [[Notice: At the point of one manifesting a crystallized form of their ability, it would be impossible for anyone to steal or affect their ability using external powers, however, when they perish, these crystallized abilities would stay dormant in their souls for a few moments before they eventually dissipate and be one with thews of the world.]]


    [[In addition to that, the time the crystallized ability stone dissipates may vary depending on the type of crystallized ability or thepletion of the core formation.]]


    "¡­"


    Randy was instantly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information received from the system and remained speechless for a long while.


    However, while reading through the lines of texts disyed in front of his eyes, there was one thing that he clearly understood, that it was simply impossible for him to steal ability from others.


    Furthermore, if one had a crystallized ability, then no matter what heaven-defying supernatural ability the other party had, they would also not be able to steal the ability of such a person.


    The most important aspect of all these was the fact that he and the system do not possess the ability to directly steal abilities from the living.


    That was if he were to ignore the fact that he could assimte with other creatures'' blood and use abilities simr to them through their blood knowledge.


    After all, that was not him stealing abilities and closer to him copying their abilities instead by using their blood knowledge.


    And with that thought, he sighed in relief, but then he suddenly thought of something very unsettling.


    That was if there existed someone out there who could directly steal people''s abilities.


    Randy thought about it for a bit, and he did not find it strange at all.


    After all, look at his own awakened ability forparison, which was very abnormal even to him.


    And that was because he could essentially copy the traits or talents and, or abilities of others through his blood assimtion ability, so why would there not be a being or entity capable of such a feat as stealing abilities?


    However, that was what was unsettling about this whole matter.


    If that supposed entity was human and they were not a good person, then they could very much do whatever they wanted with such a heaven-defying ability.


    And Randy hoped that he does run into such a person any time soon.


    At this point, Randy shook his head to get rid of these thoughts as they do not matter right now, and he proceeded to read through the lines of texts once again to familiarize himself with the meaning behind them.


    And he then recalled something very crucial that he needed an answer to and decided to ask the system.


    ''System, do you mind telling me the difference between absorbing these crystallized ability stones andprehending them?''


    Randy asked this because the system seemed to have not bothered to exin this matter since it might have assumed that he was only curious about whether he could steal abilities from others or not when he asked the question earlier.

 Chapter 105 - Decomposing Fluid

    ''System, do you mind telling me the difference between absorbing these crystallized ability stones andprehending them?'' Randy asked the system.


    [[Absorbing the ability stone of an entity would grant you the ability absorbedpletely, which includes the grade of the ability upon absorption. However, there was a possibility of ipatibility and thus, the grade of the ability or your control over the said ability may or may not decrease. Furthermore, the chances of the ability evolving to the next level would be nigh impossible after you absorb it.]]


    [[As forprehending the ability contained within the ability stone, that grants the host the ability to understand the ability''s nature and mechanismspletely and even had the possibility of forming a core afterprehension. However, in order toprehend the ability within an ability stone with the above mentioned in mind, then the host would need to spend an appropriate amount of [???]. Moreover, there was a possibility of theprehended ability evolving by spending [???] in the future or naturally evolving the ability.]]


    [[The host can also choose to use the knowledge points toprehend the ability within the ability stone, however, it would only be a technique afterprehending it and or might not have the possibility of forming a core or evolving. The system does not rmend this method as it would it is no different from absorbing the ability stone directly]]


    Randy: "¡­"


    After a while of deliberation, Randy who had been left baffled by the system''s exnation decided to ask the system something that bothered him after reading through everything more than once.


    ''System, what is the [???] that you kept showing in the text during the exnation? What does that mean?'' Randy carefully asked.


    [[¡­That is rted to a certain event that the host had yet toplete in order to be privy to such information. However, with your current strength, it may be impossible, but you never know since one could not urately predict the future]]


    The system answered in ambiguousness, eliciting a reaction from Randy.


    At this moment, Randy disyed a frown on his face as he read thest lines of text.


    ''What does that mean? That did not answer my question and instead made me more confused.''


    At this point, Randy suddenly had a strange feeling as he noticed something odd about the system.


    For a while now, he noticed that the system had been acting strange ever since it upgraded, but now that he thought about it, his system seemed different from when he first had it when he awakened.


    At the time, he did not want to think about it too much, but now he could tell that perhaps, the system itself had undergone a change and not its features alone.


    A notable reason for that was the fact that there were no mechanical voices from the system and only texts disyed on his system''s screen.


    With the exception of the notification sounds from time to time, there was no mechanical voice after its upgrade.


    But Randy soon ignored this matter and instead asked something that was more important to him right now.


    ''System, is it possible to record and store the ability stones at the same time? Since I am not sure whether I should absorb these abilities orprehend them.'' Randy doubtfully asked.


    [[That is indeed possible]] The system confirmed.


    "That''s great, then please do so." Randy urged right away as he was pleased by this response.


    [[Acknowledged!]]


    [[Beginning The Extraction of Crystallized Ability Stones]]


    The system disyed these texts and a supernatural phenomenon suddenly urred around three of the bodies that Randyid next to each other.


    At this moment, Randy saw three round crystal-like substances in different colors departing the glowing bodies of the sunsses man, and two of his subordinate''s bodies.


    When Randy observed one of them, he noticed that they might be the one that had those support-type abilities, that was able to hide his presence and even hide hisrades'' appearance.


    But Randy also recalled this person being capable of detection as even though he was hidden like the other party, they still managed to find his whereabouts through some technique or perhaps one of their abilities.


    Randy stopped thinking about this and focused on what was going on instead.


    The three orbs that seemed ss-like as they disyed different shapes inside them, hovered on top of the three corpses: a tiny yellow cube, a tiny dark-blue sphere, an uneven green-yellow tiny sphere.


    Soon a notification popped up in front of Randy''s eyes.


    [[Currently Recording Abilities.]]


    About a minuteter, the abilities were fully recorded, surprising Randy slightly that it took less time than he had imagined.


    After all, when he first recorded those techniques and hidden special abilities together, it took more time than this¡­


    ''No, I think it only took about 30 seconds to record that derived hidden skill palm of double return skill from that mirror artifact, so I think this time is reasonable.'' Randy silently thought in conclusion.


    [[Now storing the crystallized ability stones in the system''s storage space]] The system stated.


    The moment it stated this, the three luminescent orbs disappeared somewhere, shocking Randy but he soon calmed down as the system had already rified what was happening before the three orbs disappeared.


    After that was done, Randy did not bother to check the system as he needed to get out of here as soon as possible since he had already wasted his time fighting these people.


    With that thought in mind, he urged the system to appraise the bottle of fluid that he obtained earlier from the sunsses man and his subordinates by holding onto it.


    ---


    ?[[Dposing Fluid]]?


    ?[Grade: C]?


    ?[[Type: Potion]]?


    ?[[Description: Using this concocted potion on any dead living being willpletely dpose them; their skin and flesh would gradually turn into nothing but sand. It is highly effective when getting rid of corpses of some monsters and or beasts whose bodies were useless to process]]?


    ---


    [[Warning: The content of this potion is highly mmable. Beware to not let ite into contact with heat substances, otherwise, it would immediately cause the potion to catch on fire]]


    The system stated after disying the information about the content in the bottle.


    "What the fuck! It is this wicked potion again like I thought. Do these people carry this with them everywhere or whenever they go tomit crimes or something?"


    Randy suddenly cursed after reading through the lines of text that seemed very familiar to him.

 Chapter 106 - Faux World

    ?[[Dposing Fluid]]?


    ?[Grade: C]?


    ?[[Type: Potion]]?


    ?[[Description: Using this concocted potion on any dead living being willpletely dpose them; their skin and flesh would gradually turn into nothing but sand. It is highly effective when getting rid of corpses of some monsters and or beasts whose bodies were useless to process]]?


    While looking at this information about the bottle of fluid, Randy cussed out loud as he was reminded of something unpleasantst time.


    That was because this was the second time that he was seeing this potion that could turn corpses or even possibly people dposed upon contact.


    Although the system did not mention the part where it could be possible to inflict damage to the living body, nevertheless, Randy was almost certain that it was possible.


    Not to mention that it was mmable by itself and if handled wrongly, one could die without knowing how they had died.


    The first time he came across this type of potion was the other day when he met that subordinate of the sunsses man.


    After he knocked the other party unconscious by strangling them using his grip skill, he searched their clothes just like he did with the sunsses and the others.


    At the time, he did not find anything valuable besides this dposing fluid on the other party and Randy thought it was some expensive potion, but he was proven wrongter on.


    "Well, I guess with this, I can get rid of their corpses without leaving behind any evidence. Who knows how many people these people had killed and gotten rid of the evidence with this dposing fluid? It is only fitting that they die and dpose the same way as they did to others."


    Randy surmised after a while of thinking, and he immediately opened one of the bottles of dposing fluid.


    Pop!


    The foul scent of the contents wafted into his nose even though he turned the other way in anticipation of it being harmful.


    "Ugh! What is this smell? Is this the smell of the dposing fluid? Good thing I did not bother to open the first one I obtained, otherwise, the foul smell would have spread in my room and possibly even through our house. Why do they even carry these around?" Randy said in displeasure and then held his nose with his hand as he outstretched his arm forward right away towards the corpses.


    He quickly emptied two bottles of liquid on the corpses eliciting some disturbing sizzling noises.


    <em>Siss¡ª¡ª</em>


    All the corpses started melting at the speed that the eye could see, and it seems to be spreading throughout the whole body of the corpses, so Randy was pleased that he did not need to spread it across on their entire bodies.


    At this point, Randy stood in the distance as he observed this whole process with a scowled expression.


    "What a cruel method." Hemented as he watched the corpses slowly melt away.


    And eventually, those corpses turned into sand or grain-like substances, and thus all evidence had been erased with this.


    "Still this smell¡­ Won''t someone with a very good sense of smell be able to smell this?" Randy muttered.


    Thinking of something, he suddenly stuck out his index finger and then muttered after a moment: "Spark."


    <em>Fwoom¡ª </em>


    A tiny me manifested on top of his finger and Randy walked toward the dposed corpses as he held his nose.


    When he reached the site, he carefully bent down and let the tiny me fall on one of the dposed corpses.


    <em>FWOOM¡ª¡ª</em>


    A huge me suddenly arose from the corpse, burning through it and spreading to the other dposed corpses next to it on the ground.


    At this moment, there was a huge me rising about 2-3 meters from the ground and burning anything on the ground that could be burnt.


    "Holy shit! Why is the me picking up so much! I knew this thing was mmable but to think that it was to this extent." Randymented in surprise.


    Randy watched as the corpses burnt awaypletely.


    And then after that, he walked into the corner away from the fire and changed his clothes from his ripped academy uniform into his gym clothes.


    With that done, he walked away from the alley toward the entrance and eventually walked out of the alley.


    However, when he walked through the entrance of the alley, he felt like he had walked through a thinyer of some barrier once again.


    And when he decided to look back, he was shocked to find the space shattering and disappeared right after; he found out that the ce that he came from was still the same even though the space seemed to distort for a moment.


    But he noticed a difference, which was that all the damage and corpses and everything was nowhere to be found, almost as if they had disappeared or had never happened in the first ce.


    Randy felt goosebumps as he was shocked by this and muttered: "What the hell happened?!"


    He immediately asked the only one who could possibly know the answer to what was going on right now.


    ''System, what just happened? Where did the me go? And why did all the damages to the walls disappear?'' Randy asked this series of questions.


    [[The host does not need to worry, you were most likely in a faux world until just now, which was created by some artifact. However, it appears that this was only a one-time phenomenon with a limited time and will shatter when one came out from the entrance of the faux world in time. Otherwise, those within would be randomly transported into an unknown space or possibly killed instantly from the spatial distortion]]


    The system exined to him, shocking Randy greatly as he felt a chill run down his spine.


    ''Does that mean that I would have died just now if I had note out of that ce in time?'' Randy thought but he soon shook this thought away, afraid of thinking about this possibility.


    He then asked further in his mind: "Faux World? What is that? Judging from the meaning, are you saying it was a fake world or something?"


    [[Indeed, that is the case]] The system curtly replied to him.


    "Haah¡­ more stuff to think about, whatever, at least with this, I won''t have to worry about someone finding the evidence."


    Randy sighed and then suddenly thought of something as he watched the spotless alley.


    "Wait a minute, is this perhaps the reason why those guys still use the dposing liquid despite its rotten scent? But if there is no way to track their handiwork after the faux world disappears, then why use it in the first ce, or is this a special case and that they normally don''t use this faux world to handle their matters?"


    "¡­That makes sense since it probably cost a lot to procure such an artifact."


    "Whatever the case may be, it is a good thing for me since no one would know what happened here today and I can go home with peace of mind."


    Randy concluded after a while.


    After that, he turned around and made his way home in quicken steps as it was already dark outside.

 Chapter 107 - Uncannily Natural

    On the other side.


    At this moment, the white-haired man just received a report from his subordinate through hismunication device.


    "What?! Are you telling me that those people from the ''Fierce Wolf Gang'' all lost their lives? Are you certain of this?" The white-haired man uttered in disbelief.


    [Yes, Young Lord. The time for the faux world should have passed a long time ago, and we still haven''t heard anything about their results. So there could only be one possible reason behind their inability to respond even though we had tried to contact them so many times.] The subordinate said with certainty.


    "Tsk! After going through the trouble of giving them that artifact, they still failed to aplish the mission the second time. What a bunch of useless trashes!"


    ''To think that they would lose to a mere academy student¡­ Did I look down on the child because he was a student? Perhaps that was my misjudgment. After all, if he was indeed the child of two monsters, then there was no way he would becking in talent.'' The white-haired man silently thought.


    "Now that they had died, that artifact bes useless because only the one that had activated the artifact could deactivate it. Otherwise, it will automatically shatter, disappearing shortly after their death. What a waste of a precious artifact!" The white-haired man spoke in annoyance.


    Although this artifact was only a replica and had many ws, nevertheless, one could not deny the effectiveness of this replica.


    And also, the sheer amount of resources needed to make the replica was astronomical for those without money.


    This was why the white-haired man was instantly annoyed when he heard that the artifact had been destroyed, along with those people that he had his subordinate hire to do the job.


    After a while, he asked the man on the projected screen of hismunication device: "Did you confirm the brat''s death as well? Although I never intended to kill him and was only curious and wanted to confirm my suspicions, if he dies, then that would be good and bad news at the same time. We definitely cannot afford to offend those two experts. Otherwise, if they find out that their son had died by someone''s hand, they will do whatever they can to find out the identity of the culprit. What a headache, those useless bunch of trashes truly know how to leave behind a mess¡­"


    [¡­Young Lord does not need to worry; We have confirmed the brat returning home safely through the men that we stationed near the vicinity of the house that he lives in.] The subordinate answered after a moment of silence.


    "What?! How is that possible? Are you telling me that he managed to survive against that many people? And what did you say, ''Safely?''" The white-haired man eximed in shock and immediately started pondering about this.


    ''I was originally only interested in his ancestral background and rtions due to his unique hair color, which was oddly simr to our Silvermoon family. But as it stands, things are not looking good after many attempts and failure at discovering his true identity.''


    ''And if he had somehow found out from those useless trashes that I was the one who sent them, then this would be troublesome as well¡­''


    ''With that possibility, rather than waiting and leaving it to chance or what-ifs, it was better to take action instead. Before hees knocking on my door to seek revenge, I will have to deal with him covertly, even if I have to risk offending those two experts.''


    ''With that being said, it was not wise to jump to conclusions without assessing the situation first; I should probably test him myself and see if he was a stray member of the Silvermoon family or not. And if not, then I would probe him to find out if he learned anything about me from those useless trashes.''


    ''Depending on his answer, I might consider letting him live; if he knew about my involvement with those gangs, then I would have to get rid of him then and there, but if not, then I will spare him¡­''


    After considering his course of action, the white-haired man raised his head and looked at the projected screen that had the subordinate''s face disyed as he solemnly waited for his young lord''s next orders.


    "For now, this is enough; Since it looks like that young man is quite capable, I will have to make time to see him instead. So I will have to ask you to monitor his schedule and inform me about itter so I could personally approach him rather than waste resources hiring those useless trashes." The white-haired man said to the subordinate.


    [¡­Understood, Young Lord. I will see to it right away.] The subordinate solemnly responded despite finding his young lord''s actions a bit odd.


    ¡­


    After returning home, Randy immediately went downstairs to the basement, where the gym was to shower.


    He wanted to wash away the fatigue he had umted fighting against the sunsses man and his men.


    When he came home, his mother was not home for some reason, and so, he did not have to exin why he had on his gym clothes instead of his school uniform.


    And upon closer inspection of the house, he noticed that it might not just be his mother and that perhaps both his mother and Lydia were not home due to how to tidy up the whole ce was.


    Lydia, his little sister, always liked jumping around the sofas, which eventually caused the pillows ced in the couches to be either on the floor or in the wrong ces.


    But now, they were neatly ced at where they belonged without any fault.


    And besides, there was no way that his mother would leave his sister behind and then go out by herself.


    With that thought, he proceeded to head out of the bathroom and then went upstairs to the living room with a refreshed look on his face.


    He then went to the second floor to his room to get some new clothes to change into them.


    After that, he came downstairs to the living room again to have dinner by himself.


    At this point, Randy saw that there was some food covered with a foil paper on the dining table.


    It seems like the food was prepared by his mother before she and his little sister went out.


    After he was done eating, he went to his room to sleep because today was a very tiring day.


    He only went out to buy some magic spell books, but he ended encountering a few obstacles.


    First was that young master ndar from the ndar family, and then afterward, the people sent by that Young Lord from the Silvermoon family.


    Now that he carefully thought about it, he realized something.


    ''Aren''t they both from the western district and also prominent families to boot? Is it a coincidence that they both seemingly targeted me on the same day?''


    Right now, Randy could not be bothered to think much about this, as it does not matter to him whether they were connected somehow.


    After all, he had already gotten rid of those gang members sent by that Young Lord, and even though he had to risk his life, the oue and experience were well worth it, in his opinion.


    And for some reason, despite him killing people for the first time, he did not feel that bad about it.


    In truth, it was almost uncannily natural for him to the point where he started questioning his actions but gave up in the end since he did not regret his actions today.

 Chapter 108 - A Challenger?

    Randy also thought that perhaps, it was because he was already used to killing with the help of those mutated beasts that he had hunted thest time, and that was the reason why he did not feel anything when he killed a person.


    Nheless, he ultimately did not pay too much mind to the actual reason behind his behavior.


    With that out of the way, Randy tucked himself under his bed cover and proceeded to take some sleep to rest his tired body.


    A few minutester, Randy suddenly sprung up from his bed as he remembered something that he had been ignoring since yesterday that was crucial to the current him.


    ''I forgot about the knowledge points! Yesterday, I skipped on it and slept early but I can''t keep cking like this. Otherwise, when would I be able to umte enough to learn the remaining techniques.''


    Randy stood up right away from his bed and proceeded to the room next to his room¡ª the virtual station.


    After entering the virtual machine and logging back in, he proceeded to do like before, sending out random challenges to others in hopes someone would ept.


    Naturally, before entering the virtual machine, he used his ancestral regression to transform into the same appearance from before¡ª with crimson-red hair and amber-colored eyes.


    Randy proceeded to wait for someone to ept his challenge, and he was not worried that no one would ept his challenge because now that he had beaten that famous sword cultivator, Li Weisheng, he has undoubtedly gained fame in the process.


    Sure enough, a couple of minutes after he sent out his challenge, someone finally epted it, and they were all transported to the same virtualbat arena, which was an arena in space, or more precisely, a piece ofnd that floated in space.


    ''Why the hell is it this ce again? Can''t they change the ce webat? If it wasn''t because I do not know that many people and because of that, I have no choice but to randomly send out challenges to people like this, why would I be in this situation where I can''t even wager where I will battle with others? I wouldn''t be picking this virtualbat if the situation wasn''t like this¡ª I am already bored fighting in this ce.''


    Randyined in his mind, but he did not let it show on his face and calmly watched the contender the moment they both appeared in the virtualbat.


    It was a young man with a sturdy but slim body with a de in his right hand, looking all confident.


    "Are you Blood Venerable Fist God? I heard a lot about you and wanted to see how strong you are¡ª the one that managed to beat the second ce in the rankings and taken over the second position." The contender said.


    Randy raised his eyebrow slightly in surprise.


    ''Li Weisheng was second ce? I knew he was strong and was definitely in the top 10, but to think that he was the second ce¡­''


    However, after thinking about it for a bit, Randy agreed with this discovery, as Li Weisheng was truly strong¡ª So, it does make sense for him to be ranked that high in the rankings because even he was not confident in beating him straight-on inbat.


    "So what if I am?"


    "¡­It''s nothing, I just wanted to confirm that you are the real person and not a fake before I defeat you. Just so you know, I have already analyzed your fighting style and am very confident in defeating you inbat, so don''t be too arrogant, because you will be losing soon!" The contender dered confidently.


    "¡­"


    Randy was speechless by the other party''s confidence as he did not expect that kind of response at all.


    ''Who is arrogant? Aren''t you being arrogant by saying those things before you even aplish them?''


    Randy could not be bothered with this guy and said: "So can we begin the fight now?"


    "That''s right, prepare yourself to lose! And I forgot to mention this, but I am the fourth ce in the ranking¡ª"


    <King of des Vs. Blood Venerable Fist God>


    <Virtual Combat Shall Now Commence>


    Before the contender could finish with his introduction, the virtual system had already announced themencement of their battle.


    Hearing this, Randy did not wait for a second to pass as he quickly traversed several meters within a few seconds and stood in front of the King of des, leaving him shocked.


    "What the¡ª How are you so fastpared to before!" He muttered in disbelief and quickly raised his de: "Shit! Die!"


    Before he could swing his de, Randy had already charged his fist with enough magical energy and casually threw out consecutive punches.


    [Void Rippling Punch!]


    BAM! BAM!


    "Ahhhh!"


    The contender was hit directly on his chest at the same ce twice, shattering his chest bones and the energy of the attack permeating his body and causing internal damages in his body.


    He died almost instantly as his heart was most likely affected by Randy''s consecutive punches.


    Heid on his back, lifeless, as blood dripped from his mouth.


    <Blood Venerable Fist God had obtained victory against King of des>


    ---


    [[You have fought and easily defeated your opponent inbat, thus obtaining 300 knowledge points]]


    "Tsk! Just this much and you want to defeat me; Li Weisheng gave me a whopping 1000 knowledge points after defeating him. Ah, when would someone like him appear again?" Randy muttered to himself as he watched the contender, King of des''s body slowly disappear from the virtualbat arena.


    After a few moments of waiting again, he suddenly received a message from the system.


    [You have received a challenge Request! Would you ept this challenge Request from an unknown individual that is not on your friend list?]


    <YES or NO>


    These texts appeared before Randy''s eyes, baffling him.


    Because just as the virtual system said, he does not have that many friends, the only friend he had was Jiang Chen, and he had never used virtualbat before until a few days ago.


    So who would be challenging him in the middle of his random challenges?


    Randy initially thought that it was Li Weisheng when he saw the first few words.


    But upon reading further, he realized that it was not him since Li Weisheng should be recorded in the history of people he had fought before.


    In other words, his name should have been part of the message sent.


    At this point, Randy was curious about this person who sent him a challenge, and without dy, he epted the challenge with anticipation.


    ''I hope it is someone strong¡­ no, I hope it is someone with a mental ability or high intelligence. That way, I can harvest more knowledge points from them.''


    Randy could not hide the wide grin that was full of excitement on his face. That was because, at this point, he was already tired of fighting these weaklings¡ª there were not many people with high mental energy among the many he fought except Li Weisheng, who was a cultivator.


    At this moment, the virtual system abruptly prompted him with images of various areas within the virtualbat system for him to choose.


    That was because he received a challenge from someone this time.


    That was unlike before, where he was randomly challenging others without a means to choose thebat arena that he preferred.

 Chapter 109 - A Tough Opponent?

    Seeing this text disyed in front of him, Randy was instantly excited.


    ''Finally, now I get to pick abat arena¡­''


    At this moment, Randy had already been transported back to the starting point of the virtual world where there was nothing but an empty space of white.


    Since he received a challenge and he had already epted, there was no need to remain in his previousbat arena anymore.


    Randy immediately nced through the many virtualbat arena that was disyed.


    There were swamp locations, desert locations, mountainous locations, forest locations, volcanic locations, underwater locations, and many others but one of them caught Randy''s attention.


    He turned to look at this location with a pondering expression for a brief moment and he soon decided that he was going to pick this arena after much deliberation.


    Naturally, there was the Space arena, but Randy ignored that one since he was already tired of this location.


    And without dy, he quickly selected the virtualbat arena.


    <You have selected Gloomy Dark Forest>


    <Your opponent has selected the Gctical Combat Arena>


    <Due to both parties selecting different virtualbat arenas, there would be a wager to decide the final selected location>


    <You will now be transported to the selected location>


    "Wait¡ª"


    Randy screamed but the next moment, he was warped from the space that he was in.


    ¡­


    In a forest filled with nothing but darkness, two figures silently appeared in this gloomy location with nothing to see no matter how winced or narrowed their eyes.


    This was no light source whatsoever in this ce, making it hard to see or find one''s way around the vicinity.


    In addition to that, there were trees everywhere, so if one was not careful enough and carelessly moved around, they would bump into a tree as they navigate the surroundings.


    At this point, Randy stood next to a huge tree, but he could not see his opponent''s location no matter how he tried.


    "I was going to ask the system about the result of the wager, but it seems that I do not need to worry about that since it appears this is the location that I chose" Randy muttered to himself.


    "Hello." The challenger calmly said.


    As he was thinking this, suddenly a voice resounded in the background startling Randy a little due to how he was not expected the other party to take the initiative to talk to him first.


    After all, the one who talks first would give away their location in this dark forest with no way to tell left from right.


    However, Randy was only momentarily surprised, and immediately focused on the direction of the voice when he heard the other party''s greeting.


    "I am Chen Feng. A disciple from Supreme Martial Art Sect in Sky Rise City. Might you be Blood Venerable Fist God? May I ask where you are located?"


    The challenger, Chen Feng introduced himself and then politely asked afterward.


    "¡­"


    However, upon hearing this, Randy did not respond to the other party right away and face palmed himself.


    And then he sighed and whispered in a low voice: "Haa¡­ another person who does not care about their identity; Is he also a ranker in the virtualbat system?"


    After saying this, he still stood somewhere in the darkness observing the other party, almost like he could see them despite it being dark all around them.


    Right now, they were at a strange location called the gloomy dark forest, and just like the name implies, it was a forest that was full of nothing but darkness.


    There was no way to see in this ce unless one had some sort of night vision ability which technically Randy does not have but the same could not be said about the other party.


    But after observing them for a few moments and seeing that they still could not find his location, he concluded that maybe the other party might not have the ability to see in the dark.


    ''This is perfect!'' Randy thought to himself.


    And then he casually said: "Yes, that is me. But can we begin the fight now? I am in a hurry to fight other people, you see."


    "¡­"


    This statement dumbfounded the other party as he was rendered speechless, not knowing what to say for a good moment.


    ''In a hurry to fight other people?'' Chen Feng thought in disbelief.


    He thought that the reason why the other party did not immediately respond to his question was that they were either cautious or scheming something.


    And that they were pondering whether to respond to him or attack him and so he waited for them in anticipation of their response.


    But who would have thought that this person was a battle maniac who only cared about fighting?


    He thought that his master was the only person who liked to pick fights with other people for no particr reason, but it turns out this person might be just like him.


    ''No wonder master wanted me to challenge him even though I heard that he defeated that Li Weisheng the other day with some weird fist technique.'' Chen Feng thought in realization.


    "Very well." Chen Feng responded after a while.


    At this point, the virtual system announced.


    <Golden Fist King Vs. Blood Venerable Fist God>


    <Virtual Combat Shall Now Commence>


    The virtual system dered themencement of the duel.


    The next moment, Randy silently moved from his previous location through the forest.


    He navigated his way through the forest as if he could tell where to go in this dark forest.


    Meanwhile, Chen Feng remained cautious as he traced the location that hest heard his opponent''s voice from.


    Before the fight, he purposely introduced himself and politely demanded the location of his opponent because he could not tell where they were otherwise.


    Normally, no one would pick this kind ofbat arena as it was hard to find your opponent, but as it turns out his opponent this time was a weird one who might have picked thisbat arena for some reason.


    He, on the other hand, picked a rtively poprbat arena, Gctical Combat Arena, but it seems he lost the wager and ended up here instead.


    At any rate, there was nothing he could do now that he was already here but to find his opponent and swiftly defeat them as his master had instructed.


    At this moment, as he was walking towards the direction where Randy wasst standing, which was next to some huge tree, suddenly he stopped in his tracks.


    Then there was a grunting noise in the background.


    "Kuhk!"


    "What¡­ the¡­ hell... are you doing? Kukhh?!"


    Boom!


    Suddenly, there was a surge of powerful current, filled with violent life energy.


    At this moment, Randy had wrapped his arm around the other party and was squeezing their neck to strangle them to death.


    But unexpectedly, this Chen Feng was tougher than he had thought,pletely unlike the other opponents that he had fought before.


    "Wow¡­ you can still talk and move in this situation. Impressive! As expected of a martial artist." Randy appeared surprised as heplimented the other party.


    "Cut the bullshit! Do you think I would easily lose to something like this? Fuck off!" Chen Feng furiously said as he swung his elbow backward at Randy who was behind him.


    "Bang!"


    However, he was shocked to find out that the other party did not bother to dodge and instead seemed to have grown bulkier and resisted his attack.


    And with the increase in size, the grip around his neck has also grown tighter.


    At this point, he gave up on hitting the other party and instead tried to unravel his arm that was griping around his neck.


    "Y-You bastard! Kukhh! How could you fight so dirty like this!" Chen Feng struggled as he said this in a begrudging tone.


    "What do you mean by those words? Fight dirty? Who cares about the means used if, in the end, the result was satisfactory?" Randy responded in return.


    "I guess it''s time to finish this now."


    Saying so, Randy activated one of his skills.


    [[Grip Skill has been fully activated]]


    "Ughhhh! I refuse to lose like this!!" Chen Feng shouted.


    Rumble! Rumble!


    Suddenly the ground started shaking as if the earth was moving from the sound of his screaming voice.


    When Randy noticed this, he suddenly recalled his fight against Li Weisheng.


    About how despite being cornered, was still able to unleash his lightning elemental attack at thest moment before he lost to him.


    ''Damn! Did this guy awaken an earth elemental ability? How powerful is it for him to cause an earthquake of this caliber." Randy wondered and he then put more strength and energy into his grip skill, thus enhancing its effects.


    "Crack!"


    And very soon, a sound of something breaking reverberated, and then a lifeless body was dropped to the ground with a ''thud'' a momentter.


    "Phew¡­" Randy wiped the sweat off his forehead as he sighed with relief.


    <Blood Venerable Fist God has obtained victory against Golden Fist King>

 Chapter 110 - Observers

    "What is with these guys? Do they only know to unleash their awakened abilities at thest moment or were they underestimating me from the start? Well, either way, I won again and that is what matters." Randy said as he undid his skills.


    [[Reinforcement (Strength of the Werewolf King) Skill Deactivated]]


    [[Reinforcement (Strength of the Stealthy Python) Skill Deactivated]]


    [[Python Eyes Trait Deactivated]]


    [[Grip Skill Deactivated]]


    "Then again, that guy was a tough one. Or more like he had a strong physique and that fierce life energy he exuded¡­"


    At this point, the system suddenly announced, cutting him off his speech.


    [[You have fought and cunningly defeated your opponent inbat, thus obtaining 950 knowledge points]]


    "Oh, now this is what I am talking about. With this amount, I can call it quits after fighting two to three more people after this." Randy said in satisfaction.


    "I am really tired mentally after fighting and using my assimted states. I don''t think it''s a good idea to overwork my body." Randy said as he nced at the system''s disyed line of text.


    The next moment, he was teleported away from the forest and back to that white empty space, the starting point of the virtual world.


    ¡­


    In the real world.


    "Bang!"


    "How is this possible! How could my disciple lose to that brat, and why can''t we see what was going on in there? What kind of location did they get sent in?!"


    The golden-robed man from before angrily shouted as he broke the table that he was using to drink his liquor.


    At this moment, he wasmunicating with the white-robed man from before with amunication device that was ced on a table beside the broken one as they waited for the oue of the match between Randy and Chen Feng.


    The white-robed man could barely contain the urge to burst intoughter on the other side of themunication device but still managed to main a serious and unchanged expression.


    ''Hahaha! Youngster, you did good! You did very well! Now I can escape this buffoon''s bet without having to announce such an unreasonable remark in front of my sect members.'' The white-robed man inwardlyughed and inwardly said in satisfaction.


    A momentter, he cleared his throat and carefully said: "Since it hase to this, then shall we call out our bet from before? As you can see, the youngster doesn''t fight using normal means, so this further proved that our bet was not even valid, to begin with. Don''t you agree, Old Jin?"


    The golden-robed man, who was called Jin Zhuang, upon hearing this statement from the white-robed man, came to his senses.


    He then gritted his teeth in annoyance but agreed with him and dered: "Hmph! Whatever you say! When I meet that mischievous brat, I will definitely teach him a good lesson!"


    "I will have to ask Xiao Feng how that brat defeated himter."


    The white-robed man, called Huang Bingwen, silently sighed at the other end of themunication device in relief.


    He thought the other party would persist with this matter until he would have no choice but to find another way to cancel this agreement between them.


    But unexpectedly, things turned out for the better without him having to do anything, which was a good thing.


    After talking some more with Jin Zhuang and appeasing him a little with the fact that even his apprentice lost to Randy, they both cut the connections with each other.


    ¡­


    Inside a certain building within the Sword Sect in Sky Rise City.


    At this moment, Huang Bingwen was sitting in his chair with a wide grin on his face, clearly pleased with the oue of the match between Randy and Chen Feng.


    Mostly because he was able to redeem himself even though his apprentice, Li Weisheng had lost to Randy.


    He wanted to burst intoughter if not because of where he was currently and that he needed to save his face.


    Beside him stood Li Weisheng who was not that surprised about the oue of the fight between Randy and Chen Feng but more so about what really happened in that dark location that they had their fight.


    And also, he wondered who picked such a location to conduct their fight, but he could tell who would pick such a location at a nce as he was very familiar with Chen Feng and there was no way that he would pick such a location as his selectedbat arena.


    ''That person really is interesting¡­ To be able to defeat Chen Feng within a short time in such an unfavorable location is not an easy feat; this would require a necessarybat experience and perhaps a type of an ability'' Li Weisheng thought to himself with a smile on his face.


    ¡­


    At another location in the Eastern District.


    Within a certain mansion.


    A young girl was sitting on a couch enjoying some ice cream while watching a movie on the television.


    But at this moment, a matured woman who appeared to be her servant suddenly came up to her.


    And after bowing, they proceeded to report something to the young girl who at first seemed unperturbed by the servant as she kept her attention on the television while enjoying her strawberry ice cream.


    However, after hearing what the servant has to report, she suddenly turned to the servant and doubtfully questioned: "Are you certain about this information''s authenticity?"


    "Yes, your highness. The virtual match only happened recently but many people had already been discussing it on the online tforms and other forums. It seems that perhaps due to what happened thest time coupled with the fact that his opponent was the disciple of that martial expert; For someone like that to lose to an unknown individual, surely it would cause many people to discuss the fight but unfortunately, they couldn''t tell what really happened during the fight because of thebat arena picked this time."


    "Thebat arena?" The young girl asked.


    "Yes, ording to the online forums, thebat arena picked was the Gloomy Dark Forest that nobody bothered to pick due to how unfavorable it was in that area since the environment was pitch-ck, not to mention the huge trees in that ce."


    The servant exined her reasoning to the young girl who was attentively listening to her.


    After pondering about it for a bit, the young girl also agreed: "Hm, that does make sense. After all, that blood something guy was able to defeat Li Weisheng, so defeating the third ce on the ranking, Chen Feng is not that surprising.. But I wonder why he was not known until now."

 Chapter 111 - Rejection

    The young girl fell in deep thought as she pondered the reason behind the other party not showing themselves until now.


    And then she thought of something and said: "I heard that the continental battle between all the districts from the other continents would be happening soon; a couple of months after the new university students get epted, they would select promising students from all the levels of strength to participate in an exchange to build upbat experience and also to test out the other districts'' strength. Do you think this person might''ve decided to show his face now because he was also interested or participating in that event?"


    "After all, I heard from father that the reward for winning this time''spetition was quite handsome and appealing to even elders in different organizations, which means so many people would want their disciples and apprentices to participate and test out their luck. Although I am not interested in the reward of the event, I still n on participating in this event to test out my sword skills against others of the same strength level or slightly higher me."


    After hearing this, the servant also pondered the young girl''s words for a bit and then said: "Your highness might be right. Perhaps, it is like you said, and that this person only decided to show up now because they too wanted to test out the opponents in this district before the actualpetition that begins in a few months."


    While thinking about something, the young girl''s expression gradually changed, disying an excited smile on her pretty face.


    "How interesting. Now that I know about this possibility, I really want to fight this Blood Venerable Fist God. No, I should fight him right now; I don''t know when I will be able to have such a chance to test my sword skills against someone with the same strength level as mine." The young girl dered with her fighting spirit brimming as she put aside her cup containing a little bit of strawberry ice cream on the table next to the couch.


    ''Mydy, howe you suddenly remember the name of that person just now?'' The servant wondered when she heard the young girl urately pronounce Randy''s character name without a w despite her having trouble saying it before.


    Although she thought this to herself, she did not bother to mention it.


    "Juliana, prepare my virtual machine for me, I will be entering it in a minute¡­ Never mind that I will be entering it right now by myself, no need to bother cleaning the inside. I doubt it''s that dirty inside." The young girl said with an impatient tone.


    And then she continued in a muttering tone with a grin on her face: "I can''t wait to fight this guy¡­ Someone like him came out of nowhere and defeated people in the top 10 as if nothing. Not only the top 2 but even the top 3, Chen Feng. He must definitely be skilled based on his fight against Li Weisheng."


    After muttering all these to herself in contemtion, she suddenly stood up from the couch that she was sitting on.


    And afterward, she proceeded to stretch her body in a graceful manner for a brief moment before walking toward a certain direction in her house, seemingly heading toward her virtual station.


    She left the living room in hurried steps, leaving the servant, Juliana behind, but the servant quickly followed her shortly after to attend to her needs.


    ¡­


    A while ago.


    Inside the Virtual World.


    [[You have fought and swiftly defeated your opponent inbat, thus obtaining 500 knowledge points]]


    [[You have fought and easily defeated your opponent inbat, thus obtaining 390 knowledge points]]


    [[You have fought and decisively defeated your opponent inbat, thus obtaining 400 knowledge points]]


    The system announced to Randy.


    Randy had just defeated his current opponent among a few others after defeating Chen Feng and amass a lot of knowledge points from them as well.


    Afterward, he continued to challenge and defeat his opponents one after another until he saw that it was almost 12 A.M. in the real world.


    Noticing that, he proceeded to log out to sleep as he had school the following day.


    As he was about to log out of the virtual world, he suddenly received a new challenge but looking at the unfamiliar name of the challenger, he assumed that perhaps they might potentially either be the top 1 or the top 5.


    ''This person included their character name unlike Chen Feng...''


    Since he had already fought the top 2, Li Weisheng, top 3, Chen Feng, and top 4, whom he never received their name, but was referred to as ''King of des'' by the virtual system.


    Nheless, Randy was not ready or in a position to face any of them right now, especially if it was the top number one ranker.


    And besides, he was already tired from fighting the sunsses man and his men before all this, so, with that thought in mind, he immediately declined the challenge and log out right away.


    Although, at this point in time, he was unaware that this tant act of his now and the subsequent acts wouldter cause him some undesirable trouble down the road.


    ¡­


    On the other side.


    At this moment, the young girl had already entered her virtual world and then sent out a challenge to Blood Venerable Fist God.


    But unexpectedly, the response she received was not what she had anticipated, as she eximed in disbelief shortly after.


    "What?! He dared to ignore my challenge?! Who does this guy think he is! Does he perhaps think that I am one of those weaklings that were not worth his time? Let me send it to him one more time. I refuse to believe that he was looking down on me, who holds the top position in the rankings."


    She sent out the challenge again and to her surprise, the virtual system sent a feedback notification saying that the other party had already logged out of the virtual world.


    "Now he is either looking down on me like I thought, or he most likely did not ept my challenge due to it being time for him to log out."


    Saying this to herself, a momentter, the young girl sighed in dejection.


    "In that case, I will have to wait until tomorrow when he logs back in, and then send a challenge to him again."


    Saying so, she logged out of the virtual world with a disappointed expression on her face.


    Clearly, she did not like the oue as earlier, she was full of excitement and anticipation towards fighting a worthy opponent, but now she had to wait until the following day instead.

 Chapter 112 - Request

    The following day, which was Wednesday, Randy woke up early as usual. And after doing his daily routine, he ate a quick breakfast and proceeded to the academy without dy.


    The two days before were so exhausting because he had to deal with all kinds of people and trouble, so even though he slept yesterday, he was still drowsy and tired, but he still went to school early.


    Today in school, nothing much happened, thus it was an uneventful day.


    And also, he came home without encountering any trouble despite him expecting what happened yesterday to bring more people seeking trouble with him.


    Unexpectedly, that was not the case and he started wondering what the other party could be nning.


    Judging from the sequence of events, they should have been aware of the death of the sunsses man and his subordinates since they did not report back in, regarding their task.


    But for some reason, they did not act today, so Randy was very concerned about what the other party might be up to.


    Although Randy found their actions strange, however, he was still d that today was a peaceful day and that there was nothing to worry about, even if it was only for today.


    It has not been a week since he awakened his ability, but he felt like he had not been able to live an ordinary life ever since so he was wondering if the days toe would be full of these many adversaries and or adversity.


    All he did was use his ability once due to an impulse to test out his ability and that alone brought him so many troubles.


    Right now, this has taught him a valuable lesson that standing out was not always a good thing as the more one stood out the more trouble one would draw unto oneself.


    Thinking about this, he made his decision to get stronger first, strong to the point where he would not be afraid to disy his strength and there would be no obstacle to stand in his way.


    He recalled that his parents were prominent in this city due to some events and that their influence is tremendous, but he does not want to rely on his parents too much when handling things, because that would only hinder his growth.


    Now that he thought about it, his mother was especially famous for her golem creation in this city, enough that young girls from both noble andmon families admire her.


    Even Emilia was one of them, and she often came by because of this.


    And eventually, she became a half-student of his mother.


    Before Randy was not sure if his mother''s techniques or spells would work for him since he did not awaken an innate ice ability but after much deliberation, he thought that maybe it was worth a try, and even if it does not work, he would not lose anything anyway.


    As for his father''s techniques, Randy thought that was unnecessary for now since his father does not really have any special techniques, unlike his mother.


    He mostly relied on his innate blood maniption ability to create weapons and reinforce his body.


    Randy could essentially do the same thing; it was just that his current evolution stage was low but that could be resolved in the future.


    With that in mind, Randy made his decision after pondering some more about it.


    After eating dinner with his family while his little sister went upstairs, Randy suddenly asked his mother.


    "Mom, do you still have the spell books that you used back in the day?" He asked.


    "Hm?" Riley who was still in the kitchen dealing with the dishes turned in his direction and then asked: "If you''re talking about my magic spell books, I do. But why are you asking? Do you need them for something?"


    "Hm." Randy nodded in response.


    "¡­" Riley looked at him for a moment as if thinking of something and then she asked again: "Have you decided on your path? Are you taking the magic path?"


    "Ah, that''s right. I forgot to mention this before, but when I awakened my innate ability, the energy that increased the most was my magical power, so I n on registering as a magician rather than the other professions." Randy exined.


    "¡­I see. But are you sure about this decision? You could choose to be a cultivator like my father, your grandfather and as you know, your grandfather like you two brothers and hoped that both of you awakened with cultivation talents; So if you choose the cultivation path, he will definitely take care of your resources, like he did with your brother, Rex¡­" Riley said and then paused as if recalling something.


    "I am sure, mom. I barely awakened to the spiritual energy, so that could only mean that I might not have a talent for cultivation, and with that, I thought that I should focus on what could make me strong the fastest." Randy answered with resolution while rifying his reasons.


    ''It''s not like I am lying or anything. Because the fact remains that I only awakened to a little spiritual energy amongst the remaining energies.''


    Randy thought to himself as he secretly looked at his status screen that disyed his current energy umtions.


    ---


    ?Combat System Power Level(s)?


    Evolution Realm[1]: First-Stage Evolved Human Realm (600/1000)


    Martial Realm[1]: First-Stage Martial Disciple Realm (150/200)


    Cultivation Realm[0]: None (10/100)


    Magical Realm[4]: Peaked-Level Fourth-Circle Magician Realm (1299/1299)


    Psi Realm[1]: Beginner-Level Psi Apprentice (250/499)


    Mystic Realm[0]: None (40/200)


    ---


    A few moments after hearing his determined response, Riley finally spoke: "I see, since you have made up your mind, I will inform your dad about itter. And based on what you said, it seems like you might be more talented with the path of magic. In that case, I don''t mind giving you that grimoire."


    And then she paused for a moment and then continued: "Although, I am not sure if it would be helpful for you since unlike me, you do not have an innate ice ability. But there are other spells in that grimoire that would be useful for you."


    "Go to my room and open the second drawer, you will find a thick book with a blue cover that had some patterns engraved over it. Do not take the book with a green cover next to it. Here,e take this."


    Saying so, Riley took something out of her spatial storage ring and gave it to him.


    Randy took a hold of the item in his hand, which was a simple key, so he immediately understood the purpose of the item.


    Riley continued after handing the key to him: "Use this to open the drawer. Be careful, and make sure you only twist it only one time. If it does not open on the first twist, take it out and put it back in again, then twist it again. Otherwise, it might trigger a restraining trap meant for security. Do you understand?"


    Riley spoke seriously in a stern tone, so Randy was taken by surprise by her words which seems to not be a joke but the genuine words, in other words, the truth.


    "O-Okay, mom." Randy replied with a heavy tone.


    ''Even the drawer had traps, I wonder how much that grimoire or the things inside are worth, enough for it to have such tight security around it?'' Randy silently wondered to himself as he looked at the key in his grasp.

 Chapter 113 - Frost Magic Compendium

    After taking the key from his mother, Randy went upstairs right away and into his mother''s personal room, which was separate from the bedroom that both his parents used together.


    Although they barely used their bedroom as often since his father was always busy at work toe to rest.


    After entering the room, he directly went up to the drawer and after counting from the top, he proceeded to open the second drawer with the key given by his mother.


    Following his mother''s instructions, he carefully put the key in the keyhole and instantly a magic formation in a form of a seal appeared.


    But after waiting for a while and seeing that nothing happened, Randy inwardly heaved a sigh of relief.


    He then twisted the key to the right.


    Ka!


    The sound of the lock being unlocked reverberated and instantly the magic formation disappeared just as it came.


    And Randy heaved a long sigh this time, as he held his breath when he saw the intricate patterns in the magic formation which was ready to activate the moment something had gone wrong.


    After that, he pulled the unlocked drawer and looked through the items inside.


    And to his surprise, there were not that many things in there except for the obvious thick blue book, which was the grimoire his mother was talking about, and some other green book that was not as thick as the blue book.


    ''I thought there were many treasures in here or something, but there were only two books in here. Hm?''


    While looking at the two books, Randy thought he saw a sh for a second there, but it did note from the two books.


    ''Was it my imagination?''


    He turned in the direction where the glow came from, and he saw a tablet that had some characters engraved on it.


    ''Is this one of those jade tablets from the cultivation profession. Then is this perhaps a protective charm or something? Well, I guess that''s why it was glowing just now. Maybe grandfather gave it to mom, but why isn''t she keeping it with her and leaving it here instead.'' Randy pondered but soon gave up.


    "Well, it has nothing to do with me. I only came here for this blue grimoire." Randy muttered and immediately grabbed the thick blue book.


    Afterward, he pushed the drawer back and left the room without wasting any more time.


    And then he came down to the living room and gave the key back to his mother and then he proceeded back to his room.


    ...


    After he left, Riley sighed and said: "It feels very strange acting amicably with him again as a mother. But it seems like he is trying his best not to feel estranged around us. So I think I should also get used to this treatment since we, parents brought this upon ourselves."


    When Randy was young, he always came to her for anything that he might need. Since his father was not home most of the time buttely, he barelye home anymore.


    And during those times, they could be said to be a close parent and child, but ever since both she and Nathan found out that Randy could not awaken after so long, they decided to take this route of giving him some motivation to improve himself, especially after his younger brother, Rex had awakened to his innate ability.


    But now that she thought about it, perhaps, they should not have been too drastic with their decision; but the circumstances did not allow them at the time.


    Thinking about this, she sighed again, and then she recalled something.


    "Oh, that''s right, I forget to tell him that Lydia had awakened her innate ability too. I guess I would tell himter when I get the chance¡­" She said.


    ¡­


    Inside Randy''s room.


    At this moment, he sat on his bed and held in his hand the grimoire that he received from his mother.


    A few momentster¡­


    [[Detected A Grimoire With A Collection of Spells and Techniques]]


    [[Disying the information about the grimoire]]


    ?[[Riley''s Frost Magic Compendium]]?


    ?[Rank: N/A]?


    ?[[Type: Grimoire]]?


    ?[[Description: This is a grimoire that has a collection of simplified spells and techniques. It was created by Riley using the knowledge she umted from learning andprehending many ice spells and techniques. This grimoire contains her experience and crystallization of her enlightenment as an Ice Mage, and also as an innate ice ability user]]?


    [[Reminder: Some of the spells and techniques in this grimoire might not be usable by the host due to the necessary conditions and requirements of the spells and techniques. As long as the host does not meet these prerequisites, you would not be able to learn orprehend them. Please keep that in mind.]]


    [[Would the host like to record the contents of this grimoire andprehend themter?]]


    The system then prompted after disying the information regarding the grimoire.


    Randy read through the lines of texts and then nodded in understanding.


    ''I can guess those prerequisites that the system is talking about; it is probably the ice innate ability. Since I awaken the innate blood-type ability, and not the innate ice-type ability like my mother, without a doubt, it would be hard to learn her techniques. But there should still be some techniques or spells that are useful for me as a mage even if I don''t have an innate ice ability.'' Randy silently pondered this to himself.


    And then he turned his gaze back to the system''s disyed screen, specifically at thest line of text.


    ''Since I can record the contents of the grimoire, I should just do that and return the grimoire to mom afterwards¡­''


    Thinking that, Randy immediately answered the system: "System, please record the contents of the grimoire for now."


    [[Response Acknowledged!]]


    [[Currently recording the contents of ''Riley''s Frost Magic Compendium Grimoire'']]


    [[The recording would take approximately 5 minutes, please wait in the meantime while holding on to the grimoire]]


    The system instructed, and then the countdown begun on the screen in front of Randy''s eyes.


    Seeing this, Randy had no choice but to hold on to the thick and heavy grimoire.. But to the current him, the weight of the grimoire was nothing.

 Chapter 114 - Profound Movement And Footwork Techniques

    Randy waited for the whole 5 minutes to pass and soon the notification from the system resounded along with lines of texts.


    [[Recording of ''Riley''s Frost Magic Compendium'' has beenpleted.]]


    [[Please check the ''Record Section'' on your status screen for more information regarding the recorded contents]]


    [[Reminder: Due to there being many spells and techniques, the system haspiled them under one name but containing more than one content after selecting the tab on your status screen]]


    The system stated on the projected screen in front of Randy''s eyes.


    Randy read through them carefully without saying anything as he pondered something else instead.


    ''So far, I have only mastered the Void Rippling Punch and amcking a type of evading movement technique. Although it is not urgent since I have the Gale Riding Skill, but it is still necessary to have a set of movement or footwork techniques in case of an emergency where I could enter my assimted state in time.''


    Profound movement techniques are techniques that only cultivators use, and Profound footwork techniques are the specialty of martial artists.


    Although they both required the user to master a set of leg movements, however since the energy used is different, the effects were also different.


    For example, spiritual energy helps the user to execute impossible movements like traversing many distances without actually depending on the physical body or worrying about the limitations of one''s physical body.


    This was possible through theprehension and mastering of a profound movement technique coupled with the supernatural effects of spiritual energy.


    Due to this, as long as one has immenseprehension towards a certain movement technique, regardless of their body state, whether one is strong and sturdy, or weak and frail, they could still execute the movement techniques with the aid of the spiritual energy.


    On the other hand, Life energy allows the human body to move beyond the normal limits of a physical body, thus being able to execute footwork techniques using the actual body rather than depending mostly on Life energy to execute the footwork technique.


    The reason for this was because Life energy or Qi nurtures the human body directly and thus those who practice martial arts are immensely stronger in terms of their physical body than cultivators who, in terms of game terminology, are bnced in all their stats.


    This just means that their physical strength is inferior to martial artists in general. But that was only in general, and not including those with certain physiques that made them have stronger bodies even as cultivators.


    Nevertheless, both sides had disadvantages and advantages, so one could not simply judge the strength of both martial artists and cultivators just based on their realm alone but also based on their foundation and techniques.


    Although both parties constantly argue that their side was supreme to the other, which was the reason why even the golden-robed man and the white-robed man always argue about this matter.


    At the moment, Randy was neither a cultivator nor a martial artist. Well, he could say that he was somewhat a martial artist since it said on his status screen that he was at the ''First-Stage Martial Disciple Realm.''


    He does not know how he was able to reach the first realm in martial arts, but he could think of two possibilities as to why that happened.


    The first possibility would be when he awakened his innate ability, he might have also awakened his martial talent, thus the reason why he broke through to the first realm in martial arts.


    This was most likely the believable reason.


    And the other possibility was that he might have already been in this realm all this time, but it was just that he did not know about it since he had not awakened yet.


    And the reason why he did not know was that he did not have the system to tell him about hisbat power system realms or levels.


    The reason why he thought this might be the case was that before he awakened his innate ability, he used to train his body using mundane methods and even using the graviton which increase the pressure on the body for training.


    And since the practice of martial arts means cultivating one''s body to the limits, then there was no reason why he could not break through to at least the first realm of martial arts through the mundane method.


    In reality, it does not make sense for him to not have any type of energy in his body in the first ce.


    It was only after he awakened that he discovered that the reason why they could not measure his energypatibility was most likely because of that physique of his, which constantly absorbed different energies, thus causing the measuring device to malfunction.


    And ultimately, he was deemed as a trash who could not awaken his innate ability and even did not have energypatibility which everyone was able to have despite them not awakening their innate abilities.


    ''Although this problem got solved thanks to the system creating those vessels to hold the various energies...'' Randy thought in digression.


    But since he now knew the reason for this misfortune of his, he hade to terms with it and decided to improve himself to catch up with those that are ahead of him in terms of experience.


    Because even if he was able to skip some steps in his strength acquisition, that does not mean that he couldpensate for all those years that he had missed to improve himself with one or two techniques alone.


    He needed toprehend the techniques and also increase the variety of the techniques to fit different circumstances.


    Which brought him to thinking of learning a profound movement or footwork technique now that he had already learned a profound fist technique.


    With all that in mind, Randy made up his mind that he would find a time within the week to purchase a profound movement or footwork technique.


    Even if he end up with a low-ranking profound technique, it was still better than nothing.


    With all that decided, Randy went downstairs and was about to go give the grimoire back to his mother but then he decided against it.


    Since it would be suspicious if he said that he had already memorized all the contents in a thick grimoire that was about 10 centimeters in thickness.


    Thinking about that, he went back to his room to sleep and then thought about finding some other time to give the grimoire back to his mother.


    ¡­


    Just like that, the remaining days in the week passed with nothing significant happening, except that the following week would be thest in the academic year.


    After that, Randy''s grade, or more precisely, the graduating ss would take a two-week break to prepare themselves for the uing university entrance examination.


    And as for the other students in the lower grades, they were more excited about this break mostly because they had more days in their break.


    That was because they did not need to take the university entrance examination just yet, thus they had more than two months'' worth of break, which was higher than the 12th Grade students'' break duration that was only two weeks inparison.

 Chapter 115 - Meeting

    Throughout the week, Randy made time and was able to purchase a low-ranking profound footwork technique since he did not have enough spiritual energy to practice profound movement techniques instead.


    Naturally, he also challenged the virtual world fighters to harvest knowledge points every single day of the remaining days in the week.


    And thus umted an ample amount of knowledge points, but it was still not enough since he has more skills and techniques that cost an exorbitant amount of knowledge points to learn andprehend.


    But there was one thing that Randy found out about the challenger that sent him the challenge request during the week, that they were the number one on the ranking list of Fourth-Rank Combat Power System in the virtual world.


    This meant that they had the same level of strength as Li Weisheng, Chen Feng, and the others.


    But despite that, they still rank the first ce, so Randy was hesitant about fighting them for now until he gained enough experience fighting various opponents.


    And thus, he ultimately rejected their challenge again.


    But the strange part was that the other party did not give up and kept sending more challenges to him after each rejection.


    And Randy felt something strange about this persistence from the other party but decided to ignore them and focus on harvesting more knowledge points from the small fries in the virtual world.


    ...


    The following week.


    Randy kept challenging more contenders while harvesting more knowledge points the following week as well until it was finally Friday, thest day of the week.


    And also all the students would begin their break starting from this day onward.


    Although he was eager to harvest more knowledge points throughout this week as well by challenging random opponents but for his own reason whenever he received a challenge from that top number one on the ranking, Randy would always decline it.


    To Randy, this person was probably too strong that he would lose right away if he epted their challenge.


    And since he does not want to lose his winning streak just yet, the only option left was to decline their challenge.


    After all, even though he was able to defeat Li Weisheng and Chen Feng using unscrupulous methods, but the same methods cannot possibly win against this number one on the ranking.


    And thus, he did not bother to ept it just yet until he had increased his repertoire of techniques and experience.


    But even though he could notmunicate with the other party about this matter or more like he did not bother to do so since it was his personal reason for not epting their challenge.


    Furthermore, it was not like he had to always ept a challenge from others just because they sent it to him.


    With that in mind, Randy walked the streets as he made his way home after they were dismissed from school.


    The following week, they have an excursion, or more precisely, they were going outside the city and into the territory of the Beast Forest, where the military had set up a base to restrict the movement of the beasts and other creatures in the forest.


    This was done to prevent outbreaks of stronger beasts that could invade the city gate from doing so.


    Even though there was an erected barrier, it was not always guaranteed protection, especially when against the beasts and monsters above the rank of B-Rank.


    Those kinds of creatures usually had their very own special abilities so it was hard to deal with them, coupled with the fact that they naturally had a strong constitution and durable skin that can protect against many attacks from humans.


    The purpose of the trip was to train the students who would be taking the university entrance examination by having them engage inbat with weaker monsters and beasts for experience, and or subjugating them in exchange for merits.


    In other words, one could umte military points or merits which could be used to exchange for profound techniques or resources by hunting monsters and beasts during this asion.


    This was one of the perks of the special training session that Randy''s Instructor talked about the week before when he informed them about their exam registration.


    As Randy was walking while thinking about how he should prepare for the special training session that would ur in the following week, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, as he saw someone standing not far away from him with an indifferent expression.


    This person was wearing fancy dressing clothes, in other words, a fancy white suit, and a fancy tie.


    Another notable trait of this person was that their hair was silver-white, and they looked to be only in their twenties.


    At this moment, they were ring condescendingly at Randy who was also staring back at them with a cautious gaze.


    Randy could somehow guess the identity of this person that was blocking his way based on their body features alone, which matches what was described in the message that Hong Mingyue sent him.


    At this point, the other party spoke in an indifferent tone.


    "It is a pleasure to meet you. You must be Randy Smith? Can I have a word with you alone regarding some intriguing matter concerning you if you don''t mind?"


    ''Intriguing matter? Concerning me?''


    Randy remained silent for a while upon hearing the other party''s words, as he quickly thought of a solution to his current predicament.


    While doing that he quickly scouted the vicinity to find anyone suspicious besides this white-haired man.


    Right now, the other party was standing in the path that he always took to head home, which was an alley-like path, hence between two buildings.


    Furthermore, the other party seemed to havee here alone because he could not sense anyone else around him.


    Even though his range of presence detection was lowpared to when he was not in his assimted state, he could still detect presences.


    After the battle with the sunsses man and his men, Randy could vaguely tell that he was gradually exhibiting the traits of his assimted states, even without entering the state itself.


    And so, he was certain that the other party definitely came alone, at least based on what he could sense.


    ''Why did he approach me alone? Is it because he was confident in his abilities, or is he plotting something under this guise?''


    ''I could just decline his invitation right here and now, but that could spell more trouble for me in the future. It is better to deal with misunderstandings like this face to face rather than prolonging it for too long.'' Randy silently thought to himself.


    Thinking about this, he then spoke: "Alright, I don''t mind. By the way, are we going to talk here? As you can see, there are many people walking about. So I am assuming that it wouldn''t be a good idea to discuss whatever it is that you wanted to talk to me about here, right? And also, I hope it won''t take too much of my time."


    Hearing his casual response, the white-haired man raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise.


    He did not expect the other party to agree so quickly and even without asking about who he was.

 Chapter 116 - Unfounded Claims

    The white-haired man narrowed his eyes and stared at Randy briefly as he silently thought to himself.


    ''Does this brat already know about me from those guys like I had initially thought¡­? Or maybe I am thinking too much about this and this was his way of showing courtesy to someone of my status¡­''


    ''No! He shouldn''t know who I am since we''ve never met before¡­ Unless he really does know somehow¡­? In any case, I can only find out about thatter. For now¡­''


    "Ahaha¡­ You''re quite the perceptive young man, I see. I like that. It is good that you''re a very straightforward person. This way, it will save me the trouble of exining. And you do not have to worry, what I am going to be discussing with you won''t take too much of your time." The white-haired manughed slightly and then said in a pleased tone.


    And then he continued with a smile: "However, like you said, this ce is not a good ce to conversate. So how about we go to the nearby caf¨¦? I have already booked the entire building beforehand. That way, we can talk as much as we want. So what do you think about my proposal?"


    "Alright, as long as it won''t take too much of my time, then I don''t mind following you to that caf¨¦ that you spoke of." Randy replied without dy.


    ''Booked an entire caf¨¦ just to talk with a student like me? Isn''t that too obvious that you''re plotting something based on that alone? Whatever, I will just y along for now. I highly doubt he would attempt to do anything drastic in public anyway.''


    ''Furthermore, I also want to have a word with him about his aggressive approach towards me all this time despite we haven''t even met before.''


    In order to prevent the other party from pestering him in the future, Randy made up his mind and followed the white-haired man into a nearby caf¨¦, and just like the other party had said, there was literally nobody in the caf¨¦ except for the two of them.


    "¡­"


    At this moment, they both sat behind a table, right in front of each other as they sip their coffee without saying a word for a long minute until the white-haired man took the initiative to speak first.


    "Ah, my apologies, I forgot to introduce myself earlier. My name is David¡­ David Silvermoon, from the prestigious Silvermoon family in the western district. I am sure you have heard of us even in this eastern district."


    The other party introduced themselves with a smug expression and a fake amicable smile on their face.


    All the while examining the facial expression of the one sitting in front of him.


    But to his surprise, they did not react at all and still casually took a sip from their cup of coffee.


    "This is some good coffee¡­ Sorry, Mister Silvermoon, I haven''t had coffee in a while and this coffee especially tastes good, unlike the ones that I have tasted before. Do you mind asking the caf¨¦''s manager to share with me the recipe and the brewing method?" Randy licked his lips and said after relishing the taste of the savory coffee.


    ''This rude uncouth brat!''


    "Ahaha, Is that so, then after this, I will ask them to provide you with the recipe since it appears you have taken a liking to it."


    "Really? Then I should thank you beforehand for your kindness."


    "There''s no need for that. But before that, what I wanted to talk to you about was regarding your ancestry." The white-haired man said and then paused for a moment before continuing: "Have you ever doubted your ancestry, and that perhaps, your parents might not be your biological parents and they might''ve adopted you instead?"


    "¡­"


    Randy waspletely caught off guard by his words and his expression instantly became solemn the next moment and he then questioned with a deep frown: "What are you trying to imply by saying this to me? Do you have any proof to justify your ims, Mister Silvermoon?"


    ''What is this bastard saying? I thought he came to approach me regarding my ability to transform. But to think he dared to say that my parents were not my biological parents.''


    ''Wait a minute, is this what this whole situation was about¡­? Then those aggressive approaches from before were all because of this¡­?'' Randy wondered as he stared at the other party intently with deep gaze.


    "I do, actually. Did you not awaken to a wolf-like innate ability recently? I am sure that you''re aware that your parents do not have an ancestor that had such an ability before, am I wrong to say so?" David Silvermoon stated.


    "¡­No, you''re right, they don''t. But how does that justify that I am not their child? In the first ce, how did youe to know that I had such an ability? It has not even been that long since I awakened so I shouldn''t be that famous." Randy agreed and then asked in return.


    "Well, that was simple. I have a friend in the police department, you see. I happened to see your little heroic act the other day from the satellite captured video. You should know what I am talking about, right?" David Silvermoon revealed.


    "So that''s how you knew. I didn''t think of that possibility when I used my ability at that time. But you still haven''t answered my question regarding why that has anything to do with my origin of birth or who my actual parents were." Randy said in an unconvinced tone.


    Hearing this question that seemed full of doubt, David Silvermoon smiled and then said: "Calm down. There''s no need to rush. I will tell you everything slowly."


    And then he continued in a serious tone: "First of all, I apologize in advance but I did a background check on you, and you were supposedly born 18 years ago based on my discovery. A year after that apocalyptic-ss gate that led to a dungeon manifested in the eastern district causing havoc and chaos in the eastern came to a conclusion."


    "This was one of the most monumental and tragic moments in the history of rifts and gates since countless lives were lost on that day of the manifestation. It was also when your parents gained prominence within this district through their contribution."


    "ording to my intelligence, your mother at the time was not pregnant with you, and then out of nowhere, after maintaining a low profile for a year, she had you the following year after. No one had seen her get pregnant or anything except for those involved."


    "Although there indeed existed medical records that indicated that she had undoubtedly given birth to you, but I highly doubt it."


    "Furthermore, your innate ability was that of a beast-type,pletely unlike that of your father''s ability or your mother''s ability."


    "Moreover, although there are many beast-type awakening but based on the color of your hair, without a doubt, it matches the members of my Silvermoon family."


    "So I came to the conclusion that you were most likely adopted, and your lineage was in fact from someone of my prestigious family since as you can see, my hair is white, just like yours when you transform into your beast state."


    "Although, I have no idea why your hair was not naturally white like people from our family. But there is no doubt that you are part of my family based on your ability alone."


    "As for the reason why your hair is not naturally white, I can guess that it is either a mutation or perhaps because your biological parent from our side might''ve conceived you with an inferior bloodline leading to your current state."


    David Silvermoon concluded with a confident smile that was indicating that there was no doubt that his information and exnation was urate and that no one could possibly refute his wless ims.


    Hearing all these ims that werepletely unfounded, Randy was instantly bbergasted by how far-fetched all these seemed and sounded.


    ''Is this guy crazy? What has he been saying this whole time?" He wondered to himself, not knowing what to say to the other party.

 Chapter 117 - A Cute Puppy?

    Randy sat behind the table with a dumbfounded expression on his face and when the other party saw this expression, the smile on their face grew into a wide grin, seemingly believing that their words were getting through to him.


    "Haa¡­"


    Not knowing that they had misunderstood Randy''s expression, they sighed helplessly and continued to speak in an emotional tone: "I don''t know which wretch abandoned a member of our Silvermoon family, and even worse, to let those two monsters... Ahem, I mean those two experts to adopt you as their child. What a disgrace to our renowned family''s name."


    ''This fucker actually called my parents ''monsters''?''


    At this point, Randy was fuming in anger when he heard those words from the other party.


    But he decided to suppress this feeling as he does not want to cause any mess in this ce that might potentially be the other party''s territory.


    ''I had thought that he had actual evidence to back up his ims, but it turns out he was just rambling on about inconclusive evidence about my motherying low and then conceiving me a year after or something.''


    ''Like what does that have to do with my origin of birth. And this fucker even thought that I awakened a beast-type innate ability?''


    ''Are you fucking kidding me, at least conduct your investigations properly before approaching people! The more I think about it, the more I want to snap his neck right here and now. This fucker almost got me killed just because of these trivial reasons. How unreasonable can someone get.''


    Randy gritted his teeth andined inwardly as he disyed a scowled expression.


    When David Silvermoon saw his scowled expression, he immediately assumed that the other party was thinking deeply about what he had said.


    And with that thought, he proceeded to wait for a few moments to hear their reply.


    At this point, Randy ced his left arm''s elbow on the table and then used his palm to support his head that was facing downwards as if to hide his expression.


    When the other party saw this, he thought that the discovery was too shocking for him and so he tried to appease him a little.


    "¡­I know this might be shocking news to you, but there''s no need to fret. With me here, I can assure you that the Silvermoon family will take you back as ours. Even if there''s some trouble here and there, I can guarantee and ensure your safety, so there''s no need to worry about that. I can promise you that much."


    "As for your current parents, if you don''t mind, I can go with you to talk to them regarding this matter. And if you''re feeling ufortable leaving them, I can give you time to say your farewells."


    "After all, it must be hard to depart from the ones who had been raising you all this time. But it can''t be helped since you''re a member of our family, it is only right that you go back to where you truly belong. Otherwise¡­"


    Bang!


    "ENOUGH!" Randy abruptly stood up and smashed his hand on the table, causing the cups containing the coffee to propel upwards, spilling the all coffee within all over the table and outward.


    David Silvermoon reacted quickly and used his magical energy to prevent his spotless white suit from getting sullied.


    Afterward, he narrowed his eyes at Randy to show his displeasure, and then he sternly spoke.


    "What is it? What is the meaning of this?"


    "I said I''ve had enough of your nonsense! You just keep rambling on like a parrot without stopping with your baseless ims!" Randy shouted.


    "¡­W-What do you mean by that? Did I not provide you with enough evidence that suggests that you belong with my Silvermoon family¡­?" David Silvermoon appeared confused and said.


    "Is that so? But do you really think that I give a shit about your family? Or someone like you who would send people to attack a student just because you''ve found some unrted evidence after your investigations?" Randy retorted in return.


    And then he continued in angry tone: "So what if I was adopted? So what if I belong to your family? Were you the ones who raised me? No! So you have to right to talk to me about my lineage. And what you''re saying right now is nothing but bullshit that you''re using to justify your actions!"


    "¡­"


    David Silvermoon''s face immediately turned ashen when he heard Randy''s ridiculing words, and his expression started turning ugly as veins began bulging on his forehead.


    "What? Are you not going to exin yourself this time. I am willing to listen to how you''re going to exin yourself this time. Because for your information, you''ve been wrong about your assumptions since the moment you opened your mouth to speak." Randy furiously said to him.


    A momentter, David Silvermoon spoke in a chilly tone,pletely showing his true self, which was unlike his amicable expression from before.


    "Haa¡­ It seems that being nice to ingrate bastards like you always backfires instead and you people always think that you''re some hotshot, huh? I was trying to approach you nicely since there was the possibility that you may be rted to our family, but you ruined that opportunity."


    "And here I was hoping that it wouldn''te to this. But judging from your words, it does not matter anymore whether you''re indeed part of my family or not. After all, it appears you already knew about my involvement with those bunch of trashes."


    Hearing these words, Randy immediately felt a sense of trepidation, and his gaze focused as he prepared himself to engage the other party.


    "Then you leave me no choice. After all, there''s no way we can reconcile after such an event, don''t you agree?" David Silvermoon raised his head, revealing the evil smile on his face.


    The next moment, he calmly raised his hand.


    Piu! Piu! Piu! Piu! Piu!


    The sound of the air being cut through resounded.


    Whoosh!


    However, as David Silvermoon looked at Randy who stood in front of him with a victorious grin, all of sudden, he disappeared right in front of him.


    "What?!" He eximed.


    A momentter¡­


    Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!


    At where Randy was standing before, multiple projectile passed through. The ss window of the caf¨¦ was pierced through by projectiles that seemed to be made out of solidified energy.


    "He disappeared! Where did he go?!"


    "What the fuck just happened?!"


    "Fuck! I can''t believe that we missed a stationary target! We''re dead!"


    The archers and snipers that aimed at Randy eximed in disbelief.


    They were sure that they had caught the other partypletely off guard, but it turns out they were wrong in their judgment.


    A secondter, David Silvermoon, felt a great sense of apprehension towards the unknown as he recalled something from the information that he received from the gang members who attacked Randy.


    Recalling this, he immediately transformed within a mere second and his entire appearance changed.


    His head was now that of a wolf with silver-white fur, but the color of his fur was whiterpared to when Randy transformed into his werewolf assimted state.


    His appearance had also changedpletely, and no semnce of his human features remained.


    His arms were also covered in fur as his finger grew sharper ws and his legs became hinged like that of a wolf''s legs, but instead of walking on four legs, he was still standing on two legs instead.


    At this moment, a voice resounded behind him.


    "Ah, so that''s how you look like after transforming? Are you a coyote or a cute puppy? I can''t tell because you look nothing like a wolf, Mister Silvermoon." Randy stated.


    Swoosh!


    David Silvermoon used his senses to determine the location of the other party, then turned around, and swung his hand but he did not hit anything afterward despite his attempt.


    ''Was I mistaken?'' He thought with a frown on his face.


    "Don''t bother trying to hit me! Because you can''t even harm me with that measly strength of yours!" Randy said in a booming voice while blending in the background.

 Chapter 118 - Warning

    A while ago.


    This was before Randy suddenly disappeared from his position behind the table.


    At that moment, a series of notifications started scrolling in front of eyes.


    [[Assimted Mode Activated]]


    [[Assimted Types: Werewolf King of Wind and Stealthy Python]]


    [[Currently In Dual-Assimted Mode]]


    [[Reinforcement (Strength of the Werewolf King) Skill have been fully activated]]


    [[All basic statistics have been increased by 300 points and other statistics have been increased by 150 points]]


    [[The passive trait, ''Heightened Senses'' have been fully activated]]


    [[Reinforcement (Strength of the Stealthy Python) Skill have been fully activated]]


    [[All basic statistics have been increased by 25 percent and all other statistics have been increased by 10 percent]]


    [[The passive trait, ''Python Eyes'' have been fully activated]]


    [[Thermal Detection Skill Activated]]


    The moment Randy noticed something was wrong, he immediately activated his skills by entering the dual-assimted state.


    And without waiting for a second, he activated two skills at the same time.


    [[Stealth Scales Skill and Gale Riding Skill have been fully activated simultaneously]]


    Afterward, his appearance disappeared and at the same maneuvered from his position behind the table and dodged the rain of projectiles before they could reached him.


    After that, he remained behind David Silvermoon, and from there he noticed that his appearance started to morph, eventually showing his beast transformation.


    ''Oh, is that the bloodline ability that he was so proud of? He just looks like human-shaped dog that lost some of its fur. At most, he could be described as a mange dog since he still has some fur. Is he sick or something?'' Randy wondered to himself.


    And afterward, he pretended to be surprised, and thenmented: "Ah, so that''s how you look like after transforming? Are you a coyote or a cute puppy? I can''t tell because you look nothing like a wolf, Mister Silvermoon."


    The moment he said that, as if knowing where he was David Silvermoon turned around and shed with his wed hand.


    ''Whoa! That was close. I shouldn''t underestimate him too much. After he is still a dog.'' Randymended in his mind as he dodged the other party''s sudden attack using his newly acquired andprehended footwork technique.


    [Chasing Tiger Steps], footwork technique.


    ¡­


    The current time.


    "Don''t bother trying to hit me! Because you can''t even put a dent on me with that measly strength that you''re so proud of!" Randy casually said in the background, his booming voice filled with ridicule.


    "You bastard! You dare to look down on me, who is an A-Rank Hunter? Attack! Shot in the region front of me! I don''t believe you can''t hit him!" David Silvermoon ordered in an enraged tone.


    Boom!


    However, before the archers and snipers from before could shoot their arrows, David Silvermoon felt a tight grip on his right shoulder as he was suddenly mmed heavily on the floor with his hand twisted behind his back.


    "Urgh!" He abruptly screamed in pain afterward.


    "Now, now¡­ We can''t have that now, can we? You better keep your mouth shut. Otherwise, don''t me me." Randy casually said in a yful voice.


    "You fucking bastard¡­ Urgh!"


    "Shuu¡­ Did I not tell you to keep quiet? This is still themercial part of the city. Even if you cleared everyone around here. There''s bound to be other people walking around here unknowingly."


    Randy said and then he looked in the direction where the archers were shooting from and spoke outwards.


    "As for you guys, If you dare attempt anything suspicious, I will immediately snap his neck like I did with those people you sent after me. Mark my words, I will do it, so keep that in mind while you act." Randy coldly said while exuding a faint killing intent.


    Sensing this, the archers and snipers that were hiding somewhere within the caf¨¦ lowered their weapons and their abilities.


    Because in case they cause the death of their employer, then even if they manage to survive this, they will still end up dead anyway.


    So it was better to not act carelessly and recklessly. But still, they cannot simply stand by and do nothing.


    "Young Lord¡­"


    Feeling the tight grip around his twisted arm and his face pressed against the floor, David Silvermoon loudly cursed and begrudgingly said to them.


    "Fuck! Just do as he says!"


    Afterward, he proceeded to take a deep breath to calm himself down.


    He then gritted his teeth and asked: "What do you want?" .


    "What do I want? Nothing. Did you forget that you were the one that invited me into this caf¨¦? Why are making it sound as if I am the bad guy here?" Randy said to him while pressing his dog-face on the floor with his other hand.


    And then he continued: "I did note here to fight you or listen to your unfounded ims. I only came here to resolve the misunderstandings that you have about my ability."


    "And while I can''t tell you why I had this ability to transform, I can definitely assure you that it has nothing to do with your family''s bloodline ability nor is it my actual innate ability. Do you understand what I am trying to say?"


    "¡­"


    Hearing his words, David Silvermoon appeared to have thought of something.


    ''It is not his bloodline ability or is it his actual innate ability, then this is merely part of his ability or just one of his abilities? If that is the case, then what is his actual innate ability for him to have multiple abilities?''


    ''Although, it is not umon for one person to have multiple abilities... But how can he have these varied abilities? Beast-type transformation and Invisibility and if he really is the son of those people, then he might even have more abilities than what he has shown so far...''


    Randy did not care what the other party was thinking about and only said: "If you understand, then please do not send people after me anymore, it is very annoying and exhausting to deal with them."


    He then continued: "Instead, let''s talk like civilized people just like now. Although, I highly doubt your current position is appropriate for talking like civilized people. But you left me no choice but to restrain you like this."


    ''You fucking bastard! Just you wait and see! You dared to put your dirty hands on me, David Silvermoon! I will make you regret being born in this world, even if I have to offend your annoying parents.'' David Silvermoon suddenly realized that he was still on the floor, gritted teeth as he silently thought this in resentment.


    "Anyway, since I have told you what I needed to say, I will be taking my leave now." Randy said and then paused for a moment as if recalling something before continuing: "Ah, I have to remind you of this just in case you ever think about attempting something behind my back."


    "Since I can''t leave it to chance, I will warn you right now, do not ever touch my family. Because they have nothing to do with our current situation, your misunderstanding, and your deep hatred that you might be harboring towards me right now, which is evident judging from the look in your eyes."


    After saying this, Randy raised his booming voice that was full intimidation which was caused by his transformation into the werewolf formpletely.


    He then spoke in a threatening tone: "If you have a problem with me,e to me directly. Otherwise, If I find out that something happened to my family because of something that you have attempted or something happening to my family which might be rted to you, I will not forgive¡ª No, I will make you regret being born in this world, this I promise you!!"


    Hearing this threatening voice that sounded like the roar of fierce beast, everyone within the caf¨¦ suddenly fell a chill run down their spine and their feet, deeply rooted on the spot, unable to move as if there was an invisible pressure on their body.


    ''What the fuck is this brat! Why do I feel my legs shaking just from hearing his voice?!''


    ''How could he make us who are B-Rank and above feel this much sense of fear?!''


    ''Is this one of his abilities?! Just how many abilities does he have?!''


    The archers and snipers hiding somewhere within the caf¨¦ screamed inwardly when they heard Randy''s intimidating voice.

 Chapter 119 - Preparation

    David Silvermoon on the other hand, upon hearing Randy''s intimidating voice, was feeling the sense of dread more deeply and vividly since he was now transformed into his wolf form, and he could tell from Randy''s voice that he was not bluffing.


    That was because he could feel a sense of inferiority between their wolf bloodlines and that made him wince with his tail tucked between his legs just from hearing the other party''s voice.


    ''Fuck! Just what in the world is this brat?!'' He wondered with sweat dripping down his fur face making him look like a wet dog.


    After saying what needed to say, Randy calmed down, lowered his voice, smiled, and then continued with a gentle but cold tone: "You can choose to ignore my warning just now. After all, you''re the¡­ What was it again, the Young Lord of the Silvermoon family? But you should be ready to face the consequences if something indeed does happen to my family in the future because of you."


    ''Although I highly doubt you would be able to do anything to my family. Since my parents are not weaklings. The only problem would be my little sister, Lydia but mom is always with her so there is no problem on that part. As for my little brother, Rex, he is already part of an organization so there''s no need to worry about him. I guess that''s that.''


    Randy silently thought these and then concluded after pondering some more.


    After that, he let go of David Silvermoon and walked to the exit of the caf¨¦ while maintaining his stealth Scales skill, which made him imperceptible by the others in the caf¨¦.


    However, the moment he opened the door that was leading outside of the caf¨¦, one of the archers bit his tongue to snap himself from his abnormal state and tried to aim at the departing Randy.


    ''A chance!''


    Piu!


    The next moment, the sound of a projectile cutting through the air resounded but it hit nothing, only crashing into the door.


    The next few seconds¡­


    BAM!


    Crack!


    A dull and an impactful but disturbing sound of something breaking reverberated throughout the whole caf¨¦, followed by a screaming voice.


    "Ahhhhhh!!"


    "What the fuck!!"


    The others noticed that the archer who aimed at Randy, at unknown time, was heavily struck by something and he suddenly fell on ground wailing in pain as he clutch his chest.


    The ear-piercing scream from the archer sent a chill running down the spine of everyone who heard the agonizing scream.


    The next moment, a chilly voice containing a skin-crawling killing intent resounded in everyone in the caf¨¦''s ears, causing them to tremble slightly.


    "I suppose my warning just now went to deaf ears seeing as how this person decided to attack me the moment that I turned my back against you people. I don''t n on killing anyone today, but if this happens again, then I don''t mind killing everyone in this caf¨¦ and that includes you, Mister Silvermoon. So keep your men in check for the foreseeable future."


    After saying this, Randy went towards the caf¨¦''s door once again, opened it, and then left the ce.


    After he left, everyone in the caf¨¦ were left with dumbfounded expressions on their faces as they recalled Randy''s casualst speech before he left.


    ''He really will kill us?!'' The other long-rangebatants inwardly screamed in dread.


    But what was shocking to them was the killing intenting out of such a young man who was no older than eighteen years and was still in high school.


    Thinking about this, they wondered how many people were killed by him, enough for him to exude this much killing intent, that seemed to manifest into a solid form.


    ''This kid is definitely not normal. It is better if we don''t run into him in the future. He just killed one of us without alerting any of us.''


    The remaining archer and snipers thought in fear of what happened just now.


    But the next moment, they came to their senses and immediately ran towards David Silvermoon who was just trying to pick himself up from the ground with an ugly expression on his face.


    "Young Lord, are you okay?" They all asked with a concerned expression and even tried to help him up.


    "Don''t touch me with those dirty hands!"


    However, he smacked their hands away, clicked his tongue, and said in an annoyed tone: "Do I look okay to you? Why do I pay you people if you can''t even do your jobs properly? Bunch of useless trashes! Why do I have useless people like you by my side? How could you miss a stationary target who was without a doubt defenseless before your attacks?! And one of you even lost his life foolishly."


    "We''re sorry, Young Lord, for not reacting in time!" They all apologized while bowing their heads.


    ''You say that but even you were surprised when he suddenly vanished! How could you me us for something like this?!'' They all silently thought to themselves but still maintained their apologetic expression.


    "Forget it! Just fix everything in this ce." David Silvermoon waved his hand dismissively and said to them in a disgruntled tone.


    He then walked towards the back of the caf¨¦ away from the working area, walking past the corpse of the archer whom Randy had killed before leaving with a frown on his face.


    After observing the corpse of the archer that seemed to be bleeding from all his orifices, he felt a sense of fear, thinking if Randy had used that move on him, would he be able to resist it or would he sumb to the attack and die like that archer.


    He quickly shook his head to get rid of these thoughts and then proceeded to the backroom before closing the door behind him.


    While inside the room, he stood still for a moment.


    Bang!


    And then all of sudden, he angrily threw a punch at the wall in the room, forming cracks in it afterward.


    He then recalled what Randy said to him before he left.


    ¡­


    "¡­If I find out that something happened to my family because of something that you have attempted or something happening to my family which might be rted to you, I will not forgive¡ª No, I will make you regret being born in this world, this I promise you!!" Randy''s warning voice resounded.


    ¡­


    "Make me regret being born in this world?"


    "Hahahaha!!!!"


    Finding this statement ludicrous, David Silvermoon suddenly burst into a peal of madughter, almost like he had lost his mind.


    "A mere brat who only came out of his mother''s womb not long ago dared to threaten me like this?! We shall see who would trample who. I wasn''t nning on using this method. But since you forced my hands, you better look forward to it!" He said with an evil intentions stered all over his face.


    And then, he took out hismunication device and contacted his subordinate, who had investigated Randy''s background for him.


    After connecting to them, he firmly stated his orders without hesitation.


    A momentter, the subordinate doubtfully asked: [Young Lord, if I may be so bold as to speak my thoughts.]


    "Speak!"


    [...Young Lord, isn''t this method too conspicuous? If something were to go wrong, then wouldn''t the military in this district find out about this?] The subordinate carefully picked his words and said.


    "Are you saying that I am too stupid to know about something like that?"


    [No, that is not what I mean, I just¡­]


    "Enough! I know what I''m doing! We just need to leave no evidence, and no one would find out about it then." David Silvermoon said in an impatient tone.


    And then he continued: "Now, I want you to go to that ce, and make preparation for ''that'' thing to be unleashed. And when I give my word, unleash it.. In the meantime, keep an eye on that brat and inform me of his status down to the detail."

 Chapter 120 - Tamer

    [¡­By that brat¡­ Young Lord, you mean¡­]


    "Randy Smith, who else?!" David Silvermoon said in a loathing tone, shocking the subordinate on the other side of themunication device by the sheer animosity contained in his voice.


    He wondered what could have happened while his young lord went to see that young man.


    Because he was instructed to stay behind at the time, he had no idea what transpired between the two of them.


    ''Judging by the way the young lord is reacting, I assume things didn''t go as nned and he might''ve been offended by that brat instead. If that is the case, as his loyal subordinate¡­''


    [¡­Understood, Young Lord. Your wish is mymand. I will make preparation for ''that'' thing to be unleashed under your orders. Please rest assured.] The subordinate solemnly said in a respectful tone.


    "Very well. Make sure that it is done within two to three days. That will be all." David Silvermoon calmed down and said in a pleased tone.


    He then turned themunication device off before sitting on the couch in the room with a sinister smile on his face.


    "For you who dared to humiliate and embarrass me in front of my subordinates, I will make you feel what it means to ''regret being born in this world''. So you better look forward to it. I wonder if you will still be arrogant as you were today when faced with that thing." David Silvermoon muttered with his voice full of hatred and resentment.


    ¡­


    After leaving the caf¨¦, Randy returned home with peace of mind since he thought his encounter with David Silvermoon and the settlement with him should keep things peaceful for a while, at that was what he hoped.


    When he entered the living room, he saw that his mother was home this time and immediately announced.


    "I''m home."


    After hearing his voice, Riley turned to him and nodded before saying: "Wee home. How is school? Wasn''t your break starting from today?"


    "That''s right. But I n on participating in the special training session held by the academy so I don''t think I will be having that much break time." Randy helplessly said.


    "Ah, you did mention that. At any rate, that special training should be helpful to you. Besides I heard that you will be given some breaks in between, and the first week would be theprehension session for those whocked in academics while the remaining week would be dedicated to the practical training session. But theprehension session should be no problem for you, right?" Riley said.


    "Well, that''s true." Randy replied.


    "¡­"


    Both of them then turned silent after saying these things to each other, and then Randy took this chance and decided to go upstairs to change his clothes and take a shower.


    At this point, Riley seemed to recall something and then said: "Ah, now that reminds me. Randy, your little sister had also awakened her innate abilityst week. I never got the chance to inform you about this since we were busy with some matters afterward."


    "Eh? Lydia had awakened her ability too? What did she awaken to?" Randy turned around and said in a surprised voice.


    "That''s right. Since she was old enough, I decided to bring her to test if she could awaken, but surprisingly, she seeded on her first attempt. As for her ability, she seemed to have the same innate ability as mine. Although, there seems to be another ability that was still being confirmedpletely. But it seems to have the capability to increase favorability towards animals for now." Riley confirmed and then exined.


    "That''s great then." Randy happily said in a genuine tone.


    That was because, unlike him, his sister would not have to go through the same hardship as he did and that alone was enough to make him delighted that she had awakened her ability on the first attempt.


    However, as he recalled thest week andtely, Randy noticed that both his mother and sister were not home whenever he came home after school for some reason and so he was always curious about this matter.


    But based on what his mother had said just now, he could infer that perhaps it might be rted to his sister awakening her innate ability.


    Nevertheless, he could not understand why they had to spend more time outside even though his sister had already awakened her innate ability.


    ''Does it have something to do with her second ability¡­?'' He wondered.


    As if she could tell what he was thinking, Riley continued to speak: "That''s right. The reason we had to spend more time outsidetely had to do with Lydia''s second ability which needed testing to fully confirm its capabilities. And because of that, we had to test the ability on beasts and other creatures."


    And then she paused for a bit and continued: "Of course, since it was dangerous to attempt this on grown beasts and monsters, we had to visit beast shops and test it on young cubs. But after several tries, we discovered that it seems that her ability doesn''t appear to always work on the beasts and monsters, and the method to increase favorability with different beasts and monsters differ from each other."


    "So throughoutst week and this week, after school, I would always take your sister out along with an expert from the awakening center to experiment on the methods for different beasts and monsters. Because of this, your sister had been tired throughoutst week and this week whenever we returned home. Right now, she is sleeping in her room,pletely unlike her usual jumpy behavior when shees home."


    "Although, I initially didn''t want to put her through this because she was still young. But since it was necessary to discover what her abilities were beforehand, we had to cooperate with the people from the awakening center. In any case, all that ended today, and she was finally given the title ''Tamer'' by the awakening center after much deliberation." Riley sighed and spoke in a slight regretful tone.


    "Tamer?" Randy muttered.


    "That''s right. Just like how it sounded, it simply just means that she could tame other beasts and monsters with her second ability. Whether they were domesticated or the wild beasts, she has the capability to tame them as herpanion. Even the ones that poured out of the gates and rifts were possible to be tamed. But it was deemed to be too dangerous for now until she improves her ability further.." Riley confirmed and then exined.

 Chapter 121 - New Milestone

    Randy mused for a bit after hearing about his sister''s second ability from his mother and then spoke after a while.


    "I see¡­ Taming beasts and monsters, huh? That''s an interesting ability. If that was possible, then we could alleviate the damage done by monsters and beasts that abruptly appear through the sudden rifts in the residential areas."


    And then he thought of something as realization dawned on him and he immediately asked: "Wait a minute, with this kind of ability¡­ isn''t Lydia''s ability considered a type of unique ability then?"


    "It should be. After all, no one had awakened to this kind of ability despite the many years since the day of people awakening to different kinds of abilities. Even among the bizarre kinds of abilities, Lydia''s ability should be considered quite special." Riley agreed and then said.


    "That makes sense. But then, what is her ss? If she has two abilities, then her ss might also be unheard of, right? Or is she a mage like mom?" Randy then asked.


    The reason why he asked this was because of his abilities and his unheard-of ss. No, was it more appropriate to say that it was unknown instead? Since he could not make out the remaining words regarding his ss.


    Hearing his enthusiastic question, Riley shook her head and said: "No, she is not a mage like me. Well, it''s not like the ss one received during awakening would ultimately determine the path one takes. After all, my ss was not the ''Ice Mage'' ss per se. It was a very strange and ambiguous ss that said, ''Dominion Over Frost'' or was it ''Frost Dominion''? Anyway, this ss gave me the ability to have absolute control over ice."


    "Nowadays, I don''t even bother looking at it anymore. But I decided to be a mage since my energypatibility was mostly mana. Your grandfather wanted me to be a cultivator since I appear to have some talent for it, but I declined it at the time because I wanted to follow in my mother''s footsteps instead."


    After saying this, Riley seemed to have recalled something as her expression changed momentarily before she sighed and continued: "In any case, your sister also has an ambiguous ss that said, ''Mother of All Bestial Creatures'' which sounded more like a title than a ss. But I am assuming that it was the reason for her taming ability."


    Randy was instantly surprised by what his mother said and immediately pondered the meaning and reason behind such strange and ambiguous sses which were unlike the popr ones that had been established in the current society.


    Those sses that were popr because they were self-exnatory would be the basic sses like warrior, magician, Swordsman, de Master, me Mage, Ice Mage, Barrier Mage, and many others.


    Although there were multiple instances where there were special prefixes next to the basic sses like ''Blood'' next to Warrior like his father''s ss which was essentially a type of warrior ss.


    And then there was the magical warrior ss which simply meant that the person with this ss mostly uses enhancement-type spells to fight their opponents along with their well-trained body using mana.


    The training with mana was a method that enables one to circte mana through their meridians just like martial artists do with their qi to improve their constitution.


    The process of training one''s mana wasplicated and even if one mastered the process. Because to attain enlightenment, one needed to go through arduous training, and it could sometimes be dangerous until one eventually attains their¡ª Mana Aura.


    The mana aura or aura that one''s mana exude is the ability to have control over one''s mana cirction and then utilizing this method to execute techniques or enhance their physical abilities. Thus the body would exude the aura of mana around their body due to the effects of natural enhancement.


    Furthermore, with their ability to use enhancement-type magic spells to further improve their physical capabilities, Magical Warriors were held in high esteem and favored in the western district as knights of royal families and such.


    Sometimes, they were even conferred noble statuses and given their very own territories just for reaching the mana aura realm.


    With these kinds of benefits, one could tell that even those with basic sses could still attain greatness with their awakened abilities.


    But for Randy and his family, that had unusual sses that could be interpreted directly or might even mean something else entirely if one thought too deeply about it.


    At this point, Randy recalled what his mother said about her ss, which was ''Frost Dominion''.


    This ss at first nce could mean that the one with this ss had control over ice just like some evolved humans do when they awakened to ice abilities.


    But ording to his mother, she was not an evolved human, thus this ss does not make sense in that regard.


    That was because only someone who evolved should have an unusual and powerful ability like absolute control over ice.


    And his mother, who was not an evolved human, should only have an ordinary ice ability as an innate ability.


    In other words, something like Ice Mage or Ice Creator or something along those lines should be appropriate.


    But instead, she had the prefix ''Frost'' and then the subsequent word ''Dominion''.


    This sounded almost like she would have authority over frost rather than control over ice.


    And then his sister''s newly awakened taming ability which also had a literal interpretation as the ''Mother'' of all ''Evil creatures''. Since the word bestial could be interpreted as violent or corrupted creatures.


    This could then lead to a bigger misunderstanding if someone with a different mindset were to interpret it like that.


    However, based on what Randy could infer, all the ss, ''Mother of All Bestial Creatures'' most likely meant was that his sister could tame any, and all beastlike creatures that were most of the time violent by nature but not inherently evil.


    Thinking about this for a while without understanding the reason behind these sses, Randy suddenly felt a headache and decided to stop thinking about these unnecessary things.


    Although it appears that he may have been thinking for a long time, but he only took about a few seconds to think about this matter.


    This was due to the increase in his Psi-Realm, thus an increase in his psionic energy or mental energy, which then also affected his way of thinking tremendously.


    Right now, he could afford to think about things at the speed that he was not able to achieve before he broke through to the first realm of the Psi-Realm.


    This was a new milestone that he discovered that could prove to be very useful during theprehensive part of the university entrance examination.


    But that does not matter right now as there were still some other things that he needed to take care of before the exam, and it might even prove helpful in the uing special training session.

 Chapter 122 - Traceless Form Technique

    After a while of pondering over his mother''s words, Randy finally opened his mouth and then said: "I see. I guess that makes sense. If that is the case, then I suppose she would be the first beast tamer in history, or she could be a mage just like mom since she also haspatibility for mana, right?"


    "Ah, that''s right. But that''s too soon to decide such matters." Riley replied.


    "¡­I guess. Anyway, I am going upstairs to change my clothes, mom. Be back downter for dinner." Randy suddenly said to her.


    "Oh, okay. Don''t bother waking your sister up. She had already eaten her dinner beforehand, so she won''t be joining us today." Riley then said to him.


    "Okay, I understand." Randy said as he climbed up the stairs.


    "It must be hard on little Lydia if she was sleeping this early in time¡­" Randymented to himself when he reached upstairs on the second floor.


    After staring at the door leading to Lydia''s room, which was silent without any noiseing from it, he only shook his head with a smile on his face.


    Afterward, he went to his room, changed out of his school clothes, and then proceeded to take a cold shower for about 10 minutes while thinking about some things to himself.


    ''Before the special training outside of the city, I think I need to take a look at the skills and techniques and see if there is something that might be useful during the practical part of the training¡­ If possible, something that would contribute to saving my life in case of an ident where some terrifying beast attack during my hunting¡­''


    While thinking about this, he finished taking his shower, feeling refreshed and his mind also cleared of all thoughts.


    And then after cleaning himself, he went to his room to change before heading downstairs again.


    A few minutester, he had dinner with his mother alone since his sister had already had her dinner and was sleeping currently.


    After he was finished with his food, he took the tes to the kitchen and after washing them, he went upstairs again and then into his room.


    At this moment, he was sitting on his bed with his system''s disy screen projected in front of his eyes.


    At this point, he was looking at the skills and techniques that he had avable that could beprehended.


    ---


    ?[[Records]]?


    Current Recorded History:


    Skill(s)


    [1000,000 KP]


    <Shadow Mirage Barrage> [1000,000 KP]


    <Blood Ray> [500,000 KP]


    Technique(s)


    <Void Rippling Punch Technique> [1000 KP]


    <Unseen Sword Art> [100,000 KP]


    <Mountain Cleaving Strike Technique> [10,000 KP]


    <Traceless Form Technique> [50,000 KP]


    <Untraceable Shallow Spear Art> [50,000 KP]


    <Destructive Demonic Spear Technique> [30,000 KP]


    <[Magic Spells Collection]> [Varying KP per spell and technique]


    <[Riley''s Frost Magic Compendium]> [Varying KP per spell and technique]


    ---


    After taking a moment to nce over the skills and techniques, Randy was once again reminded about how unreasonably expensive it was to learn just a technique among all these lists of records.


    But this time, he was very prepared. After all, the whole point of constantly challenging opponents in the virtual world, all of that hassle, was for this very moment.


    Thinking about this, he turned his gaze and then looked at the section where his ''knowledge points'' icon indicating his total umted points was disyed.


    ---


    ?[[Knowledge Points: 53,600]]?


    ---


    While looking at the total amount of knowledge points that he had umted thus far, Randy was somewhat satisfied as he had a pleased smile on his face.


    But after looking at the total amount of knowledge points needed for the techniques again, he deted, and his smile also disappeared.


    ''Damn, just why is it so expensive! I farmed in the virtual world for two weeks straight and this is what I get after all that?'' Randyined in his mind.


    And then he recalled something.


    ''Oh, right. I think it was thanks to those guys that I even manage to barely meet the quota.''


    Randy silently thought as he recalled the events after he defeated the sunsses man and his men.


    ¡­


    [[You have decisively killed your opponent in one strike, thus obtaining a great amount of knowledge points totaling: 10,000 points]]


    The system announced with a glowing line of text after Randy defeated his first opponent who was the support member among the sunsses man''s subordinates.


    ''H-Holy shit! 10,000 knowledge points from killing that weakling? Don''t tell me the others all had this amount of knowledge points?'' Randy eximed in his mind and then wondered.


    ''Although it feels disgusting thinking about this when I just took the life of a human but¡­ Since they came after me first, there''s no need for me to hesitate to kill them in order to survive this encounter!'' Randy thought with conviction.


    After a while of engaging in a life or death battle and seeding in defeating the remaining opponents, the system announcement piled up in front of his eyes since he did not have the time to check during the battle.


    [[You have fought and killed your opponent in battle, thus obtaining 1250 knowledge points]]


    [[You engaged in a heated battle and have sessfully killed your opponent after rendering their attacks useless, thus obtaining 1300 knowledge points]]


    [[You have savagely killed your opponent before they could react, thus obtaining 1000 knowledge points]]


    [[You have mercilessly killed your opponent that was fleeing, thus obtaining 950 knowledge points]]


    While reading through these lines of texts, Randy had a delighted expression on his face despite the pile of corpses thaty in front of him at this moment.


    Right now, he was genuinely thinking that this was a blessing in disguise, even if he almost died to these people.


    Had he not used his dual-assimted, the oue of their battle, especially against the sunsses man would have been unpredictable.


    ¡­


    Back to the present.


    ''I really am grateful to those guys since thanks to them, I could afford at least one technique on here.'' Randy silently thought to himself.


    Throughout thest week and this week, he was only able to umte about 39,000 plus knowledge points after unceasing challenging yers in the virtual world.


    And so, even if he had added the previously remaining knowledge points of 7,915, he would have only managed to afford that ''Destructive Demonic Spear Technique'' and nothing else.


    But since he did not have a weapon or even a spear, learning weapon-type techniques would be useless to him right now.


    Right now, the only technique that he could afford and learn besides the weapon-type techniques would be the ''Traceless Form Technique''.

 Chapter 123 - Excursion Plans

    After looking at his total amount of knowledge points and the total amount needed toprehend the ''Traceless Form Technique'' which was a whopping 50,000 Knowledge points, Randy fell into thought.


    This amount would almost exhaust a lot of his current total amount of knowledge points, leaving him with only a few thousand.


    He would need to decide on what to do with the remaining knowledge point afterward, but for now, he needed toprehend this technique first.


    ''Now that I think about it, what is this technique exactly? Based on the name, it sounded like a stealth-type technique. Maybe I should check its description first to be sure.''


    With that thought in mind, Randy immediately concentrated and used his mind to select the ''Traceless Form Technique'' shown from the drop-down list of techniques.


    Immediately afterward, the system notification popped up with a few lines of text containing the information about the technique.


    ?[[Traceless Form Technique]]?


    ?[Rank: S~]?


    ?[[Type: Auxiliary Technique]]?


    ?[[Description: This was a special type of technique created by a mysterious expert renowned in a certain cultivation world for his wless assassination skills. He specialized in concealing himself, just like a concealed de, and then striking his enemies before they could even retaliate. Thus earning himself the epithet, ''Traceless Death''. Comprehending and using this technique does not require a specific type of energypatibility since it is an auxiliary technique]]?


    ?[[Additional Notice: This auxiliary technique, when executed,pletely hides the aura that the user emits. And this technique even helps one with regting or masking one''s breath, thus making it very hard to be discovered by an opponent during a sneak attack. However, bear in mind that it cannot camouge the user''s appearance. Nevertheless, as you grow in strength there is a chance for this technique to develop into a technique capable of camouging the user''s appearance]]?


    "Oh, so that''s the kind of technique this is. Although it is a bit of a letdown considering it cost so many knowledge points just toprehend, yet it can only hide one''s aura and breath¡­?"


    "Wait a second! Aura and breath? If I use this technique along with my Stealth Scales Skill, then wouldn''t I be invincible, at least as an assassin?"


    Thinking about this discovery, Randy''s emotions instantly surged as he was now filled with some appreciation towards this technique despite its exorbitant cost toprehend.


    After all, earlier when he fought against the sunsses man and his men, their supporter managed to discover his location despite him using the Stealth Scales Skill to appear imperceptible, thus invisible.


    Because he could not mask his aura at the time so he thought that perhaps the other party might have used that to track him or something.


    Although he was not sure if that was indeed the case, however, he could not rule out the possibility of that being the reason.


    And so, based on this technique''s description alone, he could tell that it would solve one of his problems when in the stealth state using his skill.


    Even if it might not be useful now, but at least in the future, it might prove to be very helpful when engaged in battle with someone he cannot face head-on.


    With that in mind, he immediately nced at the technique and decided to use the 50,000 knowledge points toprehend it right away.


    The system notification popped up shortly after.


    [[Would you like to spend 50,000 knowledge points toprehend the technique, ''Traceless Form''?]]


    The system prompted.


    "Yes!" Randy replied almost right away.


    [[Response Acknowledged]]


    [[Currentlyprehending the technique¡­]]


    After the system stated this, all of a sudden, Randy suddenly felt like more than a thousand characters that gradually formed into words gathered in his mind.


    And just like before, when heprehended the ''Void Rippling Punch'', he suddenly felt dazed almost like he had lost consciousness.


    Inside his mind, he noticed that knowledge about the technique was now engraved in his mind as if it has been there from the beginning.


    At this moment, he felt like even if he wanted to forget the technique, it would be impossible to do so, unless somebody forcefully wipe his memory of the technique.


    And with this, he had fully understood the true essence of the ''Traceless Form Technique'' and could now execute it as if he had done so many times before.


    ''This feeling again¡­ It truly is wondrous toprehend everything without having to practice too much for it.'' Randy uttered in his mind shortly after.


    Back when heprehended the low-ranking footwork technique, ''Chasing Tiger Steps'', he had to put in a few days of effort to fullyprehend it.


    That was because he decided not to waste his knowledge points on low-ranking techniques.


    While thinking about this in a daze, the system notification resounded, snapping him back to reality.


    [[You have fullyprehended the technique, ''Traceless Form'']]


    [[From now on, you can freely utilize this technique without worry. Since it does not cost any energy to execute at the moment]]


    The system then stated after the initial announcement of hisprehension of the technique.


    "Alright, now that this is done with, I feel somewhat rest assured towards future battles." Randy muttered as he clenched his hand into a fist.


    And then he looked at his remaining knowledge points after spending 50,000 of it just now.


    ?[[Knowledge Points: 3,600]]?


    "Hmm¡­ There''s still enough to learn other stuff before the excursion to the military base in the Beast Forest. Or maybe I should wait until I am in the training ground at the military base? No, it would be suspicious if I suddenly use a skill or technique that I did not report about having in that ce beforehand." Randy muttered to himself as he pondered his choices.


    "Alright, I will see if I can learn some spell from mom''s grimoire and then practice it during the weekends. And then afterward, I can just tell my instructor about it during the trip to the military base. Hm. Then it is decided."


    Randy decided and he quickly told hold of the grimoire, ncing through the pages.


    Shortly after ncing through the spells in the thick blue grimoire that he still had on him, he quickly found a spell that could be learned by him with his remaining knowledge points by checking with the system and then proceeded to learn it right away without hesitation.


    With that, Randy had concluded his n for the rest of the night.


    ¡­


    And the following day marks the beginning of his weekend of training his newly learned spell and technique.


    At this moment, Randy did not bother to enter the virtual world and instead practice his technique and spell inside the gymnasium in the basement of their mansion.


    Besides eating, taking a shower, and sleeping for a few hours, he practiced in a trance for the two consecutive days until he was familiar with executing the ''Traceless Form Technique'' and casting the spell that he learned from his mother''s grimoire.

 Chapter 124 - Inspection

    The following week.


    It was now Monday, and also, the day that the students of the 12th grade ss of the Sky Rise Academy would be taking one step towards achieving their goals in life.


    And it all starts with participating in the special training session held each year for the seniors that are graduating and also partaking in the university entrance examination.


    For that to happen, they needed to take a trip to the Eastern District''s military base in the Beast Forest.


    The purpose of this trip was to rigorously train the students in closebat and also make them utilize their abilities for different situations that may arise during their trip to the Eastern District military base and or after reaching their destination.


    And to do that, they would have to fight against mutated beasts and other creatures that lurk in the Beast Forest that spans a few dozen kilometers, which houses terrifying monsters and beasts the more one ventured deeper into it.


    However, to fulfill the purpose of the special training, the students would only be allowed to hunt at the periphery of the forest which had low-ranking creatures of various kinds and sizes.


    The ultimate goal of all these was to allow students to get experience and at the same time be prepared for the uing university entrance examination''s practical session which involves fighting against beasts in a certain part of the Beast Forest.


    This was one of the reasons why this special training was important. Since if one did well during this special training then they are bound to also do well in the actual examination.


    Not to mention, they are not simply hunting the beasts and monsters for no reason besides the experience.


    They could also amass ample amount of merits in the military, thus earning themselves military points that could be used to exchange for other things that could aid in their ability improvement or simply theirbat prowess.


    Those who were aware of this and confident were excited and as for those who were not confident in theirbat abilities or simply that they were sheltered enough that they were scared of fighting fierce and wild creatures that will only aim to take their life if they were to fail to take theirs.


    Randy woke up early as usual and after eating his breakfast quickly, he announced to his mother.


    "Mom, I''m heading out."


    "Okay. Be careful out there. Do not attempt anything dangerous. If you meet a monster or beast that you are certain of losing against, quickly run away without looking back. Your life matters more than umting merits to exchange for military points. Do you understand?" Riley sternly warned.


    "Alright, mom. I will keep that in mind." Randy replied.


    Afterward, he opened the door to the mansion walking out, and then after checking to see that he has everything with him, he hurriedly left through the mansion''s gate shortly after.


    "¡­"


    ''I hope nothing bad happens; I have been having a bad feeling about today for some reason, but I can''t just make him stay home and miss his chance because of this reason¡­''


    Riley silently thought as she watched her son''s figure disappear from the window of the mansion with concern look on her face.


    ¡­


    Sky Rise Academy.


    At this point, Randy had just arrived at the Sky Rise Academy''s main gate.


    Currently, there was a military vehicles waiting for the students going on the trip to the Eastern District''s military base in the Beast Forest.


    When he arrived a lot of his ssmates were already there lined up as they made their way into the reinforced bus in front of them.


    But before that, they had to be checked for bringing the necessary equipment that would be needed for the exercise by their instructors who would check their bags and storage items.


    Seeing everyone lined up, Randy also went to the back line to line up just like everyone else.


    At this moment, he was carrying a big bag on his back which contains various equipment like a portable tent that can expand after activation, water bottles, cooking utensils, sleeping kit, military knives that he bought from some antique store that sells used items, he even bought some other weapons with his money since they were so cheap, and he also bought many other misceneous kinds of stuff.


    Although his mother gave him money to spend on the items needed for the special training session, he did not spend them on weapons.


    Instead, he used them to buy some low-grade and mid-grade potions that were the most necessary products for survival in the wild, where one''s life would be in danger just because they were injured or run out of energy.


    However, most of the potions that he bought were for the recovery of one''s energy since he could use his assimted state of the werewolf form to heal minor injuries incurred by him.


    Superior Regeneration Skill!


    This was the ability that he relied on most of the time to heal his wounds.


    Even when he faced the sunsses man and his men, after being attacked by one of them, he managed to recover quickly by quickly activating the Superior Regeneration Skill.


    Randy had not tested the limit of this self-healing ability mainly because he had not suffered a life-threatening injury before.


    Well, if he counted the day that he awakened, then he could say that perhaps this Superior Regeneration Skill was quite extraordinary.


    Because he recalled that back then he had fractured and broken bones coupled with his skin injuries at the time, but when he woke up, all his injuries had been healed without a scratch.


    And the reason why he knew this was because of the voice that echoed in his mind at the time, that informed him of what was happening.


    Then again, he thought he was having an auditory hallucination at the time but now that he thought of it again, just what was that voice? Where did ite from? Who does it belong to?


    He was well aware that people imed to have heard some voices before they had awakened their abilities.


    Even Jiang Chen, who was a fanatic about abilities imed this to be true, so he was very curious about the identity of that mysterious voice. Since with its help, he was able to awaken and recover sessfully.


    As he thought of these while the line kept moving forward with people entering the bus one after another, very soon, it was now thest person before him.


    "Lin Feng, show me what''s inside your bag and storage item."


    "Here you go, teacher Liu. I have secured every necessary item needed for the special training this time. So don''t get too surprised afterward"


    The student named Lin Feng reached out with his bag, cing it on a table opened, and then afterward, emptied his storage bracelet with a smug look.


    "Hmm¡­ Sword, de, Knives, Bow and Arrows, Spear, Healing Potions¡­ Hm?"


    After a while of searching through the student''s bag and items, Instructor Liu suddenly frowned and then turned up to look at Student Lin Feng.


    "Teacher, are you that surprised? I told you that I have secured everything, unlike some people.." Lin Feng said, still with a smug expression as he straightened his chin.

 Chapter 125 - Misunderstanding

    "You little brat! Secured everything? Where are your energy recovery potions? Where is your sleeping kit? Why do you have all kinds of weapons, what do you need them for, huh? Are you seeking death?" Instructor Liu questioned.


    "What are you talking about, teacher Liu? Don''t you know that a real man does need those energy recovery potions? All I need are my weapons. As long as I have stamina, I can still grind¡ª I mean, defeat those beasts easily for points. Besides, those energy recovery potions are too expensive for me. As for the Sleeping kit, who needs those? Only weaklings would bring those kinds of things. I can simply find some cave to sleep in." Lin Feng said wholeheartedly with a serious face.


    The instructor''s expression twisted in anger and then furiously said: "You useless brat! Did you not listen when I gave out the instructions during ss the other day?"


    "Well, I was so sleepy at the time, so maybe?"


    "You little bastard! Then what are those for?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "What are those books for, huh? You had money to spend on those but not on the necessary equipment and items?"


    "Books? Wait, don''t tell me¡­ Ah, my treasure. I thought I hid those very well in the hidden pocket in my bag. How did you¡­?"


    "Degenerate brat! I am confiscating these."


    "No¡ª I spent my entire allowance on those! Teacher, I beg you, please¡­"


    "Incorrigible brat! Get out of my face. Such a disgrace to our renowned academy. You are banned from this trip."


    "No, you can''t do this to me. My mother would kill me if she found out that I couldn''t participate in this special training."


    "Then you should''ve thought of that when you brought these obscene books that would only cause distraction among your fellow ssmates. Now, get out of my sight!"


    "Ahhhh, please give it back at least. No, please forgive me. I really have to participate this time. Otherwise my father¡ª"


    "Fuck off!"


    "Ugh!"


    "Next person in line!


    Randy calmly walked forward as he looked at the other student who was kicked out of the way by the instructor with pity.


    ''This guy is quite fearless to bring something like that on this trip. Now that I look at him closely, wasn''t he one of the students who was loudly jeering at me when I was called to receive my statistical results at that time? The one that said they had a 60 for their physical strength or something?''


    He inwardlymented in realization as he turned his gaze away from this fellow ssmate.


    "What the fuck were you looking at, loser?" Lin Feng angrily said when he noticed that Randy was looking at him with a pitiful gaze.


    At this point, he was sitting on the ground after being kicked by the instructor.


    "¡­"


    Randy did not say anything in response and only approached the instructor who was waiting for him with aplex expression.


    When Lin Feng realized that the other party was ignoring him, he was instantly furious and shouted on the side.


    "Fuck! Trash like you dared to ignore me now. You were nothing but a loser until recently. You think just because you awakened your ability, you can now act arrogant in front of me. Tsk!" Lin Feng gritted his teeth and said in an angered tone.


    At this point, Randy was in front of the instructor, so he proceeded to take out all equipment and items that he brought in front of the instructor''s eyes.


    As for the disgruntled ssmate, he did not pay any attention to him because there was no need to care about someone like him who until recently bullied him along with the others.


    Although, he almostshed out at him for calling him names just now, because he had not forgotten how much he had suffered due to guys like him who look down on others just because they had awakened their ability earlier.


    But ultimately, he held back his emotions as he did not find it worth it to do something so stupid at this ce.


    Nevertheless, he found his current mindset a bit frightening since he always felt like killing these people whenever he sees their faces nowadays.


    Or more precisely, he had always harbored these feelings deep down but never actually acted on them because he was too weak to do anything about them.


    But now that he had the power to act on his feelings, it was ever so tempting.


    But he had to think about the consequences and thus, just like that, he gave up on those thoughts for now.


    At this point, the instructors had finished checking his stuff and then he suddenly picked up an item, which looked like a big book, and then showed it to him.


    And then he questioned: "What is this? Why can''t I open it? Don''t tell me you also¡­"


    The instructor narrowed his gaze and then looked at Randy suspiciously.


    ''This fucking brat! You have humiliated me earlier in front of your ssmates. I was wondering how to pay you back. But now, you just brought yourself to me. I didn''t think you were also an idiot like that Lin Feng.''


    Randy appeared surprised by his instructor''s words and then looked at the book in front of him.


    Noticing his surprised expression, Instructor Liu was certain about his assumption, grinned widely, and then spoke in reprimanding tone afterward.


    "Randy Smith! I didn''t think you were such a lecherous brat! To think that you brought this kind of book on the trip to the military base. Are you not afraid of being beaten to death by themander of the base? From now on, I am confiscating this, and you''re no longer allowed on the bus. Go home!" He shouted.


    Due to him raising his voice, everyone on the bus also heard this and they all turned their gaze towards the person that was being reprimanded.


    "What is going on? Isn''t that Randy, the loser? Wait, I guess he is not a loser anymore since he awakened his ability."


    "Hmph! So what if he is not a loser. He is still trash for bringing a lewd book on the school trip."


    "Eh? But are we sure that it is a lewd book? I mean, the cover may look rugged but isn''t that one of those grimoires?"


    "What grimoire? Isn''t that just a box that looked like a book? And also, why would a grimoire look so dirty? I bet he used that to store his collections of lewd books or something."


    Randy heard his ssmates talk away without even bothering to lower their voices with a displeased expression.


    He then turned to face instructor Liu with a fierce expression before saying in a slightly annoyed tone: "Teacher Liu, I don''t know what you think that book contains, but I tell right now since you seemed to be misunderstanding something here.. That is a grimoire that I bought recently, and I was originally nning on learning the contents during the trip so please give it back to me."

 Chapter 126 - Departure

    Before the trip, when he was packing his things, Randy had decided to bring the ck grimoire that he purchased from Miss Feng''s magic shop the other day with him.


    The reason for his decision was very simple. He had yet to open the ck grimoire, so he decided to keep it with him at all times until he figures out a way to open it afterward.


    Although based on the system''s description, it seems a certain requirement has to be met before the ck grimoire could be opened.


    And since he had no idea what the requirements were because it was hidden just like when the system was informing him about ways to utilize the crystallized abilities.


    But who would have thought that his instructor would mistake that thick ck grimoire as something else entirely during the inspection of his baggage and items?


    He would not have minded it if his instructor only assumed that it was a box containing his items based on the appearance of the ck grimoire.


    But instructor Liu seemed certain about whatever he was thinking of enough that he had to raise his voice intentionally just to rile up the other students to jeer at him once again.


    This was not an unfamiliar urrence back when he was still unawakened, but now that he had awakened, this instructor was still finding trouble with him for no particr reason like he had done something so terrible to him or something.


    Randy could not understand his instructor no matter how much he thought about it and thus when he saw him instigate his fellow ssmates, he instantly be angered, and his fierce aura exuded from his body, emanating outward.


    At this moment, he was barely holding himself back from blowing fuse and acting out.


    At this point, when his instructor heard his words iming that the object in his hands was a grimoire and not what he was thinking of, along with the fierce aura Randy was emanating from his body, he instantly gasped in terror.


    ''W-What the fuck is this? How could he have such aura? It''s even on par with an A-Rankbat power¡­ Perhaps even higher? Wasn''t he just a C-Rank awakened?''


    Seeing his instructor standing there with a look of shock on his face, Randy reminded once again in a cold tone: "Teacher Liu, like I said before, that grimoire is very important to me so would you kindly give it back to me? I don''t care if you kick me out from this trip, but as a teacher, you should confirm things before making a judgment. Otherwise, you''ll only make wrong assumptions just like you did just now."


    Instructor Liu snapped from his shocked state and was unwilling to give in to this arrogant student of his after hearing their words that were clearly was full of mockery and implications.


    "You brat¡­"


    "Do you want me to report this to the principal of the academy? I am certain that he would be able to make a better judgment as to whether the object in your hands is a grimoire or not."


    "Tsk!"


    Hearing these confident words, instructor Liu instantly gave up since he realized that the other party was serious the moment they had the courage to even bring up the principal of the academy into this matter.


    "Here, take it and get out of my sight!"


    Saying so, he strongly threw the heavy ck object in his hand towards Randy in annoyance.


    Randy on the other hand easily caught the grimoire without being pushed back, surprising his instructor since he was also a C-Rank, and his attack power coupled with his telekic prowess should be reaching the threshold of B-Rank attack power and yet his student easily caught something that he had thrown almost with his full force.


    "Tsk!" Instructor Liu clicked his tongue upon seeing this, turned his gaze away, and then said: "Next person in line!"


    Randy ignored him and packed his things before leaving and entering the school bus shortly after.


    At this point, the students who were jeering at him previously were now speechless at Randy''s performance and had dumbfounded expressions as their mouths were slightly agape.


    ''Since when was this loser this overbearing¡­ Such confidence and that oppressive aura just now¡­ Was he always like this?''


    The students all swallowed loudly as they dazedly stared at the other party climbed up the school bus and then silently went and sat in an empty seat at the back without even ncing at them.


    No one dared to utter a single word of jeering this time because no one wanted to find out what would happen to them if they did.


    However, the students who used to bully him at this point broke out in cold sweat upon recalling the skin-piercing aura exuded from the other party''s body.


    Jeremiah was among the students who had a worried expression as he started sweating profusely. But he decided to keep his calm as he sat in the front of the bus and tried to keep his head down when Randy walked past him.


    Randy on the other hand did not notice him since he was not in a good mood from his experience just now, so he did not bother to look at his ssmates'' expressions as he went and sat the back of the school bus with a scowled expression.


    Clearly, he was still annoyed by what transpired just now that he could not get rid of the frown on his face as he sat there.


    And because of this, Jeremiah was able to avoid his gaze and at this moment, he sighed in relief for some reason.


    ''¡­Fuck! Why am I scared of this fucker?! I''ll have to find a way to get rid of him for good during this trip. After all, idents happen during hunting, so no one would me or suspect me if something happened to him.'' Jeremiah exasperatedly said in his mind as he wiped the sweat off his face.


    Because both he and Randy were in the same ss, without a doubt, they would be assigned to the same location during the hunting session in the Beast Forest and thus he would be able to find many chances to get rid of him no matter how strong he was.


    As for the other sses in the same grade, they would be assigned to other parts of the Beast Forest, so there was less chance of running in them there.


    Furthermore, even if something happened to Randy, and the other people in their ss saw it with their eyes, he could just buy them off with some money or resources that they might desire. In any case, this was a perfect chance to get rid of a threat that would soone to take his life.


    In other words, he had to act first when the other party was still not paying any attention to him.


    A whileter, when all the students were inspected by their instructors and boarded the specially reinforced school bus, it was now time for departure.


    The drivers did not waste any time and immediately departed towards the not far away east gate that led outside of the protected city.

 Chapter 127 - Trouble

    Shortly after their departure, David Silvermoon who was back in his hotel room suddenly received a report from his subordinate whom he asked to monitor Randy''s movements.


    "So he really was participating in that special training for the graduating students of the academy, huh? No matter, we will proceed as nned." He firmly said without any reluctance.


    [Understood, Young Lord!] The subordinate solemnly replied.


    "Hm. But then again, those poor and pitiful students of the academy are just unlucky. Since they''ll be caught up in this without even knowing what was going on. They can only me their fellow ssmate for getting on myst nerves." David Silvermoon muttered to himself afterward.


    A momentter, he then ryed his orders: "Remember, once they reach the Beast Forest''s constructed path, have our people ready on standby on the other side with that thing. And after determining the right timing¡­ In any case, just release it a few minutes before they approach your location and then get as far away as you can to prevent any casualties on our side. With the rampage of that thing, they can only assume that it was some mutated beast attack and nothing else."


    He revealed a smile after saying this, and then said in a confident tone: "With this meticulous n and the identity of that thing, they won''t be able to trace it back to us anyway, don''t you think so?"


    [Young Lord is right. The people of this district had barely recovered from losing so many strong people during that apocalyptic-ss gate outbreak 19 years ago. Nowadays, even their technology isckingpared to our western district] The subordinate stated.


    Then he continued in a solemn and an affirmed tone: [Please rest assured, Young Lord. I will follow your instructions and carry out your orders without fail]


    "Very well. Get to it right away. And make sure you confirm his death afterward no matter what, do you understand? Do not fail me like the others." David Silvermoon said to him.


    [¡­Understood, Young Lord] The subordinate paused for a bit and then responded in a respectful tone.


    Soon, the line ofmunication was cut off.


    Right now, David Silvermoon was now by himself inside his hotel room.


    "Too bad, I won''t be able to personally witness the terror and despair on your face as you struggle to survive only to meet your inevitable end, Randy Smith!" He spat out these words one by one in resentment as his expression twisted, disying a sinister wide grin.


    ¡­


    On the other side.


    The buses that were taking the graduating students of Sky Rise Academy had just reached the east gate.


    After checking in with the city guards, they proceeded through the opened gate and through the barrier that only allowed those with identification cards.


    But at that moment, the barrier was slightly split apart just enough to allow the three school buses that were carrying three different sses of students to pass through.


    And just like that, they made their way out of the protected city and into the wilderness where anything could happen if one happened to let down their guard.


    However, the institution and instructors were prepared for this, as they purposely used the reinforced vehicle provided by the military to conduct their trip this time.


    And also, the path that they would be taking does not have strong mutated beasts or other creatures within its proximity.


    That was because all the strong beasts and monsters were cleared out a long time ago by the military and the hunters.


    And now, only the weak and low-leveled creatures roamed the ce, so they had nothing to worry about most of the time.


    Even in the off chance that something does attack them, the instructors who were all C-Rank and B-Rank inbat power could easily deal with the creatures that dares to attack them.


    With that in mind, they made their way through the constructed path and then continued to make their way to their destination without any problems along the way.


    At this point, Randy was looking outside through the back window as he suddenly frowned out of nowhere without knowing the reason.


    But he could vaguely tell that something was wrong after they made their way through the constructed path for a while.


    ording to what they had learned in the academy, although the beasts and monsters near the constructed path may indeed be weak creatures, however, that does not mean that they were not fierce and violent enough to attack any passersby taking the safe road through the forest.


    ''So howe there aren''t any sightings of a beast or monster throughout this journey?'' He wondered.


    This does not make any sense if one deeply thought about it since mutated beasts and other creatures had developed mutated bodies and senses, and thus, they could easily sense when their preys were nearby.


    So howe they are not even showing themselves even though the school bus had been traveling the road for so long?


    After pondering some more, he then thought of a possibility.


    Danger!


    The one trait that all beasts and monsters share inmon were their ability to sense danger ahead of time.


    Then perhaps, the reason why they have not shown themselves may be rted to that; they were afraid of something.


    After all, despite there being so many humans traveling through the Beast Forest, there was not a single creature in sight, as if they were afraid of something and decided to hide instead.


    ''Most likely, there is something quite troublesome in this forest, enough to ward off these weak mutated creatures within the vicinity around the constructed path. I need to inform the instructors about this discovery since it seems like they''re not aware of this matter. With my current senses, I can definitely smell some trouble up ahead.''


    ''But would they believe me just because I say so? Especially teacher Liu, who would disregard my words to save his face or something? ¡­Forget it, I don''t have time to deal with another nonsense argument with someone who was clearly aiming for me a while ago for some reason.''


    With that thought in mind, Randy did not bother to share his thoughts and discovery but instead, remained vignt and prepared himself for what is toe.


    After all, when it alles down to it, he was nothing but a student and since the instructors could not discern that something was wrong, then it is their responsibility to bear the consequences afterward.


    As long as he survives, then even if some students end up dying during this trip, it will not matter to him, as most of these people were trash humans who only know to bully the weak for their own benefit and ego.

 Chapter 128 - A Threat

    After traveling peacefully nonstop through the path in the forest for a few hours, the three buses suddenly stopped for the students to take a breather for a few minutes.


    Right away, some students got off the buses, especially most of the girls who were dying to go out before the boys.


    And after they got out, they immediately headed toward the forest apanied by their friends and female instructor to take care of their needs.


    Some of the guys who also could not hold themselves back also went to the opposite side of the forest with their friends. They also had their instructors with them.


    Randy also came outside along with the other students from his ss, but he did not go anywhere and simply stood next to the school bus and proceeded to wait until the other students were done with whatever they were doing.


    Of course, there were other students who remained behind just like him, but they form their own cliques and were engaged in their own conversations far away from him.


    Only Randy stood alone without anyone next to him, he was already used to this treatment after all this time and so, he did not pay these students any mind.


    Not to mention, he also did not want to get along with them anyway.


    Besides that, considering the possibility of danger, he was not about to venture into the forest when it was now getting dark outside.


    At this point, all of a sudden, one of the girls that went into the forest suddenly screamed so loud that everyone immediately became alert.


    "W-What was that? Did something happen?" One of the students who was standing not far from Randy said in a panicked voice.


    The people who went out were not far from the school buses since they did not want to risk running into a mutated creature in the forest and so, their screamed felt closer to the others who were still next to their buses.


    Randy instantly frowned when he heard the screaming voice just now and immediately felt a sense of apprehension as the hairs on his skin raised in response to this sudden feeling.


    ''Just what is inside that forest?'' He wondered.


    At the location where the scream came from, the female instructor who went with the female students was standing not far away from them but when she heard the screaming voice, she immediately rushed towards the location of the female students at her fastest speed.


    A few secondster, she reached the destination of the female students and immediately questioned them.


    "What happened here? And why were you girls this deep in the forest? Didn''t I warn not to stray away too much from me? What were you three thinking? Are you not afraid of death?" She sternly asked and then rebuked the three female students.


    "T-Teacher Ava, we''re sorry. We thought that we¡­" One of the girls tried speaking.


    "Cut the nonsense and tell me why you were screaming just now! Don''t you know that screaming in the beast forest could lead the nearby mutated beasts to us?" Instructor Ava sternly asked.


    "W-We''re sorry¡­ It''s just that we¡­"


    Noticing that the students were panicked as they had their heads down with fearful expressions, she decided to take a deep breath to calm down.


    "Haah¡­"


    She then breathed out a momentter, and then spoke in a slightly warm tone: "One of you just tell me what happened slowly, okay?"


    Hearing the change in the tone of their instructor''s voice, one of the girls raised her head a momentter and then spoke up: "Teacher Ava, I''ll speak... The thing is... when we went a bit further into the forest, we saw a huge tree, so we decided to take care of ourselves there but then suddenly a corpse of a mutated beast fell from the tree and when we checked it, we found out that it belonged to a mutated ape that had its head bitten off. So we were frightened and quickly run back to this ce. And also, on our way..."


    Another girl then continued: "Yes, there was also a blurry figure in the forest."


    "A blurry figure?" Instructor Ava inquired.


    "That''s right, we saw a blurry figure swiftly move past us when we were running back, and Xiao Ling thought it looked like a monster with sharp teeth and a long tongue but we didn''t see anything like that."


    The female student said as she pointed at a frightened girl who appeared to be the one that screamed a while ago when they saw the corpse fall from the tree.


    "What?!" Instructor Ava eximed when she heard this, and she then quickly instructed: "We need to move right away! Hurry¡ª"


    Whoosh!


    The next moment, she immediately shut her mouth and assumed her battle position when something just moved past them as she was talking.


    She then gestured for the girls to keep quiet for a moment. But when nothing happened after a few moments, she sighed in relief.


    But then out of nowhere, somethingnded on the three female students seeping into their body through their pores, and a momentter, they all stood still, not moving one step as if they had been frozen or petrified by something.


    The eerie part was that their bodies still looked the same without any visible changes, and even their expressions of panic remained on their face but despite that, they were still rooted on the same spot.


    When the instructor noticed that something was wrong as she was gesturing for the female students to follow her but none of them responded, she suddenly recalled something unpleasant and terrifying.


    "This¡­ Don''t tell me¡­ It''s happening again¡­ Is it that unknown creature that attacked and brutally killed my students from before¡­ Why is it happening here too¡­?


    At this moment, she was genuinely shocked and frightened by the thought of that event happening again in this ce.


    Her body was trembling on the spot in shock and fear when she recalled the events fromst time.


    Instructor Ava, whose full name was Ava Miller was originally from the western district, thus she was a foreign instructor that came to the eastern district due to certain reasons.


    She was also somewhat familiar with the situation that was currently unfolding in front of her eyes after observing how her current students suddenly froze from some bizarre power.


    And if it was the same as before, then that entity would kill all her students without them being able to retaliate at all, leading to another tragedy.


    This has happened to her other students in the western district multiple times. But it seems like they always conclude after investigations that it was the work of a monster that just happened to make it to her previous schools and thus, attacking her unfortunate students.


    But she was certain that something felt strange about those creatures and every event that transpired at the time but no believed her when she gave her testimony as if they do not want to hear it.

 Chapter 129 - Confrontation

    Eventually, people started calling her names, especially the loved ones of the students that always lost their children''s lives to the sudden attack of those unknown creatures.


    It was because of this very reason that she came to the eastern district to escape the people in the western district calling her a witch that killed her students and med it on a monster.


    The questionable thing was that whenever those monsters or strange things happened, it was always at the schools that she happened to be situated, at the time.


    And those schools that she used to teach were nothing but amoner schools in the western district. They were unlike the noble or prestigious institutions renowned in the western district and thus, they received less attention from the royal families.


    And also, when people started calling her a witch and a jinx, she could not refute their ims since these events happened almost at everymoner school that she had transferred to after every incident.


    However, uponing to the eastern district andnding a teaching job at a prominent academy such as Sky Rise Academy, she thought that she had escaped the tragic fate of losing her students all the time without being able to get there in time.


    This has frustrated and caused her to despair for a long time. But who would have thought that same tragic fate would once again follow her new teaching institution in this eastern district?


    Thinking about what is toe after this, she did not hesitate and quickly grabbed the three students and instantly cast a body enhancement spell, and quickly ran away from the forest without looking back.


    After she left the ce, a pair of glowing yellow eyes belonging to a vile-looking creature nced at her departing figure while showing its razor-sharp fangs and its long tongue that hangs from its mouth as it drips with sticky saliva.


    After leaving the forest with the three frozen students in her arms, who at this point looked like stone statues, she immediately shouted outwards: "Run! Run! We need to run!"


    Hearing her incoherent and senseless remarks, everyone was bewildered and nced at Instructor Ava, who was carrying the three females who did not appear harmed just by looking at their bodies.


    "What is going on, teacher Ava?" The students from her ss asked.


    "Yeah, instructor Ava, why are you out of breath? What happened out there?" One of the instructors asked her.


    "We need to get out of here right now! Something ising!" She shouted once again with a scowled expression, confusing everyone.


    "What are you talking about¡­"


    "Ahhhh!! What the fuck! Something bit my arm!!" A student suddenly screamed in pain while grasping at his amputated right arm that was spilling blood everywhere.


    Looking at the marks left behind, it looked as if something with razor-sharp teeth bit his arm off in one bite up to his elbow.


    A secondter.


    "Arghhh!! My leg! Help me! Somebody¡­ T-Teacher, save me!!"


    Everyone gasped in shock when they heard the screaming pained voices, including the instructors who failed to heed Instructor Ava''s warning words.


    Within the next few seconds, various screams of the students reverberate throughout the surrounding.


    Some lost their legs, others lost their arm, and some also had their chest shed by a sharp w, revealing the skin underneath.


    But the strange part was that the wound inflicted on their bodies were not deep with the exception of those who lost their arms and legs, so as long as it was treated right away, the students'' life would not be in danger.


    This situation looked like whatever attacked the students was only ying with its food before ultimately consuming them.


    "Shit! It''s toote, it''s already here! We need to take the injured and get out of here as soon as possible! Somebody, make a call to the military for reinforcement! There is a terrifying monster lurking in the forest, and now, it is targeting us!" Instructor Ava impatiently said to the dazed-out instructors who had no idea what was going on with their students.


    Due to their carefree mindset they had until now because of how smooth the journey was thus far, they did not expect to encounter any dangerous monsters or beasts at this point in time.


    But then what was happening in front of their eyes? Are they being attacked? If so, then where is the attacker? Where is the creature that was attacking them? They were confused about this matter.


    Looking at the bewildered instructors who were not responding to her words, she emphasized: "We need to leave right now! What are you all doing? Do you want to watch that creature finish killing your students before you act?!"


    Immediately upon hearing these words, the other instructors snapped out of it and quickly moved and tried getting their students back into the bus. Since the school bus was reinforced to withstand up to B-Rank attack power.


    But it was toote!


    "Urhghh!" One of the male instructors who got close to one of his students, suddenly screamed as he was impaled from behind by a wed arm.


    "Cough! Cough! Ugh!" He coughed up a mouthful of blood shortly after.


    He frantically tried to stop the bleeding by grabbing his stomach, but he was met with a green-wed arm that was still impaling his stomach.


    At this point, the creature that impaled him with its wed arm abruptly raised him up with blood flowing along its scaled wed arm as it dripped down on the ground.


    This caused the other instructors and the students to freeze on the spot in fear due to how huge the creature they were witnessing was.


    They did not even dare to make any noise, afraid that they would be next if they had screamed at this time.


    At this moment, everyone could see the creature with their own eyes, but no one could guess what sort of creature it was at a first nce.


    It was a ghastly creature whose identity could not be confirmed, rather it seemed like the amalgamation of other creatures, thus having many different body parts.


    But the odd part was that it was humanoid, too human-looking due to some part of its skin looking like that of a human''s body. Nevertheless, its bodyposition might not be human at all, just by looking at its humongous figure.


    If one observed closely, they would see that it had scaled right arm, furry left arm, lizard-like head, razor-like fangs, its legs were also hinged but they seemed to belong to some unknown creature.


    At this point, if anyone were to take a guess at its identity based on these features alone, they might not be able to conclude with confidence since no one knew about every creature that came over to this world.


    However, if one took a look at the creature''s body closely, they would find out that it had stitches all over its body as if those body parts were sewn unto its main body.


    If one couple that with the other discovery, then they would either assume that it was some sort of mutated creature, which was very unlikely, or a chimera creature which seemed more usible.


    And if it really was a chimera, then who created such a monster, and what was their motive for creating such an inhuman thing?

 Chapter 130 - Retreat

    Everyone was terrified as they watched the huge creature with the size of about 3 people stack together and its height was around 3 meters tall.


    Without a doubt, everyone thought that it was the fabled chimera in legends when they saw its different body parts and they were instantly shocked, not sure of what to do since an instructor that was a registered B-Rank had just been impaled by the monster without being able to react.


    As the chimera-looking monster held the impaled instructor in the air, who was lifeless at this moment, out of nowhere, it started muttering something in a strange tone.


    "Kill Ran¡­ Ran¡­ Kill¡­ Die¡­ Kill¡­ Kill"


    Hearing this hoarse but definite human voiceing from that chimera monster, everyone including the ones who had luckily made it into the school bus was shocked further since this could mean that this monster could talk, unlike the monsters that they have known about.


    ''I-It''s speaking¡­ How can a monster speak humannguage? Is it even a monster in the first ce?'' They all thought in trepidation as they remained rooted at the same spot.


    ''I knew it! It was indeed one of these monsters that killed my students¡­ Just what are they and why do they keep following me wherever I go? Am I just a jinx like everyone says?'' Instructor Ava thought in dejection and fear.


    A while ago, Randy was originallygging behind the other students in his ss as he also pretended to get into the school bus for safety.


    But after seeing how the instructor who was supposedly a registered B-Rank awakened could not put up a fight against the creature that suddenly appeared and was instantly impaled and killed by this strange creature instead, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and did not enter the school bus.


    A momentter, he disyed a deep frown on his face with his gaze focused.


    At this point, he was looking at the chimera-looking monster with a pondering expression while thinking about how to get out of this dangerous situation.


    ''If this thing manages to kill everyone outside, then wouldn''t it be easy for it to kill us who were gathered in the school bus afterward?''


    ''Plus, in the first ce, can this reinforced school bus defend against that monster''s attacks¡­? No, I can''t leave my survival to chance, I need to get out of here."


    As he thought about this, he immediately decided that it was best to abandon this ce with hindrances everywhere and trace his way back to home, to Sky Rise City instead.


    Later on, even if they question him about how he managed to survive, he could simplye up with some believable excuse at that time.


    With that thought in mind, he immediately bends down at the side of the school bus to escape the eyes of his ssmates who were already inside the school bus.


    Right now, everyone had a look of fear on their face as they watched the monstrous being in front of them, so he was certain that no one would have the time to pay attention to something else.


    Afterward, he quickly urged the activation of his skills.


    [[Assimted Mode Activated]]


    [[Assimted Type: Werewolf King of Wind]]


    [[Gale Riding Skill Activated]]


    Whoosh!


    Without any reluctance, he immediately used the Gale Riding Skill to move away from the vicinity of the school bus.


    Right now, he was heading back where they came from, with the intention of going back to Sky Rise City to save his own life.


    This was way safer than staying there and waiting for some reinforcement that nobody knows when they would arrive.


    Although, he could choose to fight this monster, however, what is the point of risking his life when his instructors could not do anything to it? Even if he was strong enough take it on, he would not dare to fight something of unknown origin.


    Besides, he also remembered what his mother told him before he left for this trip.


    ¡­


    "¡­Do not attempt anything dangerous. If you meet a monster or beast that you are certain of losing against, quickly run away without looking back. Your life matters more than umting merits to exchange for military points. Do you understand?" Riley sternly warned.


    ¡­


    Indeed, all he was doing was heeding his mother''s warning and nothing more. And with that in mind, he did not feel any guilt for abandoning his ssmates and teachers.


    In any case, there was another reason why he chose to run away from this ce instead of making a call to his mom or other people for help, and that was because digitalmunication signals within the Beast Forest were very terrible and only radio signals work properly.


    And at the moment, he does not have any radio device with him.


    Since that was the case, he could only go back to the city and inform them of the situation, and that alone could turn any doubt that people would have about his survival into void.


    After all, he was the sole person that returned alive to report a tragic situation like the one that was unfolding before he left, no one would me him for running to report this kind of thing.


    However, while he was thinking of his ingenious ns, he failed to realize that this decision of his was a grave mistake on his part.


    Because the moment he activated his assimted state, Werewolf King of Wind and activated his Gale Riding Skill to quickly escape from the vicinity of the school buses, that chimera monster who seemed to be searching for something with its nose as it held the lifeless instructor suddenly turned its gaze to look in a certain direction.


    It was the direction where Randy was standing before he activated his skill.


    And the next moment, the chimera monster swung its arm and dropped the dead instructor to the ground before sprinting, disappearing somewhere.


    When it left, despite the corpse of the instructor in front of them, everyone suddenly heaved out a sigh of relief since they escaped with their life just now.


    But they instantly became alert once again with doubtful expressions. They wondered if the chimera monster had truly disappeared or whether it was just toying with them like before.


    "W-What happened just now? Why did it leave?''


    "Who cares about that, at least we''re still alive."


    Instructorsmented after a moment of silence.


    "¡­ Instructor Liu, Hurry up and take out the transmitter and inform the military to send the reinforcement to us. Tell them that we were attacked by an unknown creature and some of the students were badly injured and that they should bring the medics and healers!"


    Instructor Ava said a momentter and then went to treat the injured students with the first aid kit that she had in her storage item.

 Chapter 131 - Struggle

    A moment after instructor Ava gave her suggestion and left to treat the injured students, one of the instructors who heard her words had a strange expression.


    Since they would also have to mention their ipetence for not being able to protect the students and even lost one instructor in their report to the military.


    But there was nothing that they could have done in that situation and so, the instructor pondered for a moment andmented in displeasure: "Tsk! How humiliating!"


    And then he said afterward: "Just tell them that we couldn''t protect the students from the unknown monster since it appears to be stronger than us! And also, instructor Liu¡­ Don''t forget to mention that we also lost an instructor to the unknown creature and that he was also one the strongest among us. That should make them be fully aware of the situation that we''re in."


    "¡­Alright, I transmitted the voice message to them just now." Instructor Liu responded after a while of speaking into some radio device.


    ¡­


    On the other side.


    On the constructed path in the Beast Forest, far away from where everyone else was, Randy was currently riding the wind as he continued running back to Sky Rise City utilizing his full speed.


    However, all of sudden, he felt like something was tailing him and immediately turned around to search for the source, but he could not find anything behind him.


    ''Was I imagining things? Or is something really following me all this time? No, with my heightened senses while in this state, I shouldn''t be wrong about my intuition. But then where are theying from?'' Randy wondered as he continued to pick up the pace without stopping in his tracks.


    "Bang!"


    "Ugh!"


    While he was running, something suddenly smashed into him, or rather, he smashed into something, and then he was bounced backward.


    Due to the momentum that he was keeping as he ran forward, even though he saw a blurry figure at thest moment, he could not stop himself in time and could only helplessly bump into them.


    "What the hell was that¡­?"


    Randy who fell on his butt suddenly questioned but he immediately shut his mouth as he saw the creature that was standing not far away in front of him.


    ''What the fuck! Isn''t this the chimera monster from before? Why did it follow me all the way here?! Shouldn''t it be massacring everyone back there instead?'' He inwardly eximed in shock and bewilderment.


    A momentter, the huge creature approached him with its wide opened mouth as it bared its fangs and ws.


    ''Shit! This is troublesome! Why does it look like this thing was after me the whole time? I don''t recall killing its child or anything, so why is it after me?''


    Randy wondered as he quickly got up from the ground and assumed his battle position.


    Whoosh!


    At this moment, the chimera monster suddenly vanished in front of his eyes, shocking him greatly.


    "What?! It disappeared?"


    The next moment...


    sh! sh! sh!


    "Ugh!"


    "Why is it so fast!"


    Before he could even react properly, he was already shed on his back multiple times by the chimera monster, with his blood spilling on the ground.


    If not because of his assimted state, he would have already sumbed to serious injuries just from the relentless attack from the chimera monster.


    "Fuck! That hurts!"


    Swoosh!


    Randy turned around and swung his ws at the chimera monster in annoyance.


    And then he proceeded to re at the creature before shouting in a furious voice when he noticed that his blood spilling on the ground.


    "Why are you attacking me all of sudden?! What did I ever do to you?!"


    In response, the chimera monster started muttering incoherent words outwards, almost like it was deranged.


    "Kill¡­ Must¡­ Kill¡­ Smell¡­ Must Kill Smell¡­ Must kill Ran¡­ Die¡­ Smell Simi¡­r¡­"


    "What the hell is it saying? Must kill who?"


    Hearing this, Randy was instantly confused by these words from the chimera monster.


    But he did not have the time to think about such things as the chimera monster suddenly disappeared again, and just like before it aimed at his back with its ws.


    "As if the same thing will work on me!"


    Randy sneered as he maneuvered himself using his footwork technique to easily dodge the other party''s w attack.


    [Chasing Tiger Steps]


    But the attacks did not stop there as the chimera monster used its other hand to form into a fist and threw it at Randy''s face faster than he could react to it.


    "Bang!"


    "Ugh!"


    Randy was sent flying a considerable distance away with blood spraying from his nose.


    ''What the hell? Why can''t I see its movement just now?! Maybe I should use my double enhancement now. Otherwise, I will die to this monster before I even know it.''


    Thinking about that, he immediately activated his dual-assimte state.


    [[Assimted Mode Activated]]


    [[Assimted Type: Stealthy Python]]


    [[Currently in Dual-Assimted Mode]]


    [[All your basic statistics and other statistic have been increased tremendously by the effect of your dual-assimted state]]


    ''Hmm¡­ Just in case, I should add this too.''


    "¡­Body Enhancement!" He muttered shortly after.


    ''Alright, this should be enough! Right now, my basic statistics should be above a normal S-Rank awakened. I refuse to believe that this creature is stronger than an S-Rankbat power in terms of speed.''


    Thinking this, Randy immediately adjusted his fall while neglecting his bleeding nose.


    And without wasting any time, he charged forward towards the chimera monster who was only a few meters away from him.


    He did not want to be on the receiving end all the time and would rather be the one doing the attacking instead.


    Within a few seconds, he instantly appeared in front of the chimera monster, and after charging his fist with his magical energy, he quickly threw his punch at the chimera monster without hesitation.


    [Void Rippling Punch]


    The chimera monster did not move and only reached out with its palm to take on his all-out attack.


    "BAM!"


    A momentter, his punchnded on the other party with ripples forming within the surroundings as if there were shockwave residues forming from just his fist attack alone.


    ''That should do it!'' He thought.


    However, the next moment, he was shocked to find the chimera creature unscathed as it took on his attack.


    At this moment, it held his fist its palm as if his attack did not even cause it any damage at all.


    This left Randy shocked since no one had managed topletely negate the effects of his fist technique besides the sunsses man who held on for a while during his onught.


    But even he was eventually defeated after umting more damage from his fist technique.


    ''Just what is this monster? I thought using the dual-assimted state would drastically improve mybat prowess, but it seems like it is meaningless in front of this monster. I never struggled that much even when I fought multiple people at that time with the sunsses man and his men. So why does this creature make me feel like I am nothing in front of it?"


    Randy silently thought in frustration upon seeing that his all-out attack did not even leave a scratch on the other party''s body.

 Chapter 132 - Stealthy Combat!

    Roar¡ª¡ª


    The chimera monster suddenly roared as it suddenly aimed its gaping huge maw with its razor-sharp teeth at Randy''s gripped arm.


    ''Shit!''


    Bam! Bam! Bam!


    Randy instantly became alert as he quickly rained down multiple fist attacks at the other party which caused it to be disoriented slightly.


    And then he used that chance to immediately pull his hand away from its grip and thus was able to escape its huge maw that was aiming to maw down on his arm.


    At this moment, he had escaped a considerable distance away from the chimera monster after barely getting out of its grip just now.


    "Damn it, that was too close¡­" Randy muttered as he started sweating profusely from the close call just now.


    ''Fuck! What should I do against something like this? This monster doesn''t seem to be fazed at all by my attacks just now'' Randy inwardlyined as he nced at the unscathed chimera monster in the distance.


    ''Even with my dual-assimted state, I couldn''t cause any damage to it, then what in the world could possibly work on it? Weapon techniques? Elemental attacks? But I don''t have any of these techniques or spells, so I can''t even check to see whether it would work or not¡­ Wait a second, I do have that spell that I learned from mom''s grimoire! Should I try it out on this chimera monster and see if it works? There''s no time to ponder about this, I need to act right now before it resumes attacking instead.''


    Instantly, Randy gathered just enough of his magical energy into his hand, and while recalling the method of the spell, he immediately turned his magical energy into water, followed by turning it into cold energy, and then the cold energy was transformed into ice afterward.


    Right now, his arm was covered in ice.


    After thinking about something, he immediately activated his other skills coupled with his newly learned technique.


    [[Stealth Scales Skill Activated]]


    [[Thermal Detection Skill Activated]]


    [[Python Eyes Trait Automatically Activated]]


    [[You executed the ''Traceless Form Technique'', all your aura and breath have beenpletely hidden thus unable to be sensed by others duringbat]]


    With these announcements from the system, Randy could feel his aura receding after executing his newlyprehended technique. Even his breathing could be controlled with this technique.


    ''With this, I should be able to sneak attack that bastard! Just wait and see how I punch a hole into your body. Alright, shall I check its energy with my infrared vision¡­ Eh? What is that? How is that possible?''


    "What is this chaotic energy inside this monster''s body?" Randymented in disbelief.


    The reason for his sudden reaction was because the other party had multiple energy surging inside their body, almost like the energies flowing inside his body.


    But unlike his which flows freely and smoothly throughout his body, this chimera monster''s energy fluctuation was more chaotic with different kinds of energy shing inside its body, and yet it was able to stand there as if nothing was wrong.


    Randy wondered if that was how his energy flow was before he had awakened his innate ability.


    And then he started wondering how he even managed to survive without dying if that was the case.


    After all, there was a possibility of the energies running out of control and destroying his meridians, thus crippling him and worse case, even killing him.


    ''Was I just lucky that nothing happened until my awakening? Then again, how is this chimera monster able to control that chaotic energy inside its body¡­?''


    While he was thinking this, the chimera monster''s energies suddenly surged forth as if it was going out of control, and then all of sudden it calmed down as if nothing happened.


    ''What was that? Is that an ability? Is that why it was able to control that many different energies inside its body? If that is the case, then this is one terrifying monster. What else does it have? Since it is a chimera monster, then it should have multiple traits or something, right?''


    Randy did not think too much at this time because after observing for a moment, he suddenly realized that the chimera monster appeared confused and was looking around for him.


    At this point, after pondering for a bit, he concluded that perhaps this was the reason why its energy fluctuations changed momentarily due to the shock of losing its prey.


    Most likely the energies inside its body surged forth because it was angry after discovering that he was nowhere to be seen.


    Randy could not waste this chance and immediately made up his mind and silently charged towards the other party that was still in confusion.


    When he was within reach of the chimera monster, Randy immediatelyunched his attack at the other party''s throat since he could not reach its face with his current height despite looking much taller than before after he entered his assimted.


    [Frost Hand] Spell technique.


    Puk!


    The sound of something prating a soft but firm surface resounded.


    ''Damn it, I missed? How is that possible? It shouldn''t be able to see me right now, so how did it dodge my attack just now?!''


    "Grrr?"


    The confused chimera monster grabbed its neck that was bleeding after being pierced by something sharp, and immediately, it was infuriated and indiscriminately started swinging its arms around.


    Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!


    Randy immediately executed his footwork technique along with the Gale Riding Skill to barely dodge the frantic attacks from the other party.


    ''Shit! Even stealthybat is not working on this guy? How did it dodge my attack at thest moment? Don''t tell me¡­ Did it avoid my attack by its instinct alone? At any rate, I should continue to attack it and see what other abilities it might have besides its physical speed and its extraordinary senses'' Randy silently thought and concluded to himself.


    But then he recalled that this chimera monster had a strange ability that could control the mixed energies that it had in its body.


    Randy assumed that it was most likely the result of some sort of experiment on its body which allowed it to have such an ability, and although it was only a guess but it seems usible.


    Thinking about this, Randy instantly approached the chimera monster from its blind spot andunched multiple sh attacks using his frost hand technique that heprehended from within his mother''s ice spell techniques.


    sh! sh! sh! sh!


    The reason why it was a spell technique and not a magic spell was that this spell does not require one to form an image by reciting some incantation but rather it was a method of converting one''s magical energy into an ice element and then using it to create anything portable in one''s hand.


    In this case, Randy used it to cover his entire arm since he was not afraid of the cold energy due to his assimted state that drastically enhanced his physical capabilities.

 Chapter 133 - Unexpected Attack

    The reason why Randy was not afraid of the cold energy that could pervade into his body and cause harm to him was that he was now in his full assimted state, in other words, that there was barely anything that could cause any significant damage to his current physique that was on par with an S-Rank awakened''s body.


    Not to mention, his current dual-assimted state which further improved his basic statistics, causing it to temporarily reach above the physical strength of a normal S-Rank.


    Thus he was able to form a sort of ice de with his hand from using the ice spell technique. Using the resulting spell technique, frost hand, he was able to inflict damages on the other party who seemed unfazed by his punching technique a while ago.


    After a while of shing the other party, he suddenly changed his pattern of attack and started to pierce them relentlessly all over their body instead.


    Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!


    Roar¡ª¡ª¡ª


    At this moment, the chimera monster was being unceasingly attacked and its body started to look like a ho''s nest just from Randy''s brutal attack that was filled with sharp cold energy.


    asionally, the chimera monster would swing its arms around in hopes of hitting its enemy, but Randy would always barely dodge it and then pierce it afterward in its blind spot.


    This also caused the frustrated chimera monster to randomly attack based on where it was pierced from, but Randy had predicted such a possibility and thus quickly maneuvered away after each attack on the other party.


    Afternding countless attacks on the chimera monster''s body, Randy was feeling confident in killing this monster, but at the same time, he was feeling fatigued from using his dual-assimted state for about 10 minutes now.


    ''I need to hurry up. I need to find a way to discover its weakness quickly.'' He silently thought with a pained expression.


    All this time, he had been using his mental ability, All Law Seeker, to find out the weakness of the chimera monster without any results.


    This was his first time using this ability in real life ever since he had acquired it. He never even thought of using it during his encounter with the sunsses man since the battle at the time did not give him the chance to use something like that.


    Besides, it takes time for him to activate his mental ability, and thus he needed the opponents to be rooted on the same spot for a moment for it to work properly.


    But right now, there was one target, so it was rtively easy to execute his mental ability, however, up until now, he had tried using it on the chimera monster, but he could not find any weakness on its huge body.


    He wondered if it was because this mental ability was still in its initial state or simply because the chimera monster was too strong, so it did not have any weakness.


    With the intent to find out the reason for this, he kept on using his mental ability in between the time that heunched his attack and the time that he dodged to the side to avoid the onught from the other party.


    But by doing so, he was also speeding up the mental exhaustion caused by using the dual-assimted state and thereby lessening the time that he could stay in that state.


    Which was frustrating but he could not think of any other way to beat this chimera monster. And thus, he kept on attacking it repeatedly and using his mental ability at the same time.


    However, Randy was not aware that all of his attacks were being healed as hended them on the other party''s body due to not being able to see anything at this moment.


    All he could see was a vague existence in his infrared vision and a massive amount of chaotic energy in their body.


    Furthermore, even if he could see the other party, there was no guarantee that he would be able to recognize that their wound was being healed since it was currently dark outside.


    Although, he was able to see that whenever hended an attack on the other party, one of their energies moved or rather get depleted but he did not think much of it.


    That was because he was trying to overwhelm the other party before he started suffering the side effects and possibly the aftereffects of using the dual-assimted state for a prolonged time and thus he could not afford to think about unnecessary things in this battle.


    And thus the ceaseless attacks continued on for a few more minutes with Randy feeling more exhausted than he initially thought he would after using his mental ability a couple of times during the battle.


    Due to this, his attacks were also beginning to slow down, and it was also getting hard to dodge the chimera monster''s random attacks.


    sh!


    Drip!


    At this moment, his arm that he used to block in front of himself was shed through by the w of the chimera monster when he suddenly felt sluggish a moment afternding his attack.


    ''This is getting too dangerous. Does this chimera monster not have any weakness¡­? Then what other methods can I use to fight against it?''


    While he was thinking this, suddenly he felt his body getting numb and soon, was unable to move, unable to speak, and even unable to keep his assimted state in control anymore.


    ''Shit! What the fuck is going on?!'' He eximed in shock and felt an unprecedented fear for the first time since he awakened.


    ''What is going on with my body? Why can''t I move? More importantly, why is my assimted state wearing off one by one¡­?''


    Randy could not speak at this moment, so he could only ask these questions inside his mind. And even when he wanted to shout his frustration, he could not do so.


    It was now that it finally dawned on him that he really could not utter a single word, not to mention shout his voice at the moment to demand from the other party what it had done to him.


    While he was in a shocked and bewildered state of mind as he remained rooted on the same spot and observing his assimted forms disappearing one after another, the chimera monster who finally found its prey roared so loudly that it caused Randy''s eardrum to ring from the sudden shout.


    But then he realized that he could not even cover his ears since his arms were frozen and a momentter, he was now helplessly bleeding out from his two ears.


    ''Fuck! Fuck! What did this bastard do to my body? When did it happen? Was it when I was attacked just now? But this is not the first time that I was attacked by its w attack, so what happened this time around?'' Randy cursed inwardly and hurriedly pondered the reason as to why he could not move his body suddenly.


    But the next moment, before he could even try to endure the pain from the other party''s sound attack just now, he saw that the other party was suddenly charging over after discovering his location.


    ''Oh no! It''sing over! I need to move my body right now, or else I am done for!! Shit! Move! Move! Move, damn it!'' Randy screamed inwardly in apprehension.

 Chapter 134 - Possible Solution

    While Randy was inwardly screaming his voice in a panic as he tried to move his body to no avail, the chimera monster had already approached him and raised its huge arm before suddenly throwing a punch at the speed that Randy could barely follow but now could not even block against it.


    "BANG!"


    Randy was sent flying away helplessly from the other party''s punch which felt like he was hit by some metal despite his momentary enhanced physical state brought about by his now dissipating Werewolf King of Wind''s form.


    ''Ughhhhh!!''


    Randy groaned and inwardly screamed in pain from the impact on his chest that almost shattered his chest bones.


    Boom!


    Not long after, he was smashed into a tree that was on the edge of the road that was constructed in the Beast Forest.


    "Cough!"


    A momentter, he began coughing up a mouthful of blood from his mouth.


    ''Fuck! I almost died just now! Why can''t I still move my body? What is going on? Is this a type of an ability attack?! Cough! Fuck! I can''t stop coughing up blood!''


    Randy was shocked to see his blood spilling too much today from his encounter with this chimera monster that came after him for some reason that he could still not figure out.


    But the odd part was the fact that despite being attacked by the other party, he still could not move his body and could onlyy on the ground without being able to anticipate or evade the other party''s next attack.


    Sure enough, the chimera monster approach him once again and ruthlessly bared its ws this time and then started unleashing its continuous sh attacks.


    sh! sh! sh! sh! sh!


    Randy could not move, could not defend, he could not do anything but inwardly scream in pain and agony as the chimera monster rained down shes that caused him immense pain that also felt oddly familiar at the same time.


    At this point, he started to recall when he was being tortured by Jeremiah and his goons and how at that time, he was also helpless to do anything.


    Not to mention retaliate since he was worn out from using the training center to the extreme that day, he could only helplessly take on their punches and magic attacks afterward.


    The pain he was feeling right now at this moment was very reminiscent of that day, enough that he was now angry at the fact that despite him getting strongerpared to before, he was still helplessly being tortured by this unknown monster that came out of nowhere.


    He was angry at his pathetic self that thought he was strong enough to deal with anything just because he had awakened this unique ability to assimte with other creatures'' blood to attain their power.


    While he was thinking of these things in dejection and frustration, all of a sudden, he snapped out of these thoughts since he realizedining or self-deprecating himself would not help with his current situation.


    Right now, the situation was dire, he needed to calm down and think deeply without any thoughts of distraction.


    The next moment, he then gritted his teeth and decided to bear with the pain as he quickly thought of a solution to defeat this ruthless chimera monster.


    ''What should I do? At this rate, I will end up dying to this chimera monster. But luckily or unluckily, this chimera monster doesn''t appear to be aiming to kill me right away since the wounds being inflicted on my body were not too deep. So I still have a chance to¡­ Fuck! It hurt! It hurts This bastard is not stopping with its attacks! Fucking bastard! I will let you suffer this pain after I find a way to defeat you!''


    Randy silently and painfully thought in his mind while inwardly gritting his teeth to endure the onught on his body.


    And then all of sudden, he suddenly found something strange about the current situation.


    ''Hold on a second, why can I still feel pain even though I couldn''t move my body before? Does this ability not numb my other senses besides my bodily muscles or something? If that is the case, then, doesn''t that mean I could still attack it if I could somehow use some long-range attack technique or skill that doesn''t require me to move my physical body¡­? Do I even have a long-range attack skill or technique like that?'' Randy pondered despite the pain he was suffering.


    ''¡­Ah, there was that¡­''


    He ignored his pain and pondered for a long while before he soon quickly thought of a possible solution.


    Despite his fatigued and battered body that was full of wounds that could be described as unsightly since the chimera monster kept on shing his chest and asionally punching a hole into his body, Randy did not care for any of that at this moment of his discovery.


    Although his current body after he awakened had natural regeneration even without his werewolf form, it was not as quick at regenerating his woundpared to the werewolf king''s superior regeneration skill.


    And thus, he could notpletely heal his wounds before being shed or punched a hole into by the chimera monster''s unceasing w attacks.


    But now, there was some slight hope for survival, and he was willing to bet his survival on this tiny hope that he discovered in his desperation.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, on the other side, Sky Rise City, inside a certain luxurious hotel.


    David Silvermoon was now kneeling on one knee in a subservient manner in front of a big projected screen while deeply bowing his head in earnest.


    The screen showed nothing but darkness on it. However, judging by the fact that he was kneeling on one knee in front of such a big projected screen, it would seem that there was someone on the other side of that screen.


    At this moment, David Silvermoon slowly raised his head and then spoke in an unusually respectful and solemn manner despite his usual arrogance: "Honorable elder, I havepleted my task and it is currently dispatched to the Beast Forest in the Eastern District."


    He paused for a moment before continuing in the same tone: "¡­But as for the performance test, I think it would be of low quality due to it being nighttime when I let it loose, and also, there was a possibility of the military intervening as there were academy students where it was dispatched. But your honor does not need to worry, I have my subordinate orchestrate everything to look like the rampage of a mutated beast, so they would not be able to discover the trace or source of the RA-001."


    {Hmm¡­ And your reason for such a decision?}


    "That¡­ Your honor, there was an arrogant brat that pissed me off¡­ Ahem, excuse my speech just now, what I meant to say was that there was a very disrespectful and rude young man who thought that he could look down on me even though I especially tried to approach him with kindness. And so, I intend on using him along with his ssmates as test targets to see how RA-001 would perform against the renowned Sky Rise Academy students. I hope that your honor would not mind my decision." David Silvermoon exined.


    {You useless idiot! What if the strong people besides the military find out about this through the witnesses or those who survive the encounter? Are you not aware of how RA-001 deal with its targets? How do you n on dealing with such a situation in case some targets remain alive in the process?!}


    The owner of the voice shouted in a displeased tone when they heard his exnation for his reckless actions.

 Chapter 135 - Retaliation

    Upon hearing the angered voice of the person on the other end of the ck screen, David Silvermoon trembled slightly, but he quickly maintained hisposure.


    And he answered with a solemn and determined voice: "Your honor does not need to worry. I have other countermeasures in ce in case they do. But that would not be needed until thest moment. Because if those students and the instructors with them all get wiped out during this time''s test, then there would not be anyone left to report about it."


    {¡­You better make sure that this is the case after the test. Otherwise, don''t me me for what happens afterward. And you can also forget about receiving that serum that you so much desired from us}


    The owner of the voice stated indifferently after a while of pondering over his words.


    "¡­" David Silvermoon was silent for a brief moment before replying in a respectful tone: "Understood, your honor. I will not let you down!"


    After a few moments of silence, he hesitantly spoke: "But¡­ If I may be so rude as to ask¡­


    {What is it?}


    An impatient voice resounded outward.


    David Silvermoon did not hesitate any longer and quickly spoke out his question: "About the serum, when does your honor think it would be ready?"


    {Hmph! You''re worried about that when you haven''t even aplished your mission yet? You should know that in the other districts, the test run this time has been quite favorable, and we are now thinking about using the data gathered to finalize the ''Synergy Project''. With that said, you had better bring more vital data which would prove very useful for the final experiment. In that respect, after aplishing your mission, depending on the sess rate, you might be receiving the serum at that time as part of your reward}


    "¡­I understand, your honor. I will do anything to get my hands on that serum and when that timees, I would be able to reign supreme among my family members that looked down on me in spite. Ah, I still have yet to fully thank your honor for willing to help me out with my situation. Please ept this bow from me once again."


    Bang!


    David Silvermoon stated and immediately bowed to the ck projected screen. At this moment, his forehead was on the ground in a prostrated manner.


    {No need for such formality between us. Just do your mission properly, and you will be rewarded just like I told you before when we first met. In this world, if one wants something, they will have to sacrifice something proportional to get it. Whether it be power, status, human lives, or family ties, and so on. So bear that in mind, after all, you are now considered a pseudo member of our secret organization}


    "Yes!" David Silvermoon replied in a serious tone.


    A momentter, the ck projected screen turned off with nothing disying on it anymore.


    However, he still knelt for a few moments until he waspletely certain that the screen was not projecting that person anymore before he quickly stood back up and fixed his white suit.


    ''Ah, it''s now dirty. No matter, I will simple change into my spare.'' He silently thought while looking at his spotless white suit''s pants and sleeves.


    Thinking of something, he disyed an unsightly smile and then muttered: "It really is too bad that that I can''t be there to see your despaired expression right before you die, you arrogant brat!"


    "HAHAHAHA!!"


    A momentter, as if finding something funny, he burst in a peal of madughter while grasping his face with his right hand.


    After a while, he calmed down and muttered: "If I can get my hands on that serum after aplishing this mission, then I will finally be able to improve my genes and bloodline. And eventually, be stronger than those old coots in the family who only favored my siblings and cousins just because they have slightly stronger body than mine."


    "For now, I shall await for the good news from my loyal and faithful subordinate. When that timees, there would only be a celebration and no mourning in my case. Hahahahaha!!"


    ¡­


    Back to the Beast Forest, on the constructed path.


    Randy was still engaged with the chimera monster. Or more precisely, he was being yed with by the chimera monster as sharp pain was continuously being transmitted into his brain from his unmovable body that was constantly being impaled and shed relentlessly by the chimera monster.


    At this moment, Randy was looking at the skill section on his status screen and without hesitation, he used his mind to concentrate on a skill that he used in the virtual world but had yet to use it in reality duringbat.


    The system notification popped up a momentter after his decision.


    [[Ancestral Regression Skill Activated]]


    Afterward, Randy''s consciousness was moved to that strange ce that he went to when he first used this skill before entering the virtual world. But he did not have to think too much about where he was and very quickly, selected the blood-red color of light, and then he soon came back to reality in a single breath.


    [[Ancestral Bloodline had been selected]]


    [[As the selected ''Ancestral Bloodline'' had now became your dominant bloodline, the host''s outward appearance had been altered slightly, thus gaining an ''Ancestral Form''. Furthermore, some of the host''s base abilities had also changed or improved in ording with this selected ''Ancestral Bloodline'']]


    [[From now on, when the host uses any blood-rted abilities or skills, it would be further enhanced by this Ancestral Bloodline''s ability]]


    At this point, his body had drastically transformed and alteredpletely whenpared to his look from before.


    Right now, his hair was straight and blood-red in color and the color of his eyes were also now amber-golden that shimmers slightly.


    He had a look of indifference at this moment, and also during the transformation, he noticed some slight changes.


    He was able to move his body momentarily, so he was now certain that perhaps, now was the time to retaliate against this vile chimera monster that had been ying with his body for a while now.


    The moment he assumed this form, he also noticed that his sense towards blood increased as he could tell where were all his spilled blood were located.


    And also, he felt like his blood-rted skills would be more effective when executed in this state. He was without a doubt certain that he could fight back this time.


    This was no longer his hopeful wishing but his confidence in the current abilities that had been enhanced due to his assumed ancestral form after using his Ancestral Regression Skill.


    ''Blood Authority Skill Activate!'' He shouted in his mind right away.


    Very quickly, all the blood that he had lost during the battle suddenly floated in the air, as they hovered like drops of liquid that looked like a drop of suspended rainwater except for the color of the liquid being red in this case.


    Those drops of blood gathered in one ce and after being purified of any harmful substance, they were then absorbed back into Randy''s body a momentter.


    At this moment, the chimera monster who held him by his neck and was ruthlessly attacking him against the tree in his back was now motionless, unable to throw its heavy punches or sharp w attacks anymore.


    At this point, the chimera monster looked almost as if it had been frozen and could not move its body despite its struggle.


    ''Now, how does it feel to not be able to move your own body, you annoying bastard?!''


    Randy mocked in his mind with a forced smile on his drained expression that was pale at this moment.

 Chapter 136 - Choice

    After rendering the chimera monster motionless, Randy quickly but slowly undid its grip around his neck and then he helplessly fell on the ground below with a ''thud'' sound since he was still having trouble moving his body.


    Afterward, Randy staggered slightly after he picked himself up and he forcefully moved his body by manipting his own blood and using his blood to pump his unmovable muscles to enable movement.


    Just like applying lubricants to a movable mechanism that has trouble operating properly without it, by circting blood throughout his body, he was now able to make his muscles move despite the ability that caused them to be unable to contract or bulge.


    The pain of moving his body forcefully was excruciating but it was nothingpared to the time when he was being ruthlessly shed through by the chimera monster a while ago.


    The next moment, he took out a bunch of potions from his storage bracelet, and after opening one bottle, he chugged it down without hesitation.


    Afterward, he opened another bottle, chugged that one down his throat too with audible gulps, and then another, and another until he was satisfied.


    He emptied out almost all the bottle of potions that he took out from his storage bracelet.


    At this time, he saw the system notification projected in front of his eyes with different line of text describing the effects of each potion that he took just now.


    [[You have consumed a mid-grade healing potion]]


    [[Your wounds are slowly healing themselves as an effect of this potion]]


    [[You have consumed a mid-grade mana recovery potion]]


    [[Your magical energy has recovered slightly as an effect of this potion]]


    [[You have consumed a mid-grade stamina recovery potion]]


    [[The fatigue umted within your body is slowly easing as an effect of this potion]]


    [[You have consumed a mid-grade mana recovery potion]]


    [[Your magical energy has recovered slightly as an effect of this potion]]


    [[You have consumed a mid-grade stamina recovery potion]]


    [[The fatigue umted within your body is slowly easing as an effect of this potion]]


    [[You have consumed a mid-grade healing potion]]


    [[Your wounds are slowly healing themselves as an effect of this potion]]


    [[You have consumed a mid-grade mana recovery potion]]


    [[Your magical energy has recovered slightly as an effect of this potion]]


    [[You have consumed a mid-grade mana recovery potion]]


    [[Your magical energy has recovered slightly as an effect of this potion]]


    ¡­


    Randy essentially decided to drink almost all the potion that he had brought with him on this trip since his life was on the line and he could not afford to be stingy with his expenditure.


    Due to the consumption of these amounts of potions, he had not only managed to heal all his wounds slightly, but he also managed to recover his depleted magical energy.


    Although he had the myriad energy devouring physique which enabled him to recover a certain amount of energy lost per second, it was not like it couldpletely refill his expended magical energy in a short time.


    And due to that, he had to consume these expensive mana recovery potions, but the effects were greater than he had imagined because he was able to recover his magical energy very quickly with the aid of the potion.


    Perhaps, it was because of his physique that he was able to recover in such a short time, but none of that matters to him.


    What matters the most was getting rid of the opponent in front of him, but it was not easy to defeat this chimera monster that was not looking hurt even after his previous attacks.


    ''Wait, it was not hurt? I thought I inflicted a lot of damage on it. So how did it not have a single wound on its body?''


    Randy observed the chimera monster''s body closely and then inwardly uttered in disbelief.


    ''Does it also have a self-healing ability or something simr? Fuck! No wonder it was able to unleash that unknown ability against me despite my onught against it.''


    ''But how do I defeat this monster that was unfazed by my attack before. Even now, it is struggling to break free from my blood authority skill¡­''


    ''Right, the system, maybe the system could provide some usual information on this monster or how to deal with it.''


    Randy quickly decided and immediately turn to the projected system screen in front of his eyes.


    ''System, Uhm, do you know anything about this monster? Or perhaps a way to defeat it with my current abilities?'' Randy felt awkward as he asked this question.


    He never expected that the one he would consult to aid him in battle would be his system.


    Although the systems are like a support mechanism for the awakened until they fully master their abilities, it still felt strange asking something like this to his system.


    After all, all this time, he never bothered asking the system on how to fight his enemies, and only depended on it to appraise items or artifacts andprehend techniques.


    Besides the aforementioned, he never used it for anything else until now.


    But right now, what he was doing was essentially asking the system to teach him how to fight his enemy.


    Surprisingly, the system responded to his question.


    [[Detected that the host is in a critical situation]]


    [[Devising possible solutions]]


    [[Viable solution found]]


    [[Reminder: The host still has crystallized ability stones in the system storage. However, in the end, the choice is up to you. If the host deemed the situation dire enough, you could try absorbing one of the ability stones to increase your chance of survival]]


    Crystallized Ability Stones?


    ''So there was that too. Then again, I never bothered checking this since I still wasn''t sure whether it was okay to absorb something like this. After all, ording to the system, there were two methods of absorption, and each had a drawback or downside so to speak.''


    ''But now is not the time to ponder which was a better option. If I could survive this situation by simply absorbing one of the crystallized Ability stones, then I will go for it without hesitation.''


    ''But even so, I need to make sure this counts and not simply absorb a useless ability just because I am desperate to survive''


    With that thought in mind, Randy carefully asked his system: ''So¡­ System, which one of the crystallized ability stones do you think would be useful in this situation? I don''t know the descriptions of the crystallized ability stones and I don''t have the time to read through them right now. So please help me choose.''


    [[Request Acknowledged]]


    [[Rmended that the host absorb this blue crystallized ability as it would not only be more beneficial to your current situation, but it would also be the easiest toprehend based on your currentprehension capability]]


    Stating so, a blue but transparent marble-like sphere containing something within suddenly appeared out of nowhere and hovered in front of Randy''s eyes.


    "This is¡­"

 Chapter 137 - Selection

    The moment the blue yet transparent marble-like sphere appeared and hovered in front of Randy, the system notification disyed in front of his eyes once again with a line of text.


    [[The host should take a hold of the crystallized ability stone and ce it on his palm]]


    Randy stared at the blue marble-like sphere that had some weird shape inside, but he did not pay attention to that and simply reached out with his hand the next moment after it appeared in front of him.


    The moment he held the blue marble-like sphere on his palm, a new system notification popped up with new lines of texts now disyed in front of his eyes.


    [[Please select the energy source from the avable energy sources: spiritual energy and magical energy, to use with the crystallized ability after absorption]]


    [[Reminder: The host could only choose one type of energy from the listed energy type above]]


    After reading through the notifications from the system, Randy was instantly bewildered because the system only gave him two types of energy to pick from and he had more than two types of energy.


    So he wondered what the reason behind picking between just these two types of energy, spiritual energy, and magical energy was.


    After pondering over this for a brief moment without knowing the reason behind this, he decided to ask the system instead.


    ''System, why only these energy sources? Don''t I have more than two energy sources? Even if I exclude the mystic energy and psionic energy, there should still be one more energy source which was life energy, right?'' Randy asked.


    [[Responding to the host: That was because these sources of energy were the only sources that could contain or more appropriately utilize the power held within the ability stone. As for the remaining energy sources, they would render the ability useless or transform it into a different type of ability with different principles of functionality]] The system exined to him.


    Hearing this exnation, Randy felt like he somewhat understood what the system implied by those words.


    Although he had no idea why that was the case, he could tell that perhaps every ability does not have the same source, meaning only those with certain energy types could have certain types of abilities.


    With that out of the way, he firmly nodded after a moment.


    ''I see, I think I understand now. But then, what would happen if I picked either of these energy sources for the ability stone? Would it be any different depending on my choice?'' Randy asked once again in curiosity.


    Right now, he was trying to be careful with his choices because picking the wrong one could lead to his possible death.


    Unlike before where it was meaningless to ask such questions normally since as long as he could use the ability, that was all that mattered.


    If it was before, why would he concern himself with which energy he would be using?


    Besides, if it was before, he would have picked magical energy right away without any reluctance but now the situation was not one where he could be rxed, especially when it came to choices that could determine his life or death.


    Furthermore, it would not hurt just to simply ask further to make sure. And since he had already consulted the system for rmendations on how to defeat his opponent just now, he might as well see it through.


    Sure enough, the system responded right away with lines of text disyed one after another in front of his vision.


    [[Responding to the host: Selecting spiritual energy as the source would allow the host to manifest only one weapon or item of the host''s choosing. But the host cannot change the form of your selected weapon or item afterward. However, in exchange for such limitation, the attack power of the selected weapon or item and or its efficiency in dealing damage would be enhanced by 25% permanently and could even have the possibility of an increase in the future as the host''s cultivation realm increases]]


    [[On the other hand, selecting magical energy as the source would allow the host to manifest myriad form weapons and or items that the host hasprehended or imagined beforehand. However, in exchange for no limitation, the rate of sessfully manifesting an imagined orprehended item or weapon would decrease immensely and even if it seeds, the weapon or item might not contain that much attack power or functionality]]


    The system gave him a long exnation regarding his question.


    This time around, Randy was not speechless or dumbfounded by the system''s exnation and only proceeded to nce through the lines of texts a few more times before he nodded in understanding.


    "So that''s how it is¡­" He muttered to himself a momentter.


    ''I wonder which choice was better, the instant powerful weapon or item that might or might not grow with me in the future, or the many consumables item or weapons that could be created depending on my imagination and luck?''


    Right now, he took a moment to deeply think about this choice as he held his chin with his right hand.


    ording to what he could infer from what the system stated in its exnation, if he picked either magical or spiritual energy source, it could lead to a different oue or an effect on the ability manifestation.


    Furthermore, if the situation is not dire like now and instead is a regr day and time, he would have taken more time to ponder his decision with many considerations before ultimately making up his mind.


    While thinking this, he looked up at the struggling chimera monster with scowled expression and then carefully thought to himself.


    ''It would be better to have a weapon that could deal with this monster right away since it appears that my control over its body is wearing off. But I also have to think about the future as a whole when making this decision, so it was only right and logical that I pick something that would prove to be useful in the long run rather than a decision that could only work at this moment¡­''


    With that thought in mind, he finally made up his mind about what to pick.


    Since there was not much time, he did not hesitate and or disy any reluctance on his determined expression and quickly spoke in his mind decisively.


    ''System, I would like to select magical energy as the energy source for the ability stone.''


    The next moment, the system''s notification popped up in front of his vision once again.


    [[Response Acknowledged]]


    [[Commencing Ability Stone Absorption]]


    [[Reminder: The host should not resist as the absorptionmences even if you feel ufortable. Otherwise, there was a slight possibility that the host could cause damage to his soul permanently due to resistance. Please keep that in mind before we begin]]


    ''¡­Alright, I understand.'' Randy calmly replied in his mind a momentter.


    ''Now is not the time to be acting out just because of the system''s reminder'' He silently thought to himself.


    The next moment, the blue yet transparent marble-like sphere that was in his grasp suddenly disappeared with no trace, or rather it was more appropriate to state that it was absorbed into his palm at that moment.


    And almost right away, Randy could feel something invading his entire body, as a warm current of soothing energy wash all over his very being.. Which then gave him an inexplicable sense of bliss andfortableness afterward.

 Chapter 138 - Energy Manifestation

    Randy could see that his body glowing dark blue color when he absorbed the ability stone.


    But instead of feeling ufortable like the system stated, he was rather feeling more serene and peaceful as he felt changes urring to his body, no, perhaps to his entire existence on the fundamental level.


    This feeling was very hard to describe, but if he had to put it into words, then it would be like being showered with a blessing of some kind.


    Even though he had never experienced what receiving a blessing would feel like, but that was how he felt at this moment when the warm but soothing currents of energy permeated his whole body.


    Although that may be a wrong interpretation, but it does not matter if that was not truly the case since he was not feeling any difort at the moment.


    At this point, he could feel the warm currents of energy entering something that was not physical or tangible within his body.


    And he wondered after a moment of thinking whether this was the soul that the system had mentioned before when it exined how to absorb the crystallized ability stones.


    Despite that, he did not indulge in thisfortable feeling for too long since the situation does not demand him to be this carefree.


    At this point, he could feel his mind easing up from the strain that he had put it through from constantly using his mental ability earlier.


    And so, after realizing something, he decided to try activating his mental ability within this state of clearness to see if he could find out the chimera monster''s weakness before this feeling wears off.


    [All Law Seeker], Mental Ability


    An invisible and ethereal mental energy ejected from Randy''s mind and surrounded himself and the struggling but stationary chimera monster.


    And then all of a sudden, the chimera monster''s form changed into that of a grey form where all light indicating its weakness should be shown.


    Earlier, when Randy used his mental ability, he was indeed able to see the grey silhouette of the chimera monster, but there were no dot lights to indicate a weakness which was why he had to use his ability constantly during the fight.


    But right now, he could see it.


    He could those red dot lights that he could not perceive before and right away, he concentrated his mind to search within all the red dot lights to determine which one would cause significant damage when struck to the other party.


    Randy searched for a few moments, and still could not find any relevant weakness because the other party seemed to have a strong physique that might stem from the fact that it was a chimera monster.


    Another few moments, at this point, the feeling that was within his body was wearing away, and he still could not find any light that could cause his opponent critical damage.


    Randy was feeling frustrated at this time because he was able to finally use his mental ability to find out the chimera monster''s weakness while in this unknown state, but it still was not working as he had hoped.


    Even though unlike before where his mental ability did not work or discern the weakness of the chimera monster, now it was working properly yet it seems to be fruitless in discovering any critical weakness of the chimera monster.


    Very soon, the unknown state that he found himself in before wore off, and the system message announcing thepletion of the absorption of the ability stone reflected in his eyes.


    Despite seeing this, Randy ignored it and continued using his mental ability until he was almost drained before he suddenly found something.


    Though the size of the red dot light may be small, it was deeper whenpared to the other red dot light on the chimera monster''s body.


    ''Could this be a critical weakness¡­?'' He wondered.


    Even though he was not certain about this discovery, but he had a feeling that this might perhaps be the true weakness of the chimera monster and not those red dot lights that were bigger in size, but lighter in color.


    ''This has to be it! Otherwise¡­ No, something tells me that might be its actual weakness. Even if it doesn''t work, I can just hit the other weakness on its body and test out my luck with those.''


    After scanning for the weakness of this chimera monster for a long while, he had finally seeded in finding a likely critical weakness and he was willing to bet on it because he does not have much of a choice left even if it turns out to be not its critical weakness afterward.


    With that, he concluded and made up his mind to test it out, but before that, he had to check his system notification that he ignored before.


    With that thought in mind, he quickly turned his gaze into the void in front of him as he stared at the series of notifications from his system.


    [[Ability Stone Absorption Sess]]


    [[Congrattion to the host for sessfully absorbing the ability stone and obtaining a new ability]]


    [[Due to the ability stone, the host had now acquired the ability, ''Energy Manifestation'' in the form of a skill]]


    ?[[Energy Manifestation]]?


    ?[Mastery: 70/100]?


    ?[[Type: Ability/Skill]]?


    ?[[Description: This ability allows one to manipte energy on the fundamental level and thus manifest it into various weapons, or items. Depending on the mastery of this ability, one could very easily give special forms like colors or texture to the manifested product. Once the mastery level increases to 100, the ability would then have the chance of evolving. And when that happens, one could manifest physical objects or products by using this ability]]?


    [[Attention! Due to forcefully absorbing the ability stone without itsprehension beforehand, the grade of the ability has degraded drastically as a result. Futhermore, while you were able topletely obtain the ability contained within the ability stone without the need to worry about ipatibility through this absorption method, the ability obtained itself did not have the trait or capability to evolve as a consequence. If you wish to increase the ability grade to evolve this ability in the future, then you will have to find other means to increase its mastery level other than the now impossible natural means. Though it would be nigh impossible to do so]]


    Randy read through all these notifications without any concern on his face.


    That was because he was well aware of this since the system had informed him about it before when he first came into contact with the crystallized ability stones.


    Regardless of whether he could or could not evolve this ability to the next level does not matter to him right now because, with this ability, he might be able to kill the chimera monster.


    That was if what he was thinking right before he had selected the magical energy as the energy source of his new ability was possible.


    Without wasting too much time, he activated his newly acquired ability.


    The next moment, he was able to sessfully activate the ability, so effortlessly that it felt like had this ability since birth.


    [[Energy Manifestation Skill Activated]]


    At this moment, Randy was now holding a knife shape energy in his grasp and after observing its details for a while, he turn the knife shape energy back into cluster of magical energy.


    And afterward, he absorbs the energy back into his body through his palm.


    ''This is quite a useful ability; I don''t have to worry about depleting my energy as long I absorb it back into my body afterward. However, it seems like if the energy weapon breaks upon impact, it would dissipate instead, and I won''t be able to absorb it back into my body¡­''


    ''...Wait a minute, how do I know this? Is this the effect from absorbing the ability stone? Did I also naturally obtain the method to use it after absorption? If that is the case, then this is good.''


    ''I was worried about how to use it since the system mentioned something about understanding the ability''s nature if I had used the second method of absorption. But it seems this method is not too bad. I wonder what it would be like to use the second method if this method is already so good.''


    Randy silently thought these to himself and then he quickly took out all the knives and weapons that he brought with him on the trip.


    He then ced them on the ground while holding onto a single rugged military knife with his left hand.


    At this moment, he was thinking of experimenting with something that he thought of before absorbing the ability stone. But before that, there was one other thing that he had to confirm first.


    With that thought in mind, he immediately lifted his right arm that was not holding anything.


    And almost right away, he had manifested a formless cluster of magical energy in his palm.


    And then afterward, the cluster of magical energy in his palm started exuding cold energy, the cold cluster of magical energy then turned into cube-shaped ice shortly after.


    "Ah! It''s so cold just like I thought..."


    Randy tried holding onto the manifested ice cube in his hand, but it was too cold, so he threw it away instead.


    ''It seems like it was a sess!'' He silently thought in delight.


    ''Now to test it on the military knife...''


    While thinking this, he lifted his left hand that was holding onto the military knife, and right away, he manifested a cluster of magical energy around the knife''s body, forming a sort of a secondyer of the knife''s de.


    And just like before, after manifesting the cluster of magical energy and forming it into a shape, he then turn the manifested but shaped magical energy''s nature into cold energy, followed by turning the shaped cold magical energy into ice afterward.

 Chapter 139 - Chimera Monsters Ability

    Randy had seeded in covering the military knife with his Energy Manifestation Skill upon his first attempt and was even able to change the magical energy''s nature to that of cold energy before turning it into an ice element around the military knife.


    To be more precise, if one looks closely at his hand, one will see an ice de in his grasp, but instead of encasing his hand like before when he was in his assimted state, he used the military knife as a base to form the shape of the ice de.


    This was thebination of his new skill, Energy Manifestation, and his ice spell technique, Frost Hand. With this, he was able to create a perfect ice de with sharp edges.


    Right now, the ice around the military knife''s body is smooth without any rugged surface, almost as if it was the actual body of the knife.


    The reason why Randy used this method instead of simply entering his assimted state and using the spell technique, ''Frost Hand'' was because right now, he was weakened after using his dual-assimted state and could not enter the assimte state for a while.


    After pondering, he discovered that this method was the only way he could control the cold energy without harming his own body.


    Unlike his mother who probably had an immunity toward the ice element, he did not have an innate ice ability, so the cold energy from using the ice spell technique was very harmful to his body.


    With that out of the way, he brandished the military knife in his grasp while looking at the stationary chimera monster about a meter away with a hateful expression.


    With a cold glint in his eyes, he quickly traversed the distance between them and pierced the chimera monster in its chest with his ice de.


    Guooh¡ª¡ª


    Due to the sudden pain in its chest, the chimera monster momentarily broke out of his Blood Authority Skill''s influence, and with bloodshot eyes, it aimed its w at Randy.


    But Randy reacted in time and used his Blood Authority Skill once again to restrain it and then he retreated back to his position before.


    Afterward, he picked the other knife on the ground, encased in ice just like he did with the previous knife that was still stuck in the chimera monster''s chest.


    The only purpose in encasing the knives in ice was to maximize their damage effect on the chimera monster that had a tough body.


    He does not want to cover his arm in ice since it might cause frostbite without his enhanced body from his assimted state, and the knives that he brought with him were not sharp enough to deal any damage to the chimera monster, so the only method to attack the chimera monster was to cover the knives in ice using his newly acquired skill and spell technique.


    With that in mind, he held in his grasp the now encased knife that form another ice de.


    Afterward, he approached the chimera monster and then pierced his ice de into the center of its chest once again before retreating and picking up another knife.


    He repeated this process over and over again, he


    Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!


    Very soon, there were ice-encased weapons stuck inside the chimera monster''s chest causing it to scream in pain as it struggled to break free from its restraints, and yet it did not seem to be falling or even exhibiting any sign of dying at any moment.


    The reason for this might have to do with the chimera monster''s tough body, and even though the ce that Randy was piercing seemed to be softer inparison to the other parts of its body.


    Even so, it was still tough for him to pierce all the way through its skin, and right now, it only seemed to be bleeding slightly from its wound on its chest.


    ''As I thought, it won''t be easy to take it down¡­'' Randy silently thought.


    The next moment he revealed a wicked smile and then said: "Then I just have to keep piercing its chest until it dies from blood loss, or its chest is void of its heart entirely.''


    Whoosh!


    Without any hesitation, he quickly moved forward and jumped over the chimera monster''s body, pulled out the other ice-encased knives, one by one, and then pierced them right back into the chimera monster''s chest relentlessly.


    "Puk!" "Puk!" "Puk!" "Puk!"


    Pewh!


    While he was focused on piercing the chimera monster''s chest with the many weapons that he stuck into its chest, all of a sudden, he felt a cold and slimy liquid on his arm.


    He stopped piercing the chimera monster''s chest and used his other hand to assess what it was but all he found out was that it was a little slimy like saliva.


    He scowled in disgust upon this discovery and then he looked up at the chimera monster who had its tongue stuck out at this moment with something slimy dripping down from it.


    ''What the hell! Did it just spit on me?''


    Randy wondered but the next moment, he found out that the feeling in his arm was getting weak, in other words, it was getting numb.


    After pondering for a moment, a realization suddenly dawned on him, and he raised his eyebrow in surprise afterward.


    ''This feeling¡­ Surely the ability that it used on me before was not this spit, right? What the hell kind of ability needs you to spit on someone? Fuck! Disgusting! But wait, I didn''t feel anything when it used its ability on me before, I was only attacked by its w¡­ Did it cover its ws with its saliva before attacking me or something? This damn monster¡ª Haah, calm down.''


    ''In any case, now is not the time to dwell on this matter, I have to find a way to get rid of this numbness in my arm first¡­''


    Randy silently thought to himself beforeing back to his senses and used his Blood Authority to try to circte his blood more through his numbed arm.


    [[Blood Authority Skill has negated the numb sensation that was inflicted on your body which seemed to have been caused by the other party''s ability]]


    The system announced to him a momentter.


    ''Oh, the system can even inform me of something like this? But that just means that my blood authority skill is proving to be useful against this unknown ability from the chimera monster..'' Randy thought in appreciation toward his skill.

 Chapter 140 - Dark Energy

    Noticing that his opponent''s ability was rendered almost useless by his Blood Authority Skill, Randy was filled with joy and exhration because he could retaliate properly against the chimera monster now that he knows the source of the chimera monster''s unknown ability.


    ''This seems to be a paralysis-type ability, I just have to look out for it from now on and I should be fine¡­'' He thought in conclusion.


    A momentter, Randy revealed a cruel smile and then muttered: "Now, let''s see how long you willst against my stabbing. I want you to experience the pain and agony you were inflicting on me a while ago with that look in your eyes.''


    Earlier when the chimera monster was shing and impaling his body with its ws, despite this chimera monster''s face full of green scales while looking like some humanoid lizard just from its head, it had an unusual, exhrating expression on its face, the more blood gushed out of his battered body at that time.


    Randy found that situation a bit strange, he had no idea what this creature was exactly, but he could clearly tell that if it could show such an expression despite looking like a monster, then it was most likely a human before it was turned into this vile creature form by whoever was sick enough to do so.


    He recalled this, but he showed no concern or pity as he did not really care if this monster in front of him was once human or simply just a monster.


    After all, it ruthlessly attacked him for no particr reason, and that was all that mattered to him.


    And besides, it was only right for him to retaliate against an enemy that aimed to kill him, even if they were human or a true monster.


    Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!


    With that, he resumed with his relentless piercing on the chimera monster''s chest, causing it to squirm and scream in pain.


    Guooh¡ª¡ª


    And at some point, he started using his Blood Authority Skill to prevent any blood from entering the chimera monster''s chest, where its heart was most likely located since there was a chance that the other party could die if no blood was circting through its heart.


    But it was useless as it seems like this creature does not really depend on its heart to move, and that perhaps, the only way to defeat it was piercing the center of its chest like he had been doing since a while ago.


    A few minutester, while he was still immersed in tormenting the chimera monster, he failed to notice that the chimera monster had broken through his Blood Authority Skill''s influence once again.


    Swoosh!


    "What the¡ª"


    BANG!


    "Ugh!" Randy groaned from the heavy impact on his arm.


    Although he noticed the changes in the other party slightly toote, he was still able to block the attack from the chimera monster, but he was pushed back a few meters helplessly.


    Luckily, the chimera monster was still slightly under his skill''s influence and thus, he was able to react to its attack.


    Otherwise, his bones would have been smashed into pieces, or worse, died from its attack just now.


    "What the fuck is this thing''s body made out of? It can still move despite all these injuries and even while still under my blood authority skill''s influence."


    Randyined loudly when he was suddenly attacked by the chimera monster. Right now, he could feel his arm tingling with a sharp pain from the impact of its attack.


    ''Fuck! It almost broke my bones just now.''


    At this moment, the chimera monster seemed to have fallen into a berserk state as it was now exuding some dark sinister energy around its body.


    ''What is that ck energy? I noticed it before using my infrared vision while in my assimted state. But at the time, I thought it was just some new¡ª''


    Boom!


    Before he could finish his thought, he suddenly felt some ethereal pressure on his body at this moment.


    "Nrghhh! What''s with this sudden pressure on my body?!" Randy gritted as he struggled to speak when a sudden pressure caused him to remain rooted on the spot.


    "Arghhhh!!"


    Randy even tried to move his body forcefully at this time. But no matter what he did, he could not move his body from his current position.


    Even his Blood Authority Skill, which was working to move his body before, could not aid him in this case.


    Right now, he could only stand there as the chimera monster that was still exuding the menacing and sinister dark energy approached him slowly.


    ''Shit! What is going on? Where did this pressuree from? If only I could use my assimted state, then I could easily move my body under this pressure. Damn it, what should I do? Should I forcefully activate the assimted state? But that would only exacerbate the external and internal injuries on my body. Not to mention, the fatigue umted could cause me to copse on the spot if I choose to enter the assimte state. But if I don''t do anything then I will die¡­'' Randy thought in frustration.


    Grrrr¡ª¡ª


    The chimera monster, on the other hand, did not give him the chance to think of other alternative methods and red at him for a moment in the distance before abruptly shing forward with its ws that were now encased in the sinister dark energy.


    sh!


    "Fuck!" Randy cursed out loud and began sweating on his back when he saw the slowly approaching attack from the chimera monster.


    But he could not move or do anything physical at this time due to the pressure on his body and could only try manifesting his magical energy into an armor of some kind.


    But he failed to produce anything without the proper understanding of what he was trying to manifest.


    He had never worn armor before, not even in the virtual world, so how could he suddenly create one in this dire situation without proper knowledge about armors.


    He only barely created some thinyer of energy over his body, but he knew that it would not be enough to stop the chimera monster''s attack.


    Very soon, the sinister dark energy reached him and then passed through his body effortlessly while ignoring his seemingly useless armor, shocking him greatly.


    "Ahhhhhh!!''


    Randy screamed in desperation as he thought that he was going to die just like that.


    But after a moment, he soon found out that nothing had happened to him.


    ''What? Did nothing happen? I thought the attack was somehow slow, but even so, to not cause any damage... Then what was that attack for? Was that just a bluff? No, that can''t be right. This monster can''t be that smart, right?''


    Sure enough, his assumptions were correct because at this moment, out of nowhere, he started bleeding from all of his orifices.


    The next moment, a notification suddenly resounded from his system in an audible tone this time with a series of blood-red text disyed in front of his vision.


    This situation waspletely unlike the previous times where all he received was a blink in his vision whenever something very significant was discovered or detected. But this just meant that the current situation was very urgent.


    [[Attention!]]


    [[Attention!]]


    [[Attention!]]


    [[The host has been inflicted with a sinister and baleful dark energy of an unknown source. The dark energy has caused an abnormality to take ce in your body, leading to an internal bleeding. Furthermore, your body is on the verge of destruction due to the corrosive property of the unknown dark energy.]]


    [[The only possible way to stop the internal bleeding and corrosive damage caused by the effects of the unknown dark energy was to quickly kill the chimera creature, which seemed to be the source of the inflicted damage caused by the unknown dark energy, within the next 10 minutes.. Otherwise, the host will bleed to death without any salvation.]]

 Chapter 141 - Desperate Attack!

    [[Warning: You will die if you do not heed to the system''s instruction in time. The property of the malignant dark energy causes all things to fall into a state of abnormality and there was no way to resist this type of power]]


    [[However, if you can kill the chimera that had not fully disyed the capability of this ability resulting from the dark energy, then you can survive. Otherwise, you will lose your life helplessly]]


    ''Baleful? Malignant? Dark energy? Unknown source? What the hell is going on? And what''s more¡­ The hell is this? Are you kidding me? Lose my life if I don''t kill this damned monster in ten minutes?''


    ''Obviously, I also want to kill it so badly even if you didn''t mention it, but it''s just that I can''t even move my body right now because of the pressure. Not to mention, my entire body hurts from the dark energy attack just now.''


    ''So how could I kill it in my current state? Fuck! Don''t even mention ten minutes, even if I was given ten hours, it would be impossible. Since I can''t do anything right now, I can only await my death ten minutester.''


    Randyined in his mind but not for long as he started coughing up blood from his mouth at this moment.


    "Cough! Cough! Cough! F-Fuck¡­ I''m dying¡­ Uhh¡­ Damn monster¡­ What the fuck did you do to me¡­ Cough!"


    Randy coughed up mouthful blood as he barely uttered these words.


    ''Damn it, I haven''t lost so much blood in my life. Even when I was beaten by Jeremiah and his people, or when I fought against sunsses man and his men, I didn''t lose this much blood.''


    ''But fighting against this unknown chimera monster, I have lost so much blood that I feel light-headed and my insides are churning so badly that I''d rather faint at this point.''


    Randy silently thought while covering his mouth that was letting out blood at this moment.


    Feeling this unbearable pain, he gritted his teeth and spoke full of hatred: "I will fucking kill you with my own hands! Just you wait!''


    ''Is what I said but how do I fight against this monster? Ah, that''s right, it is still under my blood authority skill''s influence. Otherwise, it would''ve alreadye running over to finish me off. There''s still a chance!''


    Randy quickly thought to himself and immediately began pondering about a way out of this situation, a way to overturn the tide of this battle.


    While he thought of this, Randy continued to cough up a mouthful of blood as he could feel his life slipping away in front of him.


    But he was not willing to die to this monster, and he bit his tongue to keep himself awake through the pain.


    With that, he continued to ponder some more with continuing to barely restrain the movement of the chimera monster in the distance.


    One would wonder why he was desperate to survive despite being on his deathbed, and the reason for that was simple.


    He was someone who once received so much love from his parents and the people around him. But that was up until the day he failed to awaken his innate ability; that day was when things started changing in his life.


    On his first failure upon trying to awaken, nothing significant changed in his lifestyle but after failing a few more times, his once loving parents started shunning him and treating him coldly.


    This situation bewildered him so much that he thought that he might have done something wrong that he was unaware of and so, he thought deeply about it.


    But no matter how much he thought about it, he did not recall doing anything wrong except failing to awaken his innate ability.


    With that, a few years passed, and even his childhood friend whom he thought would not abandon him also started ignoring him out of nowhere.


    And also, because of this childhood friend, with whom he spent his childhood, he was constantly beaten by Jeremiah''s people.


    At the time, he did not understand why Jeremiah hated him or why he kept sending people after him all the time.


    Onlyter did he find out that it was because he was trying to court his childhood friend but failed ultimately in doing so.


    At that time, he realized that perhaps Jeremiah was jealous of him who was with her all the time, even then, he did not understand why he was taking his frustration on him.


    But he also knew that even though he was not even in a romantic rtionship with his childhood, he did in fact like her, but it was just that he never said anything about his feelings.


    And so, he could notpletely refute Jeremiah whenever he beat him up because he misunderstood and thought that he and Emilia were going out and because of that, it was the reason why she never looked at him.


    But the situation escted when he was beaten almost to the brim of death by Jeremiah and his people.


    The goons who followed after Jeremiah all the time had always been bullying him inside or outside the academy under Jeremiah''s order, but Randy did not care too much at the time.


    That was because he had a strong body after training for so long, so he was able to take on their attacks without sustaining too much injury.


    But the same cannot be said about that day when he was without a doubt exhausted after going overboard with his training, and thus the torture he suffered from Jeremiah and his goons were etched in his body and did not disappear even after he had awakened.


    The hatred and resentment harbored that day gave him a reason to live on until the day of his revenge.


    And also, he has not learned about the reason behind his parent''s behavior towards him when he could not awaken his innate ability.


    So how could he die now when his journey has not even begun yet?


    At this point, he was continuing to bleed out from all over his body, through every orifice.


    And more than that, he could not even retaliate with his current state due to the pressure on his body.


    Although the pressure seemed to have weakened seeing as how he was now able to lift his hand, it was still unbearable under this pressure with the excruciating pain all over his body.


    All of sudden, he stopped using Blood Authority Skill on the chimera monster, but he well aware that by doing this, it would allow the chimera monster to move easily and freely.


    But that is what he is aiming for with this deliberate decision!


    ''My blood authority skill''s range is about 5 meters around myself in my normal state and 10 meters in my current ancestral form. But if I narrow down my influence in a straight line, I can influence things up to 20 meters in front of me.''


    "Cough!"


    ''But even with this skill range¡­ it''s now useless since this chimera bastard still managed tounch an attack under my skill''s influence. But there''s another way to defeat this monster, even if it would cause me some damage afterward.''


    ''But this method will require the chimera monster to attack me first¡­ This would be a desperate attack on my end, but it is better than nothing. If I fail, then I would die. But if I seed, then I will survive. It''s that simple¡­''


    Randy silently thought all these with a determined expression while ignoring the pain all over his body.

 Chapter 142 - Special Quest Completion

    Randy had pondered many ways to survive this chimera monster, but eventually, he only thought of a desperate measure.


    And for that to happen, the chimera monster would need to escape his Blood Authority Skill''s influence beforehand.


    By doing this, the chimera monster who would no longer be under his skill''s influence would attack him right away upon noticing the change.


    After all, the chimera monster most likely sees him as an enemy or prey in that state.


    Sure enough, just like Randy had thought, the moment he lifted his Blood Authority Skill effects on the chimera monster''s body, almost right away, it gave him a sharp piercing look.


    While still under the influence of the unknown dark energy that caused its expression to be full of madness, it deeply stared at his direction with a grudgeful look in its eyes.


    Since the other party''s skill effect had worn off, he could now kill him without its movement being restricted like before, and so, now was the time to attack for it to attack.


    Randy also noticed that the other party was looking at him with a strange gaze, but he was unfazed by this and only looked at his right arm and thenughed while ignoring the pain in doing so.


    "Hahaha¡­ Cough! I truly am going crazy, but this is the only way."


    ''Yeah, that''s right. Come on over¡­ Let''s finish this fight of ours that has been prolonged for too long¡­''


    "Cough! Ugh¡­"


    ''Hehehe¡­ What is this feeling? I can''t feel my hands anymore.''


    Randy struggled to speak as he coughed up more blood, but he used his Blood Authority Skill to hover all the blood coughed up by him since earlier next to him. But he did not bother absorbing them back into his body just yet.


    At this point, his facial expression was turning paler as if he would drop dead any moment now.


    The next moment, the chimera monster who could not hold itself back anymore traversed the few meters distance between them and appeared in front of him with its ws now aiming directly at his head.


    In his delirious state, Randy''s eyes shed with a golden glint for a moment and within that moment he noticed where the chimera monster was aiming by observing its arm''s trajectory in a somewhat slow-motion state.


    ''What is this? Am I feeling dizzy?''


    Even though it was hard for him to keep up with its movement when he was in his dual-assimted state, for some reason, even in his now normal state, he was able to see through its movements.


    But he soon ignored his thoughts and did not want to think too much about this urrence and only thought that maybe he subconsciously awakened to his potential in this near-death situation.


    ''It''s aiming at my head? It seems like this fucker is trying to kill me and not y around this time, huh?'' Randy quickly thought.


    After realizing that that was the case, almost right away, he also positioned his right arm, with his elbow facing backward.


    And when the chimera monster was about to smash his head in, while making use of his current slow-motion state, he used his Blood Authority Skill to forcefully evade the chimera monster''s attack by bending down slightly.


    And then he kicked the ground and propelled himself forward despite the excruciating pain afterward.


    But he did not relent in his movement as he gritted his teeth and aimed his right arm at the chimera monster''s chest wound from before.


    His current right arm was now encased in ice, and it was exuding chilly cold energy as he was also imbued arm with all his remaining magical energy.


    But the reason why using this method of attack would be considered a desperate attack was that with the least mistake on his part and he could lose his arm that was now frozen all over from the ice element.


    But Randy did not care about this and continued to aim at the chimera in an almost frenzied state.


    "Die!! You monster!!" He madly shouted when his arm was close enough to the other party''s chest.


    The chimera monster who noticed that the other party had somehow evaded its attack tried to attack it once again. But it soon noticed afterward that the other party was aiming at it with an attack of their own.


    However, it could not evade in time due to the momentum of its previous attack and thus could only helplessly take on the attack.


    "Puk!"


    Blood spilled!


    Randy seeded on his first attack, and while still under that momentum, he somehow climbed up the chimera monster''s body once again and continued his ceaseless attacks.


    "Die!" "Puk!" "Die!" "Puk!"


    Blood sttered everywhere!


    Die! Die! Die! Die! You fucking monster! I will kill you! Just die!


    In the background, Randy kept screaming these words as if his life depended on it.


    At the same time, while yelling out these words, he continued to aim his ice-encased arm at the chimera monster''s chest over and over again.


    He is now impaling all the whole through its body, unlike before where he could barely prate its flesh.


    Due to him relentlessly piercing its chest earlier, he was now capable of prating through its flesh, through the old wound that was healing slowlypared to the other wounds on its body.


    And even if it manages to heal its wounds with its self-healing ability, it would not be able topletely heal its wounds in time before it eventually sumbs to its death.


    GUOOH¡ª¡ª¡ª


    The chimera monster roared in pain, but Randy continued with his attack since it appears that the pressure on his body had also been released after his initial attack seeing as how he was now able to climb up the chimera monster.


    While ignoring the excruciating painful feeling in his body, he continued to impale the chimera monster''s chest without stopping while clinging to its body like some glue.


    "Ahhhh! Die! Die! Die! Die!"


    Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk!


    The sound of flesh pierced continuously, and blood spilling resounded in the background.


    Blood also starteding out of the chimera monster''s mouth since it appears that the center of its chest truly was its weakness, and thus could not retaliate as it lost strength in its arms shortly after.


    And very soon, the chimera monster fell on its back helplessly with a dull ''thud'' sound.


    Randy did not relent with his attacks and continued to pierce its chest for an untold amount of times just to be on the safe side.


    Even when the chimera monster appeared lifeless andid there, he did not stop piercing its chest until he became satisfied.


    At this point, the chimera monster''s blood formed puddles on the ground and began soaking into the ground.


    "Hahahahaha!"


    With his blood sttered all over his face, Randy madly and loudlyughed while kneeling on top of the chimera monster''s dead body.


    "Now, you finally¡­ died? Ugh!" Randy muttered a momentter.


    At this moment, he felt a numbing and sharp sensation in his right arm with chilling cold energy exuding out of it ever since a while ago.


    Crack! Crack!


    The solid ice all over his right arm shattered on hismand. But before he could assess the current state of his arm, the system notification shed by his blurry vision at this moment with a line of text disyed.


    [[Special Quest Completed]]


    The system suddenly announced this to him, causing him to be perplexed on the spot.

 Chapter 143 - Corroded

    [[Special Quest Completed]]


    ''Did I see that right? Special Quest? Am I seeing things now?'' Randy wondered in confusion.


    Upon seeing the line of text in front of his vision, Randy blinked one time and thought that he was seeing things at this moment.


    And then he widely opened his eyes and closely looked at the projected screen once again.


    Sure enough, the same line of text was disyed in front of eyes.


    ''So I was not mistaken. But was there such a quest ongoing this whole time or is this the system''s function that I missed? No, there''s no quest function when Ist checked so what''s this?''


    While thinking about this without understanding what the system was trying to imply, a new line of text appeared in front of his vision.


    [[The host haspleted a nigh impossible special quest of the system by defeating an enemy harboring dark energy that seemed to originate from a type of [???] entity. Thus you have obtained the right to unlock the prerequisite system function]]


    [[The ''Divine Points Function'' have been unlocked as a reward for aplishing this feat]]


    "W-What do you mean¡­?" Randy weakly asked.


    But more lines of texts kept scrolling in his vision without stopping.


    [[Special Requirement have been met to unlock an additional function of the system]]


    [[The ''Quest Function'' have been unlocked due to thepletion of the special quest of the system]]


    [[You have killed an enemy that was stronger than your current strength and power level]]


    [[You have sessfully harvested 100,000 divine points within the soul of the enemy]]


    [[The total amount of divine points harvested far surpassed the total amount possible with the power level of the enemy but since this is a special case that stemmed from the enemy''s body being modified beforehand, all the harvested divine points would be kept for the host]]


    [[Reminder: The harvested divine points would be stored within the divine point storage for now until the host needs it otherwise]]


    [[Furthermore, a few things have been updated in the system. The host can check them outter to see the corresponding changes]]


    ''What is going on with all these series of notifications from the system? I can''t even read through them all right now. I will have to check them outter. But for now¡­''


    Randy thought and then he looked at the floating drops of blood behind him.


    Those were his very own drops of blood that he managed to keep floating with his Blood Authority Skill despite being in a delirious state.


    The purpose of this was to absorb them back into his body to prevent fainting from blood loss.


    However, he could not simply absorb them before since some of them had already fallen on the ground during the fight and thus he could only wait until now.


    With a single thought, all the blood hovered in front of him and with anothermand, the drops of blood were all cleansed of any harmful substance that they might have been exposed to.


    The next moment, all the drops of blood were absorbed back into his body.


    And without wasting any more time, he took out the remaining healing potion and chugged them all down right away.


    ''Ahh~ How refreshing¡­ I can feel my wounds healing slowly. But I think it would be a while until I fully heal this time. I suffered not just external injuries but even internal injuries. It''s already a miracle that I haven''t fainted yet.''


    After waiting for a few moments for his mind and body to settle down, he then looked at the corpse of the chimera monster before pondering.


    ''Should check its body for any monster core or something equivalent? Right! This monster was the strongest being that I have ever fought, hell, I almost died to it just now. With that, it would be foolish of me to not want to assimte with its blood.''


    "Alright, let''s get to it right away before it clots"


    Randy stood up and then stepped down from the chimera monster''s body and afterward, he activated his skill once again.


    [[Blood Authority Skill Activated]]


    Using his skill, he quickly drained all the salvageable blood from the chimera monster''s body and shortly after formed a blob of red and ck liquid.


    ''What the hell is this? Why do I find the ck substance mixed with the blood appalling?''


    Randy thought as he unconsciously got rid of all the ck substance that looked like some type of blood within the blob of red blood.


    For some reason, when he saw controlled the ck blood with his Blood Authority Skill, it worked but at the same time, he found the ck blood repulsive, and he could even say that it was contaminated blood.


    Afterward, he proceeded to use his Blood Authority to further get rid of the harmful substance in the red blood depending on his ''blood sense'' and soon enough, there was only a tiny amount of blood left after he was done.


    After that, he hovered the blood over and into his palm after solidifying it.


    [[Detected purified blood of an awakened human?]]


    ''Awakened human? Just like I thought, so this chimera monster was in fact a human before he got turned into this? Just who would do such a thing? If this was normal times, I wouldn''t have cared about this. But since this thing attacked me and almost killed me, I can''t just be idle with finding out the culprit behind it.'' Randy silently thought with a scowled expression.


    The next moment, he tossed the solidified blood into his mouth without hesitation.


    [[Detected that the host has consumed purified blood of an awakened human?]]


    [[Assimtion Mode Activated]]


    [[Assimtion With Blood Commencing]]


    ''Hmm... What is this strange feeling? Something is off about this blood. Why do I feel like something is missing? And Why is the system showing question marks at the end?''


    [[Assimtion Completion: 75%]]


    [[Due to assimting with the blood, you have obtained the following abilities and traits: Paralyzing Spittle(100%), Agile Feet(Corroded)(0%), Minor Regeneration(Corroded)(0%), w Strike (Corroded)(0%), Innate Body Strengthen(corroded)(0%), Sharp Fangs(Corroded)(0%), and Synergy(Iplete, Partially Corroded)(50%)]]


    ''What? That''s all? That can''t be right! What about that pressure attack from before? What about that hateful dark energy that almost cost me my life? Why aren''t those abilities included? And also what does the abilities with ''corroded'' mean?'' Randy immediately questioned the system in his mind with a frown on his face when he saw the disyed abilities and traits.

 Chapter 144 - Decision

    After hearing his demanding questions, the system disyed another line of text exining the situation to him.


    [[Notice: Due to some of the blood knowledge contained within this specific blood being deteriorated by the unknown and ipatible energy that should not exist in this world or the entire universe, some of the abilities were unable to form. In other words, the knowledge about some of the abilities in the blood was discovered to have been destroyed during the assimtion process]]


    ''Are you talking about that dark energy? What do you mean by ''should not exist in this world or entire universe''? Then where did ite from?'' Randy doubtfully asked in his mind.


    [[¡­]]


    "Oh, is that a secret perhaps?" Randy muttered a whileter after seeing the silent treatment from the system.


    The system does not really speak to him and only disys texts as responses, but at this time, it was not even bothering to disy any text to answer his question. This caused Randy to be quite intrigued by this unprecedented situation.


    ''I think this is the first time I am not receiving any response from the system despite asking a question, right? I could be wrong about this, but I don''t remember the system keeping its ''mouth'' shut before. It usually left out the things I don''t have ess to but notpletely ignore my question like this.''


    ''This is quite interesting. Now, I really need to find whoever dared to use that terrifying and eerie dark energy to create such a monster that had almost killed me. And when I do, I will show them my appreciation then.''


    Randy thought all these to himself in contemtion of future endeavors.


    The reason why he was concerned about that eerie dark energy was simple. For someone who was almost killed by that terrifying dark energy, it would be quite strange of him if he was not the least bit interested in its origin.


    "So I am guessing the reason why those abilities corroded had something to do with that dark energy, right?" Randy asked in confirmation.


    [[That is indeed the case]] The system responded with a line of text.


    "I guess that makes sense. That thing was quite terrifying after all. I don''t even know what would''ve happened if I had failed to kill that chimera monster at that moment." Randy sighed and muttered to himself in dread as he recalled the experience just now.


    "Now, what should I do with its body?"


    Randy bent down and softly touched the chimera monster''s body, and right away, another notification shed in front of his eyes.


    "What is it this time?" Randy asked and then looked up in the void in front of himself.


    [[Attention! Detected an iplete crystallized ability stone inside the chimera''s body]]


    [[Would you like the system to extract and store this crystallized ability stone inside the system''s storage?]]


    ''An ability stone? Again? I thought you said it takes time for one to have something like that? Howe the people I have encountered so far have these things inside them?'' Randy asked the system in his mind with a doubtful expression.


    [[That is indeed the case. However, this crystallized ability stone had been induced unnaturally using some unknown method that forcefully crystallizes one''s ability. But in return, it would be iplete in its formation as it is with this ability stone. Because the ability stone has not formed naturally, it would not evolve any further than it currently is, unless a specific condition was met]]


    The system exined to him right away.


    "I see. So people can even create these things, no, would it be more urate to say that the people who created this chimera monster can even do things like this?'' Randy muttered to himself in disbelief.


    And then he continued: "In any case, please store it for now. I will look at all theseter."


    With his words, a marble-like stone that was also transparent manifested out of the chimera monster''s body as it phased through its flesh and appeared in front of his eyes for a moment before disappearing somewhere, seemingly into the system''s storage.


    "Alright, now how to deal with this? Since the teachers were already calling the military for reinforcement, they should be on their way by now. Well, that is if theirmunication has gotten through." Randy muttered to himself while looking at the corpse of the chimera monster.


    ''Besides, I don''t think there''s any core inside this chimera monster''s body. Is it even a monster since it was once human?''


    Randy contemted for a while as he thought of his ns after this and then decided: "To not let things getplicated, I should deliver the chimera monster''s body to the teachers so that they would be at ease. With that, I can also avoid anyplications with my parents regarding my whereabouts after this."


    Right now, he had made up his mind that he was not going to the military''s special training session because he had another n in mind, one that could make him get stronger quickly.


    Rather than going through the same process as his ssmates, he would prefer to take the route that could make him get stronger faster instead.


    That was because, through this encounter with the chimera monster, he realized that he was much weaker than he had thought.


    Without depending on his assimted state, he was nothing more than a C-Rank awakened, and ability user.


    And to fix his weakness, he decided to tread apletely different path from his ssmates who are following the established system in their world.


    He needed to take on more risks that could have the possibility of increasing all his strength quickly. Whether it was experience or power level, he needed to be proficient in all of them.


    And to achieve something like that, he had to put his life on the line. Because only through life and death could he grow stronger as he did momentarily just now when he fought against the chimera monster.


    Although up until now, he still had no idea how he was able to defeat the chimera monster that clearly outssed him in terms of speed and raw physical strength.


    Nevertheless, he believed that the reason such a thing was possible was most likely because he was in a near-death state.


    Furthermore, he believed that the previous life and death state allowed him to momentarily awaken his full potential thatid dormant inside him until now.


    Moreover, he believed that the awakened potential enabled him to perceive the chimera monster''s attack in advance, which then allowed him to avoid the attack before it reached him.


    With such precognition, he managed to counter against the chimera monster in time bynding his very own attack during that pivotal moment when he avoided its attack.


    And then he ultimately defeated the chimera monster because of his critical attack that seeded in causing more damage to it.


    This was not something that was possible if he did not enter that delirious state of mind.


    With that thought in mind, he changed his clothes, and then after waiting for a few minutes for his wounds to heal, he dragged the chimera monster''s body away, heading in the opposite direction to Sky Rise City.


    Where he was heading right now was the location that he was running away from earlier.. Right back to the ce where his ssmates and teachers were most likely awaiting in panic due to the tragedy that suddenly befell them.

 Chapter 145 - Delivery

    On the other side, on the constructed path within the Beast Forest.


    The students and their teachers were anxiously prancing about after discovering something that could bring about their end.


    "What do you mean that the radiomunication didn''t get through, Instructor Liu?"


    "Like I said just now, there seems to be something blocking themunication signal with the military. I also have no idea what''s going on, but it seems like this urrence was most likely deliberate."


    "Are you saying that someone was targeting our students or perhaps us instructors? How is that possible? And who would dare do something so outrageous without knowing their own ce?"


    "Maybe someone who had a grudge against our academy or¡­"


    "Or what?"


    "I''m just saying that maybe one of the instructors amongst us might''ve made an enemy with someone high up, and they''re targeting them during this trip?"


    "Are you crazy? Why would someone target a group of innocent students just to get to one person amongst us? Isn''t that too unreasonable?"


    "Well, then what do you think could be the reason for this unknown creature''s attack? It couldn''t have been a coincidence, right? Considering the fact it attacked our school bus and then themunication to the military being jammed right after... It is without a doubt an orchestrated attack by someone."


    "That¡­"


    While the other instructors were engaged in their discussion, instructor Ava who had somewhat of an idea of what was going on looked on with a concerned gaze.


    Although this time none of the students were killed like the multiple times when she had encountered the unknown creatures back in the western district, one of the instructors died in this incident.


    At this moment, she could not help but feel like she could be the reason for all of this, even though she does not remember making an enemy with anyone in her entire life.


    As both students and instructors were expressing their concern, all of a sudden, everyone closed their mouths and instantly became silent when they heard a loud noiseing from the other side of the road.


    ''What is that sound? It sounded something, or someone is dragging something on the ground towards our direction.'' Instructor Ava wondered with a frown on her face, and she instantly stood up with a sharp gaze.


    She had no idea what the origin of the sound could be, but there was a possibility that it belonged to the unknown creature that suddenly disappeared somewhere.


    "Everyone, stay alert! It could be that unknown creature again. If we don''t manage to kill it here, then it will kill us all!" Instructor Ava announced to everyone. But in reality, she was actually talking to the instructors behind her.


    "W-W-What do you mean, instructor Ava? Are you saying that the monster that attacked us before ising back to attack us once again? Why would it do that?" One of the instructors said in a trembling voice, clearly terrified.


    He was a C-Rank awakened and so, he was not very confident in surviving this situation if that terrifying creature from before attacked them again. He was sure that he would definitely die this time if that were to happen.


    After hearing this from the instructor, the students who were quiet all this time suddenly opened their mouths and also expressed their disbelief.


    "Y-Yeah, teacher Ava. You''re not lying to us, right? Didn''t that monster run away somewhere because it wasn''t interested in us? Why would it suddenlye back to attack us?"


    "T-T-That''s right¡­ if ites back then we''re all dead. Shit! I don''t want to die¡­ We have to leave here right now."


    "Why are we still here? We should''ve left this ce a long time ago."


    "Everybody should get in the school bus, we have to leave this ce, or else we''ll all die here too."


    "Fuck! I don''t want to die in this ce when I haven''t even dated any girl yet!"


    "¡­"


    "What? Is it wrong to not have a girlfriend? Just because you guys have one doesn''t mean you can look down on me. I''m still young, you know."


    "To think that''s what you''re thinking of in this situation. Let''s ignore him and get back into the school bus."


    "Fuck! What''s wrong with what I said, huh?! Tsk!"


    Listening to these words from both the students and that instructor that spoke first, instructor Ava clicked her tongue in annoyance.


    She could understand the students'' anxiety, but why would an instructor also disy fear in front of the students? What kind of role model is he setting here if not instigating the students to be more afraid of their current situation and then lead to more people dying because of wrong choices afterward.


    She did not have time to say anything to that instructor that spoke just now, because the source of the loud noise from before had quickly approached them from the distance and was now slowly appearing in front of them.


    "It''s here! It''s here!"


    "Eeek!"


    "Fuck! We''re dead!"


    The next moment, a figure of someone slowly appeared from the darkness while holding on to something behind them.


    And they suddenly spoke once they came into view: "Oh, looks like I made it. Hm? Why is everyone on guard? There''s no need for that. I only came here to deliver this."


    Seeing the appearance of the other party, instructor Ava raised her eyebrows in surprise due to how unexpected what she was seeing right in front of her was.


    ''What? A human boy? And that red hair, is he perhaps a foreigner? But there shouldn''t be anyone with that kind of red hair even in the western district.'' Instructor Ava silently thought to herself with a cautious gaze.


    But the next moment, she opened her mouth and questioned: "What do you mean by words just now? What did youe here to deliver?"


    "Ah, I guess you can''t see it since the light from the vehicle isn''t reflecting on it. Here¡­"


    Boom!


    After saying those words, the figure threw something in front of the cautious woman in the distance, which caused a loud dull noise to resound from the impact on the ground shortly after.


    Instructor Ava quickly retreated backward to evade the other party''s attack as she cast a barrier around herself.


    Afterward, she frowned deeply and then said: "What is the meaning of this?"


    But when she observed in front of her, she was immediately shocked when realized what was thrown towards her.


    "Eh? Isn''t that¡­ How is that possible¡­?" She muttered in a daze, seemingly in disbelief of what she was seeing in front of her.


    "What the¡ª Isn''t that the monster from before? Why is it already dead?"


    "Did that guy kill it by himself?"


    "H-Holy fuck! To kill something that the teachers couldn''t, how strong is that guy? But why do I feel like he''s a little familiar?"


    "Now that you mention it. Isn''t he that guy from that recently popr Virtual Battle against that Sword Fool?"


    "Ooooh! Yeah, it''s him. What is he doing here? Was he someone from our academy?"


    "Don''t be stupid. How could we not know someone like that was in our academy after all this time."


    "I guess that makes sense. With that appearance, he would''ve been quite famous if he was in our academy. But still, why is he here? And why did he defeat that terrifying creature? And more importantly, why would he toss it to us like that when he could just take it for himself?"


    "Ah, that''s a good question. It really doesn''t make sense."


    As he heard his ssmates'' words outside, Jeremiah who was amongst the students who quickly made it into the school bus earlier and was still inside it up until now decided to look out the window as he analyzed the young man who had red hair with scrutinizing gaze.


    ''Who is that bastard? Why haven''t I seen him before?'' He wondered with a frown on his face.

 Chapter 146 - Horrific Sight

    At this point, Instructor Ava regained her calm, narrowed her gaze at the red-haired young man, and then doubtfully asked: "Why would you deliver something like that to us? Isn''t it appropriate to sell monster parts for money? Are you saying that this monster''s corpse is useless to you?"


    "Whoa there¡­ Please calm down, Miss¡­ What was it again? Your name, I mean." The red-haired young man asked, seemingly having no idea what the woman in front of him was called.


    "Ava" She curtly replied.


    "Right, Miss Ava¡­ Like I said before, there''s no need to think too much. I was only passing by and then I saw that you guys were attacked by this creature here. However, upon noticing my presence, it started chasing after me. It was very persistent in chasing after me, so I had no choice but to kill it."


    "Had no choice but to kill it?" Instructor Ava muttered in disbelief.


    "That''s right." He casually replied to her.


    ''Was it that simple to kill it? Just how strong is this person? Doesn''t he look as old as my students? I wonder where he came from.'' She silently thought to herself upon hearing his casual reply.


    "But since it doesn''t seem to be a simple monster and would be troublesome to deal with afterward, I brought it to guys instead. Are we clear now?" The red-haired young man continued with his story.


    "¡­How can we trust you? What if you were the one who sent this creature to attack us instead? How can you prove that you''re not the culprit behind all this?"


    "Hmm¡­ Well, I have no proof so¡­ Well, you can believe what you want. I have done my part in delivering this, so you can do whatever you want with it. Just know that this creature has nothing to do with me, so when you make your report to the militaryter on, you had better make that clear to them. Otherwise¡­"


    ''What?! I can''t move my body? What is this? It feels like all the blood in my body had suddenly stopped flowing. If this continues, I could die from a heart attack. Is this his ability?''


    "Don''t worry, this is just a reminder. I don''t mean any harm, but that doesn''t mean that if one brought harm to me, I wouldn''t retaliate in return. Just know that as long you do your part in delivering the corpse of this creature and the message that I just happen to pass by and helped you defeat this creature to the military, then we''ll all be good." The red-haired young man said with a smile.


    And then he continued after thinking of something: "But isn''t this oue good for you guys anyway? After all, you managed to kill the monster that almost killed all of you during your journey, right? Not to mention, there doesn''t seem to be much casualty amongst the student from what I can see¡­ So you can save the prestige of the academy this way, right?"


    After saying this, the red-hair young man undid his ability thereby releasing Instructor Ava from his influence.


    ''I am free from the restraints now. But how was this possible? I had cast a barrier around myself beforehand, and also, I am sure that I am still wearing an artifact with protection against abnormality effect abilities. Unless the other party was an S-Rank, they shouldn''t be able to break through my protection artifact. Just who is this red-haired young man? What is his true identity?''


    She became more intrigued the longer she observed the young man in front of her, but she did not express her desire to know more about the other party since there was a possibility that they might find it offensive or invasive and then kill everyone here as a result.


    "¡­"


    With that thought in mind, Instructor Ava deeply stared at the young man for a while, and then she sighed shortly after before saying: "It is indeed good for us this way. And I also understand your intention very well, so you don''t have to worry. I will make sure to deliver this monster''s corpse to the military and¡ª"


    At this moment, she suddenly paused in her speech and then looked in front of her with a frown on her expression. Everyone around her also looked in the direction that she was currently staring, at this moment.


    Even the red-haired young man disyed a somewhat shocked expression when he looked in front of himself, the same ce that everyone was looking, at this moment.


    Ssssiss¡ª¡ª


    At this point, almost everyone outside the school bus and those who were paying attention to the situation outside through the opened windows of the school buses had a terrified and shocked expression on their faces.


    That was because, right in front of everyone, the monster corpse that the red-haired young man had brought started deteriorating, or more precisely, it started rotting with all the flesh dposing into a mush of liquefied flesh.


    Looking closely, even the bones of the creature had also melted along with its flesh. This was a sight that could induce horror into anyone who had a slightly weaker mentality.


    While looking at this, some students started vomiting the food that they had recently, meanwhile the others were looking away with appalled expressions.


    The instructors were no different as they had a deep frown on their faces at this moment when they saw the corpse rot right in front of their very eyes.


    The red-haired young man also scowled deeply as he saw this unnerving situation unfold in front of his eyes.


    "How disgusting¡­" He muttered under his breath a momentter, seemingly unaware of this happening when he decided to bring the monster corpse over with him.


    The students could not hold themselves anymore and alsomented loudly while pointing their fingers at the now liquefied corpse.


    "What the hell is that? Did that corpse just rot right in front of our eyes? This is the first time I''ve seen something like this."


    "Is there even a chemical that couldpletely deteriorate the flesh and bones of such a huge monster?"


    "Don''t tell me... Did that guy do it? Shit! Teacher, we shouldn''t get on his bad side."


    "Everyone, calm down! Do not make such a careless judgment without evidence" Instructor Ava shouted when she heard what the students were saying.


    And then she narrowed her gaze at the red-haired young man without saying anything, but her intention was clear on her face.


    The red-haired young man also noticed the gaze on him and only shook his head helplessly before saying: "Don''t look at me like that. I also have no idea what''s going on either."


    "Then how did the corpse of the monster that you happen to deliver suddenly rot and melt right in front of us?" She asked right away, clearly still doubting his words.


    The red-haired young man shrugged and then replied: "Who knows, but it wasn''t my doing, that I can tell you. Even if you don''t believe me, that is the truth. Maybe the ones that sent this monster to attack you guys, did it? After all, this monster doesn''t look normal judging by its ghastly appearance. And besides, why would I bother to bring it over just to let it rot in front of you guys? What do I even gain from that?"

 Chapter 147 - Crimson

    "¡­"


    Instructor Ava continued to stare at the mysterious red-haired young man with the same suspicious expression for a while as she pondered to herself.


    ''He is right about his statement. With the strength that he disyed a while ago, it''s safe to assume that he could very easily kill all of us if he wanted to. In other words, there''s no need for him to go through all that trouble to simply make us see something like that just to scare us. Since that''s not the case, then how did the monster corpse suddenly dpose? This is almost as if¡­'' She quietly thought to herself with her expression rxing a bit.


    "Since you get it now. I don''t have to exin myself any more than this. It''s time for me to leave now¡ª Eh?"


    ''Hm? Why is he here?'' The red-haired young man silently thought to himself.


    "What is it? Why did you stop?" Instructor Ava quickly asked when she noticed that the red-haired young man suddenly stopped in mid-sentence.


    "Ah, it''s nothing. Anyway, as for what to say to the military regarding this, you can simply tell them that whoever sent this thing after you guys might''ve temper with the monster beforehand, leading to rot a few minutes after its death. Most likely to get rid of the evidence. This should be quite useful enough information, right?" The red-haired young man said to her.


    "¡­Hm, that should be enough¡­ And what you say also makes sense. I''ll make sure to deliver this information" She agreed after a while of pondering to herself.


    And she continued: "But are really not going to deliver the message to the military yourself? If that is the case, then how do I introduce you to them when asked? After all, I still haven''t heard your name yet."


    "About that¡­ I don''t n on revealing my name so it would not be a good idea to reveal myself in front of the military in this district. But you can call me however you like when introducing me to the military. After all, this isn''t my first appearance in the eastern district, right?" The red-haired young man in a somewhat mysterious tone.


    "¡­" Instructor Ava was confused by the other party''s words since this was her first time meeting him, let alone seeing him somewhere before.


    However, one of the male students who caught on to what the red-haired young man was implying by his words at this point suddenly raised his voice and then happily said: "Teacher Ava, this person is called Blood Venerable Fist God in the virtual world. Although I don''t know his real name, we can call him by this, right?"


    Upon hearing these words, Instructor Ava turned to the male student who spoke just now for a moment before retracting her gaze from him and back to face the red-haired man.


    ''Blood Venerable Fist God? What kind of person would name themselves like that? Is he not embarrassed by this nickname?'' She quietly thought to herself as she continued to stare at the red-haired young man with a strange gaze.


    The red-haired young man suddenly felt ufortable with the gaze on him and immediately cleared his throat before saying: "With that out of the way, I will now take my leave. Ah, but before that, I''ll have to take care of this thing first¡ª"


    Saying so, he instantly manifested a sharp-looking energy dagger about the length of 12 centimeters, and then he quickly threw it upward, seemingly aiming at something.


    Boom!


    A loud explosion resounded shortly after in the sky above them, shocking and startling everyone.


    Soon after, they all proceeded to quickly raise their heads to look up into the sky as they wondered what the cause of the explosion could be.


    "What was that just¡ª"


    Crash!


    Instructor Ava frowned and then was about to ask something before quickly shutting her mouth when something suddenly fell from the sky onto the ground, and its parts were strewn everywhere on the road afterward.


    Upon closer observation of what fell, she noticed right away that it was most likely a surveince flying robot, and it seems like something that originated from this Eastern District, meaning that it was something that was created by the magical technology division in the eastern district.


    ''This is not from Western District, so does that mean the one attacking us came from the Eastern District. Does that mean that the people who attacked my students back in the Western District were also from the Eastern District? No, that can''t be right. This might be a ploy by the enemy to hide their true identity¡­'' She silently thought with a look of concern.


    "There you have it! Now it seems the spy is taken care of, or should I say the one that caused the corpse of the creature to dpose, and also, if it is like I am thinking, then the one that is blockingmunication with the military would be that thing just now." The red-haired young man said before turning around to leave.


    ''¡­This young man is quite sharp and perceptive. Not only did he find out that there was a flying surveince robot in the sky, but he even managed to figure out that ourmunication wasn''t getting through with the appearance of the surveince robot.''


    ''After taking down that surveince flying robot, it should be possible to connect to the military now. With this action alone, I think it is safe to assume that this person isn''t one of the culprits behind this attack on us. But he''s still too suspicious, so I shouldn''t just trust him blindly, however...''


    Instructor Ava deeply thought while looking at the back of the red-haired young man departing with a half appreciation and half cautious gaze.


    When the red-haired young man walked about three steps heading towards the direction of the Sky Rise City, she opened her mouth and then said: "Thank you for helping us in this time of need, uhm¡­ Blood¡­"


    "Ahahaha, just call me Crimson if you feel that ufortable with saying my nickname out loud." The red-haired young manughed, waved his hand without looking back as he continued walking away.


    "¡­"


    Instructor Ava, along with everyone else, looked on as the figure of the red-haired young man who imed to be called ''Crimson'' slowly disappeared from their sight as he walked away in long strides.


    Eventually, his figure could no longer be seen within the darkness that shrouded the vicinity of the Beast Forest since it was now dark outside due to it being nighttime right now.

 Chapter 148 - Each Others Fury

    After the red-haired young man left, Instructor Ava continued staring in the distance for a while, and then she suddenly muttered under her breath: "Crimson, huh? What a strange guy."


    Soon after, she turned her gaze away to the other instructors and then urged to send another voice message to the military to ask for reinforcements.


    Meanwhile, she had the students that were not injured return back to the school buses, and as for those that were injured, she had themid on the ground as carelessly moving them might exacerbate their injuries.


    Originally, there were nning to take a break, but this unexpected situation prevented that from happening and now many students were injured in the process, they even lost one instructor.


    Right now, they can only hope that the military would send the medics and healers over quickly so that the student could be saved.


    A whileter.


    After the military received the report sent to them, they immediately came over with the medics and the healers that they could find at the moment.


    Not only that, but they also made a quick decision to have the injured students transported via ambnce back to Sky Rise City.


    However, this time, after hearing of the unexpected situation that unfolded from Instructor Ava and the other instructors due tock of ample protection on the way and not wanting to repeat their previous mistakes this time again, they had some of the soldiers escort the ambnces back to Sky Rise City.


    ¡­


    On the other side.


    Sky Rise City, Inside A Luxury Hotel.


    At this moment, David Silvermoon just received a status report regarding the recent mission that he had his faithful and loyal fulfill through hismunication device.


    However, after hearing what his subordinate had to say, he immediately fumed in anger and frustration.


    "What the fuck do you mean that someone intervened during testing?! Who did? Forget that! Did you confirm that brat''s death or not?!"


    [This¡­ Young Lord, we couldn''t find him amongst the students so we''re not sure if he was there. But it is safe to say that he wasn''t injured or dead during the attack]


    The subordinate carefully said this despite knowing the consequence and meaning of the words he just said.


    "Fuck! Useless! Everyone is useless! Why do I have useless people around me, huh?! You couldn''t even do such a simple task of killing one brat?! If not because of your loyalty to me all these years, I would''ve fired you already!" David Silvermoon said in a furious tone.


    "Shit! What do I tell that person¡­ Right, did you record the battle between RA-001 and the students or the instructors?" He asked after calming down a bit.


    [We did manage to secure momentary footage of its attack on the school bus. But then it started to chase after someone, and since we didn''t anticipate such a thing happening, there were no surveince robots to go after it. Before we arrived at the scene of battle between it and the person it was chasing, their fight was almost drawing to a conclusion. And it seems like it only managed to use the dark energy for a brief moment before it was ruthlessly killed by that person with the red hair] The subordinate quickly replied.


    "Red hair¡­?" David Silvermoon muttered as he bit his lips in annoyance.


    "Who is that person? Did you find out about his identity?" He asked afterward.


    [We did not find out about his identity, but we did find someone simr to him in terms of appearance. He recently appeared in the virtual world and defeated the apprentice of that sword saint]


    "He defeated that sword saint''s apprentice? Are referring to Li Weisheng? Wasn''t he that genius sword cultivator who was hailed to be even more talented than his own teacher when ites to the sword? Someone like him lost to a nobody? That can''t be right." David Silvermoon said in disbelief.


    [That is the truth, Young Lord. Not only did that person defeat Li Weisheng with some strange ability, but I also even heard that he recently defeated the Fist King''s disciple, Chen Feng, and many others in the top 10 of the Fourth-Rank Combat Power Level Division. The only person that he hadn''t fought yet in the top 10 would the number one in the ranking] The subordinate exined.


    "So he did not fight that wild young girl yet, huh?" David Silvermoon muses for a bit, and then he immediately snaps back to his senses, realizing that this information does not matter or alleviate the failure of his mission.


    Bang!


    "Fuck! Just why is nothing working out ever since I met that brat! And now, this unknown variable is messing with my mission. Just who is he? And what was he doing in the Beast Forest at that time? Is it just a coincidence that he appeared at the right time? Not only that, but the brat is most likely alive because of his intervention. Although I am not concerned about the brat seeking revenge since I am certain that he doesn''t know I was the one behind this, this oue is still too undesirable!"


    David Silvermoon thrashed the living room of the hotel he was staying in as he said all these in resentment and fury.


    "Do everything you can to find out the identity of that bastard that dared to intervene with my mission!" He firmly gave out his order after a while of brooding over his current situation.


    [Understood, Young Lord] The subordinate firmly replied in a serious tone of voice.


    ¡­


    At another location.


    Eastern District, Sky Rise City, The Center of the City.


    Inside A Certain Reinforced High-Rise Building.


    At this moment, a man with a strong-looking build sat on his chair in his office as he listened to a report from his subordinate through themunication device on his table.


    "What?! What the hell happened!" The man abruptly raised his voice upon hearing the initial words of the report.


    [As I said before, we just received news from the military that the academy students who were on their way to their base were suddenly attacked by some unknown monster with multiple body features from different animals, and apparently, it was ultimately defeated by an unknown individual with red hair, so there were fewer casualties. With the exception of one dead instructor, some of the students had severe life-threatening injuries but with the help of medics and healers brought over by the military, they were saved] The subordinate reported.


    "That''s not it! My son¡­ My son was on that trip! What were those army bastards doing inviting the students over without any protection? Do they think the Beast Forest is safe now? Just because the surrounding monsters and beasts near the constructed path in the forest had been cleared beforehand? Are they crazy? If something were to happen to my son because of this, I would personally go and visit them and demand an exnation; if they do not give me a satisfactory exnation, I''ll make sure they regret ever causing harm to my family with their reckless actions!!"


    The man furiously dered in a cold tone without caring about his current location or who was listening to him at this moment.

 Chapter 149 - A Concerned Parents Action

    [¡­]


    The subordinate remained silent on the other side of themunication device when he heard the deration from his boss just now.


    But in actuality, he was wiping the cold sweat off of his forehead when he heard his boss''s cold words just now, which were full of implications.


    Without wasting time, the subordinate adjusted himself and then carefully continued with his report: [¡­T-The military pleaded for being partly at fault for this time''s urrence, but they also said that they had their hands full at the time and also this incident has never happened in the past before, so they did not expect something like this to happen this time either]


    "They did not expect this to happen? Partly at fault? Such elusive words! Those children were the future of the district and they''re simply ming their negligence on what? Having their hands full at the time?" The man said in a slightly mocking tone.


    And then he demanded: "Who was the general in charge of the Sky Rise military base?"


    The subordinate quickly responded: [Well, it is General Yao, sir.]


    "Tsk! So it''s that guy. No wonder they were sox with their jobs. Even though their role is to protect the citizens and the future of the Eastern District, they are taking things quite casually without doing their part as protectors. I don''t even know why that Old General was thinking when he decided to assign someone like him to this city." The man said in a disgruntled tone with a scowled expression.


    At this time, the subordinate added: [But we also received a further report saying that thanks to the intervention of that mysterious red-haired individual, none of the students were killed and the military was hoping to find out the identity of that person to show their gratitude and with that thought, they hope to borrow our hands to speed up this process.]


    [ording to the report from one of the instructors who was a woman named Ava Miller, she imed that it was a young man who looked to be about 18 to 20 years old in appearance and that he referred to himself as ''Crimson'' before departing. They also sent some pictures of the dposed corpse of the creature that was killed, I have already sent the files to yourputer, sir.]


    "Hmm¡­ Ava Miller? This name sound familiar¡­ Where did I hear her name from?" The man disyed a pondering expression and then muttered to himself.


    [Sir, she was rted to a series of sudden deaths of students back in the Western District''smoner institutions a few years ago.] The subordinate said to him, seemingly already investigated her identity.


    "Ah, so that''s where I know her from. I seem to recall she was quite popr due to those incidents back then. I once met her when I was still back in the Western District, and after hearing her testimony, she did not seem like a murderer or someone who would murder her own students."


    "Furthermore, those deaths seemed to be caused by some wild animals of unknown origin¡­ The only strange thing was that it happened multiple times and she was always involved somehow. This then made her quite famous as the student killer. I heard that she moved to the Eastern District because of this¡­ Wait, did you just say that the creature that attacked the students was a creature with multiple animal parts¡­?" The man suddenly asked with a deep frown upon realizing something.


    [Yes, sir. Is something the matter?] The subordinate confirmed.


    "¡­"


    ''Damn it! So it really was a simr case!'' The man cursed inwardly cursed when he heard this.


    [Sir?] The subordinate asked when his boss suddenly turned quiet.


    "Ah, nothing. I recalled you said that you sent some pictures to me?"


    [Ah, that''s right. But the images on the pictures were quite disturbing to see actually¡­] The subordinate hesitantly said in a somewhat horrific stone.


    The man frowned when he noticed his tone and inquired further: "Why is that?"


    [Well, that''s because there was no corpse but a strange gooey liquid instead on the picture, seemingly the corpse of the creature that was defeated]


    "What?! Did that red-haired person you kept mentioning have something to do with this?"


    [No, sir. I also initially thought that to be the case and asked the military about it, but they said that ording to the witnesses, meaning the students and the instructors, when the red-haired individual brought over the corpse after subjugating it somewhere, a few minutester, it suddenly dposed as if someone had tampered with the creature to dispose of it in case it was defeated]


    "Hmm¡­ And they''re sure that person did not do this on purpose."


    [Not likely, that female instructor imed that the red-haired individual called Crimson was someone that had the ability to kill them all on the spot, as he was able to easily bypass her defense and render her immobile before she could even defend herself. Considering that she was a B-Rank mage, the red-haired individual was most likely A-Rank or above.]


    [With suchbat power, there was no way such a person would y tricks on them when he could easily kill them all to silence them if he was the culprit. She also added that Crimson at that time had spotted a surveince robot flying in the sky as it observed their actions and jamming their signal to call for help. She said that he quickly got rid of it before leaving. For now, we''re assuming that the owner of that surveince robot might be the true culprit behind this incident]


    "I see¡­ So we can rule out the possibility of his involvement for now¡­ Moreover, I think this incident is most likely rted to the incident that urred in the Western District. Even up until now, they had not caught the true culprit behind those incidents." The man nodded in understanding after hearing his subordinate''s words and while looking with a deep frown at the images that his subordinate sent to him on the projected screen from hisputer at this moment.


    And then he said shortly after thinking of something: "However, what was the reason for him to bring the corpse of the creature over to the instructors and students? Didn''t you say that he killed it elsewhere? And judging from your words, it does not seem like he was a student but an outsider instead."


    [That is indeed the case, sir. But that person did not want his true identity to be revealed so he was only delivering the creature''s corpse to the instructors, is what I heard. However, the creature''s corpse suddenly dposed in front of their eyes as he did so]


    "Hmm... I see, good work!" The man said to the subordinate before cutting the line.


    "Now then who is this mastermind that is behind these modified creatures that had been terrorizing the Western District and now the Eastern District¡­?" He muttered to himself with a pondering expression.


    ''Hold on! That doesn''t matter right now. Don''t tell me that Randy was among the injured students? I forgot to truly ask about that due to my anger that made me assume the worst-case scenario. I have to call Riley and inform her about this just in case. I am sure she would be very upset when she hears about this though, but it can''t be helped. And if something really did happen to Randy, then I''m afraid of what she might do¡­''


    Nathan silently thought with a worried expression, not sure whether he was worried about his son or what his wife might do in the worst-case scenario.


    "¡­"


    A few moments of silenceter.


    "Haa¡­ " He sighed afterward and then said in a helpless tone: "I feel very awkward calling directly to check up on him myself. I should be ashamed as a father.. They should''ve reached their destination by now so the call would''ve gotten through if he was safe, but I''ll just say that I couldn''t connect to him when asked."

 Chapter 150 - Returning To The Beginning

    At this time, Randy had already arrived at Sky Rise City after a few hours of walking on foot. Although he would have loved to glide on the wind with his assimted state''s Gale Riding skill, he could not afford to do so simply because he was already exhausted after overusing his abilities to the extreme.


    Therefore, he had no choice but tomute to the city on foot. Even though it took longer because of this, it was still better than forcefully exerting himself to use his Gale Riding Skill by entering the assimted state.


    Then again, at this time, he finally came to realize that his assimted abilities that were in a form of skills had ws in their usage or application to realbat situations.


    Although he was well aware of these ws at the beginning, he was very optimistic at the time and still thought it would be okay as long as he was well prepared.


    But this time''s event made him realize that borrowed power like assimted abilities that he obtained through assimtion would guarantee his survival in the future and that if he depended too much on them, he might limit his growth instead.


    Therefore, he decided that he would focus on increasing his base strength and power rather than relying on his assimted state.


    However, it was not like he wouldpletely stop using the assimted state or its abilities, he would just not depend on it all the time when fighting his opponent, and only during critical situations would he activate his assimted state.


    Thinking of this, his expression became calm and resolute as he walked through the city gate after disying his identification card.


    At this point, he had already transformed back into his true form with his curly blond hair that fell over his face, covering his eyes as he walked the road that led straight into the city.


    While thinking further, he was suddenly reminded of what happened a while ago when he delivered the chimera monster''s corpse to the instructors of his school.


    He did not expect the culprit behind this incident to be meticulous in their n and even made the corpse of the chimera monster dpose a few minutes after its death.


    He wondered what the oue would be if at that time he had decided to dismantle the chimera monster''s dead body to search for its monster core without knowing about its true identity from his system.


    When he thought about it for a bit, he suddenly felt a chill run his spine, as he thought about the possibility of the corrosive effect of what dposed the chimera monster affecting him during the process.


    At this point, he suddenly felt thankful to the system, because, without it, he might have been too greedy and would have decided to search for its monster core to sell for some money.


    However, because of the information he received from the system after he purified the blood of the dead chimera monster, he was able to tell that the chimera monster was, in reality, a human.


    And therefore, he assumed that the chimera monster would naturally not have any monster core inside them, so he decided not to dismantle it at the time.


    Thinking back to his action at the time, he was d that he made that decision.


    But then again, he wondered why someone would send something like that to the students and instructors of the academy? Not to mention they even had surveince robots to capture the events as if to confirm something.


    At this moment, Randy suddenly thought of a possibility, but he decided to dismiss this thought as he had no evidence, and besides, he did not think that person would be so daring after the event that transpired that day.


    Unless he was that daring, but even still, he did not have any evidence for now. But that does not mean he had ruled out this possibility of that being the case.


    ''Yeah, there''s no way he would do something so drastic within such a short time. But in the off chance that he was responsible for this, I definitely seek my revenge when that timees. But for now, I need to increase my base strength and power level for that to happen.'' Randy silently thought with conviction.


    In the past, when he was being humiliated, called names, and bullied by his ssmates, he did not fight back. That was because it was pointless to do so, as it would only make the situation worse than it already is.


    Another reason why he did not fight back was that nobody thought to take his side when he reported that he was being bullied at the time.


    And with the academy''s policy that allowed students of the academy topete with each other, the other students always used that as an excuse to bully him just because he had slightly higher basic statistics than them or other petty reasons.


    Because of this reason, he had no choice but to bear with their unreasonable actions for a long while, but there was a limit to what someone could take on before they start to break or harbor hatred towards the ones that hurt them.


    In his case, it was the same.


    Thus, after enduring this for so long, he could not take it anymore and wanted to retaliate. But without the ability or energypatibility, he could do anything to them.


    The only thing he could do was train his body physically, hoping for some miracle to happen, and he awakens somehow through that. But even that did not do much and only served to increase his basic statistics.


    But now things were different from the past, he had awakened to his innate ability, and he found out that his energy ipatibility might have something to do with his physique thanks to his system.


    Right now, he could get stronger just like everyone else, he could practice techniques just like everyone else, and he could fully use his own unique ability on par with everyone else who had awakened their abilities slightly ahead of him.


    Randy, the loser was no more!


    Randy, the coward was no more!


    Randy, the weakling was no more!


    In the first ce, he has only posed as a weakling with a cowardly attitude in the past. But that did not change anything in his daily life. He was still continuously mocked, ridiculed, and looked down on for all those years, but that pretense was too exhausting for him.


    Because deep down, that was not him at all, he always wished to tear those people that looked down on him apart if he ever awakened his ability, and so he endured.


    And that was why when he first awakened his innate ability along with his assimted abilities, he was dying to test it out on someone or anything for that matter to see how effective his awakened ability was.


    And also to witness with his own eyes how much he had grown after awakening.


    With such a mindset, the sudden appearance of that burr was a perfect situation, or rather a perfect excuse for him to test out his newfound ability.


    As for the things that he tried to steal from him, those were only bonus rewards or trophy so to speak after he had subdued the other party.


    Furthermore, the things that the other party had stolen from the government''s vault were truly valuable items, and he could not afford to miss a chance to get himself a technique or weapon without depending on his parents for once.


    He had already depended on them for too long.


    As he thought of this as he walked, Randy suddenly found himself at the vicinity of that abandoned building, where it all began; he had returned to the beginning, the ce that changed his life.

 Chapter 151 - Momentary Farewell

    After reaching the location of the abandoned building that used to be a factory, Randy pondered whether he should head inside right away as he walked toward the abandoned building. However, after he thought of something, he changed his mind afterward.


    At this point, Randy suddenly came to a halt, standing a few meters away, and then nced at the abandoned building in the distance for a brief moment before deciding to walk away, seemingly heading back home.


    As he walked away from the abandoned building that used to be a factory, he gradually recalled his conversation with his friend just a while ago before he reached the city.


    ¡­


    [Hello? Is that you, bro?]


    "Ah, yeah. It''s me. Why do you sound uncertain? Do you not have my number stored or something?"


    [No, that''s not it. Why aren''t you here when we were attacked by that monster a while ago? I thought you said you would be partaking in this special training session. But you aren''t even here? Even after I waited for you toe out from your ss''s bus, I did not see you until the end.] Jiang Chen spoke in a confused tone.


    "Well, I am currently not on the school bus; Actually, I am heading home right now." Randy replied.


    [What?! What do you mean?] Jiang Chen doubtfully asked in confusion.


    "More importantly, why were you there? I thought for sure that you''ll not be participating in the special training session, considering that your ability is not that useful in closebat and at most a useful support-type ability." Randy asked in return.


    [Ah, about that, I was informed toe along and provide support to my ssmates with my ability. After all, my awakened innate ability is very useful in detecting the weaknesses of monsters and beasts. In any case, I was a special case, and that''s why I was selected to be a part of this special training session in the first ce.]


    [As you know, people like us with support-type abilities don''t usually go to universities that heavily focus onbat training, but instead technological and science-type universities. And therefore, this opportunity was one that I could not simply ignore if I am to fulfill my dream of participating in dungeon raids someday. At least, this way, I will be able to showcase my ability and hopefully get to apply for abat training university]


    Jiang Chen enthusiastically exined to him.


    "¡­I see. That''s great then. But anyway, I need your help with something." Randy spoke after a moment of brief silence.


    [What is it? Right, why aren''t you here again? Did something happen to you during that terrifying monster''s attack? Oh, right, did you see that guy that defeated that monster? He had such a cool appearance, just like when I saw him in that virtual video the other day.] Jiang Chen said in an awestruck tone.


    Hearing this from his friend, Randy shook his head with a smile on his face, and then he said a momentter: "Well, I did see him. But that''s not what''s important right now. I need your help to get out of the special training session. All you have to say is that I was among the injured students sent back to the city when asked by my instructor."


    [¡­]


    Jiang Chen was bewildered by his words for a long while before he doubtfully asked him: [Why did you decide to opt-out of the special training session? Isn''t this something that you heavily emphasized the other day that it''ll be a very crucial step in increasing your experience inbat or something, so why did you decide to ditch it? Do you have something else in mind? To be honest, I am still confused by what you just said, so¡­ Care to exin a little?]


    "¡­Well, it''s nothing too special; I just thought that there was something more useful in increasing my experience, strength, andbat power than using the academy''s method. Although this method might be dangerous, it is still better than the academy''s training method." Randy exined.


    "You know, after seeing that monster attack us out of nowhere, I realized just how weak I was because I couldn''t bring myself to fight it after seeing its terrifying appearance. And so I made this decision which would make me get stronger quickly. Otherwise, I won''t be able to protect anyone or anything even if I wanted to in the future." Randy continued in a serious tone.


    [¡­So that''s your reason, but where are you going exactly? Are you nning on bing a hunter or something? I mean, don''t get me wrong, I also wish to enter a gate one day but isn''t that too dangerous if that''s what you decided on doing?] Jiang Chen asked in a worried tone.


    "No, I am not nning on bing a hunter¡­ At least, not yet."


    [Then¡­?]


    "...I will tell youter when youe back from the trip in two weeks, and after we meet again. But for now, can you do me this favor? I don''t want my parents to worry about my whereabouts in the likelihood that they decide to inquire about my well-being after the attack. Which I am very sure that they most likely heard about it already." Randy pondered and then said to him.


    Jiang turned silent for a brief moment without saying anything, seemingly pondering over his words before ultimately sighing and saying: [You know, you always like to do things by yourself. This is just like in the past, bro. In the past, you were bullied by your ssmates all the time. But you did not want me to tell your parents about it, saying something like it doesn''t matter. I regret listening to you at that time. And now, what? You''re trying to go on some adventure somewhere that I don''t even know? And you want me to cover for you?]


    Jiang Chen sighed once again after saying this, and then he continued: [But as your friend, I can''t just ignore your request simply because I am worried. Just know that if you do not return in two weeks, right after the special training session, I will be reporting this to your parents so that they can look for you themselves before it''s toote.]


    [However, this time around, I will not simply stand by and watch on as my friend goes through so much trouble. Of course, that means that I will also search for you since I will be partly at fault for keeping this secret that I don''t even know the full details of.]


    "¡­" Randy was genuinely touched emotionally when he heard these words from his friend and did not say anything for a while before speaking in a low voice: "Thank you¡­"


    Jiang Chen, on the other hand, pretended that he did not hear him just now and then asked: [Huh? Bro, what did you just say? I didn''t hear you just now. Can you repeat what you said just now?]


    "You¡ª "


    Randy sighed a momentter while ignoring his friend''s teasing remark just now and then said: "Whatever! But I truly appreciate your help this time, bro. Don''t worry, when I find some transformation techniques during my journey, you will be the first one I give them to."


    [Ooh! Really?! I can''t wait! In any case, although I don''t know where you''re going, you had better make sure to take care of yourself. After all, this is a tumultuous world, and anything could happen at any given time, so if you''re nning on going to another city, then you better watch out for yourself because not every city out there is as friendly toward outsiders] Jiang Chen seriously said to him.


    ''Another city, huh? I guess that could be another choice since there are some cities with more danger in terms of wild creatures that roamed aroundpared to our Sky Rise City, so going there might indeed increase mybat experience. However¡­'' Randy silently thought to himself.


    And then he replied in assurance: "Don''t worry, I will make sure to watch out for any trouble!"


    [Alright then. Bro, I will go and inform your teacher about this matter since we just arrived at the base. So take care of yourself out there.]


    "Okay, thanks once again, bro."


    ¡­


    As Randy recalled this, he had a smile on his face as he walked towards his family house that was not too far away at this time.


    He decided toe back home one more time to see if his mother and little sister were still home before departing on his journey.. He wanted to say his farewell to them in the distance, even if this separation was only going to be momentary.

 Chapter 152 - Vow To Return Alive

    At this point, Randy had already stopped moving. He was now standing not far away from their family house. As he stood there, he stared at the mansion in the distance with a deep gaze for a while.


    However, at this moment, he suddenly felt his smart bracelet vibration on his wrist, Randy checked it, and to his surprise, it was a video call from his mother. But he decided to receive it in audio instead as he did not want to give out his location.


    The call connected.


    [Randy, are you okay? I heard about what happened. Your dad and I were worried that something had happened to you. I knew something was wrong this morning, but I just thought I was worrying too much. Maybe you shouldn''t have gone on this trip!] Riley worriedly said to him without waiting for him to reply.


    "¡­It''s okay, mom. I''m alright." Randy calmly replied to her with a smile.


    [Really? Are you sure?] Riley asked in an unconvinced voice.


    "Really, mom. I am okay. Nothing happened to me. Luckily, I was able to avoid the onught of the monster, and we''re now making our way to the military base under the protection of the soldiers sent from the military base. Ah, we''ve reached the military ground just now." Randy exined while assuring her.


    [Is that so? Thank goodness. Do you want me toe and get you, or do you still want to stay?] Riley sighed in relief before asking him, her voice still full of concern.


    "No, mom. I truly am okay, so there''s no need for that. I want to stay and partake in the special training." Randy hurriedly replied to her.


    ''If youe over right now, then how am I going to exin my absence in the military base?'' He silently thought to himself.


    "I see, I understand. Then I will inform your dad that you''re okay. And also, take care of yourself out there, and as I said to you before you left, do not engage in unnecessarybat for mere military points. If you truly need anything, your dad and I can provide it for you, okay?" Riley said to him afterward.


    "I understand, mom. Take care of yourselves too. Hopefully, I will see you guys in two weeks, right after the special training session. As you know,munication with the outside world is prohibited, so I won''t be able to contact you guys until then. But I will make sure to return alive, no matter what." Randy said in assurance.


    Riley was taken aback by his seemingly calm words and then replied in a somewhat confused and strange tone shortly after: [Oh, okay. Alright then, bye!]


    "Bye, mom. Tell Lydia that I''ll miss her." Randy said to her before cutting the line.


    After that, Randy proceeded to look at the mansion in the distance for a while longer.


    A few momentster, he turned around and left. He calmly walked towards the direction of the abandoned building once again in long strides.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile.


    Inside the Smith Family Mansion.


    Riley sat on the couch by herself with an image of her husband projected on hermunication device that she ced on the table.


    After her conversation with Randy just now, she decided to call her husband to inform him about it.


    [So Randy was not among the injured students?] Nathan''s voice resounded from the other end.


    "Yes, that''s what he said to me directly when I asked him. But if you''re that worried about him, why didn''t you call him in person? Why call me instead with an excuse that you couldn''t connect to him? Don''t tell me that you''re still¡­" Riley responded and then doubtfully asked.


    [Riley, please don''t say it. I already know. I know I might not be a good father since I don''t stay at home to watch over my kids and only stay at work all the time. But don''t worry, I will find a time to increase our bond once again when I take my vacationter on. I will use that time to get to know more about the person our son has be.] Nathan said in a slightly apologetic tone.


    Riley: "¡­"


    [What? Did I say something wrong?]


    "¡­Nothing, please do. I just didn''t expect to hear that from you all of sudden. Alright, be careful at work, and I will see youter. Ah, don''t forget toe and congratte your daughter for her awakening during the weekend, okay?" Riley said to him after a while.


    [Ahahaha, I won''t. Don''t worry. Alright, youdies should also take care. I am always concerned about you guys when I am at work] Nathan said in a worried tone.


    "Hmph! Who do you think you''re talking to right now? Are you looking down on me now? Just because I am now a housewife doesn''t mean that I have lost my touch!" Riley said in a somewhat irritated tone, clearly did not like the way her husband''s tone of voice as he spoke just now.


    [Of course, I am not looking down on you or anything. I am just worried that''s all. Should a father not worry about his family? Especially my peerless and beautiful wife and my cute and adorable daughter, who would now be all alone by themselves without our son.] Nathan hurriedly said as he praised his wife, trying to appease her with his words.


    "¡­"


    Sure enough, it seems to have worked, seeing as how Riley was not responding after a short while.


    A momentter, she suddenly spoke: "¡­Anyway, see youter."


    After saying this, she directly cut the line to her husband without waiting for him to respond, and the projected screen also disappeared afterward.


    Everything became silent within the living room.


    A few momentster, Riley suddenly muttered with her face flushed in slight red: "That bastard still knows how to sweet talk people."


    Her voice may sound like she was still annoyed, but she was actually happy to hear those seemingly ordinaryplimentary words from her husband, who was not around all the time.


    Unexpectedly, she seemed quite gullible when it came to her husband. This behavior was not something one would expect from someone like her, who was always fierce wherever she went.


    ¡­


    On the other side.


    Inside The Abandoned Factory.


    Government officials had set up devices and equipment to monitor the rift that suddenly appeared in this ce.


    The purpose was to maintain the rift and prevent it from closing. And also, close it in case something dangerous tries to get through the rift.


    However, the main reason why they even bothered to maintain the rift and prevent it from closing was to allow people to use it.


    In other words, people who will be willing to enter and explore the world beyond the portal resulted from the rift.


    At this time, a middle-aged man sat by himself. He seemed bored out of his wits as he only stared outward in a daze.


    Right now, he was sitting in front of a table inside the constructed station inside the abandoned building.


    He seemed to be the only one assigned to this rift, and thus, he did not have anything to do most of the time.


    At this moment, a young man suddenly entered the building and gradually approached the station he was in calmly without showing any sense of fear despite seeing the rift inside the building.


    ''Hm? Who is this one? He seemed even younger than the ones from before. Is he here to court death or something?'' The middle-aged man inwardly said as he observed the young man that entered the building.


    "Haa¡­ Young people these days¡­ tsk, tsk. They simply can''t give up on attaining fame bying here to try to be a seeker" The middle-aged man sighed and then muttered in a somewhat disdainful tone as he watched the approaching young man.


    He had seen many peoplee here to try to be seekers over the past few weeks when the rift appeared in this abandoned factory. But most of them did note back after venturing into the unknown world.


    Though some of them dide back alive, they were so terrified and could not even speak properly when questioned about what they saw beyond the rift and only muttering some incoherent words that did not make any sense.

 Chapter 153 - Recalling History(1)

    At this point, the middle-aged man carefully observed this young man with scrutinizing gaze for a brief moment. And based on his figure and facial appearance, he could guess that he was about 18 to 19 years old.


    However, as the young man approached his station, his attention was elsewhere. He was staring intently at the dimensional rift that remained open as he walked, and then all of a sudden, as if recalling something, the young man turned around and then left the ce.


    "¡­"


    This situation left the middle-aged man baffled, and he then wondered: "Wasn''t he here to sign up to be a seeker? Why did he suddenly turn around and leave? Ah, whatever, it is also a good thing that he left. Maybe he changed his mind at thest minute? At any rate, a young man like him shouldn''t be risking his life bying here in the first ce."


    ¡­


    The person who came to the abandoned building just now was Randy. He indeed came to register to be a seeker¡ª one that explores other worlds that exist beyond the dimensional rifts.


    One might think, why would he do such a thing? And what would he gain by bing a seeker?


    In any case, there are many benefits to bing a seeker. Some people be a seeker mainly to be famous for surviving the other world and be instantly rich overnight.


    That was simply because most seekers usually be strongering back from the other world. And they could earn money by selling the valuable items or resources that they do not need for money and or simply because they had important information from the other side.


    That was because the government would always require their aid topile the necessary pieces of information for future exploration.


    Naturally, they get paid handsomely for selling the information about the other world and so one could only imagine how rich they would be.


    But all this was only possible if one survived the other world.


    As for others, the reason why they chose to be seekers was that they were poor.


    But after they awakened to their abilities, they decided to bet with their lives by venturing into the strange worlds beyond the dimensional rifts.


    Their only purpose was to gain enough resources to train their abilities or profession. After all, strength was the most significant thing in this world, whether for protecting yourself from the invasion of otherworldly creatures or earning money.


    However, Randy was not trying to be a seeker simply because he wanted to be famous or escape poverty. He just wanted to gain experience and get stronger hopefully through this adventure.


    He had always had a weird fascination with the worlds behind the rifts ever since he was young but never would have thought that he would one day decide to travel to one of them.


    After all, he had heard that the death rates were high but so were the benefits if one seeded.


    As he thought of this, he continued to walk away, but not back home this time. He was now going to purchase some potions and maybe some weapons if he had enough money in themercial section of the city.


    As he walked down the street, he saw various people doing their own thing. Some kids who looked like high school students were busy going about their ways, and other young kids were scolded anxiously by their parents for leaving their side.


    As he reached themercial section, some people had just arrived at a shop, seemingly about to work part-time, and others were departing the shops with items that they purchased from the shops.


    All in all, this was a very peaceful city, and there were not that many crimes going on in this city, so it was rtively safe.


    But then again, this peaceful atmosphere in this city could turn chaotic very quickly. That was if a sudden and dangerous dimensional rift or a moderately safe dimensional gate were to appear right now.


    If one wanted to understand the reason for the appearance of dimensional rifts or dimensional gates, then one would have to visit the history books in the public libraries or attend any institution in this world.


    As for Randy and the others who were fortunate enough to attend school, their teachers made them memorize the contents in the history books from a very young age.


    Randy had learned about the dimensional rifts and gates early on because of this. He was even aware of the various theories devised over the years after the appearance of dimensional rifts and dimensional gates.


    But before that, one would have to know about the dimensional gates and dimensional rifts and when they started appearing¡ª which was around a few decades ago.


    One day, on a quiet day like any other, all over the world, mysterious objects suddenly appeared, arousing the attention of everyone that saw them.


    And the strange part was that these objects all appeared in cubic shapes with varying sizes and colors, and many people who saw them were wondering what the origin behind could be these strange objects that hovered close to the ground.


    Soon enough, the governments from different countries blocked and restricted people from getting close to the strange objects.


    But shortly after, they could not control the situation anymore as more of these strange objects kept appearing all over, seeming endless.


    Eventually, an otherworldly and mysterious voice echoed in everyone''s ears. Everyone all across the world could hear the same mysterious voice.


    ?All living being across this low dimensional world at the periphery of all dimensions. Heed my warning, for your dimension, is now about to face an apocalyptic event. An event that could bring about the end to all living beings within this dimension. A destructive chaotic fluctuationsing from an unknown source has caused all dimensional barriers to be unstable, allowing strong and powerful entities to traverse the dimensional barriers without much effort?


    ?In ording to the protocol established since time immemorial, I shall aid in the awakening of all living beings in this dimension. And to ensure your survival, I shall implement the statistic mechanism in all of you as a means to guide you in using your newly acquired abilities. Some would obtain unimaginable powers right away, and those beings with strong powers would aid in defeating the aggressive creatures that are trying to escape their destroyed worlds into this seemingly peaceful null world with no supernatural powers and many other worlds that have yet to sumb to destruction?


    ?These dimensional prisons were created to keep the most aggressive creatures from the other worlds froming over to this powerless dimension. In the meantime, everyone would have to awaken to their abilities and challenge or negotiate with the creatures in these dimensional prisons?


    ?Seeding in defeating the living beings in the dimensional prisons would grant you resources and a means to get stronger, and if you seed in negotiation, you might get new means and methods to improve your low-level civilization?


    ?During the next cycle, in other words, the next 24 hours, all the living beings within this dimension would have to be exposed to the many extradimensional energies that originated from the many destroyed worlds. Some of the other worlds might still be intact. You can only ess these worlds through the dimensional rifts that would soon appear in this dimension in a while due to the dimensional distortion?


    ?The dimensional rifts are, in a sense, portals that lead to other dimensions besides your own. Only after the exposure to the energies from those dimensions would the requirements be met and for the induction of awakening to truly begin. Best of luck to all the living beings in this dimension?


    When everyone heard this seemingly mysterious voice that said so many unbelievable words, they thought that perhaps they might have been hearing things¡ª in other words, maybe they had just experienced an auditory hallucination.


    But how could so many people have the same auditory hallucination or even hear the same voice in their minds?

 Chapter 154 - Recalling History(2)

    However, not many people thought this way, like the others who thought they had an auditory hallucination.


    That was because some people reacted very quickly to the sudden warning from the mysterious voice and instantly grasped the situation at hand.


    After all, even if that mysterious voice just now was lying to them or messing with them, they cannot lie about the many cubic shapes things that were hovering everywhere.


    Judging from what they heard from the voice, those cubic shapes things were most likely the dimensional prisons that it mentioned just now.


    And if what they said was true, then within those cubes lies many terrifying beasts of some kind that would, at an unknown time, pounce out of the cubes to attack them.


    Even if there were no beasts inside, there was still a chance that those things could be explosives set up by the owner of that mysterious voice.


    Therefore, with different thoughts from different people, some people were running as far as they could from the mysterious cubic-shaped things, and others proceeded to stand there, not willing to be convinced that something like those small cube-looking things could house terrifying beasts inside.


    After all, there was nomon sense that could describe or exin something like this.


    Not long after that, all over the world, various dimensional rifts suddenly appeared almost at the same time.


    Some dimensional rifts were spewing out intelligent lifeforms that seemed to be observing their new environments closely without any actions, and other dimensional rifts were spewing out salvage monsters that caused havoc the moment they appeared in their world.


    Many people were still unconvinced and stood in front of the suddenly appeared dimensional rifts and looked on in curiosity.


    Not long after that, they quickly lost their lives to both the intelligent lifeforms and the wild and savage creatures that poured out of the rifts shortly after.


    It was then that the humans understood the gravity of the situation, but even though they understood it, it did not mean that mean that they had a solution to the problem at hand.


    But then, all of a sudden, they recalled the mysterious and otherworldly voice just a few hours ago and about what it said that they could get powers to fight against the monsters, but they had no idea how they would get their hands on such powers at the moment and thus was helpless.


    At that point, some brave men, who perhaps were military-trained soldiers, took out their guns and started fighting against the monsters, but the bullets only bounced off the creature''s body.


    And just as one of the soldiers was about to be bitten by a fierce wolf that suddenly pounced on him, his entire body suddenly exuded a silver light that blinded everyone within the proximity close to him.


    The next moment, the soldier''s arms turned into silver, or more precisely, they transmuted into a metallic silver color that was so hard that the wolf that bared its fangs at his arm lost its teeth afterward.


    Shortly after, a voice suddenly echoed in the mind of the perplexed soldier.


    ?[Ability Formed Sessfully]?


    ?[Congrattions! You have awakened as a Metallic Warrior, granting you the ability to transmute parts of your body fully or partially into metals by using the metals you have absorbed into your body beforehand. By doing this, you can strengthen your defense and attack power tremendously depending on the type of metal absorbed]?


    ?[Currently Applying the Statistics Mechanism in the Life Form. Please Wait¡­]?


    "What the hell? The des of my knives are gone?! Don''t tell me this is rted to what the voice said just now?" The soldier muttered in disbelief.


    At this time, he realized that the two knives that he was holding lost their des, and only the handle remained.


    Seemingly, those des were absorbed into his body, seeing as how his arm is shining in a silver metallic luster.


    He proceeded to wonder what had happened to him.


    However, the voice from before echoed once again in his mind. Followed by a projected screen in front of his vision.


    ?[Statistical Mechanism Application Complete!]?


    ?[Disying Status Screen]?


    ---


    ?[Name: Zhang Mingwang]?


    ?[Race: Human(Evolved)]?


    ?[ss: Metallic Warrior?


    ?[Title(s): Brave Soldier(+1)]?


    ?[Bloodline: None]?


    ?[Physique: Harmonic Metal Physique]?


    ----


    ?[Physical Strength: 250]?


    ?[Physical Resistance: 200]?


    ?[Physical Agility: 100]?


    ?[Physical Stamina: 90]?


    ?[Soul Strength: 100]?


    ?[Mental Strength: 25]?


    ?[Mental Resistance: 20]?


    "What the hell is this? Is that a game window?" The soldier eximed in shock and bewilderment when he saw the projected screen in front of his eyes.


    Meanwhile, the others who watched the soldier were speechless, not knowing how to react. Because what they were witnessing right now was simply unimaginable and shocking.


    That soldier just now was about to die to that fierce wolf, and then, suddenly, his body glowed in a blinding silver light.


    Shortly after the light settled down, the soldier''s arms changed color and now shined with a silver metallic luster, almost as if his arms had turned into steel.


    Not only that, the fierce wolf from before also lost its teeth when it suddenly bit into the soldier''s arm that has turned into metal.


    ording tomon sense, this feat should not be possible, and thus, the bystanders watched the confused soldier with their mouths slightly agape.


    A short whileter, the soldier quickly calmed himself down and proceeded to ignore the status screen in front of him.


    And then, he utilized this unknown power that he acquired to chase and fight against the retreating wolf.


    ¡­


    In other parts of the battlefield, many other people were also awakening to their powers at this time.


    "Hahaha! This power is truly amazing! It''s like a game! It says that I am me Warrior!" An energetic young man said in excitement and immediatelyunched a fist covered in me toward an approaching humanoid creature with red skin.


    "Hah!"


    Boom!


    The red-skinned creature instantly incinerated without leaving behind anything a momentter when it came into contact with his scorching me fist.


    "You think that is amazing? Watch this!" Another young man with sses mocked this person after he saw the other party''s attack just now.


    "Oh me, the bearer of destruction, Imand thee to burn all my enemies into cinders!"


    A huge fireball manifested in front of bespectacled young man , and then he shouted afterward as he shot the huge fireball outward.


    "Great Fireball!"


    Swoosh!


    BOOM!!


    A momentter, a loud resounding explosion urred in the distance. Countless humanoid monsters were killed by the me attack just now.


    "What the fuck! How can you dish out more attack damage than my me fist! What is your ss?!"


    "Hmph! me Warrior? More like me Fist. It''s not like your entire body can turn into mes or anything. As you can see, I am a Fire Mage. Do you think I am someone like you?" The fire mage mocked again before speaking in a boastful and gloating tone.


    "Fuck! That''s cheating!" The me fist guyined in discontentment.


    "me it on your simple-mindedness for getting such a simple ability!" The fire mage retorted.


    ¡­


    Simr events were happening all around the country, the city, and essentially, all over the world. Many people had suddenly awakened to their various powers just as the mysterious and otherworldly voice said to them.


    However, after many victories, they failed to realize that the monsters that came out of the dimensional rifts at this time were weak and that the subsequent monsters and beasts that woulde out afterward would be more horrible.


    "Argh!! Someone, please save me!"


    "What the hell are these things? Why isn''t my ability working on them?!"


    "Don''t tell me that the monstersing out are getting stronger?!"


    "Shit! We''re done for! Ahhhhh!"


    Various voices echoed across the battlefield, some were the screaming in painful voices of humans and the others were the howling voices of the monsters and beasts.


    Essentially, various voices resounded everywhere, and many people lost their lives despite awakening their powers.. That was simply because they were no match for the monsters that came out of the dimensional rifts afterward.

 Chapter 155 - Recalling History(3)

    At this point, most people lost all hope when they saw how humanity was killed ruthlessly by the monsters and beasts that they had never seen before in their lives.


    However, there were still others who were able to contend against the otherworldly creatures, and they became known as heroes.


    These heroes awakened to powers that were beyond human understanding ormon sense. Even whenpared to the other powers awakened by others, their awakened powers were simply too powerful.


    Some had impregnable defenses, others wield elements as if they were part of their limps, one controlled gravity itself, and there was even a man who had the power to wield any weapon that he told hold of¡ª he became known as the weapon master.


    With these powerful heroes, humanity was able to fight against the creatures that poured out of the dimensional rifts.


    They fought back up until many people had awakened their powers, thereby increasing the number of people that could fight against the otherworldly creature, and eventually, the forces behind humanity were enough to usher in the next step.


    Humanity''s forces eventually numbered in the thousands after days of fighting. And with that many people, they decided to split their forces, one protecting the citizens from the monsters and beasts, and other forces went on an expedition into the mysterious cubic-shaped objects that the mysterious and otherworldly voice told them to challenge.


    At this point, they had no choice but to heed the voices as they could not bear to see more corpses of humans pile up.


    With that decided, the selected people touched the floating cubes, and afterward, those people were instantly teleported inside the cube.


    They were instantly surprised that the interior of this cube was like a different world, seeing the giant trees that were everywhere.


    Throughout their expedition, they met aggressive monsters and beasts by which they had no choice but to engage in a bloody battle where many lives were lost.


    However, the survivors came back stronger than before, and they even brought back some crystals and minerals that seemed valuable.


    Sure enough, one of the awakened, an alchemist with crafting ability, quickly recognized the materials the people brought back from within the cube.


    And using the ability that he awakened, that person was able to craft high-ranking weapons using the carcasses of the defeated monsters and beasts along with the minerals that they brought back.


    Using the crafted weapons, which were highly advanced, the warriors were able to defeat the monsters and beasts with less effortpared to before when they only relied on their previous weapons that did notst long against the otherworldly creatures'' tough skin.


    With this change in pace, humanity eventually realized the significance of the cube-shaped thing that hovered above the ground.


    And just like that, years went by with many victories and many losses on both sides.


    At some point, the they had lived on for so long even started showing some unusual changes. The visible changes caused some tectonic tes below sea level to rise to the surface above ground.


    And not only that, but it seemed like the itself was getting bigger.


    This shocked many people who saw this change with their own eyes. However, they woulde to knowter that their''s core¡ª the origin core of the itself had undergone mutation from all the different energies that permeated into it''s core.


    With the gradual mutation of the''s origin core, the size of the itself had expanded.


    And eventually, newnds were now avable for humanity to explore.


    However, the newnds are now mostly upied by some of the most terrifying monsters and beasts that humanity could not defeat at the time.


    Even the normal preexisting wild animals before the era of the apocalypse that had been exposed to the energies from both the dimensional rifts and the''s origin core''s energy had mutated.


    And those mutated wild animals had also gained their very own special abilities depending on their bloodline or other factors.


    With the changes that came about because of their''s origin core, humanity also grew stronger in response and thus, was able to establish themselves once again by relocating and rebuilding their utopia¡ª a safe ce where they would not have to worry about the invasion of otherworldly creatures.


    Eventually, new organizations were also born after the rebuilding. However, there are two groups of people after the rebuilding.


    The first group of people wanted nothing to do with the monsters or beasts, in other words, the normal citizens, and the second group of people wanted to venture out of the districts to seek money or fame by hunting beasts and monsters.


    The normal citizens stayed within the districts and lived normal lives, and those that wished for more in terms of power created things like ns, guilds, and sects that solely focus on hunting the otherworldly creature and selling their parts and cores for money.


    And thus, the hunter association also came to be established within all four districts.


    It was an organization created by the governments to look after the people who had awakened with abilities.


    Their main goal is to purchase the goods from the hunters who venture out to dimensional prisons to hunt otherworldly creatures or negotiate with the intelligent lifeforms found in them.


    The hunters also venture outside the district and hunt the monsters and beasts that still lurked outside or threatened their protected districts.


    Though this matter is unrted, the dimensional prisons which were those cubes that appeared along with that mysterious voiceter became known as dimensional dungeons or simply dungeons after many debates.


    Just like that, 99 years have passed with a new civilization born from the previously destroyed civilization.


    Over the years, a group of people came to be, they were people who were daredevils dared to venture into the dimensional rifts for personal reasons, and some of them came back with good news, and others came back with bad news or did note at all.


    This particr group of people became known as seekers, simply because they are a group of people who seek to find something that could change their lives in this cruel world. The main reason why they made such risky decisions was due to many ns, sects, guilds, and other prominent families discriminating against a group of people like them who did not have a background.


    Most seekers were usually poor or unfortunate people who decided to throw their lives away by jumping into dimensional rifts but ultimately came back strong with resources or artifacts.


    Either that or they end up dying in the other world. There was also another possibility that some might still be alive but chose to stay over there regardless. In any case, nobody can confirm that without going to the specific world themselves.


    Even though the chances were very slim, there existed a group of people who could not awaken their ability, no matter how much time had passed after their birth.


    These people, just like Randy, get looked down on for their whole lives. However, to change their fates, these people would be forced to take risky chances like rushing standing in front of newly appeared dimensional rifts.


    That was because the dimensional rifts usually carry over various energies from the other world. Therefore, there was a slight chance for someone to awaken if they were suddenly exposed to the surge of energy that would hit their body at that moment.


    At that time, either those people awaken right away or lose their life to the monsters or beasts that mighte out of the dimensional rift shortly after.


    If one gets exposed to more than enough dimensional energy, there is a slight chance that person would die from the exposure to the type of dimensional energy.


    After all, the dimensional energy might not bepatible with the person who dared to stand in front of it, and intaking too much would cause damage to their body.


    Due to this, the government had prohibited people from taking those risks.


    And eventually, the awakening center with a method to awaken was established, meaning everyone could awaken as long they had money.


    Despite experiencing the awakening process from the awakening center, Randy could not awaken his ability, and eventually, his parents started showing different attitudes towards him.


    These subsequent events broke something inside of him, but he still believed that if he somehow awakened his innate ability someday, everything would go back to normal, just the way it was before.


    But after awakening his innate ability, honestly, he was not sure what to expect from his parents, whether they would be happy and change their attitudes towards him or whether he would even like something like that in the first ce.


    With his thoughts clouded at the time, he could only use the excuse of surprising his parents to prolong telling them about it.


    On the other hand, he did not have any qualms about telling his best friend, who stuck by him throughout his ups and downs¡ª that was how much he trusted him over his estranged parents.

 Chapter 156 - Recollection(1)

    After thinking about all these, Randy suddenly recalled the events that transpired after he awakened that day, starting from the day that he came home after awakening to innate ability.


    ¡­


    Returning home after awakening.


    "Mom, I ran into a rift along the way home, and I was not able toe home in time because I was caught up in a fight between two terrifying monsters. I was knocked unconscious at the time and when I came to, the two monsters were nowhere to be found." Randy briefly said to his mother with a slight frown on his face as if recalling his horrifying encounter, shocking his mother greatly.


    "What?!"


    His mother was shocked for a moment and then she quickly inquired after her son a momentter, "Are you okay?! Did you get hurt anywhere?!"


    "¡­"


    ''Now what is this? Are you that surprised that I survived, or are you seriously acting worried about me right now?''


    ''Hold on a minute, why is she touching my body? What''s wrong with this woman? She never acted this way towards me ever since I was twelve or thirteen, and now, she suddenly reverted back to her usual warm and kind mother that I used to know? What is this? Just what are you doing right now? If you don''t like me then act like it already? Just act like you used to! Stop confusing me with these things! I don''t like this ufortable feeling!'' He inwardly screamed silently with emotional pain in his chest.


    Randy recalled how his mother used to treat him and was instantly appalled by this sudden treatment that came out of nowhere.


    Despite thinking all these things as he gritted his teeth inwardly with inexplicable emotions welling up within, he still calmed himself a momentter and then spoke to his mother without showing his true feelings.


    "Mom, I am fine. Luckily, those creatures did not pay any attention to me as they were engrossed in their own fight otherwise¡­" Randy said with a grim look on his face. Right now, he was trying to act as pitiful as possible so that his mother would believe his white lies more, however, this act of his had the opposite response.


    "Hmph! How pathetic! You were so weak that even the monsters decided not to spare you a single nce. How disgraceful! I have no idea why I even have a son like you. Howe you cannot awaken your ability when your little brother, Rex, had already awakened his ability, and now, he even showed a promising future and was already recruited by an organization that wishes to sponsor him. Your little sister had also awakened hers at an early age, but we still don''t know what ability she has but she is still better off than you!" Randy''s mother looked at him with a disdainful expression on her face as she spoke to him and then she turned around, walking towards the living room''s couch, and then she sat down and proceeded to watch the news on the television.


    "¡­"


    Randy was stunned by this sudden turn of events. Where did her worried expression from earlier go? What was he thinking when he thought that his mother had changed her expression towards him?


    ''Ah, that''s her usual reactions to anything that was rted to me. I was the fool to believe that anything would change if I acted pitiful enough¡­ I was just stupid to have a slight hope for a better family. If this is how I will always be treated then¡­'' Randy inwardly gritted his teeth with hatred boiling inside of him, this was hatred towards everything but he still manage to suppress this urge.


    "Mom, I am going up to my room. I lost my bracelet so can you call the Rift and Gate Management to report the location where I found the rift. It is in that abandoned factory." Randy said to his mother in a calm voice.


    "The abandoned building? What were you doing in that ce?" She said with a frown on her face.


    ''Why do you care? Do you truly want to know why I was there? I was tortured by my ssmate and his friends in that building. But you don''t actually care, do you? You and dad never cared about me so stop asking me these questions!'' Randy inwardly responded in annoyance, but he did not really express or say this out loud.


    ''I will just make up something since that''s better than saying something that would get her act to like a kind mother that she has seized to be as far I am concerned.'' He indifferently thought and then opened his mouth to speak.


    "Mom, I was just walking with my friend whose house was towards that direction. I just met him on my way home and decided to talk with him as we walked, but who would have thought that after I separated from him, I would actually run into those monsters." Randy exined to his mother.


    "Don''t bother reporting that you saw two monsters escaping the rift. You don''t have any proof and I am assuming that you have no idea where they went either, right? Just go to your room and leave this to the government. They are already searching the perimeters anyway, and if there are monsters or beasts out there, they would find them sooner orter. There is nothing you can do to help with that." The indifferent voice of his mother resounded from his mother.


    ''I wasn''t going to tell them even if you didn''t tell me. But that doesn''t mean that I won''t tell others about it. Jiang Chen would definitely want to hear about such intriguing matter.'' Randy silently thought himself dismissively.


    "Okay, I will head to my room now." Randy agreed with his mother, and he then walked up the stairs leading to the second floor. However, on his way, he heard a voice behind him.


    "There is food in the refrigerator if you are hungry."


    ''Tsk, how annoying. Whatever!''


    "Okay, mom. I wille downter when I finish showering." Randy said in response without stopping in his tracks as he made his way towards his room.


    ¡­


    University Registration.


    "I have registered for the university entrance exams!" Randy revealed to them.


    ""Impossible!""


    Two simultaneous voices that harmonized unusually well with each other resounded in the living room of the mansion.


    ''What the hell is with their reactions? Are they not even going to act like they''re happy that their son had managed to register for the university entrance examination?'' Randy displeasedly thought but acted otherwise.


    "Whoa! What''s with those reactions?" Randy almost jumped from fright when he heard this response from both of his parents.


    "Randy, I know that you wanted to attend university, but it is impossible to do so without awakening your ability or having energypatibility. That was why we¡­" Nathan said, clearly hinting at something.


    ''That''s why you what? Not like I care what you all think anyway but¡­''


    "But I have already awakened my innate ability though, so that should not¡­"


    "What?!"


    ''...matter anymore? What is it this time? These reactions, so unsightly.'' Randy did not like these reactions from his parents, not one single bit.


    Nathan then doubtfully asked: "Randy¡­ Don''t you hate us¡­ for the way we treated you in the past?"


    "Why would I hate you?"


    ''Of course, I hate you all, do you really want me to tell you that face to face?'' Randy silently this to himself in irritation.


    "I am serious, so give me a serious answer, Randy." Nathan said to him.


    Randy replied: "Of course, it will be a lie if I said that I did not harbor some hatred for you all at some point when I did not receive any attention from you all, but¡­"


    He paused and then continued: "Buttely, I don''t feel that way."


    ""Why is that?"" Both Nathan and Riley carefully asked simultaneously.


    ''Ahhh, this is so annoying. Do I have to exin everything to you? Shouldn''t this be enough of a response? Whatever, let''s just tell them what they wanted to hear so badly with those expressions on their faces.''


    "You''re my parents and I feel like there must be some underlying reason why you would start treating me like that even though I have no idea why. I remember that when I was young, you both never treated me like that. I think it all started when¡­ it was only when I had started exhibiting changes in these eyes of mine... Only then did I begin to sense a difference in your treatment towards me¡­ "


    "And also, when I couldn''t awaken my innate ability, that was when you all started being stern and while constantly telling me that I was useless since I could not awaken my innate ability and that I would not be able to survive in this world if I stayed like this."


    "But none of that matters, as I have already awakened my ability now. In that sense, there is no need to know why you both started treating like that."


    Randy arranged his words and then answered his parents as eloquently as he could at this time.

 Chapter 157 - Recollection(2)

    "I''m sorry, Randy¡­ we only thought that was the only decision to make at the time, but we did not mean to make you feel isted, it was only because¡­"


    With teary eyes, Riley gently looked at Randy as she said this.


    "We are very happy that you do not hate us for this matter, however, it is still too early to inform you of our reasons. I can only tell you that you would naturallye to understand everything in the future. Once you get strong enough, I will tell you everything that you need to know, but for now, that will have to wait." Nathan said.


    ''Damn it! You people do whatever you like. Do you think I don''t have any emotions too? Do you think I don''t want to cry out my frustration right now? Why are you the ones crying and acting innocent and righteous as if this was not your fault?'' Randy inwardlyined as he was suddenly overwhelmed by all the pent-up emotions that made him want to cry out loud at this moment.


    A few moments of exchangeter.


    "I see¡­ So Blood Authority allows you to manipte your own blood and even other people''s blood? Just as I thought you really are¡­" Nathan muttered to himself in a low voice.


    "Dad, what did you say?" Randy pretended that he didn''t hear him. Even though he was no longer in his assimted state, his senses were still better than before.


    "Ah, nothing. Pay no mind to my words, I was only thinking to myself. But still, those are some useful abilities you got there. However, why can''t we tell how strong or more precisely what type of energy you''re emanating before?" Nathan ignored his question and then suddenly asked him.


    ''As I thought, my parents really are hiding something from me. It is too obvious, but I just don''t know what it is for now. But even so, it still doesn''t mean that they can treat me like that simply because of this unknown reason, right?'' He silently thought to himself.


    After their conversation ended, he left and went upstairs but he did not go to his room right away and proceeded to stand not too far away from the stairs leading downstairs.


    Meanwhile, downstairs, Nathan disyed a deep gaze at the stairs and then muttered: "This child¡­ if only¡­"


    However, he immediately sighed and did not finish his sentence.


    Riley who was sitting next to him said to him: "Let us wait until he attends university and gets stronger enough and also umte enough experience. At that time, we can tell him then and as for the rest, that will be up to him."


    "Hm, what you say also makes sense, but we have alienated him for so long that it is now strange to be amicable with him again. Don''t get me wrong, I honestly appreciated the fact that he did not hate us despite all that, but¡­ Haah¡­" Nathan agreed with her and then said in a distressed tone.


    Upstairs, Randy heard all these secret conversations between his parents and immediately disyed a scowled expression.


    ''So they really n on telling me the reason for their actions as long as I get stronger enough? In that case, I will fulfill your wishes and by then I would like to hear your excuses and whether they really justify the maltreatment towards your own child.'' Randy clenched his fist and then silently thought with determination and with an inexplicable emotion in his heart.


    ¡­


    Meeting with David Silvermoon.


    "But before that, what I wanted to talk to you about was regarding your ancestry." The white-haired man said and then paused for a moment before continuing: "Have you ever doubted your ancestry, and that perhaps, your parents might not be your biological parents and they might''ve adopted you instead?"


    ''I have indeed wondered about that sometimes but what does that have to do with you?'' Randy silently but calmly thought to himself.


    But he instead questioned with a deep frown but in an intrigued tone: "What are you trying to imply by saying this to me? Do you have any proof to justify your ims, Mister Silvermoon?"


    "First of all, I apologize in advance, but I did a background check on you, and you were supposedly born 18 years ago based on my discovery. That was a year after that apocalyptic-ss gate that led to a dungeon that suddenly manifested in the eastern district, and caused havoc and chaos everywhere in the eastern district came to a conclusion."


    "This was one of the most monumental and tragic moments in the history of rifts and gates since countless lives were lost on that day of the manifestation. It was also when your parents gained prominence within this district through their contribution."


    "ording to my intelligence, your mother at the time was not pregnant with you, and then out of nowhere, after maintaining a low profile for a year, she had you the following year after. No one had seen her get pregnant or anything except for those involved."


    "Although there indeed existed medical records that indicated that she had undoubtedly given birth to you, but I highly doubt it."


    "Furthermore, your innate ability was that of a beast-type,pletely unlike that of your father''s ability or your mother''s ability."


    "Moreover, although there are many beast-type awakenings but based on the color of your hair, without a doubt, it matches the members of my Silvermoon family."


    "So I came to the conclusion that you were most likely adopted, and your lineage was in fact from someone of my prestigious family since as you can see, my hair is white, just like yours when you transform into your beast state."


    "Although, I have no idea why your hair was not naturally white like people from our family. But there is no doubt that you are part of my family based on your ability alone."


    "As for the reason why your hair is not naturally white, I can guess that it is either a mutation or perhaps because your biological parent from our side might''ve conceived you with an inferior bloodline leading to your current state."


    David Silvermoon said in a confident tone, disying an expression that suggested that his information was undoubtedly urate.


    However, Randy was disappointed when he heard all this from the other party.


    ''I had thought that he had actual evidence to back up his ims, but it turns out he was just rambling on with inconclusive evidence about my motherying low and then conceiving me a year after or something.''


    ''Like what does that have to do with my origin of birth. And this fucker even thought that I awakened a beast-type innate ability?''


    ''Are you fucking kidding me?! At least conduct your investigations properly before approaching people! The more I think about it, the more I want to snap his neck right here and now! This fucker almost got me killed just because of these trivial reasons?! How unreasonable can someone get?!''


    Randy gritted his teeth andined inwardly as he disyed a scowled expression.


    ¡­


    Coming back home after dealing with David Silvermoon.


    At this point, Riley seemed to recall something and then said: "Ah, now that reminds me. Randy, your little sister had also officially awakened her innate abilityst week. I never got the chance to inform you about this since we were busy with some matters afterward."


    "Eh? Lydia had awakened her ability too? What did she awaken to?" Randy turned around and said in a surprised voice.


    ''But didn''t you say that she awakened a long time ago? What was surprising about this? Or did I miss something that day when you imed that she had already awakened but they couldn''t tell what ability she had?'' Randy silently thought to himself as he recalled when he came home after awakening that day.


    "That''s right. The reason we had to spend more time outsidetely had to do with Lydia''s second ability which needed testing to fully confirm its capabilities. And because of that, we had to test the ability on beasts and other creatures." Riley said afterward.


    ''So she had a second ability that needed confirmation, huh? And that''s why she hadn''t been ssified officially as awakened?'' Randy thought in conclusion.


    After talking with his mother for a while, he finally understood the situation.


    ''In any case, it seems Lydia has awakened to a good ability. Taming is a very good ability if one looked at its future prospects. At least, once she grows up, she won''t have to worry about being attacked by ferocious monsters or beasts anymore during a rift manifestation and such..'' Randy thought in satisfaction when he heard about his sister''s ability from his mother at that time.

 Chapter 158 - Into The Unknown

    After recalling these events, Randy quickly shook his head to get rid of all these unhealthy thoughts before his journey, and then his feet suddenly came to a halt in the middle of the street.


    Rumble¡ª¡ª


    At this time, it was raining very strongly for some reason. The sound of thunder echoed across the sky as it reverberated in loud rumbles, and at this point, everyone was quickly making their way into their houses for shelter.


    Sha¡ª¡ª


    Randy calmly looked up at the rain clouds in the sky with a deep pondering expression, seemingly thinking about something.


    ''Indeed, the only person I have to worry about in this world is Lydia. Because she does not have any friends to get along with outside of school. She is only twelve years old, so she is a very energetic girl who should be ying with her friends rather than staying cooped up in our house all the time, but she couldn''t. She alwayses to my room whenever she can to bother me all the time because of this.''


    ''Our parents do not like it when we go out because of the dimensional rifts and gates that appear unannounced sometimes, and so, they preferred it if we stay at home all the time. But if we have to go out, they''d apany us to wherever we want to go. Although that was before they started treating me indifferently, now only my sister is restricted from going out. I think she would be too bored by the time Ie back, but I have no choice.


    ''My parents seemed to hold some secret that they refused to tell me and even treated me badly because of this very secret. I couldn''t help but wonder what this secret was, and also what significance it had on me being mistreated just because I couldn''t awaken at the time.''


    ''And since their only requirement for me to know this secret was to get stronger, though I am not sure how strong exactly I have to get, so I can only get strong enough that nobody would be able to step on me or get in my way in the future. And for that to happen, necessary risks are rmended to speed up the process. If I die, then I die, but I won''t die no matter what.''


    ''Anyway, once I get stronger hopefully through this journey, I will make sure to return as quickly as I can to y with Lydia once again to prevent her from being lonely like me. But then again, with her current awakened abilities, I am sure she would eventually gain her freedom sooner orter and do whatever she wants to do. By then, I don''t think our parents would be able to stop her even if they wanted to.''


    Randy silently thought to himself with a resolute and confident expression, as he used his magical energy to prevent his clothes and hair from being drenched from the rainwater that was falling ceaselessly on his body.


    ''Strange, it was not supposed to rain today so why is pouring down so strongly and loudly like this?'' He wondered at this moment but dismiss the thought shortly after.


    Right now, he had already purchased the potions that he needed and even bought a rusty sword that was very cheap among all the things that his remaining money could afford after purchasing the potions.


    Although he would like to buy more things to prepare himself for the unknown, this trip itself was unnned, so he could only make do with just this rusty sword and the potions that could recover his energy and heal his wounds when things get critical at the other world.


    With his mind made up and having already acquired the things that he needed from themercial section of the city, he quickly made way back to the abandoned factory once again.


    ¡­


    The Abandoned Factory.


    As the middle-aged man in the constructed station saw the young man from earlier appear inside the abandoned building again, he raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise and then disyed a confused expression shortly after.


    At this moment, Randy was standing in front of the constructed station that looked like a small stall, but except that it was a very highly reinforced small stall.


    Inside the stall were set-up devices and disyed screens meant to monitor the changes in the dimensional rift in real-time.


    "Young man, why did youe back? I thought you gave up on doing this, but you suddenly came back here once again. What is your reason for returning?" The middle-aged man curiously asked him.


    "No reason in particr. I just want to see what is on the other side of that rift that''s all. Don''t you get curious about what''s on the other side of the dimensional rifts that appear in this world all the time? Or have you already been to one of them?" Randy calmly replied.


    "Tsk, tsk, just curiosity? I thought you came back here for some grand reason like changing your life or something along those lines, but you just want to risk your life because of your curiosity? Have you heard of the famous saying that curiosity would lead to the cat''s death sooner orter?" The middle-aged said.


    "I think it is curiosity killed the cat, though?" Randy corrected.


    "Does it matter what it is as long as you get my point? I say, young man, listen to my advice and go back home, okay? And to answer your previous question, I wouldn''t dare go into these dimensional rifts even if you force me to." The middle-aged said to him in an earnest tone.


    Randy frowned when he noticed that the middle-aged man seemed quite serious about advising him against entering this dimensional rift.


    "Why do you say so? I thought it was normal for people to attempt going into the portal within the dimensional rifts." He confusedly asked.


    The middle-aged man replied to him almost right away: "Because nobody came back after going in that portal. At least those that went in recently never came back. The earlier group came back, but they started muttering gibberish words like demons and monsters and how they were terrifyingly too strong. But who did not know that most of the time, the people in the other worlds were powerful than us? Compared to us, who only recently acquired power through these dimensional invasions, they have been using their world''s energies for a very long time, so it''s quite obvious that there''d be so many people beyond our world''sprehension."


    After hearing all these from the middle-aged man, Randy pondered to himself.


    ''So it''s like that, but demons and monsters? Are they talking about vampires and werewolves? Well, it doesn''t matter as long as I make sure to not run into them. If I only mingle with races simr to humans, then everything should be alright.''


    "Anyway, I do understand what you''re trying to say, but I''ve already made up my mind. But thank you for your advice regardless. Based on your words, I should avoid any contact with these demons and monsters, and I will be safe, right?" Randy declined his advice and then said afterward.


    "Tsk, young people these days try to act so bravely and reckless without thinking about the consequences of their actions. Well, it''s not my job to stop you if you''re seeking death. ording to thew established, as long as someone has awakened to their ability, they''re eligible to be a seeker, granted they had their identification." The middle-aged man stated in a displeased tone.


    And then he asked: "So do you have your awakener''s identification or hunter''s identification card with you?"


    "Ah, I do. Here you go." Randy took out and handed his awakener''s identification card to the middle-aged man upon his request.


    The middle-aged man took his identification card from him, scanned it on a device to verify its authenticity, and then record his information in the system before handing it back to him.


    "Alright, here you go. You have been registered as a probationary seeker. Although it says probationary, there''s no real deadline or anything. As long as you survive your first dive into another world, you will officially be a seeker and receive your identification card, so make you survive and return to your parents if you have one." The middle-aged man said to him afterward.


    "¡­Thank you." Randy replied after storing his identification card in his storage bracelet.


    Afterward, he quickly made his way towards the dimensional rift. It was about a few meters to the right side of the constructed station.


    At this moment, Randy stood in front of the oval-shaped dimensional rift, which rippled vicissitudes of profound energy, and then proceeded to stare at it with a deep gaze.


    A momentter, he took a deep breath, turned around, and then looked in a certain location. This was the location where he was beaten and tortured by Jeremiah and his goons.


    A few momentster, he turned his gaze around to face the dimensional rift, and without hesitation, he climbed up the staircase that led to an elevated tform.


    Since the dimensional rift was about 5 meters off the ground, there was a need to construct this elevated tform.


    A short whileter, Randy had reached atop the tform, and he then stood on the tform as he stared intently at the blue-colored portal for a few seconds.


    Without any hesitation, he took a step forward and then immediately entered the portal, proceeding into the unknown world behind.

 Chapter 159 - Space-Time Fluctuation

    After Randy''s figure disappeared into the portal, the middle-aged man finally let out a deep breath as he had alsoe out of the station to watch as the young man entered the portal with his own eyes.


    However, that young man especially took his time to enter the portal, so he had to watch him with bated breath until he left.


    He then sighed and turned around and started walking back as he kept muttering: "Even though I gave him some advice, he still insisted on going anyway? I wonder what''s wrong with the new generation, so brave and foolish with their decisions."


    "Ah, now I will be bored once again. Maybe I should''ve prolonged our conversation for a little while longer?" The middle-aged man muttered to himself in regret as he sat behind the table inside the constructed station.


    ¡­


    Inside the dimensional rift that connects both worlds, Randy suddenly found himself floating in darkness with nothing in sight. And without knowing where he was, he instantly frowned in confusion shortly after.


    He tried speaking, but he found out that his voice was noting out, and he could only disy a scowl as he tried to move. Soon after, he found out that he could not control his body in the space where he found himself.


    ''What''s going on? Where am I? Where''s this ce? I thought I just passed through the portal a moment ago, then why am I here? Shouldn''t I have already arrived at my destination by now just like how it was described on the seeker''s website?''


    ''ording to what I read on the seeker''s webpage, it said that you will instantly arrive at the other world upon entering the portal of a dimensional rift. So why am I taking so long to get there?''


    ''System¡­''


    At this point, notifications with lines of cautionary texts started shing across his vision out of nowhere.


    Noticing these changes, he thought that the system had a solution, so he quickly looked in front of himself.


    Even though his body was in a disoriented state caused by him floating in space, Randy could still read the texts from the system.


    Since his point of view was not impacted no matter how disoriented his body was.


    [Attention!]


    [Attention!]


    [Attention!]


    [[Warning: Detected an unknown disturbance in the space-time flow. The cause seemed to originate from an unknown source. As a result, there were fluctuations within space, preventing space traveling. Therefore, the current dimensional travel would be dyed until the new changes in the dimensional pathway are reverted into their original state or the space-time''s fluctuations fully stabilize, which would result in the dimensional pathway being fixed in the process. However, the duration for that to happen is unknown]]


    [[In the meantime, the host should remain stationary and not move around too much or leave this protective shelter. Otherwise, you would lose your life instantly to the chaotic and destructive fluctuations of energies caused by the dimensional distortion as a result of space-time being in disarray]]


    The system disyed these lines of texts in front of Randy''s vision, shocking him greatly.


    ''What the hell¡ª Wait a minute, now that I look closely, my body seemed to be enveloped in blue but translucent light. What is this thing? Some kind of barrier? More importantly, is this the shelter that the system was talking about just now? Regardless, I have to listen to the system''s words since I have no idea what''s going on.'' Randy silently thought as he observed his body.


    A short whileter, Randy could perceive some light in the distance in front of him, and as he drew closer to the light became distinct, he could see a tree beyond the light. At this moment, he realized that he was almost reaching his destination.


    At least, that was what he thought when he saw the tree beyond the light.


    With the blue light still on his body, he moved forward slowly without the means to increase his pace. He felt like he was getting closer, but at the same time, he was getting further away from the light in his path.


    This situation caused Randy to be frustrated, as he could not do anything but let his body move to his destination slowly. He felt like he was slower than even a snail at this point.


    ''Why can''t I go any faster? If not because of the system''s warning, I would''ve forced myself there already. It''s been so long that I don''t even know how much time has passed, but I am starting to get hungry. Although I can still hold on for a bit, if this goes on, I would be starved to death since I cannot move my body around too much as the system suggested.'' Randyined in his mind.


    He was starting to regret his decision which made him impulsively use this new dimensional rift. However, this was the only dimensional rift close to where he lived. The other dimensional rifts were far away, so he had no choice but to go to that abandoned factory.


    Randy quickly calmed himself down as he realized brooding over his situation would not change anything, and he could only remain patient until he gradually drew closer to his destination.


    In the meantime, with nothing to do, he admired the scenery around him, albeit a chaotic one.


    That was because the surrounding scenery made it seem like space itself was ripping apart and repairing itself at a rapid but slow pace. Even though it was very dark all around him, Randy still managed to see something like this unbelievable. It was hard to describe what he saw in words. Besides this, there seemed to be nothing else to admire.


    But after observing this iprehensible situation for a while, Randy started pondering on a deeper level.


    With how the space was ripping apart and repairing itself, he could not help but wonder to himself, ''Just what could cause the space-time to fluctuate like this? What is space-time anyway? Is it just a concept of both space and time? But how is it going to affect me once it stabilizes? And was the cause natural, or was it caused by a powerful entity or some unfathomable existence?


    ''In the first ce, was that even possible? For someone to get strong enough to affect space itself? I don''t even know the answers to these questions. I had never put much thought into these things. For example, how the dimensional rifts and gates came to be. But if space can be destroyed and repaired like this, then what could cause the space-time to fluctuate enough to cause these visible changes?''


    No matter how much he thought about it, he could not think of any answers to these questions. That was because they never taught them these things in the academy.


    Perhaps, maybe when he goes to university, they might touch on this topic, but he highly doubts that they would know too much about these things that seemed to be closely rted to the creation of the universe as a whole.

 Chapter 160 - Arrival

    After contemtion for a while, Randy suddenly thought of something that made him tremble with a sense of dread.


    ''Just now¡­ What if I didn''t have my system''s protection then wouldn''t I have died instantly the moment the space-time fluctuation urred?''


    While thinking about this, he felt a chill run down his spine, and he instantly broke into cold sweats. He came on this journey hastily with confidence that he would survive no matter what, but he almost died just now because of his recklessness.


    But was it really because of his recklessness? Obviously, not!


    The fact that the dimensional rift that was stabilized before his entry suddenly became unstable after he entered it was the problem.


    The whole point of stabilizing the dimensional rifts was to allow safe travels, and yet something like this still happened despite the nigh impossibility of anything happening after the dimensional rift has stabilized.


    This situation would have made sense had he entered an unstable dimensional rift, but that was not the case.


    That was because the moment he met with that middle-aged man stationed near the dimensional rift, it meant that the dimensional rift had already been stabilized.


    Furthermore, before he entered the dimensional rift, he noticed some machine on the elevated tform, seemingly the machine used to keep the rift from being unstable.


    One would wonder, why stabilize a dimensional rift? Why not simply enter it directly since the other creatures from the other end could easily pass through without worrying about whether it was stabilized or not?


    The answer to that question is very simple. The dimensional rifts that appeared in his world usually have an entrance from the other world, and the exit seemed to be in his world''s space.


    As a result of that, it was hard for humans in his world to enter through the exit without stabilizing the portal within the dimensional rifts beforehand.


    But before that, humanity was not aware of this information, leading to some fearless fools going and charging in without knowing anything and being shredded into countless pieces from the destructive energy within the dimensional rifts.


    However, some people luckily survived and managed to end up in the other world, and through their experience, the scientists eventually found out the reason and quickly came up with a way to solve it.


    In that retrospect, who would dare to enter an unstable dimensional right anymore? Unless the person is crazy, they will not risk their lives entering a dimensional rift that could quickly spell their end without leaving their body intact.


    At this point, Randy''s expression turned solemn, and he wholeheartedly felt grateful that his system had upgraded when it did. Otherwise, forget about surviving the other world, he would have died even before reaching the other world.


    After an unknown amount of time had passed, Randy was overwhelmed with a sense of insecurity towards the unknown threat. Especially after discovering that he had almost died just now, which even caused him to forget about the fact that he was hungry.


    He had put all of his attention on the light in front of him, as he was moved forward by the current in the darkness.


    asionally, he would look to the side to check and see something would spring out of the darkness, but nothinge out after so long.


    Eventually, he finally reached the light and passed through without much effort.


    However, he was immediately blinded by how bright it was all of sudden as he came out. He had been in the darkness for a very long time, so when he passed through the light just now, it was hard for him to adjust his eyesight that was especially too good.


    If someone were to watch in the direction where he came out from, they would notice that a young man suddenly manifested in the sky about 20 meters off the ground, shocking them greatly.


    Before Randy could react, he helplessly fell towards the ground below without the means to stop himself.


    "Ahh¡ª mphhhhh¡ª"


    Because of how unexpected the situation was, Randy tried to scream in response but immediately closed his mouth afterward.


    Randy currently had no idea where he hade out from, and there was a possibility that a beast or a human could be nearby, and if Randy had screamed just now, it would draw their attention towards him, which was something he had to prevent at all costs in this unknown world.


    However, he did not simply let himself fall to the ground without doing anything about it. Before he could reach the ground, he instantly entered his assimted state and used his Gale Riding Skill, and swiftly controlled the surrounding wind pressure to cushion his fall.


    Thus, hended safely without breaking any bone in his body, not like he would have been harmed with his current physical capabilities, but one could not be too careful.


    Furthermore, this was an unknown, and other than the fact that it is a magical world, there was not much known about it. In other words, if Randy were to let his guard down in this ce, he could die from something unexpected.


    Afternding safely, Randy did not waste time and quickly surveyed his surroundings, and right away, he found out that he was actually in a forest.


    Although he knew he had fallen into a forest, Randy thought it would not be far from civilization, which he was wrong about after seeing the giant trees everywhere.


    ''Where is this ce? I wish the system had a map function like in video games, but sadly there''s no such thing.''


    ''But before that, I need to memorize the location where I came out from. Otherwise, I will be stuck here forever. How do people even manage to find their way back if the portal is in the sky? Do they fly or something?''


    After thinking for a bit, he quickly looked up, but he only saw a tear in space momentarily, which disappeared shortly after.


    ''Is this the camouging system implemented on our side or was it naturally like this in this world? Well, I think I know where it is now. When it''s almost time to leave, I''ll try my best to find this portal ahead of time and then leave this ce. As long as I memorize thendmark or the surrounding, I can pretty much guess the location of this portal that leads to my world..'' Randy silently thought to himself with a pondering expression.

 Chapter 161 - Unexpected Benefit

    A whileter.


    Randy carefully walked around the ce where he hadnded and tried his best to remember the huge trees, the topography, and even the direction of the sun rose.


    Although he had no way of determining the direction, he still thought to memorize as much as he could in order to make sure that he had a rough idea of the location when it was time to leave this world. He just hoped that he would not return toote and then his parents would be aware that he did not participate in the military''s special training session.


    Then again, he did not really care what they think since the only reason why he was in this world was to get stronger as they had suggested. So would they me him for taking a risky opportunity rather than a long safe route?


    It would be too unreasonable if they found out and thenined about it by saying that he was too reckless just because he did not inform them about this beforehand. After all, they also did not tell him anything when they decided to keep things from him. So why would he tell them everything simply because they are his parents?


    With that in mind, Randy carefully looked around the unknown forest a few more times and even left some markings on one of the big trees in the forest. But during his scouting just now, he saw a dark region within the forest, and he had no idea what could be in that ce.


    Considering that the sun was shining brighter in the forest right now, indicating that it was still daytime in this world, it was simply impossible for one ce within the forest to remain inplete darkness.


    However, he quickly ignored this situation, as he did not want to pry and get himself killed just because of his curiosity.


    After he thought he had memorized the location where had fallen. He decided to walk toward a certain direction hoping to find something along the lines of a path that led to a civilized location like a city.


    Afterward, Randy began to survey the surroundings by walking around the huge trees that were on average, about 10 meters tall without knowing where to go or start exactly.


    At this point, he wished he would have run into a human or an intelligent life form right away when he arrived in this world. Because all he could see in his vision were these oversized trees that were everywhere in this forest.


    While he wasining in frustration, the system suddenly shed with new lines of texts appearing in front of his vision one after another, arousing his attention.


    He then looked forward in anticipation, as he thought that perhaps the system might actually have a map function after its upgrade.


    His hopeful gaze suddenly turned dim as he read the first few lines of text that appeared.


    [[The fluctuations in space-time have finally stabilized]]


    [[Currently synchronizing with this dimension''s space-time coordinates]]


    [[Synchronizationplete]]


    [[Now synchronizing with this current world''s time flow]]


    [[Synchronizationplete]]


    [¡­]


    ''Is that it? And here I thought that it was because it had a map function, but it turned out it was just talking about the space-time thing from before. I arrived safely, so I don''t really care¡ª''


    [[Attention!]]


    [[Detected a deviation in the time flow. Possibly the result of the fluctuations in the space-time between the previous world and the current world]]


    [[As of this moment, the time flow between this world and the host''s original world had been slightly altered. The current time difference between this dimension and the host''s dimension is approximately seven days to one day. Although there may be a slight deviation in the calction, the margin of error would not impact the difference in the two worlds'' time overall]]


    [[In other words, spending one week in the current world be equivalent to spending one day in your previous world]]


    The system stated as it exined in detail, but Randy was still taken aback by what he had read, and he reacted right away.


    "What?!" Randy eximed in shock when he read through these lines of text disyed by the system. That was because, before he came to this world, he heard that the worlds connected to their world through the dimensional rifts always share the same time flow as their world.


    But now, the system was telling him that there was a deviation in the time flow because of that fluctuation in space earlier. Then how would he know when to return? What would happen if there was another fluctuation, and he did not arrive during the time that he wanted? What should he do at that time?


    Randy instantly felt a slight headache and once again was regretting his decision when he picked this dimensional rift with little to none known about it. Perhaps, he was too impulsive in his decision, but there was no helping it at the time.


    A few moments of contemtionter, after thinking of something, he suddenly said to himself in constion: "Calm down. Isn''t this situation a good thing? On the bright side, If I can spend more time here then I''ll be able to get much stronger than my original ns. In that sense, this situation might be an unexpected benefit. And If I work diligently for approximately more than three months in this ce, I might be able to learn some techniques, skills or even obtain an artifact that cost so much money back in my world."


    Randy decided to think positively since there was nothing that he could do to change his current situation, even if he wanted to. On the other hand, he would rather take advantage of this situation instead and grow stronger.


    Naturally, that was what mattered more to him right nowpared to him regretting his decision all over again.


    "Alright. Now, how do I get out of here?" He wondered, but the next moment, he suddenly heard the sound of a screaming voiceing from a ce not far from his location.


    ''What''s this situation? Judging by the noise, was somebody getting attacked? More importantly, does someone even live in this forest? Regardless of the case, I need to get closer to verify my assumptions.''


    However, Randy could not tell where this seemingly cry of help voice wasing from, and since he did not want to venture too much without knowing where he was going, he decided to remain cautious towards the situation first.


    After which, he pondered for a moment, and then after making his decision, he transformed into his werewolf form, and with his current sharpened senses, he could now distinctively tell where the screaming voice wasing from.


    With that, he moved toward a certain direction as he followed the voice. But he did not dare to approach the direction of the voice carelessly.


    As he now knew the direction of the screaming voice, on his way, he thought about it for a bit, and sure enough, he was still somewhat skeptical about this whole situation. Thus, he decided to tread lightly and cautiously without invoking any unwanted animosity towards himself.


    Although they sound like they are screaming for help, he was not about to fall into a possible hidden trap or scheme set up by the source of that voice.


    Furthermore, he did not believe it, for even a second, that someone would be living in this unknown forest.. Unless it was some monster or something along those lines, he would never believe it. After all, why would someone live in this thick forest?

 Chapter 162 - Preemptive Strike!

    It did not matter to Randy whether he was simply paranoid because of his current environment or not because it was still better to safe than sorryter.


    After all, who knows if this screaming voice was not some creature pretending to be a human with that human voice to lure him over to its location and then catch himpletely off guard when he tries to pursue the voice in concern?


    Moreover, although, it may sound bizarre, there were indeed some monsters out there with such frightening abilities and cunningness. Randy had briefly learned about them back in the academy, so he was especially vignt when he came to this unknown world.


    After all, with the situation being this way, the possibility that there might be monsters that he had never heard about or seen in this world is very high. Furthermore, as a stranger to this ce, he needed to exercise the most. Otherwise, with the least amount of mistakes, he could end up losing his life.


    With that thought in mind, he carefully but cautiously approached the location where the voice wasing from, and the more he approached, the more he thought that the screaming voice belonged to a female, specifically a young one.


    Even so, he did not rush and took his time getting there. Eventually, he was standing about 10 meters away as he observed the situation from atop a huge tree that he climbed for better view.


    But what he saw down there caused him to frown in disgust shortly after.


    After peering in the distance, Randy saw a blonde man who looked to be in his twenties, standing there in an open space within the forest. There was also a young girl with both hands tied up against a tree while lying there.


    However, the blonde man had his pants down, his armor taken off and ced to the side, and the young girl, on the other hand, was struggling to break free from her restraints as she screamed in strange words, but it seemed like she was calling for help.


    The next moment, the blond man said something in somenguage and then pped the girl in her face.


    When the young girl was pped by the blonde man just now, the young girl was momentarily shocked, and she then began crying afterward while still struggling to get out of her restraints.


    The blonde man got on top of her and held her two hands backward, seemingly trying to force himself on the young girl, and the young girl kept wailing and struggling, but she could not move around much this time.


    The grip of the blonde man was too strong, so she could move arms that were gripped tightly by him. The young girl disyed a look of fear when she noticed this. Meanwhile, the blonde man showed a lecherously wide grin as he licked his lips as he muttered something to the young girl, causing her face to turn grim.


    Upon further observation, Randy noticed that there seemed to be other people besides the blonde man and the screaming young girl within the forest. As he looked in the distance away from where the blonde man and the young girl were, he saw two other armed men walking away from them.


    But judging from the identical armors of the two men, which were somewhat simr to the blonde man''s armor that he had taken off, Randy could confirm that they belong to the same organization.


    Then afterward, he turned his gaze back to the situation below him.


    Seeing the situation once again, Randy scowled with a displeased expression on hisplexion. But he did not n on intervening in something without knowing the whole story.


    Not to mention, he did not know how strong the other parties were. That was the reason why he did not act right away. But even if he knew how strong they were, why would he get involved in something this troublesome which would without a doubt bring him trouble afterward? Unless he ns on killing the other parties, he will not get involved in this matter.


    But after observing the situation for a while and then looking at the young girl''s appearance. He noticed that she was about the same age as his little sister. Realizing this, he felt annoyed for some reason.


    However, he still did not do anything right away and then pondered his decisions before realizing something.


    He realized that he only came to this world recently and did not know anyone in this ce. He could choose to help the men take advantage o the helpless little girl and then ask them to help him out of this ce, but there was a possibility that they would kill to silence him to cover their deed.


    Either that, or he could choose to kill this disgusting man and thereby get the little girl to trust him. Afterward, he would enlist her to show him the way out or tell him how to get out of this ce.


    After contemting for a few more moments, he decided on his next course of action and quickly acted by activating his skill and technique.


    [[Ancestral Regression Skill Activated]]


    [[Traceless Form Technique Activated]]


    With this skill and technique, he was now prepared. The next moment, he quickly but lightly climbed down from the tree and then stealthily approached the two people.


    At this point, the blonde man was still on top of the weeping and wailing little girl. And after forcefully opening her two legs, holding them to both sides, and when he was about to do the deed with his tongue stuck out and drooling, he suddenly stopped in his movement.


    He instantly froze as if he was some statue but could still move his countenance despite his frozen state.


    A momentter, he frowned with a cautious expression and immediately exuded blinding holy energy from his body to protect himself from what prevented his movement with the intention to resist against it.


    Unfortunately, he was still motionless even after that. It was then that he realized that his skill was not working on this attack on his body and was quickly left in bewilderment.


    Randy took this chance and then immediately threw out a preemptive strike at the back of the other party''s head before they had the opportunity to attempt something else besides the yellow light from just now.


    BAM!


    [Void Rippling Punch]


    "Arghh!"


    The blonde man screamed in pain but started shouting something a momentter, seemingly cursing out loud in an iprehensiblenguage, causing Randy to be surprised once again by their strangenguage that he had never heard before.


    However, Randy was surprised by something else; this person was still unscathed even after his surprise attack just now.


    ''Is this because of something that he carries with him or his ability? When I hit him, it felt like my punch lost some of its strength, and it felt like I had used ''Void Wave Punch'' instead of ''Void Rippling Punch'' just now.''


    But Randy quickly dismissed this thought, as he did not want to bother or waste any time pondering about this matter. Thus, he continued to throw another attack at the back of the blonde man''s head, and then another one without stopping to take a break.


    Starting from this moment, he kept on throwing out punches in session against the blonde man''s head.


    Randy believed that if the other party had the means to protect themself, he only needed to keep punching them until those protective means eventually lose their effects.

 Chapter 163 - Notion

    Without hesitation, Randy relentlessly rained down punches at the immobile blonde man''s head, until eventually, something snapped, making an audible ''crack'' sound. Then soon after, the blonde man started bleeding from all of the orifices on his head¡ª Eyes, Nose, Mouth, and Ears.


    ''Was that sound just now the sound of an artifact breaking?'' Randy wondered to himself when he heard the cracking noise just now, and he immediately stopped punching the blonde man''s head.


    ''Well, no matter. I think he is dead with that many attacks on his head.''


    "Arghhhh!! ##$% #$^&"


    However, the next moment, the blonde man started moving, startling Randy greatly, and he instinctively reacted by throwing out more energy-infused punches at the defenseless blonde man''s head until he was certain it was enough.


    At this point, Randy realized that they were most likely dead this time seeing as how there was now a deep crack in the blonde man''s head, and he was bleeding all over his face.


    ''What the hell was that? He was still able to move despite his head smashed in? More importantly, he somehow escaped my skill''s influence momentarily just now¡­'' Randy deeply frowned and thought in caution as he looked at the immobile blonde man who was not moving while under his skill''s influence.


    He proceeded to wait a little more just in case, and after confirming that there were no changes after a few moments, he then let out a sigh of relief.


    With that, he finally released his skill''s influence, and then immediately, the notification shed across his vision, startling him a little. But he soon calmed down as he recalled that he could gain knowledge points right after killing an intelligent life form.


    [You have sessfully killed an intelligent living being without showing any mercy, and thus you have obtained 1800 knowledge points]


    ''Oh, that''s a lot for my first kill in this world. I wonder if I can get more knowledge points simply because of the difference in the world or something else? This blonde man was not particrly that strong and could bepared to that sunsses man at most in terms of the density of his energy he released just now. But the sunsses man only gave me 1300 knowledge points.'' Randy held his chin and pondered, but another notification caused him to look up once again in puzzlement.


    [You have killed an opponent who was slightly powerful than you in terms ofbat power level, you have sessfully harvested 3200 divine points from their soul]


    ''Divine points?'' Randy wondered with raised eyebrows.


    "Ah!"


    Randy suddenly recalled seeing these words right after he had defeated that chimera monster, but at the time, he was too exhausted after the fight to bother looking at the changes that the system had mentioned.


    However, now was still not the time to check these things, as he first needed to get out of this forest and then find a ce to stay if possible. Afterward, he could then check out all the notifications left by his system with peace of mind.


    After thinking about that, he turned his gaze to face down as he looked at the now lifeless body of the blonde man with a pondering expression.


    ''Even so, this guy was too tough. Was it really just because of his artifact that he managed to endure my attacks? Just now, I had to hit him a couple more times to kill him. Does he happen to have a strong body or something? Anyway, that was scary just now. I thought he was about to use some unknown skill when he shouted something just now.'' Randy sighed and then shook his head to get rid of these thoughts as he focused his mind on what was important.


    ''Now, let me take his blood and see what abilities he can offer me. I need to fit into this world. After all, using my abilities which might appear strange to the natives of this world may bring unwanted attention toward me. In the end, it''s better if I disguise myself as a native of this world. The only way to do that was to assimte with a human''s blood and then use their abilities instead of mine.''


    ''But I am curious, was that holy mana just now? Does that mean he was a holy knight or something like that?''


    As Randy thought of all these, he had already used a dagger that he grabbed from his storage bracelet and then bent down to poke the skin of the dead blonde man.


    He quickly found out that it was hard to pierce through the blonde man''s skin on his first try with the dagger.


    After pondering for a bit, he skillfully manifested energy around the dagger using his Energy Manifestation Skill and sessfully poked the blonde man''s skin and then drained his blood until he was sure it was enough before stopping.


    Randy found an interesting discovery when he tried to drain the blonde man''s blood just now. Just now, he realized that he did not need the system to aid him in activating the Blood Authority Skill.


    Just for a moment, he was able to control the blood within the blonde man''s body. However, his control was sloppy as he was used to the system aiding him to control his skills up until now, so he ended up activating the skill with the system''s help before continuing.


    But this situation made him believe that perhaps in this Ancestral Form which enhanced his blood-rted abilities, he might eventually learn to control his blood-rted abilities faster even if he did not have the help of the system.


    After all, using the skill mechanism of the system only allowed one to use their awakened abilities as if they were skills, and therefore one needed to activate them with the help of the system.


    But after discovering this, he surmised that perhaps everyone in his world would eventually stop depending on the system as they get stronger and be used to their awakened abilities.


    At this moment, Randy was refining the blood that he took from the blonde man''s body as he condensed it into a blob of the red sphere in the air. He needed to make sure that there were no harmful substances in the blood just in case.


    However, after checking for a while, he found nothing wrong with the blood, and thus, he proceeded to solidify the blood by condensing the 6 inches sphere of liquid red blood, shrinking it into 2 inches of solid red blood with a sheen reflecting off of it.


    Without caring about his environment, out of habit, Randy was about to toss the solid blood into his mouth, but he quickly stopped himself a momentter and then looked forward at the tied young girl beside the tree in front of him.


    ''Ah, I almost forgot about her existence. Why didn''t she say anything all this time¡­?'' Randy realized, and he approached the young girl.


    At this point, although she was just saved a moment ago by the young man, the subsequent events made her look at this young man with blood-red hair in front of her with a gawking expression and gaping mouth, seemingly in shock.

 Chapter 164 - Onlooker

    In the beginning, the young girl was looking with a relieved expression at the young man that came to save her by killing the blonde man.


    Although the young man was ruthless enough to kill the other party without hesitation, she still viewed him as a savior who came to her aid when she was in danger.


    But the next moment, when she saw how the young man started draining the blood out of the blonde man who tried to assault her, she was speechless.


    And not only that, but the young man also somehow manipted the blood of the blonde man and turned it into a solid ball and was about to toss it into his mouth before suddenly stopping himself.


    As she saw all these with her very eyes, she instantly disyed a fearful expression as she felt like her world was about to end.


    At this moment, she realized that she escaped one misfortune only to end up in another, and right now, she wanted to run away as quickly as possible, but she could not do so because she had been restrained by the people who captured her before, so she could afford to escape her predicament.


    To make matters worse, the young man was now approaching her, but she did not have the courage to try to fight against this young man even if she wanted to, considering how easily he took care of that blonde man just now.


    Without any means to protect herself against the approaching young man, she winced and closed her eyes in anticipation of what would happen to her.


    At this point, Randy had reached the young girl unaware of what she was thinking of, and quickly cut off the robe with the dagger that was still encased in magical energy.


    A momentter, all the robes tying the young girl''s hands behind were undone and she was now free from her restraints.


    ''Eh?'' She was surprised when she noticed that her restraints were gone, the ropes restraining her hands were undone somehow.


    Curious, she slowly opened her eyes, only to see the young man squatting in front of her with a smile on his face, and then he opened his mouth about to say something to her. But in her point of view, it looked like the young man was about to do something to her and she yelled out something in her strangenguage, taking Randy by surprise.


    Before he could react, the young girl frantically stood up and quickly run away toward a certain direction in the forest without looking back as if she was running from a monster.


    ''What the hell was that reaction for? I can''t even understand her. This is so troublesome.'' Randy silently thought in confusion.


    But then he quickly realized that the young girl was his means to get out of this forest, so he cannot simply let her leave just like that.


    "Hey! Where are you going?!" He questionably yelled out from behind her.


    "Ahhhhh!!"


    In response to this, the young girl screamed loudly in a terrified voice in the distance and quickly picked up the pace, seemingly running for her life.


    Randy was astonished by her reactions and then muttered: "What''s wrong with her? Now that I think about it since I don''t even understand her words, we cannot evenmunicate properly."


    Realizing this, Randy pondered for a moment and then wondered: "Is she misunderstanding something?"


    "Well, it does not matter for now since we cannotmunicate anyway. But I will just follow her and see where she is headed with all her might. If I let her guide the way, maybe I might be able to use her to get out of this forest."


    Randy did not swallow the blood in his grasp and instead, quickly ran after the escaping young girl right after packing up some things into his storage bracelet.


    However, he made sure not to catch up to her. After all, she seemed to be scared of him for some reason, and since he wanted to use her to get out of the forest, he only needed the follow closely on the trail she zed.


    ¡­


    Inside A Certain Castle.


    Sitting on a throne was a beautiful woman with alluring features who adorned colorful red clothes, and in front of her was an orb about the size of a ser ball that was ced inside a socket in the table.


    The orb seemed to be disying something to the beautiful woman who operated it from her throne. What was being disyed was the scene inside the forest that Randy currently found himself after arriving in this world.


    What was more important was that the scene that was currently being disyed was the scene of Randy chasing after the young girl right after killing the blonde man to save the escaping young girl from being assaulted.


    The beautiful woman''s eyes shed with interest, especially when she recalled the young man using some sort of blood maniption ability.


    ''Interesting¡­ He appears to be a human, but he has a blood maniption spell, or is it some sort of innate ability? I don''t recall humans possessing any innate abilities though. Then it might be some unheard of spell devised by the humans in their attempt to control blood.'' The beautiful woman thought in conclusion to herself but quickly lost interest in the topic.


    Originally, she was going to intervene and save the young girl before she was assaulted by that man because she did not like such vulgar things happening right in front of her.


    But she did not want to act carelessly and reveal her location to those in search of her hideout in doing so.


    With that thought in mind, she wanted to act at the right moment when the man was about to indulge in himself to save the girl from him by swiftly killing him.


    But she never expected this young man toe out of nowhere to save the young girl before she could act.


    However, she noticed that there was something strange about that young man, and his sudden appearance in the forest.


    Earlier, she noticed some sort of spatial fluctuations in the sky not far from her location, and then the young man suddenly manifested in the sky right after.


    Initially, she did not care as it seemed like he was not here for her. But now that she thought about it, it was very strange for someone to appear in the forest using a spatial maniption spell.


    Not to mention, this young man seemed to have some strange ability to change his appearance as she had observed.


    Before, she noticed the same situation over and over again in the forest and each time, she saw strange humans wearing strange clothes but most of them were killed by her minions without her permission since they were technically intruders in their territory.


    Regardless, she did not care enough to pry the identity of that young man as his existence did not concern her at the moment.. However, she still continued to observe the situation from her end.

 Chapter 165 - Hostility

    At this point, Randy was still covertly following the young girl and then suddenly he felt a tingling sensation on his back.


    Feeling this sensation that came out of nowhere, he instantly became alert but then he noticed that his back had broken out into cold sweats at some unknown time, and at this time, he could also feel a scrutinizing gaze on his body. After this realization, he abruptly came to a halt with bullets of sweat dripping on his face.


    ''What the hell was that uneasy feeling just now? Why did it feel like someone or something was observing me closely just now? No, I felt this strange look on my body ever since I came to this world.''


    ''Originally, I thought it was simply because I was on edge aftering to a different world with unknown dangers. But now, I am certain that some entity was observing my actions since a while ago.''


    Randy confidently thought to himself with a scowled expression. He had no idea why he could tell these things but seeing as how his body was reacting to the situation, there was no doubt about his suspicion.


    With vignce, he stood there for a few moments with a pondering expression, and after a while, he proceeded to intently scour his surroundings with a focused gaze for a short while, seemingly on a lookout for any possible enemy attack or anything out of the ordinary nearby.


    After looking out cautiously for a while, he surprisingly discovered nothing unusual within the proximity around him, causing him to be more confused about this situation, and then he wondered to himself: " Was I simply imagining all these because I was too tense since a while ago? Regardless of whether I was imagining things or not, I need to follow after that girl. Otherwise, I will lose her tracks and also lose my only chance out of this forest.''


    With that decided, he quickly chased after the girl who had already made a considerable distance between them when he was busy searching his surroundings just now.


    ¡­


    Back inside the throne room of that beautiful woman from earlier.


    "Hm?" The beautiful woman curiously raised her eyebrows when she saw the young man''s actions just now.


    "Why does it feel like that human could somehow tell that he was being observed? Judging from the way that he was searching around as if looking out for some enemy or anticipating an attack, he clearly looks to be on edge against the unknown." The beautiful woman muttered to herself in contemtion.


    A short whileter, she shook her head and muttered: "No, how is that possible? There''s no way a mere human could detect my irvoyance spell. Unless they were as strong as me, they shouldn''t be able to detect my magic."


    She paused for a moment, and then she confuted with certainty in her voice: "Not to mention, simply having the same level of power as me does not mean that they could easily detect my spell in the first ce. In that sense, how could it be possible for that human who seemed clearly weaker than me just based on his movements alone?"


    "Maybe it was just a coincidence that he stopped when he did? He might just be an extremely cautious individual and nothing more." The beautiful woman with colorful red clothes that appears to be a tight-fitting dress sat on her throne in the dark as she pondered for a brief moment before she finally nodded and concluded that to be most likely the case. As there was simply no way such a weaker being could detect her spell even by a fluke.


    With that conclusion, she continued to observe the young man who trailed the young girl''s tracks out of the forest at this moment.


    ¡­


    After following the young girl for about a few minutes, Randy suddenly found himself out of the forest, and he had a look of delight on his face when he saw a structure that looked like a building in the distance.


    However, he abruptly came to a halt, and the smile on his face also disappeared. He noticed that at some an unknown time, a group of bulky men who looked quite fierce with their rakes, shovels, machetes, and other types of farm equipment in their hands were deeply staring at him with caution at this moment.


    Judging by how the group of bulky men positioned their weapons when facing Randy, they looked more like they were out to meet some monster that came to attack their town rather than meet a human.


    Not just that, because, in the distance, on top of the walls constructed from what seemed to be wood, stood a group of archers who also aimed their arrows at Randy at the same time.


    Randy was initially astonished by the group of people that ostensively appeared to wee him, or so he had thought.


    But as he looked at the weapons in the group of people''s hands, he frowned slightly in confusion. Afterward, he proceeded to look at the group of people for a moment. And then suddenly, his gaze fell in the center of the group where he noticed a familiar face.


    He saw the young girl he had been chasing after since earlier; she was standing behind an old-looking man who seemed to be the leader of the people in this ce.


    At this point, Randy finally understood what was going on and sighed helplessly. ''Was I that suspicious enough for you to aim your weapons at a stranger like me the moment you see me? Also, what did that girl even tell them enough for them to react this way to the savior of one of their people?''


    As he thought this, out of caution, Randy narrowed his eyes and then proceeded to nce at the old man guarding the young girl briefly with his probing gaze, as he checked to see if they were stronger than him based on their energy emission.


    At this moment, when the old man noticed the young man''s gaze on him, and then raised his eyebrows slightly in response, and afterward, he observed the young man in the distance closely.


    At this point, Randy noticed something was very strange as he did not sense anything from the old man. More precisely, there was only faint magical energy emitting from the old man, and he frowned when he noticed that the old man barely had enough strength to fight against him based on his energy alone.


    ''Why does he only have such an insignificant amount of magical energy? Then, why is he the leader of this ce? Wait a second, looking closely, all of them only had a faint amount of magical energy emitting from their body. What''s going on?''


    While Randy was thinking this in bewilderment, the old man among the group of people hesitated for a bit before calmly taking a step forward and then shortly after, stood out from the crowd behind, surprising the crowd with his sudden action.


    The old man ignored their reactions, and instead, opened his mouth to say something in a strangenguage while looking at Randy with a questioning gaze.

 Chapter 166 - I Come In Peace!

    Randy observed the old man that suddenly stood out the crowd, and when he started saying something, he tilted his head to try to see if he could maybe understand anything the other party was saying, and sure enough, just like before, he did not understand a single word the other party was saying.


    With that, Randy only shook his head at the old man while gesturing to the old man that he did not understand anything he had said.


    The old man appeared confused when he noticed the reactions from this red-haired young man. He only asked what he came here for, and the young man shook his head in response instead of replying to his question?


    Clearly, the old man did not understand Randy''s gesture just now.


    At this time, Randy, on the other hand, held his chin and then pondered as he looked at the group of people for a bit. As he looked at the group, he noticed that their appearance was quite familiar, or perhaps, it was more urate to say that their appearance was identical to the people from the Western District back in his world.


    Noticing this resemnce, Randy suddenly thought to use the Englishnguage that was widely used by the people from the Western District to see if they could understand him with thatnguage.


    Although he doubts that they would understand anguage from another world, it was still worth a try since it was his only choice at the moment.


    As for the reason why he could speak English despite it not being his mainnguage, it was quite simple. Most of Randy''s grandparent''s origin was from the Western District, so he knew how to speak English along with his mainnguage.


    In reality, he knew all kinds ofnguages that he happened to find interest in and learned since he did not have anything to do most of the time when he was alone.


    Despite that, Randy found out that he still could not understand anything these people were saying since earlier. Based on this, it could only mean that these people spoke a vastly differentnguagepared to the people from his world. Which was very understandable, but he still wanted to give it a try and see, nheless.


    With that decided, he raised both of his hands, looked straight at the old man before briefly ncing across the crowd behind him, and then afterward, he opened his mouth and said in a seemingly friendly but loud tone: "Ie in peace! I don''t intend to bring you all any harm. Earlier, I saved that little girl over there as she was about to be assaulted in the forest. I am lost and looking for a way out of the forest. I was going to ask her for directions, but she quickly ran away right after I had saved her. But as I was saying, I was looking for a way out of the forest, so I decided to follow her here. I hope you don''t take any offense to my sudden intrusion! Do you understand my words?!"


    Everyone was immediately stunned when they heard Randy speak just now, and Randy himself thought that they either did not hear him or did not understand his words as he had thought.


    Seeing as how they did not respond to his long exnation for a while, he continued to ask in confirmation: "Can you not understand my speech ornguage? If not, then¡­"


    Just now, Randy had tried his best to convey his intention through his words and actions to the old man and everyone else in a very calm and gentle tone so that they would understand that he did note here to harm them.


    But it seemed like that did not work, seeing as how some people amongst the crowd still held on to their weapons tightly, and the others disyed perplexed expressions.


    However, unexpectedly, at this moment, the old man suddenly raised his hand to signal for the rest of the people behind him to withdraw their weapons.


    Seeing this signal from the old man, some of the people behind him exchange gazes before they reluctantly dropped down their weapons, albeit still in their hands.


    However, there were still others who protested strongly against this decision from their leader as they spoke to the old man all the while pointing fingers in Randy''s direction.


    Randy had no idea what they were saying so he only looked on with a calm gaze while hands still remained in the air. But he could still guess what they were saying based on their expressions that they were full of caution, fear, and displeasure at this moment.


    The old man still ignored their warnings and insisted that they put down their weapons, and at that, those belligerent people only clicked their tongues in annoyance and begrudgingly dropped down their weapon but still maintained their vignce as their eyes were now fixed intently on Randy''s body.


    The old man looked at the young man in the distance and disyed an apologetic expression, and then he opened his mouth to speak, dumbfounding Randy because he did not expect something like that to be possible in this world.


    "I¡­ Uder¡­ Stand. So... rry for the mis¡­ under¡­stand¡­ ding. We were just on edge¡­ we live clo¡­ se to the Mes¡­ stic forest. Than¡­ kyou¡­ for¡­ sa¡­ Ving¡­ My¡­ Grand¡­ daugh¡­ ter."


    Randy nkly stared at the old man with his mouth slightly opened when he heard these words. Although the words sounded slow, almost iprehensible as a result of the old man pronouncing each syble at a time, there was no doubt that this was anguage from his world.


    The old man noticed his surprised expression and only smiled amicably in response and then gestured from him toe over: "Yo¡­ ung man,e closer, I wo¡­ld like to tha¡­kyou for saving my grand¡­ daugh¡­ ter in my vill¡­age."


    After managing to say this, the old man then turned to the young girl behind him, gesturing for her toe out. At this moment, she was peeking her small head from behind the old man with a curious expression.


    She did not know why her grandfather could speak with that red-haired young man in that strangenguage just now, but it seemed like the red-haired young man was not an evil person like she had thought. However, upon recalling the events from before, she still felt reluctant.


    In the distance, Randy did not approach the old man right away as he had suggested and instead asked in a daze: "You can understand mynguage? I thought that the people in this wor¡ª"


    Randy hurriedly stopped himself and did not finish his sentence when he realized what he had almost given away just now.


    There was no way he would give out the fact that he came from another world to these people. However, this situation shocked and astonished him enough that he almost gave it away without knowing.


    With his thoughts now straightened, the next moment, he cleared his throat and then said: "I understand. I wille with you. But, by the looks of things... It appears that my presence is not wee in this ce.. Like I said before, I came here in peace, so there''s no need for them to be on guard against me."

 Chapter 167 - Acceptance

    After hearing Randy''s words, the old man''s eyes widen in slight surprise, and then realized that what the young man just said was indeed the case. Since they had been prepared to attack a monster instead of a human, they were all ready with their weapons in their hands to engage the opposition. However, that was no longer needed.


    Although he had tried to exin things briefly to his people, they did not listen to him and were instead on their guards against someone that had evidently saved his granddaughter.


    Even if he had acknowledged the young man''s words, there was no guarantee that his people would do the same, considering their actions from before.


    With that in mind, he turned around and then went to discuss something with the people behind him as he disyed a serious expression, seemingly convincing them to drop down their guards.


    Randy calmly observed this situation for a few moments and then he let out a sigh of relief before wondering to himself.


    ''Why was the old man speaking like that, though? More importantly, why does he know thenguage from my world? Well, whatever. As long as he understands me then there''s no need to shed any unnecessary blood. Besides, they all look like normal people, so they won''t be able to do anything to me anyway. I Just need to get them to trust me enough for them to show me out of here. Hopefully to a city rather than this ce near the forest.''


    As he was thinking this, the old man had already finished his discussion with the people behind and then gestured in his direction before saying: "Yo¡­ ung man. Co¡­ me."


    After hearing these words, Randy did not bother to think about the other party''s request and took a step forward as he headed toward the old man with the crowd behind him, although they seemed to have calmed downpared to before.


    Even though there was a possibility of them attacking him, Randy was very confident that he would be able to defeat these people by himself. Unless there was someone powerful than these people here right now in this vige, he could easily take care of them all.


    Even so, it was more beneficial for him to get along with them rather than be hostile against them, and thus after reaching them, the old man led the way as he followed right behind him. The bulky men also parted ways for them to pass through while disying strange expressions on their faces.


    ¡­


    Inside the forest.


    At this time, the two armored men had returned to the location where Randy had killed that blonde man a while ago. These two people who just arrived on the scene had received a task from the blonde man with the intention of looking out and making sure that no one interrupts him.


    However, as they were doing their job, they suddenly heard a loud hoarse screaming noise, seemingly belonging to a human male and they immediately rushed over to the location of the said human''s voice.


    After arriving at the source of the voice, they were instantly shocked to find that it wasing from the ce where their leader was having fun with that civilian pretty girl that they met in the forest earlier.


    Though when they came back, there was no one here, only a residue of blood on the ground. Even the young girl that they had captured was nowhere to be found.


    This situation shocked them senseless. Because, besides the blood on the ground, there does not seem to be any battle prints on the ground, meaning that the person or thing that dealt with their leader was so strong that their leader could not retaliate against the opposition, not to mention that civilian girl.


    "Shit! What happened here? What could have dealt with the captain?" One of them spoke out loud.


    At this moment, this person gripped tightly on the hilt of his sword as he gazed at the fresh blood on the ground with a frown on his expression.


    "Hell if I would know. Why did the captain have to go crazy over every pretty girl that he sets his eyes on? Tsk!" The other person seemed peeved by their captain''s unbridled actions that led to their current situation.


    This person carried a shield and broad sword on his back, indicating that his job was to protect his team members. Since he had the mindset of a protector, he did not like it when their leader took advantage of his position to do whatever he wanted with all the pretty girls that he had met so far.


    "Forget that. How are we going to exin this to the cardinal? I am sure that he would kill us if we said that the captain had died when he was having fun with a civilian girl." The armored man carrying a shield continued.


    "Now that you mention it, what do we do now? There doesn''t seem to be any trace of the captain, and this is the Meistic forest, so it is hard to track whatever did this." The armored man carrying his sword realized their current situation and then asked right away.


    "What else? Let us search the forest. Maybe the captain is still alive somewhere. If that happens to be the case, we can help him fight off whatever it is that attacked him. Even if we end up dying in the process, it is still better than going back and losing our lives helplessly because of our negligence." The armored man carrying the shield suggested.


    And thus, the two of them decided to search the surroundings to see if there was any magical beast or someone nearby whom they assumed would be the one that had attacked their leader in the forest just now.


    However, they found nothing of the sort after a while. There were not even any magical beasts at the edge of the forest. Unless they headed deeper into the forest, they would not be able to find anything that could have attacked their captain.


    Feeling frustrated by their meaningless search, they ended up giving up on going further into the forest and proceeded to head back to the nearby city.


    For the time being, they nned on dying their report in hopes of finding their leader within the next few days with the help of the scouts from the nearby city. That was because, even if their leader had died, they need to bring back his corpse to prove their words. Otherwise, if they reported right away, they would be made to take the me and killed for their misconduct during a mission.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, back in the vige.


    Randy had been warmly epted by the old man and his family members into their house. They even told him to stay for a few days and gave him his own room.


    At the time, Randy was going to refuse their proposal, but after contemting about how he did not understand theirnguage, and also the fact that the old man could understand his words despite it being anguage from his world, he decided to stay for a bit to learn the truth about these things.


    Furthermore, he wanted to ask them to teach him theirmonnguage directly, so he decided to stay.


    In actuality, he had originally nned to learn this world''smonnguage directly from the old man who seemed to understand hisnguage before setting out anyway.


    But there was another method to explore, it was either through this method of directly learning from them or if they had books or something simr that held all theirnguages within, in which case, he could use those toprehend theirnguages by expending some knowledge points.

 Chapter 168 - Dilemma

    "Gramps, I meant to ask you this before. But what was that dark ce in the forest?"


    At this time, a young man sat in his room as he curiously asked the old man standing in his room at this moment.


    "What dark ce are you talking about, young man?" The old man asked in return, seemingly confused by the young man''s words.


    "I am talking about the dark region in the forest. When I was lost in the forest, I stumbled upon a dark region within the forest that was not affected by the sun''s rays. I was curious about who created such a ce? And also, whether it belonged to someone who lived in that ce or if it was created naturally?" The young man replied.


    "...Dark region, huh¡­?" The old man turned silent as he disyed a pondering expression.


    "Gramps, what is it? Why did you turn quiet all of a sudden? Did I say something wrong?" The young man asked when he noticed the change in the old man''s expression.


    "Ah, no. It''s just that no one had seen or heard of this dark region you''re talking about. Maybe it was a figment of your imagination? After all, the sun may have been too bright that it affected your vision and perhaps, you thought you might''ve seen a dark region within the forest as a result?" The old man came back to his senses and quickly answered with an uncertain tone.


    "..."


    Listening to this exnation, the young man, who was actually Randy, did not say anything in response, and instead pondered to himself.


    ''Hmm¡­ This old man does not seem to be lying to me, so was it really just my imagination? No, there''s no way that was the case! There was also that gaze on me since earlier. With these facts, I can assume that either someone leaves in that dark region or an absurdly powerful monster had erected that dark region using their ability or some bizarre spell.''


    ''Although I have not seen an illusory spell before, I have experienced that faux world that can create a temporary world simr to the original world. Now that I think about it, I almost died in that ce had I not left in time.''


    Randy deeply thought all these with a pondering expression.


    At this time, Randy had decided to ask the old man about the location shrouded in darkness in the forest in hopes of finding out something regarding the entity that had been observing him since earlier. But it appears that the old man had never heard of the dark region within the forest.


    Randy pondered for a while when he discovered this fact. But no matter how much he thought about it, without enough information, he could not make any conclusion and that also meant that he could find out about the existence that might be in the dark region within the forest.


    "Anyway, why don''t youe out and join us for dinner? ra seemed to be attached to you these few days even though she was avoiding you at the beginning." The old man suddenly said to him after noticing his expression as he came out of his thoughts.


    "But your appearance is indeed quite shy, young man. Is this really your true appearance? I have never seen a human with such deep red hair before in these parts." The old manmented afterward.


    ''Ah, so that''s why they were so afraid of me and thought that I was a vampire? I thought it was because I could control blood.'' Randy realized why those people acted aggressively towards him before when they had first met.


    ''Maybe I should consider changing my appearance back to my original appearance. Wait! For now, I think it is better to not change my appearance wantonly in case someonees looking for me in the future just based on my current appearance. I have to be careful against unknown abilities or spells that exist in this world.'' Randy firmly decided against this decision and quickly stood up and followed after the old man to the dining hall which was not far from where his room was located.


    When they reached the dining hall, three other people were sitting behind the table with food already arrange in portions on it. The first person was a middle-aged man who appears to be in his forties, the second person was a woman who seemed to be in her thirties, and then the young girl whom Randy had saved before.


    These were the family members of the old man who brought him in the vige. The middle-aged man was his son, the woman was his daughter-inw and the young girl was his granddaughter, respectively.


    Randy found out after staying here for a while that the young girl was only fifteen years old and that the reason why she was inside that forest was to gather some precious herbs needed for medicine concoction at the periphery of the forest.


    But unfortunately, while gathering the herbs at the periphery of the forest, she ran into those people who ording to the people in this vige were forces from the church of light in this world.


    "You''re all here. Come and have a seat. We should all eat before the food gets warm." The woman said with a warm smile when she saw Randy and the old maning toward them.


    "That''s right. Brat, what have you been doing all day cooped up in your room anyway? Come and let us eat!" The middle-aged man said in a loud voice.


    "Hey, what are doing? Why are you already eating before father and the young man get here?!" The woman readily rebuked her husband when she noticed his actions.


    "What? What''s wrong with me eating? They''re already here anyway, so what''s the problem?" The middle-aged man casually said as he took a bite out of the meat in his hand.


    "Why you¡­"


    "Haha¡­ Uncle Klemente is still the same as always." Randymented with a smile as he joined them behind the table right next to the shy girl, ra.


    "Brat! What do you mean by those words?!"


    "Hahaha¡­"


    ording to what Randy had observed thus far, the people in this family were very nice and did not treat him like a stranger even though he had suddenly intruded on their vige and now depending on their hospitality.


    ¡­


    Four days ago.


    Inside Randy''s room within the vige.


    At this time, he had requested from the vige''s chief, in other words, the old man regarding thenguage of their vige because he could not get used to the old man speaking in his slow tone of voice. Moreover, he wanted to learn thenguage of this world to fit in properly.


    Fortunately, the old man agreed to his request and brought him a pamphlet that contained theirnguage''s alphabets and illustrations with their corresponding names.


    At this moment, Randy held on to the pamphlet in his hand, and very quickly the system notification shed across his eyes.


    [[Discovered a book containing a type ofnguage widely used by the humans in this world]]


    [[Would you like to record the contents of the book andprehend themter?]]


    "Yes." Randy replied right away.


    Afterward, when the recording process was done, he immediately urged the system with the intention of learning the recordednguage. As for knowledge points, he still had some left after using 50,000 on the Traceless Form Technique.


    [[Would you like to spend 100 knowledge points toprehend the selected recordednguage pack?]] The system immediately prompted.


    "Yes."


    With anticipation, Randy closed his eyes as he immersed himself in the feeling of the iing other world''s knowledge that was about to pour into his mind at this moment.


    "Hm?"


    However, he was instantly bewildered when he examined the characters that came into his mind shortly after. He realized that although he could read them and understand some of the nouns, he could notpletely form a sentence with them, and thus was immediately left in a dilemma.


    ''Now, how do I go about this? It seems like I really need to learn thenguage directly from them after all..'' Randy helplessly thought.

 Chapter 169 - Acruxia

    Even though Randy had to learn thenguage directly from the old man, he did not mind it too much. And asionally, the old man''s family members joined in on their lessons with curious ears, especially when the old man was using thenguage from Randy''s world.


    However, Randy quickly grasped the basics of the sentence structures as he already knew the characters and how to enunciate them, except that he needed to learn how to use them in a sentence.


    Thus, it only took him four days to learn theirnguage perfectly, and he was now able to engage in a normal conversation with them.


    That surprised everyone in the vige, seeing as how the young man who did not know how to speak theirnguage when they first met suddenly spoke fluently in theirnguage.


    Furthermore, Randy had described his origin as someone who came from a ce far away from his current location.


    Unexpectedly, the people in the vige, including the old man and his family immediately assumed that he meant that he came from a different continent within their world when they heard this.


    Naturally, Randy did not pass up an opportunity to formte and establish his identity in this new world, and therefore, he readily epted their words to be the truth.


    With that, everyone understood why he had such deep red hair despite being human and thus started treating him differently, especially the young girl who initially thought he was some vampire rather than a human. That was why she ran away quickly when she saw Randy manipting blood.


    Of course, she bowed countless times in apology for her actions at the time. In response, Randy only shook his head and told her that there was no need for that since she only misunderstood the situation based on what she saw happening at that time and that the fault mostly lied with him.


    However, after a few days of spending time with the family, when they got close enough, eventually, the young girl could not take it anymore and curiously asked Randy about his ability to manipte blood.


    Hearing her inquiry, Randy was inwardly startled for a moment since he needed to give a believable exnation, and he did not prepare one beforehand.


    After pondering for a few moments, he came up with something on the spot and then told her, and surprisingly, she believed his words without questioning him any further.


    One might wonder what Randy had told her enough for her to believe him without any shred of doubt?


    Naturally, he used the excuse that he came from a different continent as the reason for his unusual ability. He exined further by iming that his tribe had a certain spell that allowed them to manipte blood and another spell that used the blood of others to search for information regarding certain things.


    He imed that these were his tribe''s secret spells, so he would not reveal much about the specifics.


    With that, he proceeded to exin further by saying that the special requirement for that searching effect of the spell needed him to consume the blood of others beforehand, which was why he was about to consume that blonde man''s blood right before her eyes without thinking about his surroundings.


    Moreover, to give out an exnation about how he got into the forest in the first ce to the people in the vige, Randy merely said that he was somehow abruptly teleported into the forest without any warning at the time.


    Therefore, he did not know where he was when he came to at that time before suddenly hearing a screaming voice that ended belonging to the young girl. However, when he saw what was happening to the young girl right in front of his eyes, he decided to save the young girl and ask her for directions afterward.


    With this being his origin story, the old man''s family, the fierce bulky men, the women, and children within the vige finally let down their guards, and instead, they sympathized with the lost young man.


    Ultimately, the way they treated him had changed dramatically to the point where he was now considered a member of their vige within these past few days since he did not have anywhere else to go in a strange ce where he found himself.


    However, after learning enough about the world through his time in the vige, Randy suddenly told them one day that he wanted to visit a city, find a job, and then perhaps find his way back home after umting enough money.


    The old man and his family members were surprised by his sudden announcement, but they understood his intentions, and instead, they convinced him to stay for a little bit before heading out.


    ¡­


    One weekter.


    And just like that, Randy had spent an entire week in the vige. During the week he spent in this nameless vige, Randy had also learned the name of this world, which was called¡ª Acruxia.


    Naturally, Acruxia was a world of magic and weapon users. But there was also a concept of level of strength where one''s level would be measured when seeking different upations that required the appropriate level.


    Randy had no idea how that works since his world did not have the concept of levels. Although there were realms of the practiced energy, which could be akin to levels to a certain extent, those are very different concepts.


    That was because the people in his world needed to practice their meditation techniques to increase their strength through the umtion of energy and breaking through. But this world might be different in that aspect.


    In reality, Randy once heard in the academy that there was another method to get stronger in terms of one''s basic statistics in his world without practicing a certain energy umtion technique. But he had never experienced it before, so he did not know how it worked.


    That aside, he also learned about the reason why the old man could speak his world''snguage, and it waspletely unlike what he had thought when he had first heard the old man speak in his world''snguage.


    Before, when he first heard the old man speak his world''snguage, he had two spections regarding how that was possible.


    The first spection was that the old man had learned thenguage from the survivors¡ª in other words, the people from his world who came here before him might have taught the old man about theirnguage.


    However, he dismissed this thought as there was no way someone would spend their time teaching the old man theirnguage if they could not speak the other party''snguage themselves.


    The second spection was that the people in this world somehow knew about theirnguage or coincidentally developed the samenguage against all possibilities.


    Although Randy found this spection hard to believe, he could not refute it either as he did not have extensive knowledge regarding such matters.


    However, ording to what Randy had learned from the old man, the reason why he could speak in his world''snguage was mostly because of this world''s human''s royal family that had started using this newnguage all of sudden a few decades back.


    At the time, they imed that it was a newnguage devised for the nobles, and only they and their servants could speak thisnguage among themselves.. The old man also stated that he used to be a servant in the royal capital city before moving to this part of the continent due to his circumstances back then.

 Chapter 170 - Preparation Complete!

    When Randy heard about this revtion, he immediately asked how thenguage came to be since it was simply impossible for the royal family to learn a newnguage out of nowhere. After all, they needed toe up with the characters of thenguage for a long time and practice it among themselves.


    The old man responded right away by stating that the royal family imed that they had learned thenguage from a visitor of their royal family who bestowed upon them thisnguage.


    Randy was even more confused when he heard this response from the old man.


    Afterward, he pondered the old man''s words.


    Ignoring the fact that thenguage was distributed among the royal family and the noble families of this world a few decades ago, why would someone bestow anguage to them in the first ce? What was their motive for doing so? Did that person alsoe from his world or not? If so, then why give out their world''snguage without thinking about the consequences? Do they not know that promulgating one''s origin''snguage could give out their secrets?


    Randy did not understand this person''s motive at all since there was a chance that the people in this world would discover that they came from another world and then instigate animosity toward them depending on the sequence of events or their thought processes.


    However, he quickly shook these thoughts away as it did not matter to him what the other party was plotting as long as it did involve him. And besides, maybe the other party had their reasons for doing such things and it was not his ce to get involved in their business.


    Randy had already learned about this world to a certain extent and was now very confident that he would not stick out in the wrong way if he were to go out there right now.


    Furthermore, he had also learned themonnguage used by the normal citizens of this world. With that, his preparations are nowplete. It was now time for him to depart from this ce and head to the city that was close to this ce.


    At this point, he was inside his room while wearing a simple cloth that he had received from the vige. A grey shirt with a V-neck. And also, he was carrying on his back the rusty sword that he bought from a pawn shop in themercial section in Sky Rise city.


    While he was checking to see if he did not leave anything behind, there was a sudden knock on the door. Randy paused whatever he was doing and then asked: "Who''s there?"


    "It''s me, ra." A soft voice, almost whispering, echoed behind the door. But Randy could hear it very clearly since the building walls of the houses were made entirely out of wood.


    After recognizing the owner of the voice, he went to open the door only to see a young girl with silky brown hair and bright brown eyes standing behind it. This young girl was the same girl that he saved one week ago, her name was ra.


    After staying in this vige for one week, the two of them had somehow gotten along with each other even though she was somehow wary of him in the beginning. Back then, Randy did not mind her treatment toward him much at the beginning since she was around the same age as his sister.


    Although she was three years older than Lydia, who was only twelve, her physical appearance was not that much different whenpared to his little sister''s physical appearance.


    Randy wondered if the reason was that she had not been eating enough or simply because she was a small person who had yet to hit her growth spurt.


    He inwardly shook his head a momentter and then asked: "ra, why did youe? You know that I am leaving today, right?"


    "This¡­ I know. It''s just that¡­ Big brother Crimson¡­ No, Sir Crimson."


    "I told you to just call me, Crimson."


    "I-I can''t simply refer to my savior by his name."


    "Is that so? Also, why is it that you''re not calling me ''Big brother Crimson'' like before? Instead, you''re now calling me Sir Crimson? Isn''t that too distant?" Randy teased the little girl by imitating her voice.


    "That''s because¡­." ra suddenly stopped herself and then sighed.


    The next moment, she seemed to have made up her mind about something as she deeply gazed at Randy with a mustered courage before saying: "Sir Crimson, can I follow you to the city? I know how to get there. I have been to the city many times already with grandpa. So if Ie with you, I can introduce various ces to you when we get to the city."


    "No, ra. I can''t take you with me. I have to¡­ I would be doing something very dangerous, so it''s better if you stay here for now." Randy sternly declined.


    "But don''t worry, I will make sure toe to visit you when I am done with whatever I would be doing. You remember the reason why I am leaving the vige, right? I need to find my way back home. And for that to happen, I need to earn money and gather information about my continent. Once I aplish my goal and preparations, I wille by to visit everyone onest time before leaving, okay?" He then continued with a smile.


    "But¡­" ra bit her bottom lip with a sad expression.


    Randy noticed ra''s expression, which reminded him of his little sister when she was sad about something.


    When he stayed here, he treated this little girl as he did with his own sister, so perhaps the little girl has be attached to him because of that since she was an only child, and she viewed him as an older brother even though they only spent a few days together.


    Afterward, Randy hesitantly reached his right hand forward before carefully patting on her head softly.


    "Rest assured. Like I said just now, as long as I am alive and I finish my preparations, I wille and visit your vige and see you, okay? After all, gramps and everyone else in the vige had taken good care of me these past few days by teaching me about all sorts of things. So how could I forget about you and everyone else?" Randy smiled at the girl as he reassured her.

 Chapter 171 - Leaving The Village

    As Randy was consoling the sad little girl in front of his room''s entrance, a figure slowly but surely approached them in the distance.


    "ra, stop bothering Crimson." The old man said in the distance as he approached the two of them.


    The old man looked at the young girl, who had her head slightly down, and continued after getting closer to the two of them.


    "Crimson had things to do at the city, so he would not be living with us anymore. Although it''s a bit sad that he could not stay for long, it can''t be helped. So why don''t we send him off instead, hm?"


    "¡­" ra slowly nodded without saying anything.


    The old man then turned to face Randy before he asked in confirmation.


    "Young man, are you ready to take your leave?"


    "Yes, gramps. Thank you for everything these past few days." Randy responded and said in gratitude.


    "Haha¡­ Don''t worry about it. You have saved my dear granddaughter from those corrupted people from the church. Naturally, I have to at least help you with this much. It is just that I think what we have given you is not enough to show our gratitude." The old man said, a bit regretful.


    "Rest assured, what you have given me is more than enough." Randy humbly said.


    "Very well. Then shall we go?" The old man nodded, pleased with his humble words.


    "Alright." Randy replied.


    Randy went back to his room and checked one more time, and when he confirmed that he did not leave anything behind, he quickly came out of his room.


    Afterward, the three of them proceeded to walk around the vige, and Randy said his farewells to the other people in the vige.


    Even those hostile people from a few days said their farewells to him in a friendly tone. It turned out that they actually were not bad people. It was just that they lived near the Meistic Forest, which had some demonic beings like vampires and other demons that secretly lived in the forest.


    There were many instances in the past where some of the people in the vige had gone missing. They were either attacked by vampires or other demonic beings from the nearby forest. As a result, they held animosity toward demonic beings in general. Thus, when they heard that he was allegedly a vampire that came to attack their vige, they were immediately shocked and could not help but be on their guard against him.


    Randy also came to know about the reason for their aggression that day and he had long since reconciled with the people in the vige during these few days.


    Randy spent about an hour going around and saying his farewell to those still in their homes, and very quickly, he, the old man, and ra made their way to the exit of the vige which also served as the entrance.


    At this time, there was a group of people waiting for them by the exit of the vige. These were the people who had time toe out and send him off.


    At this point, a middle-aged man opened his mouth and called out to Randy, who stood in front them before speaking.


    "Brat! You better not die out there. A city is a ce full of all kinds of people with different personalities unlike our humble vige, and if you truly n on being a hunter, then you''ll be facing even more danger." Klemente said as he looked at Randy with a serious expression.


    "That''s right. Why don''t you stay here with us instead?" He then continued.


    "What are you saying? Are you not aware that he has his reason for leaving? Or have you forgotten already?" Klemente''s wife said to her husband while pinching him.


    "Ouch! Stop pinching me already. I get it. I was just suggesting." Klemente groined in pain while rubbing his sides.


    His wife was quite aggressive at times like this and does not go easy on him. But he was already used to this treatment from his wife.


    As if recalling something, he turned to Randy before speaking again: "Right, brat. It appears that my dear daughter has taken quite a liking to you during your stay here. She even sees you as her older brother nowadays. Sadly, she did not have a sibling so I will give you my special permission to be her older brother from now on."


    Randy had no idea what the other party was saying, so he only looked on with a smile on his face.


    Noticing his weak reaction, Klemente cleared his throat and continued: "What I''m trying to say is that you have toe back alive. Because if you die, your little sister would be so sad that she would start crying her eyeballs out."


    "Dad! What are you saying?! When did I ever cry?! I''m not a kid anymore!" ra felt embarrassed by her father''s remarks and shouted right away.


    "Hahaha! Anyway, you better take care of yourself. I have no idea why you want to be a hunter when it seems like you''re already strong enough. But since you saved our daughter, you have already be like a family to us. So don''t go off and die, got it?!" Klementeughed at her daughter, and then said to Randy.


    "Got it!" Randy replied with a smile.


    "Sheesh! How many times have you said ''die'' already? Do you truly want Crimson to die? Is that it?" Klemente''s wife called Jemaimamented when she noticed how many times her husband had mentioned the word ''die'' in his sentences just now.


    Before she spoke, she had pinched him on his side without hesitation, and only proceeded to let go after she finished speaking.


    "Ouch! I was just emphasizing it so that he understands. It''s not like I want him to die or anything." Klemente painfully said to his wife.


    "¡­I understand. Don''t worry, I won''t die that easily." Randy responded after a moment of silence.


    "Hm, that''s more like it. A real man should not be afraid of something like death." Klemente nodded andmented in a pleased tone.


    "Uncle Klemente, Aunt Jemaima, gramps, ra, and everyone, I would like to take my leave now. Once again, thank you for everything. If I have time, I wille to visit you all again in the future." Randy bowed and said to them afterward.


    "We''ll be waiting for your return then, young man. Take care of yourself and have a safe journey on your way." The old man said to him in return with a smile.


    After exchanging more pleasantries with them and then saying his farewell to ra, who seemed disappointed that she could not tag along with him, Randy finally headed south from his current location.


    At this time, he was making his way toward the nearby city, which was not that far from his current location on foot.


    Randy had already spent too much time in the vige after arriving in this world than he had nned.. But it was without a doubt worth it since the time he spent learning at that vige could guarantee or possibly increase the chances of his survival in this new world.

 Chapter 172 - Alpheotus City

    Inside a castle in a certain location.


    The beautiful woman who had been observing Randy for the past week suddenly opened her mouth at this moment and spoke.


    "It seems like he has finally left. What a strange human. First, he kills one human man ruthlessly without any hint of emotion simply to save that human girl, and then proceeded stay in her vige for a week before leaving. Why do something like that? I don''t understand. He could''ve simply left after receiving their gratitude, but he didn''t do that for some unknown reason." The beautiful woman muttered to herself with a pondering expression.


    She then supported her head with her right hand as she sat on her throne in deep contemtion.


    ''All this time, I had been observing him in hopes of finding out about his motives foring to the forest, but there was no development. All he had been doing these past few days was getting unusually along with the vigers even though they were aggressive toward him at the beginning. Then again, I wonder why they suddenly changed their attitude toward him. If only I could hear what they were saying, but sadly, I could not.''


    ''But judging from their reactions at the time, it seemed like that old man somehow understood that young man''s seemingly strangenguage which might be different from themonnguage widely used in this continent.''


    ''Then, did that young mane from another location outside of the continent to this ce? Is that why there was that unusual spatial fluctuation when he arrived here or is there another reason for his sudden appearance? And more importantly, how was he able to traverse the vast distance with simple spatial transfer magic? No, this has to be the work of some high-ranking spatial magic or an advanced spatial magic formation. If that was the case, then what is his true identity? Whye to this ce in first ce? Who did hee here for? Or was he escaping from someone?''


    ''Haa¡­ I didn''t think that I will get that much curious about a mere human. But there''s indeed something very strange about that young man. But I just can''t put my finger on it for now.''


    ''I wish I could observe him more and see what he was hiding, but¡­''


    "...Anymore observation from my end would only attract the attention of those people, so I cannot monitor his actions once he arrive at the nearby city. But with this, I can now confirm that he truly did note here for me. So I guess there''s no need to monitor him any more than this." She suddenly said out loud, concluding her thoughts.


    With that concluded, she turned her attention elsewhere, ignoring the strange young man, and then continued monitoring any changes within the forest.


    However, she was not constantly monitoring everything in the forest. Instead, whenever something odd appeared in the forest, she would be alerted, just like how she quickly found out about Randy through his sudden appearance in the forest.


    And also, she was observing those armored men who came to the forest at the time, so she was able to tell when Randy arrived in the forest right away, which led her to monitor his actions closely afterward.


    ¡­


    At the same time.


    Randy, who had been walking away from the vige, suddenly stopped in his movement. He proceeded to turn around to look in the direction of the forest for a brief moment as if sensing something, and he sighed in relief shortly after when he noticed that the uneasy feeling that had been tormenting him these past few days had suddenly disappeared.


    He wondered if the other party had given up on him or whether he had escaped their domain of influence. Either way, he was d that he did not have to be on edge all the time.


    Although Randy managed to keep his calm while staying in the vige, he could not shake off the feeling that the entity was still monitoring him.


    At this point, his only clue lied in that dark region within the forest, but he was not stupid enough to confront the other party without knowing how strong they were beforehand, and thus he ultimately gave up for now.


    With that out of the way, he turned around again and started walking away from the direction of the vige with various thoughts in his head.


    ''It seems like they had indeed lost interest in me. But who could be observing me this whole time? Whatever, I need to head to the city and then register as a dungeon hunter since that is the only way to make money quickly in this world. Now that I think about it, I guess it is somewhat simr to my world in that aspect.'' Randy thought in conclusion, and he then picked up his pace.


    As there are more pressing matters, Randy put these thoughts aside and decided to pick up the pace as he quickly walked in a certain direction based on the map that he had received from the vige''s chief.


    After walking for a few hours, Randy suddenly saw a reinforced city in the distance. The name of this city was¡ª Alpheotus City.


    Seeing the moderately grand city in the distance, Randy smiled in delight as he was now feeling hungry and parched after walking for a few hours straight.


    Although he took a break along the way here and even ate the food that he packed and brought with him, it was still not enough to satisfy him, so he was instantly thrilled that he had finally reached the city.


    Very soon, he reached the main entrance of the city. However, the moment he arrived there, he was immediately blocked by the guard of the city''s gate.


    "Who are you? You don''t look like a citizen of this city. Do you have an identification card with you? If not, then you''ll have to pay the entrance fee of 1 gold before you can proceed to enter the city." The guard indifferently said to him.


    Randy had been prepared for this situation beforehand since he had learned from the old man that he needed an identification papers or card to enter a city. But Randy did not have anything of the sort.


    Although he had his awakener''s identification card from his world, it was not like he could give that to them. That would be too stupid if he did.


    But he had another solution in mind, and without hesitation, he reached out into the pouch on his waist and then took out a golden card. This was the currency of this world. It was simply a card with patterns engraved on it, and it also had this world''s numerical values rting to the amount of money at the corners of the card.


    When Randy first saw this card, it instantly reminded him of poker cards in his world. However, the cards here were not a source for entertainment or ying around. Instead, it was this world''s currency for exchange.


    At this time, Randy had walked toward the guard before handing to him the card in his hand.


    "Here you go. 1 gold.. Can I enter the city now?" Randy calmly said afterward.

 Chapter 173 - Dungeon Exploration Occupation Society

    At first, when the guard saw Randy approach the city gate, he disyed a scowled expression and thought that he was a poor person who wanted to enter the city.


    The guard had assumed this simply because of the clothes he was currently wearing¡ª the grey t-shirt with the V-neck and a pair of brown pants that he received from the vige.


    However, when Randy gave the guard the golden card with the number 1 written on the corners indicating its mary value, the guard smiled with an amiable expression, seemingly pleased with the uprightness of Randy.


    Afterward, the guard gestured to the city gate not far way behind him before saying to him: "Of course. You can head in now. Wee to the City of Alpheotus!"


    Hearing the other party''s enthusiastic words and the change in their attitudepared to before, Randy proceeded to ignore their behavior altogether and only nodded slightly before walking through the huge main city gate that was about 10 meters tall, if not more, and then walked straight into the bustling city.


    When Randy entered the city, he was surprised not by the number of humans walking about busy and doing their own things, but instead, he was surprised by this world''s civilization¡ª the buildings of this city.


    Although it was notparable to his world''s buildings, it was still a decent construction overall based on his observation alone. That was if one considered that this was not a technological world and a magical world instead.


    To give further exnation, that would be that all the buildings in this city seemed to be made out of bricks instead of other materials, albeit the construction method is still mundane.


    Furthermore, the structures of the buildings seemed to be meticulously designed with solid foundations to ensure stability, and theyered bricks were also structured to be impervious to the downpour of rain.


    Thus, the look of these buildings was highly desirable to Randy right now.


    The reason why Randy marveled at these buildings was not because of this observation, but because when he came to this world, he had lived in the vige''s hut that was built from wood, so he naturally surmised that this world''s civilization wascking in technology.


    But it turned out he was indisputably wrong about his assumptions, especially when he saw the well-constructed buildings in front of him.


    Although he would love to appreciate these buildings, there were more pressing matters which he had to attend to right now.


    Most importantly, he needed to find the organization where he could register to be a dungeon hunter, and it was getting dark outside right now.


    When he left the vige, the sun was not fully up, but now the sun was setting, indicating that it was about to be nighttime soon.


    Ignoring the matter of him being hungry for a while now since he had been walking for a few hours straight after departing in the morning from the vige, what matters the most right now was that he needed to find the organization''s building and register before they end up closing down their doors.


    After all, he did not know how this world works fully despite learning as much as he could from the old man during the week that he stayed in the vige. However, the old man was not a hunter or a fighter for that matter thus he did not know how these things work.


    Randy recalled what he heard from the old man before leaving, and he immediately narrowed his gaze and looked up to search for something.


    ''Now, where is the tallest building around here¡­? Oh, there it is. I think that tall and magnificent-looking building should be the one. After all, it has a spire design, and it was also tall just like the old man had described.''


    Randy walked around the city as he quickly noticed a building that matched what the old man had described to him as the tallest building in the entire Alpheotus city. The old man told him that the building would be distinguishable right after entering the city.


    And sure enough, just like the old man had said, there was indeed a very tall building in the city, and he did not even need to waste time to search for it, thus it saved him a lot of time.


    In the distance, Randy saw a group of young men and women adorning metallic and non-metallic armors with scratches on them as they walked about with their weapons either on their sides or held within their hands. They seem to be heading in a certain direction, most likely to purchase weapons or hunting items.


    After all, this Alpheotus city was thend of dungeon hunters.


    The people who hunt in the dungeon are often called ''challengers'' due to the setup of this world''s dungeons, which enabled one to get stronger in both energy umtion and physical strengthening right after sessfully challenging them.


    Though, there seems to be a downside to their strength acquisition, as exined by the old man.


    However, Randy did not understand what the old man meant by his vague exnation at the time.


    And besides, the old man was not knowledgeable about it enough to exin it in-depth, he only knew themon knowledge regarding the matter. And so, Randy nned on confirming what he meant right after bing a dungeon hunter.


    After walking past the group of people standing next to street vendors and others who were entering some shops, most likely to purchase equipment or supplements for their hunts, he made his way to his destination.


    After navigating his way toward the tall building, he soon reached the entrance of the building.


    He proceeded to look up to see the characters written in bold font on the signboard on top of the entrance gate¡ª Dungeon Exploration upation Society.


    After observing the words on the signboard for a moment to confirm that it was indeed the right location, he walked inside the building.


    And almost right away, everyone quickly stopped whatever they were doing and looked his way when he entered the building before immediately losing interest in him shortly after when they noticed his appearance that was not eye-catching.


    ''Good thing that they seem to be very reasonable people. I thought there would be some drama because I did not follow a certain etiquette like announcing myself before entering or something along those lines.'' Randy thought in relief when he noticed that everyone immediately ignored him.


    At this point, people were standing next to a bulletin board on the wall with different illustrations posted on them.


    Some people were also walking into the building at this moment, and others were living with stern expressions on their faces.


    Everyone seemed serious about their job when Randy observed them closely.


    At this time, Randy quickly made his way towards an empty reception area after ignoring everyone in the building, who were busy doing their own things.


    When the receptionist saw the approaching young man, she immediately put on a weing smile, and when the young man was standing in front of her counter, she opened her mouth to speak.


    "Hello. Wee to the Dungeon Exploration upation Society, Alpheotus Branch. My name is Zophia, a receptionist. It appears that this is your first time here. How may I help you today?" The receptionist called Zophia smiled afterward.


    "Ah, I want to be a dungeon hunter.." Randy replied.

 Chapter 174 - Dungeon Hunter Registration

    "I want to be a dungeon hunter." Randy stated.


    When everyone within the building heard his seemingly calm words, they turned in his direction and then observed the young man who did not seem toe from a wealthy family or a renowned family.


    The reason was that he was wearing cheap clothes that only people from the vige wear and thus he was most likely here to register to be a dungeon hunter to make quick money.


    However, those who hunt in the dungeons knew that although if one was careful enough, they could avoid death in the dungeon, it did not mean that one would always be lucky, and therefore, they viewed this young man with scorn. They could not be bothered with people like this since they would die soon orter.


    "Oh, is that so. Is this perhaps your first time registering? Or are you transferring from somewhere else?" Zophia asked him in confirmation.


    "No, this is my first time." Randy quickly shook his head.


    "Hmm¡­ I see. In that case, can you fill out this form, and then we would proceed to measure your level and other talents."


    "Level and talents?" Randy expressed his doubt.


    "That''s right. Have you not heard about this before?" Zophia raised her eyebrows and asked.


    "No, that''s not it. I know about levels. I just didn''t know that I would be measuring them here during my registration." Randy said.


    "There''s no need to worry. You don''t particrly need your level as of right now. We would be focusing on your physical and magical talents instead. Using the measured values, we can use that to determine what kind of missions and requests to assign to you. After youplete the mission or request assigned to you, we would then check your level after that and then use that to assign the appropriate ranking for you." Zophia exined to him.


    "I see. I understand. Then I will fill out the form right now." Randy nodded in understanding as he grabbed the ink and paper ced in front of him and started filling it out with this world''snguage characters.


    He had already used his knowledge points to learn the characters of this world, coupled with his lesson with the old man, there was no way he could not write in this world''snguage. As for the things that needed to be filled out, they were simply his name, where he was from, level of strength if he had one, skill if he had one.


    Randy left out the parts that required him to write his level and also, where it demanded his skills. After all, this is apletely different world and there was no way that he would reveal his skills to them.


    Moreover, just a few days ago, when simply witnessing his blood maniption ability due to his Blood Authority Skill, ra and everyone in the vige immediately assumed that he was some monster in disguise. Which further proved that he cannot carelessly reveal his skills to the people of this world.


    With that in mind, before reaching the city, Randy had already assumed his original human form, and right now, he had his usual curly blonde hair and grey eyes. Which was unlike his ancestral form that made his hair color blood-red, and his eyes amber-golden color.


    Without a doubt, if he came to this ce with his previous appearance, the people here would have attacked him right away upon their meeting.


    After Randy was done filling out the registration form, the receptionist, Zophia who went somewhere when he was filling out the registration paper, brought back some device or perhaps an artifact, and then ced it on the counter before gesturing with her hands.


    "ce your hand on this. It would disy your talents when you do so." She said.


    Randy observed this device which looked like a stone b with nothing noteworthy about it except for its color, which was ck.


    "Alright." Randy replied without thinking too much.


    After responding, he immediately put his right hand on the ck stone b. The next moment, before the stone could disy his results, his system suddenly prompted him.


    [[Detected an artifact which has the effects of discerning and assessing the abilities of the host. Would you permit the artifact to disy your skills and basic statistics?]]


    ''What? Are you saying that you can block it from checking my skills and even my basic statistics?'' Randy doubtfully asked in his mind.


    [[That is possible]] The system replied with a line of text.


    ''Hmm¡­ Then just block my skills and leave my basic statistics intact. I can''t simply im that I don''t any basic statistics when I clearly do have them. Even if I can hide it, they might find out using another method, and I would not be able to exin it to them then, so it''s better to leave it as is.'' Randy decisively said to the system.


    The moment he finished his conversation with the system, which only took a few moments, the ck stone b which was taking so long to disy his results started vibrating.


    ''What''s going on? I thought it was taking so long to measure this person''s talents, but now, it started vibrating. Is this measuring device broken? No, this was something retrieved from the dungeon, so there''s no way that it would be defective.'' Zophia noticed the strange phenomenon andmented in her mind with a bewildered expression.


    A few momentster, the ck stone b suddenly stopped vibrating and quickly let out a bright yellow light with golden runic characters hovering above it.


    A momentter, those golden runic characters formed the characters of this world''snguage and then disyed the results of the measurement above the ck stone b as if a holographic projection.


    ____


    Name: ???


    Species: ???


    Title(s): ???


    upation: ???


    Level: 0


    Mana Points: 1299/1299


    Health Points: ???/???


    Strength: 40


    Endurance: 40


    Vitality: 40


    Stamina: 39.5


    Agility: 30


    Perception: 100


    Magic Limit: 129.9


    Intelligence: 250


    Skill(s): None


    ----


    "2-250!!" Zophia immediately eximed in shock when she saw the disyed results.


    Meanwhile, Randy was dumbfounded and baffled by his own disyed results, especially when he read the first few lines.


    ''What the hell is with these question marks? System, didn''t you say that you were only going to block off my skills? Why are there missing words and numbers? More importantly, why is even my name hidden on the screen?" Randy questioned in bewilderment when he saw the disyed results.

 Chapter 175 - Apostle

    [¡­]


    Despite Randy asking about measurement results disyed on the screen projected from the ck stone b, the system did not respond to hisints and proceeded to maintain its silence.


    Meanwhile, the shocked and dumbfounded receptionist, Zophia, quickly shut her mouth when she noticed that people were looking their way when she had shouted just now.


    She then lowered her voice, almost whispering, before saying with a disbelief expression: "Y-Your intelligence attribute is 250? How is that possible?"


    At this point, Randy had already given up on consulting the system and drew his attention to the youngdy who was looking straight at him as she appeared astonished by his results.


    He looked at the youngdy and replied to her with an uncertain tone: "I don''t know what you mean, but that is what it says on here, so¡­ Isn''t this urate? Or is this measurement artifact not always urate?"


    "Are you sure you''re not a level 99 magician in disguise? Because only a magician would have such high intelligence and a very strong one at that." Zophia dazedly ignored his remarks and instead, doubtfully asked in confirmation.


    "Eh¡­ No. Why did you mention ''level 99'' just now? What does that have to do with my intelligence being high?" Randy curiously asked in return.


    "What? You don''t know about this?" Zophia asked, seemingly thinking that the young man was feigning ignorance.


    "Hm." Randy nodded in response.


    "¡­" She was speechless and remained silent for a good moment before she responded.


    "Well, since you don''t know about that then let me exin it to you. An average intelligence attribute was only 10 at the beginning. By that logic, for you to have close to 30 times that is too ridiculous, and if I did not see it with my own eyes, I would think you''re a great magician in disguise. No, I still don''t believe what I am seeing with my own eyes." Zophia exined to him.


    "I see¡­" Randy muttered in contemtion upon hearing this exnation.


    ''It seems like in this world, my intelligence attribute as they call it is too high for my current level. And she even referred to me as a great magician? However, that does not make any sense since I was only someone who had awakened with a fourth-circle magician realm''s magical energy. But something is still strange with my talents disyed by this ck stone b.''


    ''Why are the terms used to refer to the statistics slightly different from my system''s terms? And moreover, why is only my intelligence which appears to be rted to my mental strength with 2500 values and my psionic energy with 250, the only thing that seemed to be somewhat understandable?''


    ''Furthermore, If I go off that trend of thought, just by using the strength statistics topare the different systems, I shouldhave 400 values in my system disy, but on here, it says that I only have 40 values instead.''


    ''So based on that, I could only conclude that every statistic from my world is divided by 10, which was most likely rted to this world measuring standards being different from my world''s standards.''


    As Randy deeply thought these to himself, he proceeded to ponder for a moment, and eventually inwardly nodded and assumed that to be most likely the case shortly after.


    At this time, the receptionist, Zophia realized something and quickly opened her mouth to speak in a low voice once again, afraid to attract attention: "Wait a second. Your perception is also off the charts."


    And she continued in the same tone: "Are you perhaps also an apostle in disguise? Otherwise, there''s no way for your perception which is rted to sight and concentration to be this high when you''re not even level 1."


    "An apostle? What is that?" Randy confusedly asked.


    For a while now, this receptionist kept iming that he was someone else in disguise just based on his statistic¡ª his attributes, which were supposedly highpared to the norm in this world.


    But now, she was even adding on that he was no longer just what she imed before, and that he was instead a great magician and also an apostle? Randy was genuinely curious about this since he did not know much about this world, and now was good a chance to learn more.


    "You don''t even about something like that? Where did youe from again?" Zophia was speechless when she heard Randy''s seemingly clueless response just now.


    "Ahaha¡­"


    In response to her doubtful questions, Randy onlyughed embarrassingly before saying: "I have been living in the vige all my life until now, so I am not that knowledgeable about these things. If you don''t mind, can you please exin it to me? About what this term ''apostle'' means?"


    "¡­" Zophia looked at the young man in front of her with narrowed gaze for a moment before sighing and saying: "I understand."


    "But are you truly certain that you''re not an apostle in disguise and pretending to be ignorant in front of me? Or perhaps you may have lost your memory or something? Otherwise, there''s no way to exin your insanely high perception and intelligence attributes which could rival that of the apostles. To be honest, I still find it hard to believe that you''re telling me the truth about all these." Zophia bluntly said to him while expressing her doubt.


    Randy was taken aback by her using words, but he still maintained his calm expression and answered in confirmation: "I''m sure. This is my first time hearing about the term apostle sinceing out of the vige."


    ''What''s going on? Why does she keep insisting that I am an apostle or something right after iming that I was a level 99 great magician? Is my statistics that high in this world to the point where I would be viewed as both a great magician and this ''apostle'' thing. Although I could understand the part about me being a magician, I am not a great magician since I am only at fourth-circle magician realm.''


    ''No, there''s something else that''s bothering me. Why are my basic statistics showing lower values than the ones on my system? Though I already guessed the reason, that was only my guess and not theplete or definite truth. It seems like I will have to ask the systemter about all of these to be sure.''


    Randy was inwardly bewildered by the insistence disyed by the receptionist and decided to consult the systemter to verify and confirm his doubts.


    Zophia observed the genuine facial expression of the young man standing in front of her for a brief moment.


    A momentter, after seeing that he did not seem to be lying to her, she opened her mouth and decided to exin to him: "First of all, apostles are just like the name, the apostles of the gods that govern this world. They are people who had reached the exalted level of power and strength in this world, which is through reaching level 99, and thus have chosen to serve the gods in order to increase their chances of reaching level 100, which was said to be harder to reach under normal circumstances."


    "That was because, at that point in one''s power level, simply using the dungeons would not guarantee a level increase even if one met the quota needed to increase their level, and not to mention, one would take a very long time to obtain the necessary experience to increase their level."

 Chapter 176 - Temporary Card

    "The reason for that was because, at that point in one''s power level, simply using the dungeons would not guarantee a level increase even if one met the quota needed to increase their level, and not to mention, one would take a very long time to obtain the necessary experience to increase their level. After all, those who managed to reach level 99 are no longer considered just normal mortals in a sense."


    "So in the end, the only solution avable to reach the unreachable level 100 was to be a god''s apostle and obtain their direct blessing and divine authority. Only throughprehending those authorities obtained could one have the hope of reaching level 100 in this world, and also have the chance to join the gods in the gods'' realm as their loyal servant or prot¨¦g¨¦."


    "Because of how hard it is to receive the attention of the gods, there are many people who had reached level 99, but there are barely any among them who had managed to attract the gods'' attention to receive their blessings in order to reach level 100."


    "Eventually, the concept of level 100 itself became a legend in this world and one could only dream of reaching this level. Ultimately, level 100 was dubbed the legendary level and the apostles themselves do not show their faces in public anymore even if they descend to the world from the gods'' realm."


    At this time, Zophia paused for a moment before continuing in admiration: "Furthermore, those that received the gods'' blessings not only have their original insane power level but also obtain control of a type of element or power in this world. For example, the ability to create an undying me that could burn anything into nothingness or create frost that could freeze anything including fire."


    "Sadly, apostles don''t usually stay in the mortal ne for too long before they ascend, so there''s not much known about them. That was because they would sooner orter finishprehending their authorities and by then, some would stay for a while and as for others, they would ascend right away."


    "So do you understand now how amazing an apostle who had received a god''s blessing is?" Zophia sighed and then looked at Randy.


    ''How interesting¡­ So the highest level in this world truly is level 99? And she thought I was at this level with just my intelligence alone. But I wonder how it rtes to my world''s system. However, it seems that in order to reach level 100 you have to get a god''s attention? So this world has things like gods?


    ''Then do gods also exist in my world? No, I highly doubt it, there has not been any mention of gods existing in my world even though there are so many supernatural things happening ever since the dimensional rifts and gates appeared.''


    ''I suppose the owner of that mysterious voice that announced the events to us before it happened could be considered a god. But why did they not help the humans close the dimensional rifts and only create dimensional gates to trap some monsters instead?''


    ''Are the gods not invincible or maybe they''re not actually gods but just some unfathomably powerful existences? In any case, I wonder if they knew about my existence in this world. If so, then why are they not intervening, or it does not matter to them?''


    "I think I understand it a little bit. But how does that have to do with my intelligence and perception attributes? It''s not like I am as powerful as them right now with just these attributes, right? To me, I look very ordinary and barely have enough strength to fight other people, so I am very certain that I am not one of these apostles that you just described. After all, based on how you described them, they sounded like insanely powerful people. And I don''t think I have such strength topare to them. I only wish for such strength someday." Randy wholeheartedly responded to her.


    Zophia readily agreed with his statement: "That''s right, the apostles are powerful to the point where normal people could not be their match. Some even say that once you be an apostle candidate, you would essentially be a demi-god existence."


    Zophia suddenly realized that she was not focusing on the main point, and she shook her head before continuing: "No, that''s not what''s important. Your intelligence attribute is more or less on the level of what an apostle would have. Although this is based on an estimate, it is still urate to a certain extent. After all, there are no humans with such high intelligence and perception attributes from the start."


    "Not to mention, your magic limit is already too high even though you''re not even a magician. Now that I look closely enough, your strength attribute is already above the average strength of 20 in this world. But that is nothing considering that there are some people who started with higher strength attributes. However, in your case, all your physical attributes are all above average which makes you have tremendously high potential in whatever upation you decide onter."


    "Personally, I think you should pick magician as your upation, and make use of your high intelligence, perception, and mana." Zophia suggested.


    "Why do you say so? Isn''t better to be a swordsman with my physical attributes?"


    "Well, you could but it''s a waste. You have high intelligence, meaning you can use high-ranking spells without effort since one''s mental image is necessary for forming spells and right now, you have a huge advantage in that aspect due to your high intelligence."


    "In other words, yourprehension toward basic magic and intermediate magic will be on the monstrous level. And if you try hard enough you could even use high-ranking spells because of your high intelligence coupled with your high perception which increases your concentration and visual prowess."


    Zophia enthusiastically exined to Randy while giving him pointers regarding his high attributes and how he could make better use of them.


    "I see, I understand. I''ll keep that in mind when I made my decision. For now, I would like to think about this matterter." Randy nodded in understanding, and then he doubtfully asked: "But how do I pick my upation by the way? Do I have to do it right here?"


    "Hahaha, of course not. You will have to do that while inside the dungeon. You really do not know anything, huh?" Zophiaughed and replied, seemingly amused by his ignorant question.


    "Inside the dungeon?" Randy asked further.


    "That''s right." Zophia replied.


    "That reminds me, give me a moment to process your results and registration. We''ve been talking for a while now that I almost forgot about the reason why you came here in the first ce. It''s good that no one is in line right now. Otherwise, we wouldn''t have been able to talk for such a long time. Anyway, I will be right back with your registration card." Zophia then said before walking away to the back of her station.


    After a while, she came back with something in her hand. She extended her hand to give a card to Randy before speaking: "Here''s your temporary Dungeon hunter card. You don''t have to pay for it this time. However, make sure you do not lose it even if it is only a temporary one. Otherwise, you have to pay for it during the second issuance regardless of whether it is temporary or an official card."


    Randy nodded as he took the card from her hand, and then he said: "Thank you."


    Zophia smiled and then said: "Come back tomorrow in the morning and receive your rank mission.. Ah, that mission would also be your chance to pick your upation before you would receive your official dungeon hunter identification card."

 Chapter 177 - Conjecture

    After receiving the temporary card from Zophia, Randy turned around and was about to walk away, then he suddenly stopped, turned to face Zophia before asking: "Ah, I almost forgot about this. I meant to ask you this earlier. But do you also provide lodgings for registered dungeon hunters?"


    "We do actually. But you still have to pay for it if you want to rent one. The only good aspect would be that there would be a discount on the rooms avable so it would be much cheaper to afford than the inns in the city." Zophia happily replied.


    "Is that so. Then do you mind if I stay here for the night? After all, I still have toplete my rank mission tomorrow, right?" Randy immediately said to her.


    "It''s okay if you want to stay here. There''s no procedure or anything. You just need to pay upfront, and I will give you the key to the avable room afterward. The lodgings are located at the back of the reception area. But most of the rooms at the bottom floor are for the F-Rank Dungeon hunters, so it might not be too fancy."


    "I don''t mind. As long as there''s a bed to sleep on, it should be okay." Randy replied, and then asked further: "Do you also provide food?"


    "We do. Although it is separate from the lodging fees, so you still have to pay a little extra." Zophia quickly responded, and then asked: "How much is your budget?"


    Randy thought for a bit, and then replied: "About 100 gold."


    "¡­That should be enough to stay here for a long time. Considering that it only cost 50 Silver for a day and night in here as opposed to 1 gold in the inns outside the organization." Zophia said a momentter.


    Hearing her words, without hesitation, Randy went to pay for his lodgings and food amodation and then received a key from Zophia shortly after.


    And upon following the directions given to him by Zophia, he made his way to the back of the reception area through the corridor on the right side.


    Very soon, he stood in front of a room, as he used the key given to him, the door opened, revealing the interior of the room. The room was not fancy just like Zophia has said, as there was only a single bed and a table.


    At this moment, Randy felt exhausted and so without waiting any longer, he went to lie t on the bed but soon heard the rumbling of his stomach shortly after.


    ''So hungry. When are they going to bring the food over?''


    Beforeing to his room, he had already asked Zophia about when the food would be served, and she said that it would be served in a few minutes. Having no other choice, Randy came to his room as he waited for the food to arrive.


    Sure enough, a few minutester, someone came and delivered the food to his room. Randy went and grabbed the food immediately upon hearing the knock on his door, and afterward, he ate his share of food for the day with satisfaction.


    The food itself was nothing fancy or special cuisine. Just some vegetable stew with tender meat cutlets and some cooked grains that looked simr to rice but also slightly different, coupled with some freshly squeezed fruit juice that tasted like an apple and orange mixed together.


    After he was done, he took out the tes with all the food emptied out from them and put them in a basket outside of his room. ording to what he learned from Zophia, the room service woulde and pick up all the tester, so he only needed to ce them outside.


    At this time, Randy was sitting on his bed as he readied himself to ask the system about the things that he had learned about today. When he was ready, he looked at the projected screen in front of him and spoke in his mind.


    ''System, I am not going to ask about why my name is missing on the measurement artifact since I already gave out my name when I filled out that registration form. So answer me this instead, why are my basic statistics or more precisely my attributes lowerpared to the ones stated here? Is it like I had guessed? That it seemed to be divided by 10 and is actually proportional to the ones on here?''


    [[It is like the host had guessed. The measurement was conducted with the measurement standard of this world. And thus, there are bound to be differences between both worlds due to that. Furthermore, the measurement disyed was an urate value of your basic statistics, just in a different standard, so the host does not need to worry too much. Fortunately, the standard was not that vastly different from the host''s world, and therefore, the host could still confirm the difference right away]]


    "So it is like I thought then." Randy muttered while holding his chin in contemtion.


    ''I originally thought that my mental strength was normal because at the time I did not have anyone topare to. But now that I heard this, it got me curious about what the average mental strength should be for people in my world.''


    ''Although I used a few knowledge points to increase the value of my mental strength to reach the first realm in psionic energy umtion, I remember that the value before the current value was still higher than the average intelligence in this world which was only 10.''


    ''If I recall correctly, I had 875 values in mental strength, meaning my intelligence, ording to this world, would have been 87.5. Wouldn''t this still be too high ifpared to the average in this world? I don''t think I am that talented enough to have such values. After all, it took me a near-death experience to finally awaken my ability, so there must a reason why my intelligence or mental strength was high in the beginning.''


    ''Right, since I was someone who had awakened unlike the people in this world, I might have increased my mental strength somehow with the increase in my magical energy. I heard from Emilia that practicing spiritual energy cultivation would allow one to increase all their basic statistics including the other statistics evenly, so there was a chance that increasing one''s magical energy would also increase one''s mental strength and perhaps even mental resistance.''


    ''In that sense, it makes sense why I had 875 in the beginning when I had awakened to my innate ability along with mypatible energies.''


    Randy pondered for a while by himself in the room, and a short whileter, he concluded what he believed to be the case. However, he still needed confirmation, so he decided to seek a second opinion.


    With that thought in mind, he asked the system further in his mind: ''Then can you exin to me why that receptionist¡­ Zophia said that my intelligence which rtes to my psionic energy was high enough to match this world''s strongest humans? After all, even though I increased my mental strength in tandem with my psionic energy, I am still not strong enough to be on the same level as this apostle that she had described earlier.''

 Chapter 178 - Rank Mission

    [[¡­]]


    "What? Nothing again this time? So am I wrong in my spection just now or not? I know you can probably read my mind so I would like to at least hear that what I was thinking was right or wrong." Randy said out loud when he noticed that the system was not responding to his question after a while.


    [[The host would have to rely on himself to find out about these things. The system''s only purpose is to support the host in getting used to his abilities and getting stronger for now. Matters not rted to that or could be easily acquired through other methods would not be answered by the system]]


    The system replied with a few lines of text on the projected screen in front of him.


    "Haa¡­ So in the end, was I right or wrong? Never mind, I still think the possibility of what I deduced being true is high. As for the reason why my intelligence is high, it is most likely due to the system. Maybe using knowledge points to enhance my mental energy made me have a very strong foundation in my intelligencepared to others." Randy sighed helplessly with a bitter smile and concluded to himself.


    To be honest, he had already realized the truth of the matter, but he just wanted confirmation. However, since the system did not confirm his doubts, he decided to finalize his thoughts.


    For now, what mattered the most was that he had found a method to get stronger in this world, and that method would begin tomorrow right after he receives his rank mission.


    Naturally, he nned on taking advantage of this method of strength acquisition to the fullest, and if possible, he would even aim to be this apostle that Zophia had mentioned. But that was if he had enough time to spend in this world to aplish something like that.


    After all, although he had about three months to stay in this world, it was still not enough time to reach the highest level in this world. However, he would make that his goal so that he would have a solid path to follow as he gets stronger over time. Otherwise, the purpose ofing to this world and risking his life would be pointless.


    With nothing to do and also because he was tired from the long journey, Randy proceeded to head to sleep without bothering to do anything else. When he woke up, it was already morning.


    Luckily, there was a clock in this world, so he did not have to worry about telling the time of the day, so without further ado, he got off the bed and went to take a shower in the public bath in the building.


    Afterward, he changed his clothes into a new pair which was identical to the ones that he had on the day before.


    The reason why he still wore the same clothes was to give the impression that he truly was from the vige that he came from and also, he did not have any clothes that belong to this world.


    Originally, he brought some clothes with him because of the trip to the military base but since he gave up on participating, those clothes were still with him. However, he could not simply wear those in this different world with different cloth styles.


    At this point, Randy walked to the front of the society''s building and went directly to Zophia''s reception area after waiting for a while.


    Although there were other receptionists besides her, Randy wasfortable with speaking with Zophia as she was the one that he met yesterday, thus was familiar with her, and as for the others, they were nothing but strangers to him.


    At this time, he had approached Zophia''s counter, and when Zophia noticed his presence, she smiled and happily said to him: "Randy, your rank mission has been determined by the society leader. When I told him about your results, he did not believe either. And so, in this rank mission, he is highly anticipating your results. So you have to do your best, although I highly doubt that you''ll fail the rank mission with those attributes of yours."


    After saying this, she handed something to Randy and continued: "This is your rank mission. Normally, those with low attributes receive requests, and depending on theirpletion rate, they would receive the appropriate ranking. But since you have such high attributes from the beginning, it was more appropriate to give you a rank mission in the dungeon. All you have to do is hunt the Grey wolves on the first floor of the Alpheotus Beasts Dungeon."


    "Beasts Dungeon?" Randy repeated these words.


    "Ah, right. I keep forgetting that you''re clueless about most things, so I''ll exin. There are different kinds of dungeons in this world. The beasts dungeon or dungeon of beasts is one of them, and just like the name, only beast-type creatures inhabit the dungeon, and you''ll have to hunt them in order to increase your level. Also, be aware that once you enter the dungeon for the first time, you will receive the challenger''s leveling system which would be bound to you from that point onwards." Zophia said.


    "I see¡­ So... it says here that I have to hunt down 10 grey wolves and bring back their furs and fangs. And also, they''re only level 1 beasts? Then is it okay to hunt down those above level 1 too?" Randy then asked in confirmation.


    "You can if you want to, but it is not required to get your ranking¡­ Well, I suppose you could say that it is somewhat required as your level will increase when you kill more beasts in the dungeon, which would also increase your strength, your ranking in the society, and as well as your rank as a dungeon hunter." Zophia answered.


    "I see, then I''ll take my leave now. I want to return before it gets dark outside." Randy nodded and was about to walk away since he wanted toplete this mission as soon as possible. However, a sudden voice caused him to halt in his steps.


    "Wait!"


    It was Zophia''s voice.


    "What is it?" Randy asked in puzzlement.


    "Do you have any proper equipment with you?" She asked.


    "I have my sword?" Randy replied, unsure why she asked him that.


    "No. I mean, do you have armors or potions or anything necessary for hunting and ensuring your survival?" She emphasized.


    "No?" Randy replied.


    Upon hearing his reply, Zophia then said: "Then go to the market and buy some before leaving. Although you might not need it, it''s still better to have some potions with you just in case. Also, bring some food with you. Non-perishable food is rmended if possible. If there aren''t any of those, just buy the ones that would not spoil easily."


    "Food? Why should I buy food if I am going into a dungeon?" Randy was confused. He did not need any food if all he was doing was hunting low-level creatures in the dungeon. And besides, he could simply return to the city if he was really hungry, as ording to the map, the dungeon of beasts was not that far away from Alpheotus city.


    However, Zophia insisted and said: "Trust me, you might need it once you reach the safe room where you can proceed to rest for a while after your hunt. Even if you leave right after hunting, you can still keep the food for the next day if it is non-perishable. Furthermore, didn''t you say that you''ll be hunting other wolves above level 1? If you decide on doing that then all the more reason why you should be prepared for the unknown."


    "Although the level 1 beasts might notpare to you in terms of mana, they have strong physiques by nature and there are unique ones among them. In any case, just buy some healing potions, mana recovery potions, and some non-perishable food. With your current budget, you should be able to afford these things with no problem. Ah, make sure you buy some leather armor too while you''re at it.." Zophia strongly advised.

 Chapter 179 - Quest

    "If you say it like that then I will go and get the supplements and the things that you rmended just in case." Randy finally gave in and said.


    "Please do." Zophia smiled upon hearing his reply.


    "Alright, then I will take my leave now." Randy said afterward.


    He then bid his farewell to Zophia, turned around once again, and then left the building shortly after. Right now, his destination was the market area in the Alpheotus city to purchase the things that Zophia had rmended.


    After he left, Zophia suddenly remembered something and pped her forehead before muttering to herself: "I forget to tell him that the time flow inside the dungeon is different from the outside world. Seriously, how could someone not know anything about dungeons but still want to be a dungeon hunter?"


    ''Then again, why did have his hair slump over his face like that? I could barely see his eyes. He seems like he would be pretty handsome if he just cut his bangs a little. Well, I hope hees back alive. Though I highly doubt anything would happen to him. But still, It''s been a long time since we have a prospect talent in our society in this branch. Not to mention, he is at a monstrous level in terms of talent. I can''t wait to witness and hear about his achievements in the future.'' She quietly thought to herself afterward in anticipation.


    ¡­


    After heeding to Zophia''s words, Randy went to the market to purchase some dry meat and some other non-perishable food. He also bought some low-grade potions even though he already had the potions from his world.


    The reason for his actions was to ensure that when he was asked by Zophia about whether he had bought the potions, he would have something to show or prove that he did follow her advice.


    Furthermore, he bought a leather armor that cost him 5 gold.


    Although it was expensive considering that he only had so many gold cards on him upon arriving in the city, he still bought it anyway as he needed to act as a bona fide dungeon hunter would.


    Afterward, Randy followed the map given to him by Zophia and proceeded to head to the beasts dungeon in hurried steps. He could not afford to return back to cityte at night because there was a chance that the city gate would be closed if he somehow got dyed by an unknown factor.


    Not to mention, he truly nned on hunting more beasts than required if possible because he did not have much time in this world to afford toze around.


    With that thought in mind, he picked up the pace and after walking for about two to three hours, he finally reached his destination ording to the map in his hand.


    Randy looked around in hopes of finding the dungeon, but he did not find anything within the vicinity, and only found something that looked like a gate, or more precisely, it looked more like a standing mirror ced in the field. That was because there was a ss in the middle of the gate that was in front of him.


    ''Is this the dungeon? Zophia said that I only needed to ce my hand on the door to enter the dungeon. So should I put my hand on this mirror-looking thing?'' Randy wondered, but he did not think too long and proceeded to act right away.


    Randy walked in front of the mirror gate and without hesitation ced his left hand on it and proceeded to wait for a moment.


    Fwoosh!


    And right away, a sudden blinding light with a strong suction force abruptly pulled him into the mirror without being able to resist this suction force. If one observed from behind, they would noticed that it appeared as though he has been teleported inside the mirror gate, which was most likely the dungeon.


    When he came to, he found out that he was inside some hallway with torch lights ced on the walls of this hallway, lighting the path to the destination ahead.


    ''Oh, what is this ce?''


    Randy curiously looked around and found out that he was in some ancient-looking hallway that spans about a few meters in front of him.


    When he looked in the distance, he found something that looked like the portals from dimensional rifts.


    [The system has detected a new challenger to the dungeon of beasts. Proceeding with implementation of the challenger''s leveling system]


    [Please wait¡­ ]


    [Error! Unable to implement the system]


    [Attempting implementation one more time]


    "What''s going on? What''s that voice just now? Wait, this voice is familiar somehow... It sounded almost like my system before it went mute after its upgrade. Is that the challenger''s leveling system that Zophia was talking about earlier? Then why did it fail to fuse with me? System¡­"


    Almost as if it could read his mind, his system hesitantly disyed a few lines of text.


    [[Detected a sentient entity attempting to bind with your consciousness. The system has sessfully blocked its attempt in doing so]]


    [[Would you permit this unknown sentient entity to bind with your consciousness?]] The system prompted afterward.


    "What?! Why did you block it? I need this challenger''s leveling system to level up, so why did you block it?" Randy was genuinely bewildered this time, but he soon gave up and said: "Whatever, I permit it."


    [[¡­Response Acknowledged]] The system replied after a while, seemingly displeased with his response.


    [The system has sessfully implemented the challenger''s leveling system]


    [Congrattions, you have been sessfully bound with the challenger''s leveling system. You have now obtained the title ''Challenger'']


    [Challenger: When you defeat a certain amount of creatures within the dungeons in this world, your level would increase and your strength would increase in proportion to your increased level. However, the system has the authority to strip the leveling system from the challengers that refuse to challenge dungeons within a certain duration, or if they do not get used to their acquired attributes before they lose their effects and dissipates]


    The challenger''s leveling system firmly stated.


    "What does that mean?" Randy asked, baffled.


    [Through the challenger''s leveling system, the user would be able to increase his strength in the forms of enhancement or potential boosting. However, you would have a certain amount of days to get used to the increase in your attributes before they turn into invalid attributes]


    [If the user to do notply with this rule, you would not only lose all the untrained attributes obtained after leveling up, but your level would also decrease in proportion to amount of attributes you lost. As a result, you would have to start all over again from your previous state to regain your lost level, and then recover the lost attributes]


    The challenger''s leveling system exined.


    "What?! Something like that exists? Wait a second, then how do I get used to my attributes? If I don''t know that, then I will simply end up blindly leveling up and losing it all over again." Randy doubtfully asked after his initial shock.


    [The user only needed to use his skills or simply break the limits of his body to achieve the ''synergy'' between his skills and body. Achieving this would increase the chances of your attributes transferring over to your body, which would also prevent the attributes from dissipating after the termination deadline] The challenger''s leveling system responded.


    "I see¡­ So, in other words, I just need to train my body and skills every time I level up? And then afterward, I get to keep all the attributes I acquired through leveling up as my own? Otherwise, it would simply disappear even though I would have to work hard to obtain them?" Randy nodded in understanding.


    "Okay, I understand, so can I go into that portal right now?"


    [Affirmative]


    Randy then walked away while following the path in the illuminated hallway, as he pondered something to himself.


    After a while, when he reached the portal in the distance, a notification suddenly resounded in his ears, seemingly from the challenger''s leveling system.


    [Detected the unyielding and determined will of the challenger]


    [A Challenger''s Quest have been created to guide the challenger in his pursuit of power]

 Chapter 180 - Continuous Leveling

    A few minutes ago.


    At this time, Randy had just heard the exnation from the challenger''s leveling system.


    "I see¡­ So, in other words, I just need to train my body and skills every time I level up? And then afterward, I get to keep all the attributes I acquired through leveling up as my own? Otherwise, it would simply disappear even though I would have to work hard to obtain them?" Randy nodded in understanding.


    "Okay, I understand, so can I go into that portal right now?" Randy asked in confirmation.


    [[Affirmative]] The challenger''s leveling system replied.


    As soon as Randy heard its words, he steadily but slowly walked forward as he pondered to himself.


    ''Based on what the challenger''s leveling system said, one would lose their level or the system itself just fromzing around and not challenging the dungeons or without getting used to their strength and power. Now that I think about it... Is this perhaps what the old man was talking about when he exined to me about this world''s leveling system? He had mentioned that there was a downside to leveling up in this world, which makes one lose their strength after a certain amount of time. However, I recall that he did not mention that one could keep their attributes simply by training their body and skills. I suppose he did not know about such information.''


    Randy had finally understood what the old man had talked about with him regarding the downside to this world''s system of power and strength acquisition.


    However, he was still baffled by all these. He realized that even though one could easily obtain strength and power in this world, they would still be required to train their skills and body to get used to such strength and power obtained through leveling.


    ording to what he understood, this world''s method was essentially the same as his world''s method of training and power acquisition with a slight twist.


    This world gave the people strength and power when they kill creatures in the specially created dungeons that somehow existed in this world, and his world, on the other hand, needed one to practice an energy gathering technique to increase one''s strength.


    However, both worlds required one to train their skills and techniques to get used to their acquired strength and power. Otherwise, one would only end up getting killed despite having so much strength and power butcking the experience to use it inbat or simplyck in body coordination due to the power being too strong.


    As he concluded this to himself, he quickened his steps, and soon, he reached the end of the hallway and was about to enter the portal at this time. He had already wasted a few minutes with this new system and him pondering about its words afterward.


    Right now, he could not wait to test out this world''s method of acquiring strength and power as soon as possible.


    With that thought in mind, he took a step forward and attempted to enter the portal. However, at this moment, he was instantly bombarded with a series of notifications from both of his systems. This situation caused Randy to be startled from the two projected screens in front of his vision.


    With such a situation, he quickly stopped himself, and his movement came to a halt.


    He then proceeded to stand there while looking into the void in front of himself, seemingly reading through the two projected screens in front of himself.


    [The Challenger''s Quest have been created]


    [Quest Description: Hunt down 10 Grey Wolves to increase your level for the first time. Subsequently, you can hunt down ten beast-type creatures with different levels on each floor to increase your level corresponding to their levels]


    [Quest Reward: The furs and fangs of the hunted beasts. There is also a possibility of obtaining the mana core of the hunted beasts]


    [Quest Penalty: None]


    Randy read through the lines of white texts disyed in front of him on a blue screen on his left. This blue screen was the challenger''s leveling system''s screen disy.


    After reading through everything, Randy proceeded to look at the golden screen with white lines of text disyed on it.


    [[Quest Function Triggered]]


    [[Quest Description: Hunt down 1000 beasts in the dungeon of beasts to increase your power level]]


    [[Quest Reward: A hint from the system on how to unseal one of the items that you have obtained recently]]


    [[Quest Failure: You lose a chance to obtain valuable information from the system]]


    [[Reminder: You could only hunt on the first five floors in this dungeon no more than two times toplete the quest. Furthermore, even if you hunt down more beasts on the first five floors than stated, it would not be ounted for by the system. However, you can hunt down the beasts in the remaining floors as many times as you want]]


    "What? How many floors are there in this dungeon?" Randy asked.


    [[There are only ten floors in this dungeon of beasts]] The system replied.


    "Alright, I simply need to hunt the beast-type creatures in this dungeon, and I will get valuable information from you? Well, this is good too. As I was originally nning on hunting in this dungeon for a while to level up continuously as soon as possible. Not to mention, I am truly curious about this item of mine that you''re talking about." Randy resolutely said in delight.


    Although Randy had no idea what the system would help him unseal, he could think of a few items like the storage items that he took from the sunsses man and his men with seals ced on them or the things acquired from the blonde man when he first came to this world.


    As for the other quest from the challenger''s leveling system, he ignored it.


    After all, this challenger''s leveling system might have been adjusted for the people with slightly lower attributes at the beginning. However, Randy was different from those people, as he had another system of power acquisition, unlike people of this world, so he was naturally stronger at level 0.


    Without hesitation, he stepped into the portal. And very quickly, he found himself in some forest. He proceeded to look around with caution, but it did not take him long to find his enemies.


    [Discovered the appearance of Grey Wolves]


    [Notice: Grey Wolves are level 1 beasts with strong fangs. Make sure you do not get bit by their fangs during hunting]


    The challenger''s leveling system announced to him the moment the grey wolves appeared from behind the trees in the forest while growling.


    Randy ignored the challenger''s leveling system''s announcement and counted the number of wolves in his view, and luckily, there were only ten of them. Just the right amount he needed to level up.


    "Well, this should be easy." Randy revealed a smile.


    And then he quickly dashed forward and approached his targets without giving them the chance to react and sliced downwards with his rusty steel sword.


    sh! sh! sh! sh! sh! Bam! Bam! Bam! sh! Bam!


    The sound of a fist smashing against something and the cold lights of a sword shing as it sliced through the grey wolves resounded in the background.


    [You have sessfully hunted and killed 10 Grey Wolves within a short amount of time]


    [You have leveled up]


    [You are now level 1]


    [All your attributes have increase by 2 points]


    [Please check your challenger''s attribute screen for further information regarding the increase in your level]


    [Would you like to proceed to the next segment on this floor?]


    "Yes.." Randy replied right away.

 Chapter 181 - Safe Room

    The moment Randy responded to the system, a door, or more urately, a portal suddenly appeared in front of him, and Randy proceeded to head in without hesitation.


    After passing through the portal, Randy found himself still in the same forest, except that the wolves that came out this time had a different color¡ª they had brown furs.


    The next instant, the challenger''s leveling system''s notification suddenly resounded in his ears before a screen shed in his vision.


    [Discovered the appearance of Brown Wolves]


    [Notice: Brown Wolves are level 2 beasts with strong fangs. Make sure you do not get bit by their fangs during hunting]


    [Hunt down ten of these wolves to increase your level to 2]


    Before the system could finish disying its texts, Randy had already approached the brown wolves and ruthlessly mutted them just like he did with the previous Grey wolves.


    To his observation, these wolves turned out to be nothing but trash in front of him. They could hardly qualify to be his match even if he did not enter his assimted state. Although, he was not nning on using assimted state in this dungeon at the moment. However, he would still use it when needed on thetter floors.


    [You have sessfully hunted and killed ten Brown Wolves within a short amount of time]


    [You have leveled up]


    [You are now level 2]


    [All your attributes have increased by 2 points]


    [Please check your challenger''s attribute screen for further information regarding the increase in your level]


    [Would you like to proceed to the next segment on this floor?]


    "Yes." Randy replied.


    Subsequently, Randy was transferred to the next following segments on this floor. And afterward, he was able to casually defeat the different colored wolves on the following two segments without breaking a sweat. At this point, he had already defeated forty wolves in total.


    On the third segment, Randy defeated ten Blue Wolves which were at level 3 right after defeating the Brown wolves on the second segment that were at level 2, and then he proceeded to defeat ten level 4 Red Wolves on the fourth segment on the first floor.


    [You have sessfully hunted and killed ten Blue Wolves within a short amount of time]


    [You have leveled up]


    [You are now level 3]


    [All your attributes have increased by 2 points]


    [Please check your challenger''s attribute screen for further information regarding the increase in your level]


    [You have sessfully hunted and killed ten Red Wolves within a short amount of time]


    [You have leveled up]


    [You are now level 4]


    [All your attributes have increased by 2 points]


    [Please check your challenger''s attribute screen for further information regarding the increase in your level]


    [Would you like to proceed to the next segment on this floor?]


    At this moment, he was prompted by the challenger''s leveling system regarding whether he wanted to continue moving forward.


    And without any hesitation, Randy replied: "Yes."


    Right away, a portal appeared in front of him, and as he walked through it, he was instantly transported to the next segment, and if following the same sequence, the next segment should contain level 5 beast-type creatures.


    Sure enough, just like before it did not take long for the beast-type creatures to appear in front of him, and this time as well, they were still wolves. However, the wolves this time were not like any of the other wolves. These were silver-furred wolves, and they look more aggressive in their appearancepared to the other wolves that Randy had faced up until now.


    However, Randy was not the least bit scared of these fierce-looking silver wolves. In fact, he sneered in their direction with a smile on his face when he saw them approaching him with seemingly calm and steady steps.


    At this moment, the challenger''s leveling system notified him of the description of these wolves.


    [Discovered the appearance of Agile Silver Wolves]


    [Caution: These wolves have extraordinary speedpared to the wolves that the user has faced thus far. Please take precautions when engaging them. Otherwise, you might risk getting injured if not killed]


    [Notice: Agile Silver Wolves are level 5 beasts with strong fangs and agile feet. Make sure you do not get bit by their fangs during hunting. However, their main specialty is using their speed to confuse their enemies before engaging them, so beware of their movements]


    [Hunt down ten of these wolves to increase your level to 5]


    Randy read through all these and then revealed a confident smile afterward.


    ''Even if they had immense speed on this floor, they are only level 5. I highly doubt that they would be able to put a scratch on me. But I should still take this seriously.'' Randy silently thought to himself.


    Whoosh!


    The moment he finished with his thoughts, the Agile Silver Wolves had already surrounded him and proceeded to use their speed to maneuver around him in circles for a long while. They intend to confuse their enemy before engaging them with a sneak attack from their blind spot.


    However, Randy did not immediately engage with the Agile Silver Wolves but instead, he only observed their movements to see whether they were as fast as stated by the system. But s, he found out in a short whileter that, just like he had thought, they were only slightly faster than the Red Wolves on the fourth segment and were not a threat to him whatsoever.


    Without wasting any more time, Randy quickly vanished from his position. The next few moments, the corpses of the Agile Silver Wolves consecutively fell to the ground with audible ''thud'' sounds.


    Randy frowned slightly when he noticed how easy it was to kill these wolves, but he did not let it get to him as there were more creatures in the subsequent floors in this dungeon, meaning a worthy opponent would sooner orter appear for him to face and defeat.


    [You have sessfully hunted and killed ten Agile Silver Wolves within a short amount of time]


    [You have leveled up]


    [You are now level 5]


    [All your attributes have increased by 2 points]


    [Please check your challenger''s attribute screen for further information regarding the increase in your level]


    [Would you like to proceed to the next segment on this floor? Or Would you like to enter the Safe Room on the first floor to take a rest?] The challenger''s leveling system prompted with more words than usual.


    This change undoubtedly caught Randy''s attention, and he proceeded to ask the challenger''s leveling system right away: "What is a safe room?"


    [The Safe Room is a special recuperating room where the challenger could have ess to after clearing a floor. The challenger could choose to enter the Safe Room to rest until they are ready to leave to challenge the next floor, or they could simply decline to enter the Safe Room and proceed to the next floor right away]


    ''So that''s what that is. Should I take a break, though?'' Randy wondered but soon made up his mind.


    "I would like to enter the safe room." Randy said in response. He did not give that kind of reply just because he wanted to take a break.. In actuality, he just wanted to see what this safe room was before departing from this floor and continuing to the next floor.

 Chapter 182 - Growth

    The moment after Randy responded to the challenger''s leveling system, a portal silently appeared behind him. But unlike the other portals, which were ck in appearance, this portal was blue in color, and it also exuded warmth from the other side that made him feel very soothed just by standing there.


    ''Is that the safe room''s portal?'' Randy did not think too much and immediately walked in.


    Shortly after, he found himself standing in a white room that spans a few meters squared. Just by looking for a bit, it was roughly big enough for two people to live in without any difort about the space.


    Randy was mesmerized by the whiteness of the room for a brief moment before heading to a corner and sitting down on the floor shortly after. He then took out some water from his storage bracelet and gulped it down.


    At this moment, Randy thought of wanting to see how much stronger he has be because while fighting the wolves, he noticed that he was gradually getting stronger. And after fighting the Agile Silver Wolves, he felt like he had gotten much strongerpared to before.


    The feeling was quite simr to when he received reinforcements from his assimted states, as it was not actually his own strength but borrowed power through his assimtion ability.


    However, Randy was not sure how to open his attribute screen since he never had to do such a thing with his world''s system.


    Most of the time, he only thought of seeing his status screen and it would appear in front of him or his system would automatically disy it whenever he entered his assimted states.


    However, the same method was not working with this world''s system, as he thought of opening his attribute screen but it did not appear in front of him.


    After thinking for a bit, he decided to call out: "Attribute screen!"


    Immediately after, information rted to all his attributes revealed themselves in front of his eyes on the blue screen that projected itself in front of his vision.


    To be more precise, Randy could see this screen on his left side as it seemed like his golden screen system had taken the right side of his vision.


    At this point, Randy proceeded to nce through his information to see how much he had grown, and he was shocked by how much stronger he had be within such a short time.


    But he also knew very well that he needed to train his body and skills if he wanted these attributes to stick around and not disappear afterward.


    [Name: ???]


    [Species: Human]


    [Title(s): Challenger]


    [upation: None]


    [Level: 5]


    [Mana Points: 1299(+100)/1299]


    [Health Points: 400(+100)/400]


    [Strength: 40(+10)]


    [Endurance: 40(+10)]


    [Vitality: 40(+10)]


    [Stamina: 39.5(+10)]


    [Agility: 30(+10)]


    [Perception: 100(+10)]


    [Magic Limit: 129.9(+10)]


    [Intelligence: 250(+10)]


    [Skill(s): None]


    ''At least the challenger''s leveling system was able to discern that I was a human, but I guess it could not tell who I truly was, so it left out my name. I wonder why, though¡­ Is it because I was originally not from this world or maybe some other reason?'' Randy silently thought to himself upon realization.


    "System, can you exin it to me?" Randy asked.


    [User, what do you need to be exined?]


    [[What does the host mean by his words?]]


    The two systems unanimously responded to his question.


    "¡­"


    Randy was at a loss for words when he noticed that the two systems responded to his question just now, as he did not expect something like that to happen.


    ''This is too troublesome. Maybe I should decide on a name to refer to both systems.'' Randy decisively thought.


    Then, he opened his mouth and rectified: "I meant to ask the Challenger System¡­ Why is my name not disyed on my attribute screen?"


    [The user''s information did not seem to be in this world''s archives. No matter how much the system searched, the user''s identity could not be found. Furthermore, there is a mysterious source of power preventing the system from probing the user''s information further. Would the user like to set the name himself?] The challenger system said to him.


    ''What? Are you telling me that it cannot even find out about my name? Don''t tell me¡­ Is this rted to that unknown power¡ª that mysterious ovoid from before? Why is it trying to hide my name? I would understand hiding my identity as someone from another world, but my name is just my name, so there''s no need to hide such a thing.'' Randy thought in bewilderment when he noticed this strange phenomenon.


    "Ah, then set my name as Ra¡ª" Randy suddenly stopped himself.


    ''No, wait, damn! If I had known about this beforehand, I wouldn''t have used my actual name when I registered at the society to be a dungeon hunter to prevent unknown danger since it seems like my name is not registered in this world. I did not mind it too much when the system hid my name at the time, because I had already wrote my name on the registration form. At that time, I was mostly concerned about the other things like my species which were hidden for some reason. But now, I regret it! I should''ve consulted with the system... no, I should''ve been more careful instead.''


    Randy thought in regret over his past mistake, but he did not take long to calm himself down, as it did not matter how much he brooded over this matter and regretted his choice at this point.


    Afterward, Randy sighed and continued: "Randy¡­ Just set my name as Randy for now. It does not matter anymore."


    [Understood. The user''s name have been sessfully set to ''Randy''. Would the user prefer the system to refer to him by his name or simply by ''user''?] The challenger''s system prompted in response.


    "What is this? This system is more user-friendlypared to¡ª" Randy abruptly stopped himself before he could finish with his sentence.


    He then cleared his throat and said: "Yes. Just refer to me as Randy."


    [Affirmative, User Randy]


    "Alright. Now, I need to focus on what''s important. This rusty steel sword seems to be losing its durability. Maybe I should rece it with the one I bought in the weapon shop earlier. If only I had a magic-based sword technique, then I would¡­ Wait, sword technique? Sword Skills! I almost forgot about that guy''s assimted skills that I had obtained a week ago."


    Randy suddenly recalled the events that transpired after he was epted by the old man and his family when he first came into contact with the people of this world.


    At that time, he had received his own room in their vige, thus giving him some privacy to deal with some unattended matters.


    ¡­


    A week ago.


    The night Randy was taken in by the old man and his family.


    At this moment, Randy was left alone in his room right after he had eaten dinner with the old man''s family.


    After waiting and seeing that no one wasing to his room or was near his room, he took out something from his storage bracelet.


    This was a small translucent bottle that he had brought with him on the trip to the military base in anticipation of obtaining some useful blood to assimte with.


    Although he did not manage to use it as intended, he could still use it to store the blood of other people that he encounter in this world, who might have useful abilities or skills to assimte.


    Moreover, he had always regretted not bringing bottles with him for such asions, especially when he was pressed for time and had to leave right away and thus needed to store the blood forter use.


    But this time, he was able to store that blonde man''s blood within this small bottle since he could not consume it at the time. Afterward, he sealed it and ced it inside his storage bracelet before following right after ra.


    At this point, Randy nced at the blood in the bottle for a moment before popping the cover of the small bottle. He then used his Blood Authority Skill to manipte and hover the blood out of the bottle and into the air for a moment before solidifying it and popping it into his mouth right after.


    [[Detected that the host have consumed the blood of a human]]


    [[Assimtion Commencing]]

 Chapter 183 - A New Assimilated State?

    The moment Randy tossed the blood of the blonde man into his blood, the usual notification from his system shed across his eyes without dy.


    [[Detected that the host have consumed the blood of a human]]


    [[Assimtion Mode Activated]]


    [[Assimtion With Blood Commencing]]


    ''Hmm...This time, I am not getting that vague and yet unsettling feeling that something was wrong with the blood as opposed to what happened at the time when I consumed that chimera monster''s blood. But I wonder why, though? Was that feeling from before a part of my assimtion ability that I did not know of until that time?''


    Randy just realized that despite knowing how his awakened abilities work, he did not truly understand how the mechanism behind them worked. Therefore, he was unable to recognize the feedback he received when he was assimting with the chimera monster''s blood.


    At that time, he managed to purify the chimera monster''s blood, which turned out to be human blood mixed with other types of contaminated blood-looking substances.


    However, immediately after consuming it to assimte with it, he abruptly received some sort of precognitive feedback regarding the blood, but he did not understand it until the results of the assimtion was disyed in front of eyes.


    At that point, he understood that perhaps the feedback that he received before the assimtion waspleted had something to do with the iplete blood knowledge found in the assimted blood, which then resulted in an iplete ability formation from the chimera monster''s blood.


    While he was thinking this to himself, his system''s notification shed once again, disying a few lines of texts with the results of the assimtion this time.


    [[Assimtion Completion: 100%]]


    [[Due to assimting with a human blood, you have obtained the following abilities and traits: Sacred Sword(100%), Sacred Enchant(100%), Sacred Aura(100%) Swordsmanship(100%), God of light''s Blessing(Minor)(Unobtainable without consent)]]


    "Oh, he has some pretty useful skills with him. Although most of them are rted to light attribute mana, so he truly was a holy knight or something simr. I heard there are people like that in the Western District, but I have never met one before until today." Randy muttered in a seemingly pleased tone right after reading through the disyed abilities.


    ''But what is this ''God of light''s Blessing''? It even said that I need their consent to get their blessing. Then again, can my assimtion ability even ess something intangible like a blessing¡­? No, in the first ce, the skills and abilities of others are not tangible either, so it kind of makes sense that I could obtain the blessing of a god that was recorded in the blood of that blonde man.''


    ''But still, I have no idea how I can even obtain this ''blood knowledge'' from people''s blood. I mean, what is the principle behind this ability?''


    Randy thought in admiration and bewilderment toward his own ability.


    Randy had never truly thought about the origin of his ability until now when he saw that it could even ess the blessing of a supposed god.


    After pondering fora bit, a wild thought suddenly came into his mind and he then muttered: "Then, what would happen if I took my parents'' blood instead of other creatures'' blood and obtain their abilities as my own through my ess to their blood knowledge?"


    Although he thought of this method that had a possibility of getting him stronger quickly, he soon dismissed this thought. As if that was truly possible then it would inevitably make him be too arrogant and conceited after easily obtaining power through such an easy method.


    That was because, if he ended up using this method to get stronger, he would eventually think that he was stronger than everyone else based on his abilities alone, whereas his actualbat experience might still becking when faced with enemies with unusual abilities or more experienced than him.


    Rather than using this easy method, it was better for him to hunt the creatures himself and take their blood to assimte. This way, he could vividly feel his growth progress as opposed to receiving an explosive power out of nowhere.


    However, in the future, he nned on discerning which blood was worth it before taking and consuming them.


    After all, he could not simply take blood from every single creature that he would have to kill in the future. Otherwise, there would be too many assimted states and he could not keep track of them all.


    Thus, it was more logical to be selective when ites to the blood that he would consume in the future.


    With that in mind, he immediately tried to activate his newly acquired assimted state and see how useful it was.


    However, there was a sudden knock on the door of his room, and with that, he put the thought aside and went to receive the person behind the door to his room.


    It turned out it was ra, she felt apologetic about what happened earlier, so she came to apologize for her actions that almost led the vigers to attack him. After that, Randy epted her apology and then reassured her afterward.


    Randy then returned to his room after sending the girl away. He nned on continuing what he was about to do before he was interrupted but he decided against it for now and proceeded to sleep right away.


    Even though he appeared to be fine on the outside, he was actually physically tired, mostly from the fight with the chimera monster. Not to mention, he spent an untold amount of time inside the portal, which left him mentally exhausted.


    As a result, he decided to rest his exhausted body without immediately testing out his newly acquired assimted states and skills since he could do that following day. However, Randy did not fall into deep sleep, he was only half asleep throughout the whole night.


    The following day, when he woke up, he had so many things to prepare himself for the new world.


    And thus, he was busy with learning thenguage and other stuff, so he did not have the time to test out his assimted states nor use his abilities for that matter.


    ¡­.


    The present.


    At this moment, Randy still sat on the floor in the safe room of the first floor of the dungeon of beasts, as he pondered for a few moments before an idea suddenly popped up into his mind and just like that he decided to pick up where he left off back in the vige.


    Without anything to do, or anything distracting him in this white space inside the safe room, Randy concentrated on the assimted state that he had acquired a week ago and then urged with his mind.


    Recognizing his actions, a notification suddenly popped up from his system with a sh, as lines of lines disyed in his vision shortly after.


    [[Assimted Mode Activated]]


    [[Assimted Type: Unnamed Human Blood 2]


    [[Swordsmanship Skill Activated]]


    "Hm?"


    Right after the notification stopped scrolling, Randy immediately felt the effects of the Swordsmanship Skill, which made him acquire some sort of muscle memory as to how to use his sword even though this was his first using a cold weapon, let alone, a sword technique.


    However, after immersing himself in this feeling for a short while, Randy noticed something very odd. He then checked his body to confirm his doubts, but he was instantly perplexed when he discovered that nothing has happened to his body.


    To be more precise, at this moment, he realized that nothing has happened to his body''s form whatsoever despite entering his assimted state, which waspletely unlike the other times when he entered his assimted state. At this point, Randy suddenly realized something crucial in this situation.


    In truth, this was actually his first time entering a human assimted state. As this realization dawned on him, it made him wonder if there was a difference in treatment or the effects of the assimted states depending on the source of the blood?

 Chapter 184 - Blood Retain

    As Randy was wondering why his physical appearance did not change despite entering an assimted state, his system''s screen shed in vision, snapping him from his thoughts and alerting him to look up to face the projected screen.


    [[The host has consumed the blood of a human and assimted into its state for the first time]]


    [[Necessary Conditions Fulfilled]]


    [[Unlocking a piece of information rted to the host''s abilities]]


    "What''s going on this time? Unlocking a piece of information? Is this the valuable information that you were talking about earlier? But I did notplete the quest yet, so why am I getting the information right now?" Randy was bewildered by the system''s notifications.


    However, the system did not reply and simply disyed more lines of texts on the projected screen in his vision, causing Randy''s gaze to be focused as he carefully read through what was being disyed in front of him.


    [[The host has obtained the privilege through fulfilling the condition, to learn more about the Blood Retain Skill]]


    ''Blood Retain Skill?'' Randy frowned as he recalled that he did have a skill like that, but he only thought it was part of his assimtion ability and that it was notbat skill. Though he had no idea what it could actually do despite viewing it as a nonbat skill all this time, so he never bothered activating it up until now.


    The next moment, the system disyed a few more lines of texts on the projected screen in front of him.


    [[Blood Retain: The ability to store the blood of other species or creatures within your unlocked blood spaces as if it was part of your own blood but also act separately from your true blood. The retained blood is essentially simr to one''s bloodline when it is in your body. In other words, it would be simr to one''s ancestral bloodline from which one could awaken and obtain possible bloodline abilities]]


    [[Furthermore, whenever the blood knowledge obtained from consuming blood somehow deteriorate or be usable due to an unknown factor or source of power, you can simply retrieve the lost assimted state''s retained blood from your blood spaces and assimte with them once to recover the previously lost assimted states]]


    [[Notice: Assimting with human blood would not necessarily change your appearance since you are currently in your human form, and it is impossible to fundamentally change that form to a simr form without permanently changing all your entire appearance. Furthermore, assimting with other creatures'' blood does imply transforming into the owner of the blood''s form, but instead, transitioning into their state in order to use their abilities]]


    [[The state you would enter only allows you to acquire their unique features and constitution in tandem with their abilities. Ultimately, it only alters your appearance fit the acquired abilities and notpletely change them. If you truly want to change your appearance, you can only rely on transformation skills, techniques, and other abilities to do so]]


    Although Randy was slightly surprised by the words disyed in front of his vision, he still carefully through it all a few times before stopping himself.


    He then muttered to himself with a pondering expression: "So I can store the blood of others into my ''unlocked blood spaces''? Then, were my blood spaces or whatever it is locked before or something? Whatever... That does not matter to me right now. I will never get the answer that I need by simply asking anyway. Most importantly, what truly mattered to me right now is this notice that the system had given to me just now."


    "Although it did not explicitly say it, I could still recognize it right away that it was a hint somehow. This must be a hint from the system."


    Randy smiled in delight when he realized that this piece of information was more than just a piece of information.


    At this point, Randy suddenly stood up and decided to test out his swordsmanship skill for a bit to see the effects of the skill that he had obtained through his assimted state.


    As for the reason why he was doing something like this even after he had seemingly discovered something just now, that had to do with the swordsmanship skill that he had acquired through his assimted state.


    It was not as though he wanted to try out the swordsmanship skill right away or anything, but ever since he entered the assimted state, he had been itching to try swinging out his sword to use the swordsmanship skill, and he could not take it anymore and so, he decided to finally test out the skill before doing anything else.


    With that thought in mind, Randy proceeded to swing his rusty steel sword steadily and rhythmically as if following a certain technique.


    Randy had no idea what was going on but the more he swung the sword, the more knowledge pertaining to sword stances, forms, and techniques poured into his mind, and thus, he continued to swing his sword for a while without pausing.


    A whileter, Randy suddenly stopped swinging his sword as he had suddenly gained faint enlightenment towards swordsmanship.


    ''How wondrous¡­ Is this part of this world''s skill acquisition? Isn''t this too easy? I didn''t even have to learn a technique book or anything toprehend the whole swordsmanship skill which contained different swordsmanship of this world.'' Randy was slightly shocked when he realized that he had fully understood the swordsmanship skill just now.


    [[Yourprehension towards idental Swordsmanship has increased tremendously as an effect of your ''Swordsmanship Skill'']]


    The system notified him shortly afterward.


    "Maybe it was because of my assimtionpletion with the blood being 100%, so I might''ve also obtained all his skill''s experience as well as his own experience¡­?" Randy wondered but soon dismissed the thought as it did not really matter to him right now. There was something else that he would like to verify right now more than the swordsmanship skill''s effects.


    Randy made up his mind and quickly tried to activate one of his skills. However, when Randy was about to put his thought into motion without wasting time, another notification came from his other system, this one had a ''ding'' sound, so Randy could hear the clear noise resounding in his mind and ears.


    [The initial evaluation and analysis of user Randy have finally beenpleted]


    [The system had detected an Innate Swordsmanship Skill simr to the Beginner Swordsmanship Skill in the user]


    [User Randy''s Innate Swordsmanship Skill mastery level is equivalent to the skill, Beginner Swordsmanship Level 10. As such, the system would now record on your skill section this skill and the subsequent skill, Intermediate Swordsmanship Level 1]


    "What¡­ Wait, did it say evaluation?"


    "Challenger''s system, were you evaluating me all this time?" Randy suddenly asked in doubt.


    [That was indeed the case, User Randy]


    "Why?"


    [Evaluation was necessary to determine the best and most fitting upation for you. The selected upation cannot be changed and thus must be selected carefully in order to further improve and ensure your survival as a challenger of the dungeons in this world]

 Chapter 185 - A Puzzling Discovery

    "¡­"


    Upon hearing the challenger''s system''s response, Randy thought about it for a brief moment and finally understood the challenger''s system''s reason, so he did not bother to ask any more questions since it was already self-exnatory based on the information he received just now.


    With that thought out of the way, he proceeded to check his attribute screen only for him to see that the empty skill section was now filled with two skills, just like the challenger''s system had stated.


    [Skill(s): Beginner Swordsmanship ( LV. MAX), Intermediate Swordsmanship (LV. 1)]


    With that confirmed, he put that aside and immediately resumed what he was about to do before the challenger''s system suddenly announced these changes to him.


    Although he was somewhat surprised by these changes, he could not afford to be shocked by everything every single time, so he decided to focus on the important matters and make the most out of his time.


    ''Now, I can finally focus and try out my theory.''


    At this moment, Randy was sitting on the floor of the white room in afortable position to prevent any difort during his little experiment which was very peculiar. Without further ado, he turned his gaze to look on his original system''s screen, on a specific skill at the skill section, and then he concentrated on activating that specific intently.


    Very soon, the system notified him of the activation of that specific skill.


    [[Ancestral Regression Skill Activated]]


    With the activation of this skill came the irresistible dizziness and delirious state of mind as Randy felt his vision blur for a second, and then suddenly the whole world receded from his vision.


    There was total andplete darkness everywhere.


    Shortly after, he suddenly found his consciousness in some space with colorful balls of lights of different colors shining in the distance.


    Upon closer observation, these balls of colorful lights range from red, blue, yellow, and many other faint colors. But with a single thought, Randy was able to traverse the distance between the colorful balls of lights and him.


    When Randy approached the colorful balls of lights, he closely observed these different balls of lights with a mystified expression. Although he was now in something akin to a spiritual form, he could still move the limps on his spiritual body just fine. Though, he was now hovering in this dark space instead of actually standing on a tform.


    At this moment, as Randy saw the many colorful balls of lights hovering in front of him, he started to wonder if these colorful balls of lights are the depictions of the types of blood that he had assimted with.


    At the same, while recalling what the system exined to him about his Blood Retain Skill, he suddenly felt enlightened when he observed these colorful balls of lights for a while.


    ''So this ce is the blood space that the system was talking about? But where is this located? Is it truly inside my body? Since it said blood space then this should be within my blood? But how can something like this be in my blood?'' Randy thought in wonderment.


    Although Randy would like to ponder about this for a while longer, he did not have time to waste as he did not know how much has passed in the real world.


    He remembered the first he entered this ce when he entered the virtual duel system for the first time, and it only took him a few seconds for his consciousness toe out of that ce.


    In truth, he felt like time did not pass at all when he came out of this space back then.


    That aside, he needed to find that blonde man''s blood amongst all of these types of blood that are depicted as these colorful balls of lights.


    Randy nced through a few of the colorful balls of light and a short whileter, he discovered that two particr colorful balls of lights were shining more brightlypared to the others.


    One of these bright balls of light was the blood-red light that he had been using all this time to transition into his ancestral form, which turns his hair color from his regr blonde hair to crimson red and his eyes also turn from grey to amber-golden.


    Randy always found it strange why that was the case, but he never questioned it too much at those times when he transitioned into his ancestral form using his Ancestral Regression Skill and simply went with the flow while the subtle changes in his looks and appearance. However, that did not mean that he was not curious about the reason for such a change in his appearance.


    The second ball of light that shone brightly alongside the blood-red light was starry blue light and just like the blood-red ball of light, Randy could feel an inexplicable and yet familiar feeling resonating from the starry blue light.


    ''Just who are the sources of these bright colorful balls of lights? Are those my parents'' blood that existed inside me in all this time since they''re part of my bloodline? If that is the case, then I suppose it makes sense since my father''s ability was blood maniption, and my mother''s ability was frost or ice maniption, and so, in that sense, the blood-red light and the starry blue light represent them both, respectively.'' Randy thought in conclusion.


    After concluding his thoughts to be the case, Randy ignored these balls of light for now and turned his attention to the remaining colorful balls of light.


    However, when he nced through them, he surprisingly found two more balls of light that shone brighter than the remaining colorful balls of lights, but they were notparable to his parents'' balls of lights.


    Furthermore, these colorful balls of light had almost the exact same color as his parents'' colorful balls of lights. The only discernible difference was that their color was dimmer and lighter than his parents'' colorful balls of lights. Otherwise, they would have been identical to each other.


    When Randypared the four colorful balls of lights, he was instantly left bewildered by this discovery, and he wondered whose bloods those balls of light belong to, as from them, he could feel the same sense of familiarity as he did from his parents'' colorful balls of lights just now.


    This was a very puzzling discovery to him because he could not understand why there were four colorful balls of lights that he could somehow tell or know who they might belong to, but at the same time, he had no idea who they truly belong to specifically.


    So far, he had only guessed that the brighter colorful balls of light belonged to his parents but now that he saw these two balls of lights that were slightly identical to the ones that he thought were his parents'' blood and also that he felt almost the exact sense of familiarity from them as well, he was bewildered and could not understand why that was the case.


    ''I truly have no idea what''s going on. No matter how much I think about this, I can''te to a proper conclusion.. Is this perhaps rted to the secrets that my parents were keeping from me? Then, did they know about my ability before I even awakened or something?'' Randy sighed and wondered.

 Chapter 186 - Awakening Innate Skills!

    After pondering by himself for a few moments in the total andplete darkness with nothing but those shimmering and shining colorful balls of lights in his surroundings, Randy suddenly inwardly sighed to himself.


    ''So, in the end, it appears that my awakened ability is turning out stranger than I had originally thought¡­ I have no idea why I have such aplicated ability in the first ce¡­ It seems like I would have to directly ask my parents about this matter when I go back, but before that, I need to get stronger in this world.''


    ''After all, that was their condition¡­ the condition they set in order for them to give me their excuse as to why they treated me the way they did within the past few years. I truly don''t understand why they would do such a thing to their own son just because of some secret regarding my unawakened ability.''


    Randy could not help but think this way because this situation would be hard to understand for anyone. Especially, after finding out that the space that he found himself currently was actually where his bloodlines reside, which means anything found within this space should be rted to him somehow. That was indisputable, considering even his system stated it very clearly.


    Moreover, if that was the case, then how could he have something like this blood space within his body? From what he could deduce from this situation, there was a possibility that his ancestral regression skill was most likely not a coincidental ability that he obtained from the burr''s blood after he had fused with it. That was because it was too simply good for his ability to enable him to have something like a whole space inside his body.


    Furthermore, just now, he discovered that these four balls of lights depicted his direct ancestry, in other words, they depicted his roots very vividly due to the familiarity he felt from them, so he was certain that those other colorful balls of light belonged to a distant rtive or other people unrted to him.


    That was if considering that the distant rtives'' bloodlines were not his direct rtive. And so, their bloodline should not manifest in this ce and only be part of his parents'' bloodline at most.


    As for some of the other colorful balls of lights, Randy could only guess that those were the depictions of the blood of the people that he had assimted with in the past.


    However, the remaining colorful balls of lights seemed very different from the ones that he has assimted with in the past, but for some reason, Randy could tell that they were originally part of his bloodline from the beginning.


    ''Hm? Why do I know about something like that? Is this the effect of being in this ce?'' Randy was puzzled by his own thought process.


    Randy suddenly shook his head a momentter and quickly dismissed this puzzling discovery since no matter how much he thought he would not get a proper answer by himself.


    ''Let''s search what I came here to for¡­''


    Afterward, he continued to search for the blonde man''s blood, which would now be in a form of one of these colorful balls of lights. But he still did not know what form of color it would be in, so he had to search very carefully amidst all the other colorful balls of lights.


    Shortly after skimming through the remaining two to three colorful balls of light that seemed to be the ones that he had assimted personally, he suddenly found a colorful ball of light that exuded a faint golden-yellow color. And Randy instantly assumed that to be the blood of the blonde man''s blood, as he did not recognize or see it before during the times that he had used his ancestral form.


    ''That should be it¡­''


    As he concluded this, Randy immediately used his thought to get close to the golden-yellow ball of light before quickly grabbing it without hesitation.


    As soon as he grabbed it, the golden-yellow ball of light glowed blindingly bright until it suddenly scattered and then absorbed into Randy''s spiritual body.


    A momentter, Randy''s vision blurred, and soon, he found himself back inside the safe room. At this moment, Randy could feel clear and noticeable changes urring to his body.


    He noticed that his originally curly blonde hair had gotten longer and turned blonderpared to before, and it even got straighter with all his curls now all gone.


    Randy could feel his entire body undergoing a transformation, and when he looked down on his palm, he could see his hand was getting bigger, and his height was now close to 2 meters tall. Although Randy could be considered to have a decent height of 1.82 meters, he still could notpare to the blonde man''s height if they stood close to each other, as the other party would be slightly taller than him.


    However, at this moment, his height has reached the same height as the blonde man and even his physique and appearance looked exactly the same as the blonde man, almost as if he had be the blonde man.


    "This is¡­ Eh?"


    Randy suddenly realized that although his blonde hair was still blonde, his muscles, bones, his height, and voice had changed dramatically as if he had entered his assimted state.


    ''Hahaha! Just like I thought! So that''s it! I truly can turn into other people with this ancestral regression skill. I thought it only worked on the ancestral bloodlines that I was born with, but it turned out you can also use it like this.'' Randy inwardlyughed and silently thought in excitement.


    The reason for his sudden reactions was because, with this newly discovered ability, he could achieve many things in this world without worrying too much about being found out. After all, the only thing that he had to worry about was his identity, which was hard to prove, but with this ability, he could simply kill someone and assume their identity afterward.


    Fortunately, he had kept the blonde man''s corpse inside his storage bracelet since he did not want the armored men who were presumably with him to discover that theirrade got killed by someone.


    If they had found his corpse, they would have proceeded to search for the killer afterward, and in the process, there was a chance that they would scour the surroundings and eventually discover that he was the culprit since he had only arrived in this world.


    Not to mention, he had taken shelter in the vige, so he was essentially a stranger to that ce, and therefore, it would have been easy for them to find out about his actions after a bit of probing.


    Afterward, Randy observed his transformed form with a smile on his face.


    ''Did I really transform into that blonde man? I cannot tell for sure, but I''ll assume that to be the case for now until I get a mirror to look at myself properly.'' Randy thought to himself.


    As he indulged in his thoughts while checking out his body, suddenly, a new notification resounded from the challenger''s system, quickly snapping him from his glee state of mind.


    [Ding!]


    [Detected a familiar existence within the user''s body]


    [Currently confirming the source]


    [Error! Unable to confirm due to interference from an unknown source]


    [Detected an innate skill within the user''s body]


    [An unprecedented phenomenon detected from the challenger!]


    [Due to discovering more than one innate skill within the challenger''s body, the system had now confirmed that despite being human, the challenger has more than one innate skill for reasons unknown]


    [In response, the system had decided to initiate the awakening sequence of the challenger''s possible innate skills from now on]


    [Whenever the system detects a new innate skill within the challenger''s soul, the system would automatically engage in the awakening sequence to awaken them. Furthermore, any awakened innate skill would be shown on the user''s attribute screen along with their level of mastery]


    ''Awakening innate skills?'' Randy thought to himself after he read through the notification from his challenger''s system.

 Chapter 187 - Myriad Species Transformation

    ''Awakening innate skills? Is it talking about my awakened innate assimtion skill? No, that can''t be it¡­ Then, don''t tell me it is what I think it is¡­"


    Randy was taken aback by the challenger''s system''s sudden announcement, but he suddenly thought of a possibility as to what the challenger''s system meant by its statement.


    However, he did not have time to ponder about the meaning behind the challenger''s system''s words, as more lines of texts were disyed on the blue screen on left vision.


    [The system had detected an innate skill simr to ''Sacred Sword Skill'' of the holy knight upation]


    [The awakening sequence would now be initiated]


    [The system had detected an innate skill simr to ''Sacred Enchant Skill'' of the holy knight upation]


    [The system had detected an innate skill simr to ''Sacred Aura Skill'' of the holy knight upation]


    [The system had sessfully awakened these innate skills within the user''s body]


    [The skills would now be added to the skill on your attribute screen. Please refer to your attribute screen for further information]


    ''Haa¡­ So it''s like I thought. I am currently in my assimted state while using the ancestral regression, so I thought that the skills that originally belonged to the blonde man would somehow be recognized by the system even without me activating them, just like I did with the beginner swordsmanship.'' Randy thought in an understanding of what had happened.


    Currently, he was in his ancestral form, although not entirely, considering that he had actually transformed into the blonde man''s form.


    Not to mention, he had entered the blonde man''s assimted state a few moments ago in order to activate his swordsmanship skill, and he had forgotten to undo the assimted state because there was not much change to his appearance besides having the tingling feeling from the muscle memory that he received from the swordsmanship skill.


    For some reason, when Randy activated the two skills simultaneously, some sort of condition may have been fulfilled, enabling the challenger''s system to discern all the presence of a holy knight. In other words, the hidden skills that he acquired from the blood knowledge of the blonde man have be apparent for the challenger''s system.


    Randy sighed, but he did not dislike this situation. That was because, with the challenger''s system acknowledging the skills, he would now be able to show these skills to Zophia and the other people in the society in case they ask him to demonstrate it. Even if they had the means to probe his information like they did when he first registered, he would not have to worry too much.


    However, while thinking of how the challenger''s system had imed to have the means to awaken any, and all of his ''innate skills'', Randy suddenly thought of some possibility and without pondering too much, he undid his assimted state.


    [[Assimted Mode Deactivated]]


    Shortly after this notification, Randy urged the system to enter another assimted state.


    [[Assimted Mode Activated]]


    [[Assimted Type: Werewolf King Of Wind]]


    [[Reinforcement (Strength of the Werewolf King) Activated]]


    ''Now, let''s see what will happen if I assume this form¡­''


    At this point, Randy felt noticed that his body had transformed into his usual werewolf with his flowing silver-white hair behind his back.


    At this time, Randy was anticipating what kind of reaction the challenger''s system would have toward this assimted state.


    Sure enough, the challenger''s system soon notified him of the changes in his body.


    [The system had detected an innate skill that is simr to the innate shapeshift skill of the werewolf species]


    [Now engaging in the awakening sequence of the user''s innate skill]


    [Error! The innate skill, shapeshift could not be awakened due to the difference in species]


    [Using the innate skill within the user''s body as a foundation, apensatory innate skill would be created using the preexisting innate skills in this world]


    [The innate skill has sessfully been manifested]


    [Congrattions to the user for awakening to the innate skill, ''Myriad Species Transformation'']


    [Myriad Species Transformation]


    [Type: An innate skill]


    [Note: This innate skill was created using various innate skills that have simrity with the effects demonstrated by the user''s unknown innate skill]


    [Description: This is a transformation ability that allows the user to temporarily transform into other species with different traits as opposed to the user''s own species. In order for this ability to be activated, the user would be required to obtain the blood of the determined species beforehand and then either consume it to gain a proper understanding of the determined species or simply examine the blood in hands for a prolonged time]


    [In the case of thetter choice, the prolonged time may vary depending on theplexity or uniqueness of the determined species. Furthermore, it would be hard to maintain the transformed form of the determined species for a prolonged time in case of ipatible states between the user''s species and the other species]


    While reading through these lines of text, Randy had a smile on his face, and he could barely hold back hisughter at this moment.


    Although he was only guessing the possibility of his thoughts being most likely possible, he did not actually believe that it would be that easy to obtain random skills from the challenger''s system. However, Randy also noticed a peculiarity just now when the challenger''s system tried to assess his assimted state.


    Based on what he saw disyed by the challenger''s system, it seemed like it could not sessfully awaken the werewolf''s innate ability or skill in his body because of the difference in their species.


    Furthermore, the system assumed that he was using a shapeshift skill while, in actuality, what he used was nothing more than reinforcement of the werewolf king.


    Although he did indeed have a shapeshift skill, that skillpletely changes his appearance into a werewolf. Even so, the shapeshift could not show its true capability because it was an iplete blood knowledge skill.


    ''But still, this myriad species transformation skill is not bad. Although it seems like a weaker version of my ancestral regression, who knows if it would note in handy someday? For now, I will put it aside and focus on my other skills. I will try a couple of skills and see whether the skill would give me simr skills as an innate skill.'' As Randy finished this thought, he could not help but reveal a smile.


    Randy knew that there was a possibility that all the skills that he would receive from the challenger''s system might be a slightly weaker version of the original skill or ability. However, he still could not give up on them, as those skills might be more practical than his assimted state skills.


    After all, the attractive aspect of these innate skills awakened by the challenger''s system would be the part where he would not have to enter his assimted state to use them.

 Chapter 188 - More Skills!

    After making up his mind, Randy decided to use his other assimted state, and he then used the assimted skills in order to test out the challenger''s system''s awakening sequence.


    Sure enough, after using his stealthy python assimted state, the challenger''s system recognized some of the skills but failed to manifest them but ended up receiving very simr skills sets.


    The first skill Randy used when he entered his stealthy python assimted was the stealth Scales Skill in tandem with his presence erasing technique, Traceless Form, which caused an expected reaction from the system as he had thought.


    [The system had detected an innate skill that is simr to the innate Camouge skill of the magical beast''s species]


    [Now engaging in the awakening sequence of the user''s innate skill]


    [Error! The innate skill, Camouge could not be awakened due to the difference in species]


    [Using the innate skill within the user''s body as a foundation, apensatory innate skill would be created using the preexisting innate skills in this world]


    [The innate skill has manifested sessfully]


    [Congrattions to the user for awakening to the innate skill, ''Absolute Stealth'']


    [Absolute Stealth]


    [Type: An innate skill]


    [Note: This innate skill was created using various innate skills that have simrity with the effects demonstrated by the user''s unknown innate skill]


    [Description: This is a concealment-type ability that allows the user to perfectly erase his presence temporarily by using mana to refract the lights surrounding the user''s body, and thus, making it near impossible to perceive the user''s existence]


    [Furthermore, only unfathomable beings that are stronger than the user or those with unique perception-type skills could see through the user''s concealment ability. However, this skill would have unimaginable effect when mastered]


    When Randy saw this awakened skill, he almost burst into a peal ofughter.


    On one hand, he was pleased about the effects of this skill, and on the other hand, he was pleased because he was proven to be right about his assumption with this innate skill''s manifestation.


    The reason why Randy used the Traceless Form Technique along with the Stealth Scales Skill was to ensure that the skill that would be manifested or created during the awakening sequence would have a stronger effect.


    After all, the Stealth Scales Skill only allowed him to possess the ability to hide his presence by refracting light around him using the barely perceptible scales that manifest on his skin.


    However, the Traceless Form Technique did not possess the capability to hide Randy''s physical presence.


    On the other hand, the Traceless Form Technique was a technique that could hide his body''s aura and breath, thereby making it hard for people to sense his presence through his energy fluctuation alone.


    Therefore, Randy concluded that if hebined the effect of the Stealth Scales skill with the effect of the Traceless Form Technique, the two with different but simr forms, an unimaginable or a perfect skill might be manifested during the awakening sequence.


    And sure enough, it was just like he had imagined.


    The challenger''s system had indeed created a better skill out the skill and technique called the ''Absolute Stealth'', which had the word absolute as its prefix. Furthermore, the word ''absolute'' could also meanplete or perfect and thus ''Perfect Stealth'' with no discernible weakness.


    Well, as long as the other party was not stronger than him or have some strange ability to see through him, this skill was essentially undetectable by most people. Randy only smiled in delight when he thought of the possibilities with this kind of skill in future battles.


    He could imagine himself sneaking into the enemy''s ranks and destroying their leader before anyone could detect him. Moreover, while in this world, this skill would prove more effective in escaping unwanted troubles.


    Shortly after, he tried out the remaining of his skills without hesitation.


    The next instant, the notifications from his challenger''s system resounded in his ears before disying the lines of texts on his blue system disy.


    [The system had detected an innate skill that is simr to the innate Strengthening skill of the magical beasts'' species]


    [Now engaging in the awakening sequence of the user''s innate skill]


    [Error! The innate skill, Camouge could not be awakened due to the difference in species]


    [Using the innate skill within the user''s body as a foundation, apensatory innate skill would be created using the preexisting innate skills in this world]


    [The innate skill has manifested sessfully]


    [Congrattions to the user for awakening to the innate skill, ''Body Strengthen'']


    [Body Strengthen]


    [Type: An innate skill]


    [Note: This innate skill was created using various innate skills that have simrity with the effects demonstrated by the user''s unknown innate skill]


    [Description: This is an enhancement-type ability that allows the user to enhance a determined part of his body and thus strengthening its functionality. However, the density of the strengthening would depend on the body''s tolerance and the amount of mana used to activate the skill]


    [Furthermore, as you level, the amount of mana needed to use the skill would increase in proportion. However, the more the user increases the level of this skill, the more effective the enhancement would be and also when mastered the user would not need much mana to activate since it would be ''innate'' ability when mastered]


    ¡­


    [The system had detected a sensory innate skill that is simr to the innate Heightened Senses skill of both the magical beasts and beast humans species]


    [The system had detected a sensory innate skill that is simr to the innate Presence Perception skill of both the demons and magical beasts'' species]


    [Now engaging in the awakening sequence of the user''s innate skill]


    [Error! The innate skill, Heightened Sense, and Presence Perception could not be awakened due to the difference in species]


    [Using the innate skills within the user''s body as a foundation, apensatory innate skill would be created using the preexisting innate skills in this world]


    [The innate skill has manifested sessfully]


    [Congrattions to the user for awakening to the innate skill, ''Dimensional Sense'']


    [Dimensional Sense]


    [Type: An innate skill]


    [Note: This innate skill was created using various innate skills that have simrity with the effects demonstrated by the user''s unknown innate skill]


    [Description: This is a sensory and mental-type ability that allows the user to create a mental dimension or area of influence within the physical world through the user''s mental energy or psionic energy. Any being within the user''s area of influence could be perceived clearly down to their details.


    [Furthermore, this is a skill that could be activated for a prolonged time, but the user should be aware of the possibility of draining his mental energy in the process. However, the more the user increases the level of this skill, the less mental energy it would consume to activate, and also the area of influence would increase in proportion to the user''s intelligence]

 Chapter 189 - Moving On

    After Randy read through lines of texts about the description of the innate skills awakened by the challenger''s system, he turned his gaze away shortly after dismissing the projected screen in front of him.


    At this point, he had already memorized the details of these newly acquired skills, and so, he could now focus on training his swordsmanship skill, which he might need in the uing floors in this dungeon of beasts.


    With that thought in mind, Randy proceeded to practice swinging his steel sword for a few hours inside the safe room.


    Although he had no idea how much time had gone by specifically, he could still tell that about a few hours had gone by when he finished with sword practice.


    "Phew... Thankfully, I wasn''t able to get tired while in this space. Otherwise, most likely, I would''ve had to stay here for a few more hours to rest, considering how long I''ve been swinging this steel sword. Still, the skill system in this world is quite easierpared to my world. Then again, both worlds have pros and cons, which made them different and simr at the same time. Anyway, I guess it''s about time, I move on to the next floor." Randy muttered to himself Afterward.


    At this point, Randy felt disappointed as he wished that this safe room had the graviton function, which would allow him to train his body by increasing the weight inside this safe room, and perhaps, he might even break through physical limits if he trained using that method.


    The main reason why he thought of this was that there was a possibility that he could expedite the process of absorbing his physical attributes with intense training.


    But sadly, that was not possible in this space.


    Although he could do push up and one handstand in this ce, he would instantly recover, so he could not make use of this room''s effects. Thus, he ended up giving up on that method of expediating his attribute absorption.


    After finding out that he could not train his physical body in this safe room, Randy decided to train his swordsmanship skill instead.


    At this moment, he suddenly called out: "Attribute screen."


    [Name: Randy]


    [Species: Human]


    [Title(s): Challenger]


    [upation: None]


    [Level: 5]


    [Mana Points: 1299(+100)/1299]


    [Health Points: 400(+100)/400]


    [Strength: 40(+10)]


    [Endurance: 40(+10)]


    [Vitality: 40(+10)]


    [Stamina: 39.5(+10)]


    [Agility: 30(+10)]


    [Perception: 100(+10)]


    [Magic Limit: 129.9(+10)]


    [Intelligence: 250(+10)]


    [Skill(s): Beginner Swordsmanship (LV. MAX), Intermediate Swordsmanship (LV. 1), Sacred Sword (LV. 5), Sacred Enchant (LV. 6), Sacred Aura (LV. 9), Myriad Species Transformation (LV. 1), Absolute Stealth (LV. 1), Body Strengthen (LV. 1), Dimensional Sense (LV. 1)]


    ''Just like I thought, there''s no chance in my attributes at all despite my training with the sword. Then do I have to do a more rigorous training to assimte with my attributes?'' Randy thought when he noticed that nothing had changed in attribute besides the extra skills that had been added.


    "Well, I still have time. Maybe by the time Iplete the quest, some of my attributes would be assimted into my body." Randy said in conclusion.


    At this moment, he was about to urge the system that he was ready to leave, but when he saw his hand, he suddenly remembered: " Ah, I almost forget, I should undo this ancestral form. It feels kind of strange to be in this form, and besides, I have already grasped his beginner swordsmanship skillpletely during these few hours, so I don''t need to maintain his form anymore."


    [[Ancestral Regression Skill Deactivated]]


    Randy immediately undid his ancestral skill and quickly regained his original form shortly after. After regaining his original human form, he checked to see if there were any permanent changes to his body, but unsurprisingly or expectedly, nothing had changed about his original appearance.


    With that settled, Randy sat back down and took out some dried meat and chew on it, and then drank a mouthful of water shortly to quench his thirst. Even though he was not particrly tired after training his swordsmanship, he still felt thirsty after that rigorous swinging of his sword.


    After taking a few minutes to eat his fill of food and drinking some water from a bottle that he brought from his world, Randy felt satisfied and energetic.


    Although the food was nd with almost no taste to them since they were more of a ration rather than actual food, Randy still enjoyed it because it was better than nothing at this point.


    At this time, he was truly ready to move on to the next floor, and without wasting any more time, he stood up from the ground and dered.


    "Challenger''s system, I''m ready to move on to the next floor." He said.


    [Understood] The challenger''s system responded.


    Soon after, a ck portal that exuded the presence of a wild forest behind it silently appeared on the wall of the safe room.


    The challenger''s system proceeded to announce after the portal appeared.


    [The user only needed to pass through the teleportation gate in front of you to move on to the next floor]


    Randy did not hesitate and proceeded to walk through the ck gate right away.


    On the other side, he found himself inside the forest from before, except that he seemed like he was not in the section of the forest anymore.


    ''Where are the beasts for this floor?'' Randy wondered.


    However, while he was thinking this, he suddenly detected a creature within his skill''s range.


    That was because when he came here, he did not waste any time to activate his newly acquired skill, Dimensional Sense.


    This skill essentially allowed him to project his mental energy outward to create a dimension of influence. Although it was not an actual dimension of a world, it was still an area that would bepletely under his supervision.


    However, with this skill, any being that entered his skill''s range which at the moment was only 10 meters around himself, Randy could perceive their existence.


    At this moment, Randy observed the iing enemy, but he was slightly surprised that it was not a wolf this time. Although he expected that to be the case, considering that this was a dungeon infested with beast-type creatures. In other words, there was no way for the dungeon to only have wolves as its inhabitants.


    The only reason why he thought there would be wolves in the second was that this forest was simr to the one on the first floor, but there was also a difference, so perhaps it might be a different forest altogether.


    [Discovered the appearance of Grey Boar]


    The challenger''s system announced a momentter.

 Chapter 190 - Unstoppable

    Upon hearing the challenger''s system, Randy immediately recognized those boars as the enemies of this second floor.


    And without hesitation, he charged toward them and sliced through the head of the first boar that appeared in his domain of influence, killing it instantly.


    "Humph!" "Humph!"


    When one of the Grey Boars noticed that one of its kind was killed ruthlessly by the human, it snorted in annoyance and madly charged at Randy, who casually looked on as the Grey Boar charge in his direction.


    ''I see, so their specialty is charging at the enemy?'' Randy wondered.


    [Notice: Grey Boars are level 6 beasts with strong physique and defense. Make sure you do not receive their charge head which is their specialty when facing their enemies]


    The challenger''s system btedly stated.


    When Randy quickly read through this, he understood that his assumptions were correct.


    ''It seems like they are durable, so why don''t I test out my swordsmanship on them?'' Randy smiled and quickly run forward to face the iing mad Grey Boar.


    Very soon, the face-off between a human male brandishing his sword and a mad boar charging with all its might. Eventually, both of these species shed. The human rhythmically moved and shed downward at the mad boar. However, the mad boar did not relent and took on the other party''s attack.


    Shik¡ª


    The sound of metal hitting something almost like a rock resounded in the wild forest.


    The recoil from the two of them shing caused the human male''s steel sword to bounce backward, but the human male did not seem to be bothered by this and proceeded to skillfully shed consecutively at the mad boar that seemed unharmed by his attack on its body and was charging forward once again.


    Randy saw that this Grey Boar was very sturdy just like the system had stated and while he could kill this Grey Boar with no effort, he chose not to do that mostly because he was now training his sword skill on these Grey Boar. However, because of the poor quality of the rusty steel sword from his world, the attacks did not do any damage to the other party.


    At this moment, Randy decided to give up on training his sword skill for now, as he saw that he was suddenly surrounded by a group of Grey Boars that were observing the fight since a while ago.


    Randy had no idea why they did not attack him along with the Grey Boar that madly charged at them. But for some reason, they are all charging towards him as if they had gained some sort of confidence.


    ''Do they think I am an easy target just because I failed to kill that Grey Boar? Well, I guess that makes sense. After all, I used all my strength when I sliced through the other boar but when I faced this Grey Boar, I restricted myself in order to use my sword skill without identally killing the other party.'' Randy thought when he noticed the aggressive Grey Boars are approaching him.


    "Well, ytime is over. I should test out this skill as well inbat." Randy muttered.


    Shortly after, he gathered mana around his sword, infusing the mana into the sword, and very quickly as if instinct, he changed the property of the mana into a light attribute. This caused the steel sword to glow in iridescent holy light.


    [Sacred Enchant Skill Activated]


    Randy did not wait for the Grey Boars to reach him as he quickly maneuvered his steps while executing his footwork technique and charged at the nearest Grey Boar.


    [Chasing Tiger Steps], Footwork Technique.


    Each step that Randy took was not only steady but also filled with rigorous energy and thus he was as fast a tiger chasing after its prey.


    Utilizing this footwork technique along with his enhanced statistics, Randy was essentially unstoppable.


    That was because these Grey Boars were only level 6 and did not even serve as apetition for Randy whose power level was most likely close to a level 40 or higher in this world based on his rough estimate ording to the information that he received from Zophia thus far.


    Before he said his farewell to Zophia, he asked her about his mana point, and she said that his mana point was equivalent to a level 40 average magician that solely focused their attribute on their magic limit and the remaining attribute were less focused on.


    Zophia exined further by saying that some talented magicians had higher mana points than his at level 40, and the reason for that was because those magicians were talented people who originally had more mana points at the beginning before they even started leveling up in the dungeons.


    In terms of physical strength, she emphasized that Randy might beckingpared to an actual level 40 warrior or battle inclined upation in this world, but in terms of mana points, he should be a match for an average level 40 in this world.


    When Randy heard her words at the time, he could infer that the levels in this world were somehow equivalent to the realms of practice in his world, so he was able to easily understand the power system in this world mostly because of that when he heard Zophia''s exnation.


    Therefore, right now, with his overallbat prowess, how could these Grey Boars that were only level 6 be his match?


    Randy did not waste any more that as he very quickly approached and shed and approached and shed the Grey Boars without even stopping until he eventually killed all the ten Grey Boars that were aiming for him.


    Blood spilled!


    Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!


    Very soon, the remaining nine Grey Boars were instantly taken care of by Randy with his now enchanted steel sword.


    Due to the effects of the Sacred Enchant Skill, the edge of the steel sword was sharper than usual, and it also exude a faint glow of holiness which cleansed and purified the blood stains that got stuck on the edge of the steel sword right after Randy shed through the Grey Boars.


    ''What a useful skill. I don''t have to wipe off the blood with this property of this skill. But why does the skill function like this? Whatever! As long it is useful, I have nothing toin about..'' Randy thought to himself as he looked down at the corpses of the Grey Boars that he had just killed.

 Chapter 191 - Bulldozing Through

    [You have sessfully hunted and killed ten Grey Boars within a short amount of time]


    [You have leveled up]


    [You are now level 6]


    [All your attributes have increased by 2 points]


    [Please check your challenger''s attribute screen for further information regarding the increase in your level]


    After Randy tested his newly acquired skill on the Grey Boars, he did not hesitate anymore and proceeded to the next segment right away.


    After all, he did need to take care of the corpses of the defeated beasts in the dungeon, as it seemed like the dungeon would somehow handle and process the defeated beasts for him after he finished. At least, that was what he heard from Zophia.


    Furthermore, the challenger''s system gave him a quest to defeat ten beasts of each level of strength to increase his level in the process, and the reward forpleting such a quest would grant him the fangs and furs of the defeated.


    The system also did not mention how many beasts he had to defeat, and not to mention, the challenger''s system did not even mention how many floors he had to clear toplete the quest.


    Therefore, in actuality, all he had to do was hunt down the beasts in this dungeon of beasts. And even if he failed in subjugating them all, he would not fail the quest. After all, he had technicallypleted the challenger''s system''s quest when he defeated the Grey Wolves on the first floor to increase his level for the first time.


    With nothing to worry about regarding the corpses of the defeated beasts, Randy went to next to segments on the second floor the peace of mind.


    Just like that, Randy had cleared the second floor within a few minutes since the opponents were not much of a threat to him.


    At this moment, after Randy defeated the strongest beast on the second floor, the challenger''s system notified him almost right away.


    [You have sessfully hunted and killed ten Robust Earth Boars within a short amount of time]


    [You have leveled up]


    [You are now level 10]


    [All your attributes have increased by 2 points, and you have also received an additional 8 undistributed attribute points for reaching level 10]


    [Please check your challenger''s attribute screen for further information regarding the increase in your level]


    [Would you like to proceed to the next segment on this floor? Or Would you like to enter the Safe Room on the second floor to take a rest?] The challenger''s leveling system prompted.


    Randy ignored the challenger''s system notification for a moment, and he pondered to himself as he recalled his fight just now.


    ''Judging from the name, these earth boars seemed to possess an earth element attribute, so I had to use my sacred enchant skill to prate through their tough skin. Not that I think about it, those agile silver wolves also possessed something rted to wind element when they moved around¡­ I suppose that''s why they were so fast on their feet, although not fast enough to be a threat to me¡­''


    Randy found a certain pattern between the beasts in this dungeon of beasts'' floors. He discovered that although most of the beast on the first four segments of the first and second floors were increasing in strength, the leaders of the fifth segment on each of the two floors had elemental affinities or possibly their innate skill, which enabled them the use of elements.


    The first floor''s Agile Silver Wolves on the fifth segment could tremendously increase their speeds to be faster than the previous wolves that he had encountered on the previous segments. And that was mostly due to their innate skills that seemed to be rted to wind elemental attributes.


    Meanwhile, the Robust Earth Boars that he just defeated on the fifth segment of this second floor possessed an extraordinary defense due to their innate skills, which was rted to earth elemental attributes.


    After discerning these facts, Randy did not bother to ponder too much and proceeded to the next floor right away.


    After all, even if he pondered about it for a while longer, it did not change the fact that he still needed to kill those beasts in this dungeon to proceed forward, and thus, he made up his mind that when he meets those elemental beasts on the subsequent floors, he would deal with them as soon as possible in case some of them exhibit some strange and unknown abilities besides elemental attributes.


    With that decided, Randy went to the third floor, and this time, he was met with bears. And just like the previous floors, they also had different colors on each segment that he cleared.


    Naturally, Randy did not struggle on the third floor either and was able to easily clear the entire floor within a few minutes without allowing the other parties the time to initiate their attacks against him.


    And just like he had thought, the Versatile Snow Bears that he met on the third floor''s fifth segment, although they were only level 15, also had an innate skill rted to ice elemental attribute.


    And thus, it would have been very hard to deal with them if he did not proceed to kill them immediately upon arriving on the segment with all his might, coupled with his light attribute enchanted sword, it would have been troublesome even if he was stronger than them.


    However, he was able to deal with them very swiftly before those ten Versatile Snow Bears could use their attacks, so he did not have to worry about such a possibility.


    And with that, he managed to clear the third floor.


    [You have sessfully hunted and killed ten Versatile Snow Bears within a short amount of time]


    [You have leveled up]


    [You are now level 15]


    [All your attributes have increased by 2 points]


    [Please check your challenger''s attribute screen for further information regarding the increase in your level]


    [Would you like to proceed to the next segment on this floor? Or Would you like to enter the Safe Room on the second floor to take a rest?] The challenger''s leveling system prompted.


    "Proceed to the next floor." Randy replied.


    At this time, a portal appeared in front of Randy, and without hesitation, he proceeded inside and soon found him on the fourth floor. On this floor, he was met with ape beasts, and although these apes seemed a little bit smarter than the other beasts that he had faced thus far, he was still able to defeat them in the end.


    However, he ended spending more time trying to chase after them or dodging their relentless attacks. That was because these apes did not immediately engage in a fight with him as soon as they saw him and instead, proceeded to stand on the branches of the trees in the forest and threw somerge rocks in his way.


    Not to mention, those rocks were not just mere rocks but 2-meter-wide boulders that seemed like they would have packed a punch if he had been hit by them.


    That was because when those bouldersnded at the ce Randy had been standing before dodging, they immediately created a hole on the ground shortly after the impact. When Randy saw the deep crater left on the ground afterward, he immediately broke into cold sweats on the spot. As if such an attack were tond on his body, even if he had a strong body, he would still have some bruises on his skin.


    Ultimately, he was able to defeat them using his sacred aura skill, which enhanced his physical abilities for a certain amount of duration depending on the mana points he spent.


    [You have sessfully hunted and killed ten Cunning me Apes within a short amount of time]


    [You have leveled up]


    [You are now level 20]


    [All your attributes have increased by 2 points, and you have also received an additional 8 undistributed attribute points for reaching level 20]


    [Please check your challenger''s attribute screen for further information regarding the increase in your level]


    [Would you like to proceed to the next segment on this floor? Or Would you like to enter the Safe Room on the second floor to take a rest?] The challenger''s leveling system prompted.


    "Proceed to the next floor right away.." Randy immediately responded.

 Chapter 192 - Conqueror

    At this point, Randy nned on bulldozing through the entire dungeon without stopping to take a break, as that would only serve to waste unnecessary time on each floor. And besides, he was not that tired since his level also increased each time that he cleared a floor.


    As he had decided on this course of action, Randy proceeded to clear the fifth floor without resting again. On the first four segments on the fifth floor, he faced a group of normal tigers that had different colored patterns on their body, which varied on each segment of the four segments.


    However, on the fifth segment of the fifth floor, he fought against a group of lighting using tigers that seemed faster than the Agile Wolves that he met on the first floor.


    Randy struggled to defeat these seemingly untouchable lighting beasts using only his footwork technique, Chasing Tigers steps.


    Ironically, the name of his footwork had something to do with chasing tigers, meaning he would be as fast a tiger, but these tigers were not ordinary tigers that he could simply chase after with his footwork technique alone.


    Furthermore, the reason why he could not catch up with them was not that he wascking in speed or perception. In truth, he was able to catch with them, but he could notnd a simple hit on the other parties most of the time.


    After all, humans could notpare to beasts with an innate strong physique that could make their level insignificant. But since Randy was stronger than the average person in terms of his attributes, he was able to keep up with them, but he only managed to defeat one after so long.


    And thus, he had no choice but to use his assimted state, Werewolf King of Wind, and its assimted Gale Riding Skill.


    With the effects of this skill, he was easily able to catch up to them by riding on the wind. Naturally, the challenger''s system detected the skill that he used, and as usual, it mistakenly assumed that it was his innate skill and awakened a simr skill called¡ª ''Wind Sailing''.


    Back in the safe room, Randy did not use his Gale Riding Skill due to how small the inside the room was. He was afraid that he might identally smash into the wall or something since his level had increased, and he had yet to test out the Gale Riding Skill, which was his movement skill at the moment.


    But now that the system had given him this Wind Sailing Skill, he did not need to use his assimted state anymore to clear the remaining floors.


    And just like that, Randy went ahead and cleared the remaining five floors of the dungeon of beasts. Although he had to struggle way more than he had initially thought he would.


    The reason was the fact that the remaining floors mostly had elemental beasts. In other words, there were no normal beasts at all. Randy had fought against different kinds of elemental beasts like me Birds, Mountain Lions, Earth Bulls, Swift Silver Wolves, Wind Scythe Birds, Swift Leopards, Ice Wolves, and many others with bizarre skills.


    Against the beast that had bizarre skills, Randy did not give them a chance tond their hit a second time after observing their skills and proceeded to defeat them quickly. And then afterward, he dealt with those with normal-looking skills.


    It was a real headache for Randy to defeat those elemental beasts and the others with bizarre skills, especially the nt manipting beasts on the tenth floor of the dungeon of beasts. However, Randy did notin much about it, considering that he got stronger each he defeated these beasts.


    Not to mention, he had also awakened new skills during this entire process, so he found this experience well worth it.


    However, after clearing the dungeon, Randy was left puzzled when he realized that quest from his world''s system did not indicate thepletion of the quest from before.


    Randy could not help but ask the system in his mind: "System, why is there no notification that I havepleted the quest?"


    The system replied with a line of text: [The has yet to kill 1000 beast in this dungeon. So far, the host has only killed 100 beasts in total]


    "What?!" Randy was shocked he heard this, and then he said: "I have killed so many beasts just now and even cleared the dungeon. But you''re telling me that I have yet to kill a thousand beasts? Were you expecting me to clear this dungeon more than ten times or something?"


    [¡­]


    The system did not bother to respond to his question.


    Randy thought it was a waste of time clearing the same dungeon all over again since there was a chance that he might not level up even if he did.


    And thus he immediatelyined: "Damn. If it''s not because I''m curious about what you want to help me unseal, I would have¡­"


    At this moment, the challenger''s system suddenly announced to him.


    [You have cleared the dungeon of beasts!]


    [For aplishing such a feat, an appropriate reward would be given to the challenger]


    [You have been awarded the title ''Dungeon Conqueror'']


    [Dungeon Conqueror]


    [Title Effect: You can teleport from anywhere inside and out of any dungeon that was once cleared by you. Furthermore, whenever you enter any dungeon in this world, the probability of acquiring an ancient treasure as a reward after challenging and clearing the selected dungeon would increase drastically due to the effects of this title]


    "¡­"


    Randy was quiet for a few moments after reading through these lines of texts on the blue screen on his left vision, but he was not that happy with this achievement.


    "Challenger''s system, can I focus on clearing thest five floors of this dungeon and not have to start from the beginning all over again?" Randy suddenly inquired.


    [That is possible]


    Randy was mood was immediately uplifted and he calmed down afterward: "Alright, let''s do that. After all, I can''t afford to kill all those weak beasts just toe back here again. That''ll be a waste of time."


    Randy proceeded to kill the beasts in thest five floors a few more times, spending an untold amount of time in the process.


    And then, after killing thest beast on the tenth floor, he was suddenly reminded that he had initially nned to return to the city before nighttime.


    "Shit, I lost track of time and almost forgot about that since I was engrossed in fighting these dungeon beasts. Now, what should I do? Should I give on the quest? No, that''s illogical¡­ Even if I have to stay outside afterward, I''ll stillplete this quest no matter what." Randy decisively said to himself.


    [The host does not need to worry about the time spent in this dungeon]


    "What do you mean by that?" Randy was puzzled when he saw this text.


    [The time difference between this dungeon and the outside world is vastly immense. At most, only a few hours have gone by since the host started challenging this dungeon]


    "The hell¡­ Why didn''t you mention something like that earlier?"


    [Because the host did not bother to ask, and the system is not obligated to tell the host everything since this was a piece of information that could easily be essed or obtained from the people of this world]


    "¡­Whatever. At least now I know, so I don''t have to worry about spending more time in here."


    Randy focused his mind and continued hunting the beasts in thest five floors of the dungeon of beasts a few more times, and he managed to level up a few times during a few runs, albeit taking more beasts than the usual ten per level increase.. This was due to the level difference between him and the dungeon beasts.

 Chapter 193 - Quest Rewards And Picking An Occupation

    After confirming that he needed to kill more beasts toplete the quest from his system, Randy was resolved toplete it no matter what as the system''s reward might be something valuable that he could not give up on, and if he did, he might end up regretting his decision in the future.


    Therefore, he had been clearing the dungeon over and over again without stopping to take a break to rest. The only time he rested was when he went inside the safe room for a few minutes to eat his remaining rations and drink some water to relieve his moderately parched body.


    ¡­


    A few hourster.


    At this point, Randy was still fully immersed in killing the beast without stopping, up until the system shed across his vision, announcing something to him.


    [[The Quest, ''Kill 1000 Dungeon Beasts'' have beenpleted]] The system stated.


    Despite seeing this, Randy did not stop hunting the beast as he was currently on the tenth floor, and he was trying to be meticulous with what he had started, and thus, he finished all of the remaining dungeon beasts off before departing the dungeon.


    At this moment, he was facing the strongest beasts in the dungeon, which were elemental beasts with attributes like fire, water, wood, ice, lightning, earth, metal, wind, and there were even darkness attributes beasts.


    Although for some reason, there was no light attribute beast in the dungeon, puzzling Randy as to why that was the case, but he did not think much about it as he had long since noticed this from before.


    However, the good part about this discovery was that the dark attribute beasts were weak against his light attribute mana.


    With that discovery, Randy had made the habit of getting rid of the pesky dark wolves and the other dark attributes beasts that kept sneaking in the dark and trying to attack him from his blind spot.


    [Sacred Sword Skill Activated]


    A beam of holy light glowed from Randy''s sword and extended for about meters long before stopping.


    Afterward, Randy observed the beast creatures in the distance, about 20 meters away from him, and then without hesitation, he swung his sword horizontally at a speed that the beast creatures could even follow, not even the swiftest beasts could evade the iing attack, was instantly sliced through by the beam of golden-yellow sword light.


    Cleave!


    BOOM!!!


    A huge explosion urred shortly after with the surrounding mountain cleaved into two halves from Randy''s sword skill just now.


    ''This skill is really awesome, but it drains too much of my mana points, so I have to sparingly use it in battles. Otherwise, I might risk getting killed when I run out of mana points afterward.''


    After a while, when everything settled down, Randy observed his handiwork for a while longer before turning his gaze away, and then looked on the blue screen on his left vision before urging the challenger''s system shortly after.


    ''Challenger''s leveling system, I have cleared his dungeon more than 20 times, so is there some sort of reward for clearing the dungeon besides what I was promised? After all, there''s no way that there''d not be any reward after this kind of achievement, right?''


    [The user would be given his rewards after exiting the dungeon]


    "After exiting the dungeon? Well, alright. I am so tired right now¡­ not physically but mentally. This is my first time killing so many creatures. Oddly enough, I don''t feel anything despite killing this many living creatures¡­ Are they even living creatures?" Randy pondered to himself for a few moments.


    "System, the reward better be worth the pain I have to go through" Randy looked at the golden screen on his right as he stated these words.


    Soon after, Randy got out of the dungeon through a yellow portal that appeared behind him, and very soon, he was given his reward as promised.


    [Congrattions to the user for being the first challenger to clear this dungeon on the first attempt]


    [Reward: Fangs and Furs of the hunted beasts. Additionally, some elemental beasts had mana cores within their body and thus was included in the rewards]


    ''What? That''s it? What happened to the rest? Isn''t this reward simply what I was promised to obtain?'' Randy expressed his doubt as he was expecting to get some treasure like a gauntlet or a useful sword.


    Although he had that blonde man''s sword with him, he did not want, no, he did not dare to openly use it without making sure of its origin beforehand, so he needed a recement for now.


    However, the next moment, he was shocked by what he saw disyed in front of him.


    [The rewards for clearing the dungeon of beasts would be a Legendary-rank ''Shadow beast leather armor'', an S-rank ''cial Beast Sword'', and an additional reward, a spatial artifact containing all the beast furs and fangs that has been processed by dungeon]


    [Furthermore, you have been awarded the title ''Beast ughterer" for your feat of killing more than 1000 beasts within the dungeon of beasts in addition to your already granted title ''Dungeon Conqueror'' for clearing the dungeon in one single attempt]


    [Beast ughter]


    [Title Effect: When you engage in a fight with beast-type creatures, your attack damage would increase by 10%. Furthermore, this title could evolve in the future, which would depend on the amount of beast-type creatures you kill in the future]


    Randy could not hide the smile on his face as he saw the rewards, especially after seeing the armor and sword. ''Those were S-rank and legendary-rank treasures. Although I have no idea how much a legendary-rank treasure is worth, I can somewhat attest to an S-rank treasure. But why did I receive shadow beast armor? Isn''t that useless when I am using my light attribute sword skill or any light attribute skill for that matter? From the name, I could tell that it was made from the dark attribute beasts within this dungeon.


    Randy uttered shortly after: "How do I receive this reward?"


    [The user only needed to check his spatial ring. All the items received are ced inside the subspace within the ring]


    "The spatial ring¡­?" Randy frowned, looked down at his hands, and then said in a clear doubt: "But I did not receive any ring¡­ Oh, when did this get on my finger?''


    Randy was inwardly shocked that he did not notice it when something had attached itself to his finger.


    [The user does not need to worry. This spatial ring has the camouge and silence property, and it can attach itself to the owner without causing any difort]


    "Oh, is that so." Randy said, clearly still taken aback by all this. He thought he was vignt enough, but it turned out even a simple ring could evade his vignce.


    With that out of the way, he proceeded to head out of the dungeon by tracing his way out through the hallway from earlier, and very soon, he reached the other end of the long hall.


    At this moment, he recalled something and said: "System, can you tell me about the valuable information when I get back to the city?"


    [[As the host wishes]]


    [Ding!]


    At this point, the challenger''s system notification rang inside Randy''s head and ears with a few lines of texts scrolling on the blue screen on his left vision.


    [The final analysis and evaluation of user Randy have now been thoroughlypleted]


    [Based on the outstanding results of the evaluation, the following upations are selected as the most fitting for the user:]


    [Swordsman: Learn all sword-rted skills with the possibility ofprehending sword aura]


    [Warrior: Learn all warrior-rted skills with the possibility ofprehending body aura]


    [Knight: Learn all the knight-rted skills and gain the chance to receive a blessing from either the god of light or the god darkness]


    [Holy Knight: Learn all the holy knight-rted skills and gain the privilege of obtaining the blessing of the god of light]


    [ck Knight: Learn all the ck knight-rted skills and gain the privilege of receiving the blessing of the god of darkness]


    [Magician: Learn all the magic-rted skills and also gain the possibility of awakening mental-type skills rted to magic. You would also have the chance of being selected by one of the elemental gods to be their apostle.]


    [Assassin: Learn all arts of cloaking and killing skills and also gain the possibility of attaining death aura and murderous aura]


    [Alchemist: Learn all alchemy-rted skills and have the possibility of mental-type skills rted to alchemy]


    [Blood Magician: Learn all about blood magic, and all skills rted to blood. Blood magic is the specialty magic of the vampire species and other demons with innate skills rted to blood. You would acquire the method of manipting blood through magic. You would have the privilege to receive the blessing of the god of darkness]


    [Frost Magician: Learn all about frost magic. Frost magic is the specialty magic of the frost dragon species and other demons with innate skills rted to ice. You would acquire the method of manipting ice through magic. You would also have the chance of being selected by the god of water and frost as their apostle]


    [ck Magician: Learn all about ck magic, a specialty of the demon species and some unorthodox human species. You would also learn about performing meaningful rituals through sacrifices or making contracts with demonic existence within the astral ne]


    [Astral Magician: Learn all about astral magic and would have the possibility of making a contract with a fated existence within the astral ne]

 Chapter 194 - Sneak Attack

    "¡­"


    Randy read through the first few choices of upation given by the challenger''s system, and he suddenly felt a slight headache before frowning and thinking to himself in puzzlement.


    ''Why are there so many upations? What should I pick with this many upations? In the first ce, do I have to pick among all these upations? After all, I already have a ss, which is most likely simr to upation in this world, so there''s no need for me to pick anything, but¡­'' Randy pondered to himself without deciding right away.


    Randy thought of what the benefit would be to have an upation in this world. From what he had discovered so far, these upations were simr to the sses given to the awakened in his world.


    However, unlike the awakened humans in his world, the humans in this world do not possess any awakened abilities in the beginning. At most, they only had individual potentials, which wouldter be a factor to consider when selecting their upation.


    In that sense, upation was truly different from ss in the way that anyone could get the upation that suited them and would enable them to learn skills, which would help them to level up in the dungeon to increase their strength. Meanwhile, the sses in his world were rted to their awakened abilities.


    For example, a magical warrior ss only meant that the ability one awakened was better suited to be a magical warrior as being a magical warrior itself was not an ability that had been awakened but attained through one''s effort in practice.


    But the same cannot be said in this world as one could simply get an upation that they desire or are suited for them even if they did not have any awakened ability. All they needed was the potential. For example, physical attributes like strength and non-physical attributes like intelligence and magic limit.


    In Acruxia, as long as one had immense potential in their attributes, they would be eligible for the upation that best fitted them.


    And right now, Randy was given a choice to pick among these many upations, and although it looks attractive, considering how many upations are disyed in front of him, it did not mean that he needed to pick any of them.


    After all, he was originally not from this world, but he could not simply ignore this matter, and that was why he was left in a mild conundrum regarding this situation.


    Before, Randy did not mind picking any upation to fit into this world, but the situation has changed when he acquired those skills from the blonde man''s blood assimtion.


    ''Should I ignore it, or should I just pick any upation among all these? But what should I pick? A magician? A warrior or a swordsman? More importantly, what is this astral magician upation? This one seemed different from the rest¡­ Blood Magician is self-exnatory, not to mention, it is very tempting considering it has something to do with blood maniption, and the remaining upations are also self-exnatory, so I don''t particrly need an exnation regarding those. However, the term astral¡­. This is my first time hearing about this term as an upation path, which makes me want to pick it out of curiosity, but I can''t be too careless¡­''


    Randy deeply thought about his choices, but he still could not make up his mind, and thus, he decided to demand an opinion from a different source.


    "Challenger''s system, do I truly have to pick among these upations? Also, is it necessary to decide on one''s upation when one bes a challenger?" Randy asked.


    [The user does not have to pick an upation right away, but it is required to have an upation in order to learn the necessary skills regarding the selected skills]


    "I see¡­ Then I could choose to not have any upation if I truly do not want to, right?" Randy asked further.


    [That is the case. However, it would be hard to learn any skills without any upation as a path]


    ''Skills?''


    Randy read this word and then recalled how many skills he had obtained currently even without an upation, and he concluded that as of the moment he did not need any skills whatsoever if he could simply assimte with the blood of others to awaken their skills as his own.


    "Alright, I understand. For now, I don''t n on picking any upation. But who knows, I might change my mind in the future. Anyway, it''s time to leave this dungeon. I''ve been here for a few days now. If I did not listen to Zophia''s advice at the time, I wouldn''t have been able to stay in this ce for that long without food and water." Randy said to himself.


    At this moment, he was standing in front of a ss-like portal that seemed to be leading to the outside. This was the portal that brought him inside the dungeon and also connected to the mirror-gate outside.


    Randy walked forward and was about to touch the portal before stopping and looking down at the ring on the index finger on his right hand.


    ''How do I take things out of this thing¡­ Maybe I should insert my mana into it¡­ It''s not working¡­? Then I should try out with my mental energy¡­ Oh, it worked! Now, let''s see my loot¡ª I mean, my reward.''


    Randy suddenly stopped in front of the portal gate leading outside and then proceeded to scour through the rewards that he received, seemingly searching for something.


    "Ah, found it!"


    At this moment, out of the ck ring on Randy''s index finger, came a ck silhouette that fell on his palm.


    "Oh, this is good stuff. I thought it was going to be ufortable to wear, but that does not seem to be the case¡­"


    Randy observed the item in his hand in admiration.


    This item was one of the rewards that he received a while ago.


    Shadow Beast Leather Armor!


    On one hand, Randy wanted to try on his newly acquired armor and on the other hand, he just wanted to prepare himself in case it was dark outside, and some wild animal decides to prey on him without warning. After all, the location of the dungeon of beasts was not that far away from the nearby forest.


    "But still, this design¡­ I don''t think people in this world wear these types of armor, though. This thing looks like a long coat,pletely unlike the leather armors that I have seen ever since I arrived in Alpheotus city. Well, whatever, maybe it''s because it is a rewarded item from the dungeon." Randy concluded and immediately put on the long ck coat with a long sleeve.


    The moment he put this armor on, he suddenly felt like his body had fallen into an abyss with all the darkness shrouding his body. However, he could also feel a sense of security with this armor on.


    "Not bad. Worth it being called a legendary-rank treasure." Randymended as he felt the darkness covering his body.


    ''There should be a description for items like this, but I''ll check itter when I get to the city. I need to return quickly. Besides, I don''t even know what time it is, or what day it is right now.'' Randy thought to himself, and he walked through the portal gate.


    Fwoosh!


    He disappeared from the dungeon and appeared outside through the mirror-like door out on the field.


    "I finally came out, but it is already dark outside. What day is it? Doesn''t matter, I just have to return to the city and submit the furs and fangs to get my official dungeon hunter card. Good thing there was no deadline for thepletion of this mission." Randy said as he looked around for a moment as if sensing something.


    "Hm?"


    Randy casually nce in the forest behind for a few moments and then calmly took out the map that he received from Zophia and proceeded to look through it for a brief moment before suddenly departing from his location towards the direction of the city.


    As walked for about a few minutes, about a few meters away from the dungeon''s entrance, a silent figure suddenly appeared behind him, as they aimed for his back with clear ill intentions.


    ''A Sneak attack?!''


    Upon noticing this, Randy quickly reacted by maneuvering his body skillfully, disappearing from the path of the enemy''s attack as if he had be one with the wind itself.


    Whoosh!


    The next moment, he appeared behind the figure.


    Wind Sailing Skill!


    "Who the hell are you? Why did you try to attack just now?" Randy sternly demanded with a scowled expression.


    When the other party noticed that they had missed their target even with their wless attack just now, they were momentarily surprised.


    They slowly turned to face the young man behind them and then doubtfully spoke: "You¡­ You actually managed to dodge my attack at thest moment?"


    "I asked who the hell you are and why did you attack me just now?! Do I know you?!" Randy felt annoyed by this person who appeared to be a man based on their voice and appearance.


    "Hahahaha! I''m speechless. To think a weakling like you could avoid my sneak attack. You either have some good intuition, or it might simply be pure coincidence. Well, it does not matter anymore. Since my first attack did not seem to work on you, then I just have to kill you slowly without actually killing you, and then your body would be mine afterward."


    Randy frowned when he heard the other party''s words, and upon observing them for a little bit, he noticed that something was very strange about their appearance, and with that, he instantly took out his sword from his storage bracelet.

 Chapter 195 - Did He Just Run Away?

    At this point, Randy was standing about a few meters away from the man who had sneak attacked him. However, upon discovering something strange about the other party''s appearance, Randy decisively held his sword tightly with his right hand and then opened his mouth and wanted to speak.


    But then, all of sudden, the sounds of multiple projectiles cutting through air resounded as they aimed in his direction. These projectiles sounded like the buzzing of mosquitoes, so low and almost silent but still audible to the ears of those with a sharp sense of hearing.


    When Randy noticed the change in the atmosphere, he immediately reacted by retreating a few more meters using his wind sailing skill as he made a considerable distance between him and the man in front of him.


    However, even though he had managed to retreat in time, he was still not able to evade the iing attack.


    And when he saw that there was no way to evade this attack, he took a stance was prepared his sacred sword skill, and then readied himself to negate the opposition''s attack.


    "Hm? This is¡­"


    When the attack was almost about a meter away from him, Randy abruptly stopped in his movement to unleash his attack, almost like had been enlightened of something unexpected even in this dire situation.


    The man, on the other end, had an unusually wide grin on his face when he noticed that the other party had stopped in their attack upon recognizing his attack at this instant. The man disyed an anticipation expression, indicating that he could not wait to watch the other party being impaled by his attacks.


    However, when the projectiles were only a few inches away from the young man in the distance, they unnaturally stopped in mid-air as if they had beenpelled by some mysterious force or power.


    "Impossible! Why did my attacks stop in mid-air?! Right in front of him, no less! And just now, I also seem to have lost control of attacks. Is this the result of some sort of ability that he''s using, or maybe a spell?!" The man questionably shouted in disbelief.


    The man had a bewildered expression on his face at this moment when he realized that his all-out attack just now was stopped at the veryst moment by some mysterious force, and despite all the projectiles beingpletely under control, this mysterious force seemed to have stripped him of his control over them.


    This unnatural phenomenon caused him to be confused and doubted the identity of the young man in the distance, who seemed to be observing the projectiles in mid-air with a curious expression.


    Meanwhile, on the other end, in the distance, away from the man, Randy suddenly let a sound after a while of observing multiple red projectiles in mid-air, that seemed to be now under his control.


    "Ohhh¡­ This is quite interesting. This is a fundamentally different principlepared to my ability. It seemed to be capable of being powered by mana unlike my ability, which most likely relied on blood energy. At least, that''s what I think it relies on. But I wonder if I can use blood spells too if I learn it." Randy muttered with an intrigued tone of voice.


    While he was busy admiring this spell attack, which had been thwarted by his skill, the man, on the other hand, disyed a very cautious expression as he carefully observed the action of this strange young man.


    But eventually, he was left with a dumbfounded expression when he noticed that the young man was ignoring him and focusing on the red solid projectiles that were frozen in mid-air.


    Those were his very own attacks.


    A short whileter, Randy suddenly turned to the dumbfounded man in the distance and curiously asked: "You¡­ You''re one of those vampires, am I right? Why did you attack me just now? Also, can you teach me how to use that spell of yours if I beat you?"


    "¡­"


    The supposed vampire man did not react much when he heard the seemingly threatening question from the young man and instead was taken aback by this sudden unexpected interrogation regarding his identity.


    ''Who is that brat?! How can he take control of my blood spikes! Is he one my kin in disguise? No, that can''t be it. Judging from his scent and appearance, he''s undoubtedly human. Not to mention, he even asked whether I am ''one of those vampires'' or not. If he is not one of my kin, then who is he and how can he take control of my spell, which was enhanced with my blood maniption innate skill?''


    The supposed vampire man deeply thought to himself, and a short whileter, he disyed a frown on his face, seemingly unable to figure out the identity of this young man even after pondering about it.


    But before the supposed vampire man could even respond to Randy''s casual questions, Randy suddenly thought of something and then nonchntly added: "But before you answer my question regarding your sneak attack, answer me this first, how strong are you? I mean, as a vampire, how strong are you exactly? I need to know this information before defeating you."


    When the supposed vampire man heard these words, he snapped out of his thoughts and red at the young man with veins bulging on his forehead before saying: "You dare!"


    The supposed vampire man abruptly stopped, and a momentter, he found his words ludicrous and suddenly broke into peals ofughter.


    "Hahaha, a mere human like you dare to say something like that to a vampire such as I?! I can''t believe this! The audacity! However, fret not! I will show you! When I brutally kill you and drain your blood, you will know by then just how strong I am whenpared to a mere human like you. Although I have no idea how you could take control of my blood spikes, I can feel it! I can feel your pitiful existence, your minuscule amount of mana¡­ Wait! I can''t feel anything¡­? What''s going on?"


    The vampire man deeply frowned when he noticed something strange about this human and then questioned in a cold but cautious tone: "You¡­ What are you?"


    Hearing this response, Randy sighed and then responded: "That''s what I want to know too¡­ Now then, since you don''t want to answer my questions, then you leave me no choice. Besides, I don''t have the time to waste casually exchanging words with someone, who was aiming for my life just now. So die!"


    At this moment, Randy indifferently waved his hand.


    "You impertinent human¡ª"


    SWOOSH!!!!


    Before the vampire man could even retort against his words, the multiple red projectiles that were immobile in mid-air since a while ago, suddenly changed their trajectory away from Randy at a fast speed that even the vampire man could barely keep track of their movements.


    ''Too fast!'' The vampire man inwardly screamed.


    And at this moment, those projectiles were aiming toward his directions at a breakneck speed, and soon, they were only a few inches away from his body.


    Because he did not anticipate something like that to happen ahead of time, he was unable to guard against or dodge the iing attacks in time and thus had no choice but to wait to be impaled by the ten to fifteen spikes made out of his very own blood.


    "Fuck!" He cursed out loud and immediately blocked in front of himself.


    The next second, the multiple blood spikes had reached him and rained down on him, making his body resemble that of a ho''s nest.


    Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk¡­!


    The vampire man tried to resist these projectile attacks with his innate regeneration skill, but he soon realized that the blood spikes that were aimed at him at this moment were slightly different from the ones that he had sent toward the young man just now.


    The more the relentless blood spikes pierced through his skin, he noticed thatrge chunks of his flesh were being torn away in the process, and it was hard to quickly regenerate the missing body parts, as it would normally take a very long time for him to recover fully.


    The worst part about this situation was that he thought he could take back his control over blood spikes when they entered his body. But shortly after, the vampire man quickly realized that he could not take back control of these blood spikes even though they were originally made out of his blood, making him feel very annoyed and frustrated.


    Therefore, he could only grit his teeth and face the brunt of the ten to fifteen attacks that seemed to be directly under the control of the young human multiple times.


    Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk! Puk¡­!


    Eventually, being left with no other choice, the vampire man immediately decided on a course of action, and then he forcefully took on the attacks for a while as he looked for a chance.


    A few momentster, when he found a chance in the middle of the onught of the projectiles, he sidestepped to dodge one of attacks, then quickly turned around and ran away as fast as he could while neglecting the various injuries on his body.


    The vampire man fled with all his speed without looking back, afraid that the other party would continue to unleash more of these kinds of attacks against him and eventually end up killing him in the process.


    Seeing this turn of events, Randy was left speechless as he watched as the man with the bright crimson red eyes and pale white skin suddenly ran away in the direction of the nearby forest, disappearing into the forest shortly after.


    ''Did he just run away¡­?'' Randy inwardly questioned himself in doubt.

 Chapter 196

    196 Returning To The City


    ¡°...¡±


    Randy was silence for a short while as he pondered what happened just now.


    ¡®The speed of my counterattack was indeed surprising even for me. Was my attack that deadly enough to cause him to run away as if his life was threatened? I thought he would be like all vampires with high self-healing ability. Not to mention, I didn¡¯t even exert my full influence on those spikes that seemed to be made out of his blood. Then, what is the cause of that tremendous speed?¡¯


    Randy wondered to himself regarding the reason why his influence over the vampire man¡¯s attack was unnaturally easy and it even took him less effort to send his attacks back at him.


    Earlier, when he noticed the approaching attacks, upon recognizing the true form of the attacks, he instinctively used his Blood Authority Skill to halt the iing projectiles before they reached him. That was because he somehow figured that his skill would work on the other party¡¯s attack, which was made out of blood.


    However, when he did so, he realized a momentter that he did not even need the assistance of the system to activate his skill, and also, it was quite easy to stop the enemy¡¯s attacks in their tracks.


    As it felt like rather than stopping the attacks, he instead used his ethereal and invisible energy from his Blood Authority Skill to wrap around the blood spikes and thus halted them from moving further forward while also keeping their momentum at the same time.


    Furthermore, when he sent the now fully controlled blood spikes back at the vampire man, it felt like the attack speed of the blood spikes had abruptly increased triple times their original attack speed.


    And the strange part was that he did not even use his full influence on those blood spikes as he was not in his ancestral form the whole time, thus his control should have been much weaker without the system.


    .....


    At this point, Randy wondered if the reason for the sudden increase in the attack speed had something to do with the fact that the attack was originally not his attack and since it belonged to that vampire man, that was the reason why he could easily control it?


    But he immediately discarded this reason because it should have been the opposite instead. After all, the attacks should be more influenced by the one who initiated it and not the one who intercepted the attacks with a simr ability or skill.


    A few moments of ponderingter, Randy suddenly realized something important, and he immediately tried to hover the spikes that are made out of blood towards himself, but then all of sudden, the blood spikes all let out a resounding ¡®crack¡¯ sound as one by one, they disintegrated within a short momentter.


    Crack! Crack! Crack...!


    Randy calmly watched as they unexpected situation unfold in front of his very eyes.


    ¡®Did they break because the user of the spell was no longer in sight? Well, no matter. At least, I can now definitely assume that he ran away rather than went to call for his allies. But even so, it¡¯s a pity... But it can¡¯t be helped.¡¯ Randy silently thought with slight regret in his heart.


    Although he felt very regretful that he could not obtain the other party¡¯s blood to assimte, he also did not want to chase after them either, as there was a possibility that the escaped vampire man could have his allies lying in wait in that forest.


    In other words, if he had chased after him a while ago, the possibility that he might have been ambushed with numbers was very high, and he might even end up losing his life if not badly injured in the process if that were to happen. Furthermore, he was not someone who would underestimate his enemies and thus, he chose not to pursue the other party.


    Not to mention, he needed to return to the city quickly to report hispletion of his rank mission as soon as possible.


    With that in mind, Randy firmly decided not to give chase and proceeded to ignore the escaped vampire man, turned around and then walked away in a certain direction away from the dungeon¡¯s entrance.


    As he walked away, he wondered why there was a vampire near the entrance of the dungeon of beasts.


    ¡®I wonder... Why was I attacked by that vampire just now...? Is that a normal urrence in this world? That aside, I¡¯ve discovered something more interesting through this encounter. First of all, my blood authority skill seems to work on that blood maniption skill of that vampire man, and secondly, his blood maniption seemed to be infused with his mana, meaning it might be a spell and his innate skill mixed together. But the control seemed to be weaker than I expected, or maybe that vampire was simply too weak, so his blood maniption skill was not that great? Then again, it was way too easy to control his blood even though it was normally hard for me to control blood that easily with my blood authority.¡¯


    Randy pondered for a while and yet he could note to a proper conclusion, but he still found this discovery very helpful to him.


    As he also had a blood maniption skill, but there was no one else he knew that could do the same thing that he could, except for maybe his father who was not home all the time due to work and thus he could not ask him for pointers in that regard.


    If things end up going ording to how it should be, then he would most likely be able to learn how to control his abilities when he attends university in the future but that was when he does attend university.


    However, Randy wanted to quickly learn how to control his own abilities without relying on the system too much.


    After all, too much dependence would lead to more reliance on the thing that one depended on. In this case, it was his system, and he cannot foretell the future and be certain that he might not lose his system someday due to some circumstance?


    With that thought in mind, upon witnessing the prowess of the vampire species in this world, he now nned on catching some of the vampires while in this world and either forcing them to teach him their blood spells or assimting with their blood to learn their skills directly.


    Assimting with their blood of a vampire was the quickest method to get all their skills that he needed without wasting more time.


    On the other hand, the first choice would require him to negotiate with other parties during their encounter, not to mention, they might even attack him without for no reason.


    But Randy does not n on doing something that dangerous and stupid like negotiating with the vampires. He would rather kill them and forcefully take their blood afterward than negotiate with them. After all, he was a human and thus killing a vampire in this world was not that strange or evil per se.


    Even though he could solve all his problems by changing his ss to blood magician, that would only give him the blood spells and not the innate blood maniption skill of the vampires.


    Most importantly, Randy truly wanted their blood maniption skill in order topare and contrast it with his own skill, Blood Authority and see the difference and how he could use that as a reference to control his skill.


    At this point, Randy shook his head to put these thoughts aside and immediately picked up the pace as he made his way to Alpheotus city, which was only about a three to four hours away in foot but if he used his newly acquired movement skill, Wind Sailing, he could reach the city in less than that amount of time.


    That was the perk of having such an active and convenient skill that could be activated instantly without having to go through extra steps, and also, he could easily avoid any attention to himself even if someone were to see him performing this skill with his appearance.


    That was because, unlike his ¡®Gale Riding Skill¡¯, which allowed him to move very swiftly but required him to be in his assimted state, the newly acquired ¡®Wind Sailing Skill¡¯ did not require him to alter his appearance, and therefore, he could simply use it as many times he wanted.


    A smile gradually appeared on Randy¡¯s face as he felt very pleased with his harvest this time in the dungeon of beasts.


    Besides the items that he got his hands on after conquering the dungeon, the supposed innate skills that he awakened with the help of the challenger¡¯s system would undoubtedly aid him tremendously as he stays in this world from now on.


    Without further ado, Randy activated the skill, followed by a notification from the challenger¡¯s system.


    [Wind Sailing Skill Activated]


    Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Whoosh~


    Randy had practiced this skill back in the dungeon of beasts as he hunted the dungeon beasts, so he could confidently say that he was now adept at using it without any difficulty or difort when executing and applying his very own set of leg movements.

 Chapter 197

    197 Encroaching Silhouette


    Randy executed the wind sailing skill effortlessly as his leg movements were powered by the surrounding wind, thus increasing his overall speed as he ran forward.


    Although the skills that he acquired gave him the know-how on how to execute them, it did not actually give him the muscle memories on how to use them, except for the assimted skills which came with the muscle memories when activated.


    Therefore, Randy had to diligently practice dodging the attacks of the various beasts within the dungeon of beasts in order to fully use this Wind Sailing Skill that seemed to be moreplicated at first despite him acquiring the knowledge on how to execute it.


    About two hourster, as he used his skill which boosted his speed, Randy had finally arrived at his destination, the Alpheotus City.


    However, when Randy finally arrived at the main entrance of Alpheotus city, he quickly noticed that the city¡¯s main gate had been closed just like he had thought.


    ¡®Now, what should I do? Should I attempt to push the gate forcefully? If that does not work, I will try breaking down the gate. No, that¡¯s stupid. What am I thinking right now? They¡¯d think that I am an enemy if I did something like that. But why isn¡¯t anyone here, though? Do they not guard the city gate at night or something?¡¯


    Randy pondered for a minute, and then he suddenly came up with a usible idea.


    ¡®Maybe I should climb over the wall? I don¡¯t n on staying outside until morning. I need to take a shower to wash off my fatigue. I couldn¡¯t do that while inside the dungeon. Although once I entered the safe room, all parts of my body felt cleaned by some mysterious energy. So it¡¯s not like I am dirty or anything. But I still need to take a proper shower.¡¯


    Randy firmly thought to himself and immediately acted away on his decision without hesitation.


    .....


    Thus, Randy went to the side of the wall, quite a distance away from the city¡¯s main gate since there was less chance of anyone spotting him as he climbed the wall.


    Not to mention, the location that Randy was currently standing was quite a considerable distance away from the city¡¯s main gate. Therefore, even if the city guards happened to guard the city gate from the inside rather than outside, they would still not notice him if he decided to climb the wall from his current position.


    Bang!


    With a dull but light sound while utilizing his Wind Sailing, Randy jumped up the wall, clung on the edges of the wall on top with his hands, and proceeded to look around for a bit. When Randy had looked around inside the city without seeing anyone around besides the residential houses, he then propelled himself upward, climbing over the wall shortly after.


    At this point, Randy had already jumped over the city wall and entered the city, but he was currently falling from the height of over ten to fifteen meters tall wall.


    Whoosh~


    Before Randy couldnd, he decisively used his wind sailing skill to lighten the fall on the ground to avoid making any ruckus with hisnding.


    After he hadnded sessfully without drawing any attention, he proceeded to look around some more using his dimensional sense skill before walking away when he did not detect anyone around 100 meters radius around himself.


    Although using the dimensional sense skill drained one¡¯s mental and mana points, Randy had a high magic limit and intelligence attributes, so he could afford to use this skill a few times before ultimately feeling exhausted.


    With that aside, Randy quickly made his way towards the tallest building in the city, Dungeon Exploration upation Society¡¯s building.


    After walking past some people who were still not yet asleep or simply walking about doing their very own things in the illuminated city, Randy finally reached his destination.


    However, When he reached the building, he quickly noticed that the door to the building was closed, and Randy wondered if they had closed down for the day.


    But then, he also recalled that his room was inside the building, so there was no way they would close down their building thoroughly.


    With that thought in mind, he pushed against the door to the building, and sure enough, after a few tries, it opened as he had thought.


    At first, it appeared to be locked even though he pushed against it, but as if recognizing something, the door to the building abruptly opened a short momentter when Randy pushed on his third try.


    At this moment, Randy was holding onto his hands the temporary dungeon hunter card since he intended to submit the rank mission¡¯s required contents and also get a new and official dungeon hunter card.


    ¡®Did it open because of my temporary dungeon hunter card?¡¯ Randy wondered.


    However, he did not bother to ponder too much and proceeded to walk in right away. And just like he had expected, the reception counters were still there, but there was no one behind them, nor were there any dungeon hunter in the building to use them for that matter.


    Randy sighed and decided to head to his room for a bit before heading out to take a bath afterward. He nned oning back the following day to report thepletion of his rank mission.


    However, at this moment, he suddenly felt a faint encroaching presence behind him, and he instinctively took out his steel sword and swiftly turned around to face the source.


    He immediately shouted outward: ¡°Who are you?! Show yourself!¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    At this moment, a silhouette walked from within the dark hall with calm but steady steps.


    When their physical form came into view, they suddenly praised with a surprised voice: ¡°Not bad, young man. You¡¯re indeed as great as Zophia had said. To think that you could sense my presence even though you only recently be a dungeon hunter. Why are you nowing back? Did something happen on your way back?¡¯


    Randy scowled when he saw the appearance of the silhouette. It was actually a bulky middle-aged man who exuded a deadly aura just from standing casually. However, he could not fully discern this person¡¯s appearance, almost like he was shrouded in some power.


    Noticing the dangerous aura emanating from the other party, Randy did not respond to their question and instead continued to ask in a cold tone: ¡°Who are you? What do you want from me? And also, why did you mention Zophia¡¯s name just now? Are you perhaps a dungeon hunter as well?¡±


    Randy thought this man was someone who might have heard about him from Zophia somehow. Even though he was somehow doubtful that Zophia would carelessly spread the news about him to others, there was also the possibility that she might have precisely done that.


    Contrary to his belief that the middle-aged man came to see him for some ill-intentioned reasons, the middle-aged man, on the other hand, raised his eyebrows in slight surprise when he heard Randy¡¯s unweing remarks just now.


    A brief momentter, the middle-aged man undid his ability, thus revealing his entire appearance for him to see. He had a well-trimmed short beard, short grey hair, and clouded blue eyes.


    Afterward, he spoke: ¡°Young man, there¡¯s no need for you to be on guard; I mean no harm. I only came here to check on you and nothing more. How about this, I will see you tomorrow after you¡¯re done with your matters, and you¡¯ll know who I am then. Also, as you can see, the society building is closed down for the day, so you¡¯ll have to handle your matters tomorrow as soon as possible if you want to get your rank assigned to you quickly. Because starting from tomorrow, there might be quite a ruckus in the society¡¯s building, so you might not get your chance to officially register yourself before the day is over.¡±


    Hearing this grey-haired middle-aged man¡¯s words, Randy gradually felt that something was very off about this person¡¯s way of speaking as he spoke to him.


    ¡®...Almost as if he is a bigshot in this ce.¡¯


    Randy then doubtfully asked with a noticeable change in his tone and attitude this time: ¡± May I ask who you are exactly? Why does it seem like you¡¯re well-informed about what I n on doing tomorrow?¡±


    The grey-haired middle-aged man was stunned for a moment when he noticed the change in his tone, and then he abruptly burst out into a peal of momentaryughter before he said: ¡°Hahaha... You¡¯re quite a smart young man. But I wasn¡¯t lying to you just now. As I said, you woulde to know who I am tomorrow, so there¡¯s no need for me to tell you right now.¡±


    The bulky grey-haired middle-aged man heartily startedughing once again as he walked away while waving his hand. He seemed to be heading to the top floor of this building as he took the stairway leading to the top floor at the end of the hallway.


    ¡®Who was that man? He sounded like one of the leaders of this society... Wait, it can¡¯t be the person Zophia talked about before handing me the rank mission, right? If it was him, then wasn¡¯t I acting quite rude to him just now. I wanted to fit into this world as much as possible, so I needed to act my ce, but...¡¯ Randy silently pondered.


    ¡°Whatever, it¡¯s not like I knew who he was beforehand and still acted like this toward him or anything. It was his fault for acting sneaky and creeping up on me as he did. I almost attacked him just now, if not because this was the society¡¯s building, which made me hold back my urge. Not to mention, I don¡¯t n on causing any trouble on my second day here.¡± Randy muttered to himself in a low voice shortly after.

 Chapter 198

    198 Requirement To Unseal


    Randy could care less about what that grey-haired middle-aged man might think of him, but he could not simply act out of ce in this new world, so he ultimately decided that if meets him again, he nned on apologizing to him to smooth things out between them.


    Although Randy did not like bowing to people mostly because of his previous experience of dealing with people who looked down on him in the past, he thought it was necessary to not act out like his ce while in this world if he wanted to survive for a long time.


    With that in mind, he ignored the situation with the strange middle-aged man altogether, stowed away his sword, and proceeded into his room. A short whileter, he came back out after undressing himself with only a tower on and then headed towards the public shower, which was located within the building¡¯s lower floor to clean himself.


    ...


    At the same time.


    In the castle of that beautiful woman, who adorned colorful red dress.


    At this time, a subordinate announced his presence to her behind a very huge and decorated gate. The beautiful woman frowned slightly as she was not expecting anyone¡¯s report at this time, but after pondering for a bit, she let him in a momentter.


    After being allowed entry by her, the subordinate slowly staggered into her throne room, seemingly in a weakened state. That had undoubtedly caught the attention of the beautiful woman.


    As the beautiful woman saw the battered appearance of the man who came into her throne room, who seemed to be her subordinate, she immediately frowned deeply, but she did not react much and proceeded to wait for her to exin himself.


    .....


    If Randy had been here, he would have easily recognized that this subordinate was the vampire man who had attacked him a while ago. After barely escaping with his life, this vampire man came to report the situation to his superior.


    Upon making a certain away from his superior, the vampire man bowed and then said in a reverent tone: ¡°Greetings, my queen!¡±


    The beautiful woman was impatient and thus questioned with a stern voice shortly after while ignoring his solemn greetings: ¡°What happened to your body?!¡±


    ¡°My queen, earlier, I was attacked by a strange human near the Alpheotus City¡¯s Dungeon of beasts.¡± The subordinate quickly responded to her.


    ¡°What do you mean by strange human?!¡± The beautiful woman showed an unperturbed expression, but she was inwardly shocked when she heard this, especially when looking at the sorry state that her subordinate was currently in.


    She even wondered who could have done such a thing to him, considering the regeneration ability of this subordinate of hers. Unless the other party was vastly stronger than him, or on of those people from the church, they should not have been able to cause him that much damage.


    However, she quickly calmed down when she noticed that something was very strange about this whole situation, and thus before the subordinate could even respond, she deeply looked at him before doubtfully asking: ¡°No, more importantly, what were you doing in the territory of the humans?!¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    The subordinate did not expect such a response from her superior, considering the severity and significance of his report just now, and thus remained silent, unable to answer her question.


    Boom!


    ¡°Arghhhhhhh!!!¡±


    The subordinate started screaming in pain when he suddenly felt an overwhelming pressure over his already battered body, attempting to break every single bone in his body.


    The beautiful woman deeply frowned further and angrily spoke: ¡°Answer my question! If you do not want to gruesomely die from having all your bones and organs ttened, then speak!!¡±


    Without waiting for the subordinate to respond again, she added: ¡°You dared to disobey my orders to not interfere with the humans as it would affect our ns.¡±


    ¡°Did I not mention that If they do not enter the Meistic forest they should be left alone? Going by all your previous tant actions, it appears that many of you disregarded my words and did whatever you wanted on your own ord.¡± She continued.


    Amidst the agonizing pain from his bones being constantly broken and then repaired at a rapid rate, the vampire man struggled to say: ¡°My queen, please forgive my transgression this time.¡±


    And then he continued: ¡°That human who defeated me appeared to be capable of using the ability of our kind- he could manipte blood. Not his blood but my blood that had been enhanced with my blood spell.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡±


    The beautiful was genuinely shocked when she heard this. This time, she did not bother to hide her shocked expression. But she immediately pondered to herself.


    ¡®A human capable of manipting blood? Other than that young man that I observed recently, are there others that could also manipte blood among the humans?¡± She was puzzled by this discovery as it could impact their ns and her mission ining to this Meistic forest.


    The beautiful woman pondered for a short while, then she thought of something before questioning in a cold voice: ¡°Do you remember what attire they were wearing when you met them?¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡± The vampire man appeared surprised upon hearing this strange question, but he was d that his queen was no longer furious as the pressure on his body diminished, so he quickly answered: ¡°That human was wearing a long ck coat, which seemed to be some type crafted armor or an item from the dungeon. But I am not really sure myself.¡±


    The vampire man recalled the young man¡¯s clothes, which seemed to have a different style of fashion whenpared to the humans in their world. But he remembered that those types of clothes were usually found in the dungeons.


    ¡°Hmm...¡± The beautiful woman soon fell in deep thought after hearing this response.


    ¡®That was not the same clothes that young man wore before leaving. Is it perhaps another person with the same ability or hisrade? If that ends up being either case, I wonder what the humans are nning this time? It seems like I¡¯ll have to tell that person about this matter.¡±


    The beautiful woman hesitated for a bit after deciding on her next course of action regarding this matter. However, she soon dismissed her reluctance and said to the vampire man: ¡°Go and inform the leader of the troops, Sedric, to be prepared for any attacks or invasion from the humans.


    She then coldly red at the vampire man and dered while emanating a gloomy chilling aura from her body: ¡°As for you, this would have to be yourst time. If I ever find out that you¡¯re out of bounds and not doing your tasks properly as instructed, I would neither spare you nor let you die a quick for such disobedience and transgression against our lord¡¯s ns. You should count yourself very lucky that presently we need as many abled men as possible to fight against the church when necessary. Otherwise, the next time this happens, it would not matter whether we needed many people to fight against the church or not because you would still receive your punishment, so bear that in mind.¡±


    ¡®Eeek!¡¯ The vampire man inwardly shuddered when he felt the bone-chilling murderous aura wash over his body just now. However, he did not react much on the outside.


    ¡°Now, get out of my sight before I change my mind!¡±


    The vampire man did not linger and quickly left the throne room while ignoring the sound of his bones rattling unpleasantly from being exacerbated by the pressure earlier.


    After he left, the beautiful woman proceeded to ponder to herself for a few moments before sighing and muttering: ¡°I hope those humans are not foolish enough to attempt something that could spell the end of their species. But I highly doubt that with their strange movements and actions as oftely.¡±


    Her voice sounded almost sympathetic as she spoke these words and yet at the same time sounded apathetic, making it hard to discern her true thoughts as she spoke just now.


    ...


    Alpheotus City.


    Dungeon Exploration upation Society¡¯s Building.


    Inside Randy¡¯s assigned room.


    After cleaning him in the public bath, Randy came back to his room and immediately sat on his bed after putting on some clothes.


    At this moment, he went ahead and took out the items that he had attained recently and thenid them on his bed afterward.


    Back in his world, he acquired a few storage items from the sunsses man and his subordinates, and at the time, he could check the things inside because of the seals ced on them. And in this world, he acquired the spatial pouch from that blonde man after killing him, and he found out afterward that he could not open the storage pouch no matter how much he tried to insert energy into it.


    With all these items prepared on his bed, Randy could not afford to wait any longer, and thus, he straightened himself and then looked in the void in front of himself, specifically on the golden screen projected in front of his vision.


    He then spoke: ¡°System, can you now tell me about the rewards forpletion of the quest?¡±


    As soon as the system received his question, a few lines of text started scrolling on the projected screen in front of him.


    [[You havepleted the quest, ¡®Kill 1000 Dungeon Beasts¡¯]]


    [[Quest Reward: A hint from the system on how to unseal one of the items that you have obtained recently]]


    [[Would you like to receive the quest reward right now?]]


    ¡°Yes.¡± Randy replied.


    [[Response Acknowledged]]


    [[From now on, the system would inform the host of the requirement to unseal the ck tome that the host has acquired recently]]

 Chapter 199

    199 First Seal


    Randy had prepared himself to learn about the system¡¯s reward forpleting his first quest, and initially, he thought that the quest reward was simply a way to unseal the items that he had acquired by defeating or killing people in the past.


    However, what the system has disyed in front of his eyes was beyond his expectation. As he read through the words on the projected screen in front of himself, he was slightly speechless.


    [[From now on, the system would inform the host of the requirement to unseal the ck tome that the host has acquired recently]]


    ¡°The reward is how to unseal the ck tome?¡± Randy muttered in a daze.


    [[That¡¯s right]] The system confirmed his doubts.


    ¡°I thought it would be one of the things that I took out, but surprisingly, it¡¯s about that ck tome, huh?¡± Randy muttered in surprise. Although surprised, there was also a hint of excitement that was discernible from his voice as he spoke. He had acquired this ck tome from Miss Feng¡¯s magic shop for a cheap price, considering the description of the ck tome at the time.


    Without bothering to ponder too much, Randy took out the ck tome from his storage bracelet and then stared at the thick ck tome, which looked almost like a box or a block of carved wood with engravings on the cover.


    This ck tome was quite unassuming to the point that anyone who saw it at first nce would think it was not anything valuable enough to consider staring at it for even a second longer.


    But that was not the case for Randy who obtained this ck tome. Because with the help of his upgraded system, he was able to discern the true value of this ck tome, and thus, he purchased it purposefully for that reason and not because even he thought it was valuable.


    .....


    At this point, Randy recalled the description that he received from his system back when he first discovered this ancient ck tome.


    ...


    [[Attention!]]


    [[Discovered the Ancient ck Tome of an Arch Sorcerer!]]


    ¡®Ancient ck Tome and an Arch Sorcerer? What is an Arch Sorcerer?¡¯


    [[Disying the analyzed and relevant information from the ancient ck tome]]


    [[This ancient ck tome was once used by an Arch Sorcerer whose true name and identity have been hidden by the universalws. They wield supernatural powers enough to rival the gods within their world and trample upon the many lives within their world. This ancient ck tome contained the crystallized results of numerous research conducted by the Arch Sorcerer in their attempt to discover the truth of the universe as a whole. Most of their achievement has been recorded in this ancient ck tome. Unfortunately, before they could utilize their discoveries, they ended up killed in a world-shattering battle against unknown invaders in their world]]


    [[However, before the Arch Sorcerer died, even among the heartless sorcerers in their world they were considered one of the most wicked, ruthless, and evil humans in existence since most of their achievements resulted in the loss of countless living beings in their world. Even the gods in their world were opposed to their actions, and most of the time, they were engaged in countless battles against the gods due to that. But when the invaders of unknown origin, who wielded strange and unheard-of powers and abilities, came to their world, the gods of their world desperately fought against those invaders in their attempt to protect their world, which ended up in their deaths]]


    [[After the unknown invaders killed the gods of their world, the Arch Sorcerer stood at the frontline to fight off the invaders. However, the Arch Sorcerer ultimately lost after being overwhelmed in bothbat and numbers. Before the Arch Sorcerer died, they ripped the void of space and time with their remaining power before death and then sent their entire life¡¯s achievements and aplishments through the barrier between dimensions, only for it wander aimlessly before ending up in an unknown dimension. Which caused the current state of this ancient ck tome]]


    [[Furthermore, they ced highlyplicated seals one after another on the ancient ck tome beforehand to prevent anyone from being able to undo the seal for an unknown reason. At the moment, only by using a specific method would one be able to undo the seals ced on the ancient ck tome. And the only method devised by the system was through using [???] and following a certain procedure before one could attempt to undo the numerous seals]


    [[Moreover, the seals ced the ancient ck tome can only be removedyer byyer, which also corresponded to the number of chapters within the ancient ck tome]]


    ¡®That¡¯s a lot of details, don¡¯t you think?¡¯ Randyined slightly when he saw the many texts that filled his entire vision.


    Although heined about the many texts, he still carefully read through them all as he stood beside Miss Feng with a pondering expression. After all, these lines of text gave a very detailed description of the ancient ck tome that even people like Miss Feng¡¯s boss could not discern despite their overwhelming strength and countless means.


    After reading through it all, Randy realized that there was a missing word in the description given by the system. But Randy did not think much about it and only thought that perhaps it was some sort of requirement that he had yet to meet, and until then, he would buy this ancient ck tome and keep it for himself rather than let it rot away in Miss Feng¡¯s shop. After all, there is always hope in the future.


    ¡®System, what is a sorcerer? Are they like a magician or something else?¡¯ Randy curiously asked.


    [[A sorcerer is one who practiced the sorcery profession. The sorcery profession is an advanced profession that wielded the supernatural powers within their world and eventually within other realms within the universe. Some of the supernatural powers they wielded included elemental powers, mental powers, soul powers, and many other powers rted to theprehension ofws, which ssified them as close to the strongest immortal cultivators when ites to their means and methods]]


    ¡®Oh, is that so?¡¯


    Randy responded as if he understood, but in actuality, he was unsure what the system meant as he had not witnessed these two professions before topare or understand them. But he could tell that a sorcerer was somewhat different from a magician who mostly wielded elemental powers based on what the system had stated.


    ...


    Back to the present.


    With his thoughts now straightened after recalling the events back then, Randy¡¯s expression was now solemn as he spoke: ¡°System, so what is this requirement needed to unseal the first seal ced on the ancient ck tome?¡±


    [[The host only needed to spend some of the divine points that he has harvested from the soul of his enemies, and the system would take care of undoing the first seal of the ancient ck tome]]


    ¡®Divine points? It¡¯s this thing again. Wait a second!¡¯


    At this point, when Randy heard the system¡¯s exnation, a realization suddenly dawned on him, and he thought that perhaps the missing word from the earlier description of the ancient ck tome seemed to be rted to this ¡®divine points¡¯.


    Right away, Randy proceeded to ask right away: ¡°System, what is this divine points thing? And what does it do exactly?¡±


    [[The divine points is the origin power of the souls of all living beings that existed within the universe. In other words, the soul power of any living being in a quantified form, which was universally known as ¡®divine points¡¯. Whenever living beings die, their soul power, in other words, their divine points would dissipate and be part of their world¡¯sws]]


    [[As for the uses of the divine points, there are many. For example, the host could use the divine points to rece knowledge points toprehend skills and techniques or use them as an energy source to conduct any skill and technique or rece the constraints of different energy sources like magical energy, spiritual energy, and life energy]]


    [[However, using divine points is akin to using one¡¯s soul power and thus could lead to a decrease in the user¡¯s life expectancy if the user depletes all of their soul power. Furthermore, without a technique or means to cultivate one¡¯s soul, the recovering of your expended soul power or divine points would take a considerably long time]]


    [[Moreover, the capacity of one¡¯s soul was closely rted to how strong one was, and therefore, if one had less soul power or divine points, they would instantly die from overusing it. Thus, it is rmended not to use one¡¯s soul power unless they had a method to recover them]]


    [[However, the host does not need to worry as the system has the means to store more divine points than the host¡¯s soul could hold, as the remaining divine points would be stored by the system¡¯s storage. Therefore, as long as the host defeats living beings with souls in the future, their divine points would be harvested by the system for the host¡¯s use]]


    During the entire process of reading through the exnation given, Randy¡¯s expression had changed a few times, from shocked to stupefied, from stupefied to dumbfounded, and then finally from dumbfounded to relief when the system finished its exnation.


    That was because he thought that using the divine points was a detriment to his life when he read through the first few lines of texts, but after reading through thetter part of the exnation, he soon rxed his expression and calmed down shortly after.

 Chapter 200

    200 Commotion


    During the entire process of reading through the exnation given, Randy¡¯s expression had changed a few times, from shocked to stupefied, from stupefied to dumbfounded, and then finally from dumbfounded to relief when the system finished its exnation.


    That was because he thought that using the divine points was a detriment to his life when he read through the first few lines of texts, but after reading through thetter part of the exnation, he soon rxed his expression and calmed down shortly after.


    After pondering for a while, Randy suddenly realized the crux of the matter: ¡°But wait, if that is the case, then wouldn¡¯t I be able to use any skill or technique from any profession as long as Iprehended it?¡±


    Most of the time, the essence of various techniques usually relied heavily on their energy sources, so it wasplicated to practice them without the necessary energy requirement, especially when ites to profound movement techniques from the spiritual energy cultivation profession.


    However, with this ¡®divine points¡¯, Randy discovered that he would not necessarily need to have the energy source to execute special techniques that belonged to other energy sources.


    Although Randy hadpatibility with all the energy sources in his world hase in contact with, he did not focus on practicing all of them and only chose the path of magical energy. Therefore, even though he had spiritual energy and life energy in his body, it might not necessarily be enough to execute their corresponding techniques that needed more energy than what he currently had in his body.


    With that thought, Randy felt like this ¡®divine points¡¯ was not bad at all and wanted to explore them more in the future.


    For now, he needed to spend some of these umted divine points to unseal the first seal ced on this ck tome.


    ¡°System, how many divine points do I need to unseal the first seal?¡±


    .....


    [[Approximately 10,000 divine points, would you like to spend this amount to undo the first seal?]] The system answered and then prompted.


    ¡°1-10,000 divine points?!¡± Randy eximed in shock, and then he quickly looked to the side of his status screen while muttering: ¡°How many divine points do I have right now... Oh, I have 103,200 divine points... But even still, isn¡¯t this too much for just the first seal? Doesn¡¯t that mean that it would cost even more divine points to unseal the subsequent seals? After all, based on what I read, that sorcerer guy was quite a devious person who put seals on something that he wouldn¡¯t be using since he was now dead.¡±


    [[It would cost approximately 20,000 divine points to unseal the second seal]]


    Randy: ¡°...¡±


    He was speechless when he saw the amount listed by the system.


    A momentter, Randy sighed helplessly when his assumption just now was confirmed with that reply from the system.


    Afterward, Randy did not bother to worry about his expenditure anymore, as it seemed like it was pointless for him to hope for something that was intentionally sealed by the owner to cost less to undo the seal.


    Randy felt dejected that even though he luckily managed to acquire so many divine points without even knowing what they were at the time, he was now going to spend them inrge quantities for something, which was unknown whether it was good or bad, especially when he recalled the description of that devious arch sorcerer from the system.


    Despite that, Randy was not willing to give up on this ancient ck tome. After all, the term ¡®sorcerer¡¯ did not exist back in his world. But Randy realized that if they also wielded supernatural powers then they were most likely highly advanced magicians based on the description from the system and what he could infer from those words.


    Because of that, Randy was now willing to bet that anything from a person with such an advanced profession would not be something that would end up being useless to the current him at the very least.


    ¡°Whatever, I will unseal the first seal for now and then see what it contains before deciding on how to proceed after that.¡± Randy firmly stated.


    With that decided, Randy looked at his total divine points on the corner of his status screen one more time on his system.


    [[Divine Points: 103,200]]


    After that, he turned to face the interface of his screen, where the previous prompt from the system was situated and then decisively spoke: ¡°System, I would like to spend the divine points to unseal the first seals of the ck tome.¡±


    [[Response Acknowledged]]


    [[The host should now put his hands on the cover of the tome]]


    Randy did as instructed while still sitting on his bed.


    [[The host should not move his hands no matter how ufortable he feels during the process]]


    ¡°Understood.¡±


    [[Now undoing the first seal]]


    [[The first seal would be undone within the next five seconds.]]


    When the system stated this, Randy could feel warm and soothing energy traveling from the veins in his body and then transferring into the ck tome through his palm.


    [5]


    [4]


    [3]


    [2]


    [1]


    [[The first seal of the ancient ck tome have been undone sessfully]]


    ¡°Phew...¡±


    Randy suddenly let out a long breath.


    All this time, he thought something unexpected might have happened, considering the description of that arch sorcerer, but it turned out nothing happened throughout the entire unsealing process of the first seal.


    ¡®Now, let¡¯s see what¡¯s inside?¡¯ Randy thought in excitement as he tried to open the ck tome.


    Unsurprising, the first couple pages opened but Randy found out that the remaining pages were not opening no matter how many times he tried.


    ¡®Whatever, let¡¯s just look at the first page... Hmm... What is this?¡¯


    Right now, Randy was observingplicated signs and symbols that were engraved on the light-brown colored paper and when he touched it, a notification shed across his eyes with lines of texts disyed on the projected screen in his vision.


    [[Detected that the first seal contents were stored within that knowledgepiling magic circle]]


    [[To learn about the contents within the magic circle, the host would have to spend more divine points]]


    ¡°What? Why? Why can¡¯t I use knowledge points toprehend it if it is a stored knowledge?¡±


    [[Because theplex runes on this magic circle would need to be bypassed before the host could learn the content within. And for that to happen, apatible energy source would be needed. The host could use his magical energy, but it might not be enough, and knowledge points are only pure mental energy and thus has nothing to do with magic]]


    ¡°I see. Then, how many divine points does it require this time?¡±


    [[It is unknown for now]]


    [[The host should ce his hands on the magic circle first]]


    ¡°...Okay.¡± Randy btedly responded as he ced his palm on the center of the intricate magic circle.


    The system started transferring the divine points into the magic circle.


    And then all of sudden...


    [[Detected a deadly hidden trap embedded within the magic circle...]]


    ¡®Bastard!¡¯


    Randy inwardly cursed, and his reaction was very quick as he ignored the remaining texts was about to retreat from the book, but a few shes in his vision stopped him in his movement when he read through lines of texts.


    [[Attention! Please do not move!]]


    [[Attention! Please do not move!]]


    [[Attention! Please do not move!]]


    After Randy halted his movement, the system emphasized yet again.


    [[The host should not move his hands from the magic circle]]


    ¡°Why? Didn¡¯t you say that there was a trap in the magic circle?¡± Randy was puzzled.


    [[There is indeed a trap. However, if the host were to move right now, the hidden trap would be activated and the contents within the magic circle along with the entire tome would be lost forever]]


    Gulp!


    Randy swallowed loudly and carefully asked: ¡°Then what would¡¯ve happened if I had moved just now?¡±


    [[The host would be bound by countless restraining spells and then cut into pieces by the endless low-level spell attacks imbued into the traps. Although those low-spells individually could not damage the host, when it is used in session, the host would not be able to survive the onught of those attacks]]


    At this moment, Randy instantly broke into a cold sweat.


    ¡®That bastard sorcerer was trying to kill people even when he¡¯s already dead. If I meet him someday, I¡¯ll let him... Wait, he¡¯s already dead.¡¯


    Randy wanted to curse out loud but held back his impulse when he considered where he was currently, and thus continued to keep his hands on the magic circle despite feeling like his life was hanging by a thread as he did so.


    As he did so, Randy gradually felt a warm current transferring through his hands and then into the magic circle on the page, and at the same time, he could see his total divine points reducing by huge chunks per second.


    [-100]


    [-200]


    [-300]


    [[The traps have been disabled. The knowledge held within the magic circle would now be transferred directly into the host¡¯s mind]]


    ...


    The following day.


    Randy barely slept yesterday from the surge of knowledge that had to beprehended, which took him a few hours.


    Randy dragged his tired body out of his room and then went to take a quick bath before going to the front of the building to finalize his registration.


    However, when he went out to the front of the building, he discovered right away that there was a lot ofmotion with so many people gathered and discussing something among themselves as they held some papers within their grasps.


    .....

 Chapter 201

    201 First Request


    Randy observed the situation in the building as he walked towards a brown-haired girl, Zophia, who had also noticed him approaching her and loudly called out: ¡°Hey, Randy! So you were back yesterday. When you did not report in regarding thepletion of your mission before we had to close down yesterday, I thought that something had happened to you during your rank mission; Fortunately, that wasn¡¯t the case.¡±


    Randy felt apologetic when he heard Zophia¡¯s concerned voice, and he spoke: ¡°Sorry about that. I camete yesterday because I lost track of time.¡±


    Zophia recalled something and opened her to say something, but Randy suddenly asked while pointing behind himself: ¡°What¡¯s going on today? Why are there so many people here standing around?¡±


    Hearing his question, Zophia ignored her previous thoughts and quickly answered: ¡°Ah, about that... there¡¯s a request from the church to search in the Meistic forest, and they¡¯re offering quite arge price for scout specialists mostly... Enough about that, You havepleted your rank mission, right?


    ¡°Yeah, I did.¡± Randy nodded in confirmation and then said: ¡°But do you want the furs and fangs right here? There¡¯s quite a lot of them.¡±


    ¡°No, I will take thatter.¡± Zophia shook her head and then stated: ¡°For now, can you hand me your temporary card? I will have to get you your official dungeon hunter card before anything else.¡±


    ¡°Eh, is that okay?¡± Randy was shocked and then he stated with a doubtful voice: ¡°I mean, you haven¡¯t checked whether I have them with me or not. What if I lied about my rank mission and then purchased them from someone after this?¡±


    Zophia giggled when she heard his words and said: ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about that. Not to mention, since you have made it back alive, it means that you have at least managed to defeat the grey wolves on the first floor.¡±


    ¡°Although I assume that you went further than that, which is why you came backte. But did you forget that the rank mission¡¯s requirement forpletion was simply to bring back the furs and fangs of the grey wolves alone?¡±


    .....


    ¡°Ah.¡± Randy let out a sound when he recalled that being the case. He had almost forgotten about the actual requirement since he had been hunting for a few days inside the dungeon.


    ¡°By the way, what is your level right now?¡± Zophia suddenly asked.


    ¡°Ah, it says level 55 on here.¡± Randy replied.


    ¡°...¡±


    For some reason, Zophia did not react much this time, almost like she was shocked speechless, or perhaps she had already foreseen his growth beforehand, so she did not react to his level that had risen way too quickly from just a single day of hunting inside the dungeon.


    Furthermore, she only stared at him with a gawking expression for a brief moment before abruptly speaking in a strange voice: ¡°A-Anyway, wait here for a moment. I will have your official dungeon hunter card ready and brought back after I have input in some other misceneous information.¡±


    ¡°Oh, okay.¡± Randy replied, noticing her strange tone, but he ignored that and proceeded to wait for her as instructed.


    In the meantime, he turned his attention elsewhere; He perked up his ears and listened to the other members of the society as they indulge in their discussions about something most likely rted to a request that was posted on the bulletin board, which had requests and mission posted.


    ¡°I¡¯m telling you that there must be something going on for those pompous church people to request help from us, dungeon hunters.¡± Someone firmly stated.


    ¡°What makes you think that? Can you not see how much they¡¯re offering for a simple search request, what fool would give up some sum of money just because they¡¯re suspicious about their actions?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, isn¡¯t it only searching for their leader who had gone missing in the forest? With my skill set, as long as there are traces, I can easily track anyone.¡± This person boasted with confidence.


    ¡°You guys are just idiots with no brains. We would have to venture into the Meistic forest; A ce that is infested with so many dangerous magical beasts. Not to mention, the recent discovery of those vampires who might have set their base in the forest. If you guys are that stupid, you can go and risk your lives for just a few golds that could be earned anytime for people like us.¡± A bald and muscr man scoffed and disagreed with them.


    ¡°You¡¯re saying that because you have a higher level than us, right? Suit yourself.¡±


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s right. You just need to increase your level. What¡¯s so hard about it, you bunch of spineless fools?¡±


    While everyone was talking among themselves, another person who was wearing a long robe, seemingly a magician frowned. Even though he had been quiet all this time, he suddenly chimed with a doubtful expression when he heard the bald man¡¯s statement just now.


    ¡°For the captain of the church first order to be missing in the Meistic forest means they were on some secret mission. And if they had been attacked and killed by a magical beast in the forest then this search would be hopeless.¡±


    ¡°On the other hand, if they were with the recently discovered vampires, there¡¯s a chance that they are still alive. After all, all the church people carry artifacts that are deterrent against dark attribute skill or ability. In other words, they are only hanging by a thread and could die at any time.¡±


    ¡°What the hell is he talking about? Are you trying to be smart or something by saying such long sentences?¡±


    ¡°Well, I¡¯m just saying that...¡±


    ¡°Enough, why would we believe that what you¡¯re saying is the truth? Aren¡¯t you just saying that because you¡¯re scared?¡±


    ¡°No, that¡¯s not it, I¡¯m just saying that...¡±


    ¡°Whatever! I am taking this request whether it is dangerous like you said or not. Aren¡¯t we already risking our lives by hunting in the dungeons anyway? What¡¯s there to be afraid of with a simple search request?¡±


    As Randy listened to this group of people, he quickly noticed that what these people were talking about was most likely rted to those two armored men who were with the blonde man he killed. The old man and every in the vige stated that they were people from the church of light when they heard about ra¡¯s situation at the time.


    ¡®It seems like they think that he¡¯s still alive and are searching for him. Unfortunately for them, he¡¯s already dead, so this search would indeed be pointless as his corpse is still inside my storage bracelet. I should find some time to get rid of it. Even though his corpse is not rotting inside my storage bracelet, I can¡¯t let his corpse upy the minimum space inside my storage bracelet.¡¯


    As he was thinking of this, Zophia arrived at her counter with a new card in her hand, seemingly his official dungeon hunter card and she outstretched her hand toward him.


    ¡°Here you go. Congrattions! You¡¯re now officially a dungeon hunter.¡± Zophia wholeheartedly said to him with a smile.


    Randy took the card from her hand and said: ¡°Thank you.¡±


    As Randy was observing the new details on his dungeon hunter card, Zophia suddenly spoke: ¡°Ah, Randy, the society leader wanted to personally discuss your first request.¡±


    ¡°My first request?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. When you officially join the society as a dungeon hunter, you¡¯ll have toplete one request from the society leader, and from then on, you can choose whatever request or mission that you want toplete.¡±


    ¡°So there was something like that?¡± Randy muttered and then continued: ¡°So how do you receive this request?¡±


    ¡°Ah, about wait here.¡± Zophia said that and then put a signboard with the word [closed] in front of her counter before walking somewhere in the back.


    A few momentster, she came out to the front, gestured, and then said with a smile: ¡°Follow me. I will guide you to the society leader¡¯s office upstairs.¡±


    Randy did not say anything and only followed right behind her as they climbed the stairs that led upstairs until they reached the ten floor.


    Afterward, they walked through the corridor for a while and then arrived in front of a certain room door.


    Zophia knocked on the door and said: ¡°Society leader, I¡¯ve brought him.¡±


    ¡°Oh,e on in.¡± A husky man¡¯s voice resounded from inside the room behind the door.


    However, at this moment, Randy instantly scowled when he heard the familiar voice, but he did not say anything upon this discovery and only followed Zophia into the room.


    ¡°Oh, young man, we meet again. Well, I wasn¡¯t wrong about what I said yesterday, right? Hahaha.¡± A grey-haired middle-aged man with a bulky figureughed at this moment when he saw Randy.


    ¡°Eh? Eh?¡± Zophia turned her head back and forth between Randy and the grey-haired middle-aged man in confusion. She was very sure that this was the first time that they are both meeting with each other, but it seems like that was not the case at all, judging from the middle-aged man¡¯s tone.


    Hearing the grey-haired middle-aged man¡¯s words, Randy was only silent for a moment before he spoke with an apologetic tone: ¡°Sir, I would like to apologize for previous actions. I did not know that you were the society leader at the time, so I acted quite rude and aggressive our first encounter.¡±


    ¡°No worries, no worries. It was my fault for sneaking around at night just because I was curious of our new promising member.¡±


    The grey-haired middle-aged man smiled with a pleased expression and waved his hand dismissively at his words.

 Chapter 202

    202 Hunting Magical Beasts


    As she watched the smiling grey-haired middle-aged man and Randy, Zophia was more confused. But she did not pry for more information and instead turned her body slightly around, seemingly ready to leave.


    After all, her task waspleted as soon as she brought Randy over. However, she still waited for a while.


    Noticing that she was still standing there with Randy, the grey-haired middle-aged man said: ¡°Ah, thank you for your hard work, Zophia. I¡¯ll take it from here, so you should go back and handle things downstairs.¡±


    In response, Zophia bowed and respectfully said: ¡°I was only doing my job. Then I will take my leave now.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    With that, Zophia quickly left the room. Now, only the two of them were left alone.


    However, Randy was still standing there, not moving an inch, and at this time, he and the middle-aged man exchanged a nce.


    The middle-aged man suddenly said: ¡°Why don¡¯t you take a seat, young man. You don¡¯t n on standing there, are you? That won¡¯t do. I can¡¯t have my guest standing, now, can I? Take a seat over there.¡±


    The grey-haired middle-aged man pointed at the seat right across from him.


    .....


    ¡°Alright.¡± Randy did continue to be humble and went and sat across from him.


    After he sat down, the grey-haired middle-aged man spoke: ¡°So I am assuming that you heard the gist from Zophia, am I right?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right¡± Randy nodded.


    Hearing his response, the grey-haired middle-aged man spoke: ¡°Before we discuss your first request, let¡¯s talk about something else. How much do you know about our city¡¯s situation?¡±


    ¡°Not much, sir, since I only registered in this city recently.¡± Randy replied.


    ¡°Ah, right. You said that you were a viger until recently. Hmm... I suppose you might not know too much about the current. Also, stop calling me sir; You can just call me society leader like everyone else.¡±


    ¡°Alright, society leader.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, let me enlighten you about the current situation...¡±


    Thus, Randy listened to the society leader¡¯s recount of the current situation which epassed past events. Randy found this information very useful since it would help him adjust to this world more quickly.


    The society leader said a lot of things but if he had summarized it, it would go like this:


    The human race and the other races in this world had been at constant war with the demon race and other aggressive races for the past few centuries.


    Throughout their bloody war, the demon race had won many times. The human race and the other races ultimately lost so many people on their side in the process.


    Because of that, on the surface, there was peace between the human race and the non-aggressive races like the long-eared humans, who lived mostly in the Elferous forest, and the beast human race. However, secretly, they were actually at odds with each other in regard to the war situations and the conscription of forces on the battlefield.


    The long-eared humans, who had an exceedingly long lifespan, unlike the normal humans but less fertility rate when it came to reproduction, decided to remain neutral in this war between races. That was because they had lost many of their kind. Therefore, in order to preserve their race, they also closed off their connection to the outside world in consequence.


    The beast humans, on the other hand, although they were a very barbaric race that liked violence more than anything, their kind have contributed a lot during the previous battles up until recently. That was because the werewolf kings decided to side with demons just like the vampire race did 300 hundred years ago.


    As for the vampire race, although they like to ambush and drink the blood of humans, they were not very aggressive enough to kill the humans after they had their share of blood since they needed them to be alive to produce more blood for them.


    However, all of that changed a few centuries ago when the demons started worshiping new gods that they hailed as their demonic gods.


    Before then, the demons and other races of darkness worshiped the god of darkness and although once in a while, they wage wars with the humans regarding territories, it was mostly peaceful otherwise.


    But one day, out of nowhere, it seemed like their connection to the god of darkness had been severed. Their current gods, the demonic gods, granted them power beyond their imagination and thus unleashed their violent natures causing the demons and other races of darkness to go on a rampage to kill off all the other races in their word.


    When that happened, only the church of light within the territory of the humans was barely able to fight off against the demons with their light attributes, which were the weakness of the demon race and other races of darkness. However, it was not enough to defeat the demons, who seemed to have gotten stronger than ever, even though they were already physically stronger than humans before.


    Left with no other choice, the church of light and the royal family decided to depend on the other organization like the mercenary guild, the assassin guild, and the dungeon hunters in the society to handle some of the demons that invaded the human territory or simply partake in the war when need be.


    Furthermore, Alpheotus City was situated in the northern region of the human territory and close to the Meistic forest, which connected to the demon continent, albeit only the insignificant section of their continent. Because of this, Alpheotus City receivedmissions to handle any stray demon that tried to invade the human territory from the Meistic forest.


    At this point, Randy spoke doubtfully: ¡°I see... But how does this have anything to do with my current situation?¡±


    ¡°Well, I have a request that I¡¯ll like for you to ept if possible.¡± The society leader stated in a serious tone.


    ¡°A request that you¡¯ll like for me to ept?¡±


    The society leader responded: ¡°That¡¯s right. This request is our society¡¯s unofficial first request. Although you only registered yesterday and officially received your dungeon hunter card today, I can tell that you¡¯re not an ordinary young man from your initial attributes. So how about it? Would you ept this request from me?¡±


    ¡®As I thought, it has nothing to do with my first request, huh? Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have said unofficial...¡¯


    Randy pondered his words for a bit, but then he spoke doubtfully: ¡°But I haven¡¯t heard the details concerning the request, so how am I going to ept it?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re very sharp.¡± The society leader praised and then continued: ¡°Indeed, I haven¡¯t told you the details because this request is quite simr to the ones that the other members are nning on partaking in right as we speak. In other words, you would aid the people from the church to search for their missing captain as requested from us.¡±


    After saying this, the society leader looked at Randy and observed his expression for a bit before adding: ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You will get paid quite handsomely if you all seed, meaning you do not have to take many actions during this request, but you will still be paid the same amount as everyone.¡±


    Randy turned silent as he pondered for a bit, and then he replied: ¡°Sorry. Although I understand your intentions, I don¡¯t think I want to get involved with this kind of request if it is not required of me to do so.¡±


    The grey-haired man was surprised for a moment and spoke in a regretful tone: ¡°Then how about this, I will give the request to get rid of the magical beasts near the Meistic forest. As you might have already known since you came from that direction, there are many viges near the Meistic forest.¡±


    Randy nodded as he recalled ra¡¯s vige, which was very close to the forest he arrived in when he came to this world.


    The society leader exined: ¡°Generally, the Meistic forest only served to connect the human territory and some insignificant part of demon territory, and there had been no incidents in the past because of that. But recently, there had been many reports of vampires sighted in the Meistic forest, which might be the reason the people from the church came to the Meistic forest this time, most likely to search for their roots.¡±


    ¡°Putting that aside, the most important thing to note about the current situation was that the weaker magical beasts that normally resided within that Meistic forest had started escaping for their life with the sudden appearance of these vampires.


    ¡°As a result, the viges situated near the Meistic forest were the first to be attacked by the magical beasts that had escaped the Meistic forest, and the casualties are increasing, even as we speak.¡±


    ¡°So if you do not want to partake in the request from the church, then I will implore you to help with the eradication of the aggressive magical beasts that escaped the Meistic forest. Of course, this is a reurring request, so there¡¯s no need to worry about the time, and you can kill as many magical beasts as possible near the Meistic forest. And as long as you bring back a part of their body or their entire corpse, you will be rewarded ordingly.¡±


    The society leader finished with his exnation and looked hopefully at Randy.


    When Randy heard the other party¡¯s words, he realized that even though he declined the request to aid the people from the church, the society leader still managed to get him to go to the Meistic forest, albeit near it.


    Not to mention, this time, he cannot simply refuse this time as this was a reurring request that many people hadpleted once or twice before. Meaning it would be rude of him to decline this kind of request.


    ¡®How sly...Although hunting magical beasts is not a bad idea since I wanted to test out something anyway.¡¯ Randymented in his mind.

 Chapter 203

    203 Mana Training


    Naturally, Randy realized that even if he did not aid in the search, he would still get involved with the church¡¯s request whether he wanted to or not since it appears that the time for departure for his first request might be the same as the time of the church¡¯s search request based on the society leader¡¯s enthusiastic words.


    But Randy wondered why the society leader wanted him to partake in this search even though he was a new member of the society.


    ¡®Is there some kind of benefit to this that I don¡¯t know of? Even so, I don¡¯t want to get involved with them since I killed a member of their church. Who knows what kind of abilities or skills they might utilize to search for the culprit in case they find out that their captain was truly dead.¡¯


    At this point, Randy sighed and then responded: ¡°So my request would be hunting magical beasts near the Meistic forest? Alright, I will take it.¡±


    The society leader¡¯s murky blue eyes glowed when he heard his response, and then happily said: ¡°Very good. Then I will...¡±


    ¡°Hey, Society leader, we¡¯re back!¡±


    At this time, someone shouted behind the door of the society leader¡¯s office.


    ¡°Who?¡±


    The society leader frowned in displeasure but instantly recognized the owner of the voice after a moment, and when he saw their appearance, he sighed helplessly and said: ¡°Gutz, what are you doing here? Can¡¯t you see that I have a guest with me right now?¡±


    .....


    ¡°What? But aren¡¯t we the only ones allowed in this room in the first ce? Who could be so important... Oh? Who¡¯s this guy?¡±


    The society leader felt a headache watching his disrespectful behavior at this moment.


    The bulky young man who seemed to be in his twenties walked into the room the next moment without a care. He proceeded to towards the society leader while ignoring his unweing re in his direction.


    At this point, the bulky young man suddenly stopped and was staring straight at Randy with a curious gaze, especially when he noticed the well-defined muscles on his body that could still be seen under his ck coat.


    The bulky young man called Gutzmented: ¡°Little brother, you have some nice muscles. How did you train your body to be like that? What¡¯s your secret? Tell me.¡±


    As he said this, he approached Randy and out of nowhere started touching him all over his body with a surprised look, making Randy feel very ufortable. However, he did not react much and held it in, mostly because he was now in front of the society leader. Not to mention, he had no idea how strong this guy truly was.


    Although he could sense that his mana was not that great, he could feel some inexplicable aura emanating from his body. This kind of aura was not because of the mana inside his body, but something more distinct and unique. Randy could tell that this person might be a warrior-type dungeon hunter based on his body build and thus he did not dare to provoke them for no reason.


    Bang!


    ¡°Gutz! Can you just stop!¡±


    The society leader could not take it anymore, mmed his hand on the table in front of him, and shouted. He usually condoned his behavior as long he did not cross the line but to be this rude to his guest even if the other party looked younger than him, is quite outrageous.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡± Gutzughed and pointed at Randy who had a poker face on, as if unperturbed, and said: ¡°See? He doesn¡¯t mind it, so why are you getting mad, old man?¡±


    ¡°You-¡±


    At this moment, three other people walked into the room.


    A handsome young man with blonde hair and green eyes, who also seemed to be in his twenties and adorning a full te armor was the first to enter, and behind him was a beautiful pink-haired young woman with yellow eyes, who had skimpy clothes on that revealed her chest and long legs, and thest person was a little girl who seemed to be at most fifteen years old, adorning a blue and white robe with a hood on her silver-colored hair, her eyes were hidden under her hood, making it hard to see what color they were.


    ¡°Oi, Gutz, what are you doing inside the society leader¡¯s room without knocking? Why are you the one always acting like a kid even though you¡¯re clearly the oldest one among us?¡±


    The handsome young manmented, then looked at Randy apologetically and said: ¡°Nice to meet you. My name is Vairon, a knight. Sorry for my party member¡¯s behavior. Ah, and these-


    ¡°No need. I will introduce myself. Little handsome, you can call me Tiana, I¡¯m the healer of our party. If you need a healer,e to me in the future, and this girl is our magician, Eliana. Although she is a little aloof and unapproachable, she is actually a nice person.¡± The pink-haired woman smiled at Randy as she introduced herself and the girl beside her.


    After they finished introducing themselves one after another, for some reason, the one girl with a small build, who was introduced as a magician was looking at Randy with a strange gaze, causing him to unconsciously turn in her direction when he felt her gaze on him and their eyes met with each other.


    ¡®Why is she looking at me like that? Is something on my face?¡¯ Randy unconsciously rubbed his face as he thought this. Finding nothing on his face, he pondered for a bit, and then ignored the little girl¡¯s gaze, thinking that maybe they were just curious about him.


    With that thought, he turned his gaze away and looked at the society leader with a questioning gaze. He did not bother to introduce himself to these people as he did not n on spreading his name or making friends with them.


    ¡°Hahaha... Randy, right? Sorry about this. That would be all for now. You can take your leave now and make sure you get the details regarding the request from Zophia. As for the furs and fangs from the mission, you can also give them to her, she will take care of selling them for you.¡± The society leader said to him.


    ¡°I understand. I will take my leave now then.¡± Randy nodded and stood up to leave.


    Hearing this, Gutz insisted and said: ¡°Hey, little brother, why don¡¯t you tell me your training routine before leaving?¡±


    ¡°Gutz! Can you stop bothering the society leader¡¯s guest? Can¡¯t you see that he does not like it?¡± The young woman with the revealing clothes said with a frown on her face.


    The handsome young man chimed in with a stern expression: ¡°That¡¯s right, Gutz, we came here for a different reason, so please stop bothering that little brother.¡±


    Gutz was silent for a moment before saying: ¡°Tch, old man, who is he? Ah, he just left.¡±


    When they were talking, Randy quickly walked past them and silently left the room.


    When he walked past them, the little girl was still looking at him without averting her gaze, almost like she was not even trying to hide the fact that she was staring at him.


    On the other hand, the young woman with revealing clothes beside her winked in his direction, causing Randy to scowl as he had no idea what these people were thinking.


    ¡®What strange people.¡¯ Randymented in his mind as he walked away.


    With that taken care of, Randy went downstairs to get the full details regarding his first request from Zophia, and also, he decided to sell the furs and fangs that he brought back from the dungeon.


    But before that, he informed Zophia that there were many of them and that her counter was not big enough to handle everything. Zophia was momentarily surprised but after recalling how long he spent inside the dungeon, she quickly brought him to the building¡¯s storage room, which had many items and products inside.


    Seeing that it was spacious enough, Randy took out all the fangs and furs from his spatial ring without including the mana cores for now.


    Although Zophia was aware that he might have brought a lot more than required, she was still shocked when he saw the furs and fangs that he brought back from the dungeon, which seemed as if he had hunted ten of thousands of beasts to receive such reward.


    Snapping out of her dazed expression, Zophia quickly went somewhere and then brought back a man who seem to specialize in appraising, selling, and buying items from the dungeon. When the man came, even he was dumbfounded by the sheer amount of furs and fangs that filled the entire room. Noticing their reaction, Randy felt like he should have held back some of them, but it was now toote.


    Afterward, they gave him a deposit of 1,000 gold and said that the remaining price would be given to him after he returns back from his first request since there were a lot of furs and fangs.


    With that out of the way, Randy eventually left the society¡¯s building and made his way towards the destination of his mission which was a vige near the Meistic forest. However, it was not the same vige that ra and the old man resided in.


    Along the way, he saw a group of people most likely dungeon hunters as they were wearing armors. They seemed to be heading out somewhere, seemingly they were the ones who epted the church¡¯s request.


    Randy ignored this group of people and walked away while pondering something to himself. Once he was far away from the city, he suddenly recalled the events fromst night.


    ...


    [[All the knowledge held within the magic circle have been transferred directly into the host¡¯s mind]]


    [[Now disying the description of the first seal contents:]


    [[Nameless Meditation Technique: A mana training technique created by the arch sorcerer when they reached the demi-god power level and then pondered a method to make better use of the supernatural energy, mana. After spending many years, they were finally able to devise this unique meditation technique that held all their knowledge on their path of sorcery]]

 Chapter 204

    204 Effects From Training


    [[Nameless Meditation Technique: A mana training technique created by the arch sorcerer when they reached the demi-god power level and then pondered a method to make better use of the supernatural energy, mana. After spending many years, they were finally able to devise this unique meditation technique that held all their knowledge on their path of sorcery]]


    [Notice: This nameless meditation technique is a special technique from the sorcery profession, unlike the normal meditation techniques of its kind, as practicing with this technique can not only train the mental energy and mana but also train the soul energy when fully mastered. It is highly advised that the host should begin practicing with this meditation technique since you have already created your mana seed]


    ¡®What? Mana seed?¡¯


    Randy recalled that when he awakened, his system mentioned that it had created an energy vessel to store his chaotic energies. One of the vessels created was the mana seed, and it was a very different energy-storing vessel, unlike the typical energy-storing mana cores he had learned about in the academy.


    ¡®Judging from how the system stated it, it seemed like to practice this meditation technique, one would need to have ¡®mana seed¡¯ and not mana core or other forms of body energy storage.¡¯


    Randy decided to ask in confirmation: ¡°System, what if I did not have mana seed? Would I still be able to practice this meditation technique?¡±


    [[Not possible. However, the host could choose to create his very own mana seed ording to the knowledge received if that had been the case]]


    The system refuted and exined to him.


    ¡®Knowledge received? Does that mean that the knowledge I received just now had the method to create a mana seed?¡¯


    .....


    With that thought in mind, Randy closed his eyes and looked through all the knowledge within his mind, which took him almost all night to finish going through everything. Thus, he could not sleep despite being mentally tired from staying in the dungeon for a long time.


    ...


    As Randy recalled this, he still had a pondering expression on his face.


    ¡®ording to what I learned from the knowledge from that first seal, mana seed was a growth-type energy-storing vessel that could store more mana than ordinary magician¡¯s storing vessels. And based on how that arch sorcerer mentioned magician in the introduction, it seemed like the arch sorcerer was aware of magicians or perhaps they existed in their world too. Which would further prove that sorcerers are indeed essentially just magicians with advanced methods when ites to using magic.¡¯


    Afterward, Randy wondered if he should train his mana now that he had a method to increase his total magical energy, unlike before where he could only use his physique¡¯s ability to devour energy to increase his total magical energy.


    Last night, he opted out of training his mana because, first, he was tired, and second, since it was not a good idea to practice in a ce with less mana density ording to what he learned from the knowledge in his mind.


    Furthermore, it was not safe to practice in a ce with a lot of distractions in the surrounding. After all, any distraction during his practice would be detrimental and could even cost him his life since the nameless meditation technique seemed to be a very delicate technique with specific requirements.


    Thus, Randy decided to wait until he was alone or in a ce where only a few people were nearby, preferably in a location that had more mana density. Thus, he would not be distracted, and his practice progress would be smooth as well.


    That was because his room in the society¡¯s building did not have much mana umted inside, not to mention people were living there beside him.


    There was only one ce that met such a requirement that he could think of now, but he was not sure if it was possible to use that ce.


    After reaching his destination, which was near a vige that was close to the Meistic forest. This vige was situated east of the vige, in which ra and the old man resided.


    Randy decided to hunt some weak magical beasts at the periphery for a while, and he was able to harvest some divine points and knowledge points.


    [[You have killed three armored snakes, thus obtaining 300 knowledge points]]


    [[You have harvested 500 divine points from these magical beasts]]


    Although the amount he got from hunting them was not that much.


    But Randy was able to confirm something else with this hunt.


    And that was that the challenger¡¯s system did not disy any notification despite him killing three magical beasts just now, meaning that he could not level up from killing the creatures outside of the dungeon.


    ¡®Does that mean that I can only hunt in the dungeon if I want to level up...? Then again, I don¡¯t think I can increase my level by much in the dungeon of beasts from now on, considering that it took me a few runs to increase my level by one when I reach level 50...¡¯ Randy pondered.


    ¡®Also, there¡¯s not that many magical beasts here. After hunting these snakes, it seemed like that was all of them. Should I wait here until theye out, or should I venture into the forest to hunt them...?¡¯ Randy pondered further when he realized that there was nothing to do now that he had taken care of the only magical beasts within the vicinity.


    The next moment, as Randy recalled how he spent a few days inside the dungeon and only a few hours had gone by outside, a sudden idea popped up in his mind.


    Without hesitation, he asked the challenger¡¯s system: ¡°Challenger¡¯s system,st time, you said I have the privilege to enter the dungeons that I have conquered from anywhere, right?¡±


    [Affirmative]


    ¡°Alright. Then I would like to enter it right now. But before that, is it possible to enter the safe room directly rather than the actual dungeon itself?¡±


    [That is indeed possible. However, to leave the dungeon, you would have to clear the dungeon at least once]


    ¡°That¡¯s alright. Transport me now.¡±


    [Transmission would begin in:]


    [3]


    [2]


    [1]


    Fwhoosh!


    Randy, who was inside the forest instantly disappeared from his position, and the next thing he knew, he reappeared inside a white room with no one else but him inside. He looked around to observe that it was indeed the right ce.


    Afterward, he went to the corner of the white room and proceeded to sit on the floor in afortable position.


    After taking a few deep breaths and letting out his breaths a few times in a rhythmic manner, Randy¡¯s eyes glowed in delight as he was able to confirm his doubts just now.


    ¡®As I thought, this ce is full of pure mana, almost like this entire room was built out of crystallized mana. I guess that is why this ce promotes healing and soothing once inside it.¡¯


    ¡°Alright, I should begin practicing in this ce since there¡¯s no one around in here to distract me.¡± Randy muttered and closed his eyes once again.


    A few momentster, Randy followed the instruction within the nameless meditation technique and released his mental energy outward, then used it to guide the surrounding mana into his body.


    The first thing that he needed to do was control and allow the mana particles within the room to permeate every fiber of his body. That included his muscles, bones, and organs. The reason for this was to allow his body to get used to mana, thereby increasing his body affinity mana.


    With that in mind, Randy carefully guided the particles of mana within the safe room to pervade into his body one by one, and each time, he could feel a warm sensation in his body.


    A few momentster, Randy had seeded in gathering numerous mana particles into his entire body. In response, the surface of his skin was shining with the glittering mana particles that slowly absorbed into his body and then guided into his muscles, bones, and organs afterward.


    At this moment, the system notified him of the various changes in his body, as lines of text appeared in his head.


    [[You have seeded in absorbing mana particles in your body, thus increasing your body¡¯s affinity toward the supernatural energy, mana]]


    [[From now on, as you absorb more mana particles into your body, your body¡¯s affinity and natural sense toward any form of energy deriving from mana would gradually improve]]


    ¡°Phew...¡±


    Randy let out a long breath and slowly opened his eyes as he observed the changes to his body. Right now, he could not see any visible changes outside of his body, but he could tell that mana cirction had improved from this single meditation alone.


    These changes in his body werepletely unlike his previous state, where he barely knew how to circte his mana throughout his body.


    Although Randy managed to use the Frost Hand spell technique that heprehended from his mother¡¯s grimoire, he still did not fully grasp the spell technique because he did not truly know about mana cirction.

 Chapter 205

    205 Evolution


    Just like the system had mentioned, Randy could feel a sense of closeness with the surrounding mana, and he could now easily circte the mana in his body.


    That was thanks to the nameless meditation technique that he hadprehended the night before, which seemed to enable one to increase their affinity with the supernatural energy, mana.


    Most of the time, when one used their innate skill, there was usually no need for one to use any mana cirction when doing so, as either the system end up doing that for you, or more likely it was not necessary for one to even do so in the first ce.


    Even when Randy used the skills he acquired in this world, he only instinctively followed what his assimted state brought about after he assimted with that blonde man¡¯s blood. In other words, he did not have to truly understand the cause to bring out the effect of his skills, which means that he still did not fully grasp the method of mana cirction when using his skills even in this new world.


    While Randy was pondering these to himself and at the same time observing the changes in his body, he wondered if this mana cirction existed in this world. Up until now, he discovered that their skill acquisition seemed to depend on one realization or enlightenment instead of just using technique books or spell books.


    [Ding!]


    Sure enough, the challenger¡¯s system notification resonated inside his mind and ears when he thought of this possibility.


    [The user has utilized a unique method to absorb the surrounding mana into his body and at the same time circte the gathered mana throughout his body¡¯s meridians, thus creating a perfect flow of mana within your body]


    [You have met the requirement to obtain the skill, ¡®Mana Maniption¡¯]


    .....


    [Mana Maniption: A skill that most magicians gradually develop as they wield mana to invoke supernatural phenomena. This skill allows the user to easily control the surrounding mana and also your mana aptitude will gradually increase. As the user increases the level of the skill, the effects of skill would be more pronounced]


    ¡®A new skill?¡¯


    Randy thought as he quickly called out: ¡°Attribute Screen!¡±


    [Name: Randy]


    [Species: Human]


    [Title(s): Challenger(+1)]


    [upation: None]


    [Level: 55]


    [Mana Points: 1299(+100)/1299]


    [Health Points: 400(+1100)/400]


    [Strength: 40(+110)]


    [Endurance: 40(+110)]


    [Vitality: 40(+110)]


    [Stamina: 39.5(+110)]


    [Agility: 30(+110)]


    [Perception: 100(+110)]


    [Magic Limit: 129.9(+110)]


    [Intelligence: 250(+110)]


    [Skill(s): Beginner Swordsmanship (LV. MAX), Intermediate Swordsmanship (LV. 1), Sacred Sword (LV. 5), Sacred Enchant (LV. 6), Sacred Aura (LV. 9), Myriad Species Transformation (LV. 1), Absolute Stealth (LV. 1), Body Strengthen (LV. 1), Dimensional Sense (LV. 1), Mana Maniption (LV.1)]


    Randy looked through his attribute screen, and sure enough, there was a new skill listed on the skill section.


    ¡®Even so, my attributes are still the same, huh? It doesn¡¯t appear that I will be able to assimte with them soon... Hm?¡±


    At this moment, Randy noticed that there was now a new icon on the right side of his attribute screen that he did recall seeing from his earlier observation.


    Randy turned to the very corner of his attribute screen and then observed words on this new icon carefully, which read:


    [Skill Points: 5,500]


    ¡®When was this here?¡¯ Randy wondered.


    And without bothering to think, he immediately asked: ¡°Challenger¡¯s system, what is this skill points icon? Why didn¡¯t I see it before, though?¡±


    [The skill points were the rewards given to the challengers to increase the skill level of any skill of their choosing. However, the total amount of skill points that a challenger could receive was not indefinite, and thus, it was necessary to use these skill points on a skill that the challenger would want to select as their main specialty]


    ¡°Oh, is that so.¡± Randy muttered dazedly.


    ¡®To think that they even had something like this? Just how easy are this world¡¯s power and skill acquisition going to get. Although I think it is not too excessive. Considering that it said the skill points one could receive was not indefinite. Meaning that there¡¯s a limited amount of skill points that one could receive in their lifetime. I should carefully think about this matterter.¡¯


    ¡®Oh, right!¡¯ Randy recalled something else.


    ¡°Challenger¡¯s system, how long do I have until my acquired attributes disappear?¡± Randy asked.


    [Every attribute gained through leveling needed the challenger to absorb them within seven days using the outside world¡¯s time, or else it would be invalid when the duration is over]


    ¡°I see... Then I guess I still have enough time to get used to my attributes.¡± Randy nodded in understanding and then turned his attention elsewhere.


    Afterward, Randy continued to practice his meditation for a few hours straight all the while attracting the surrounding mana onto his body before carefully absorbing them into his body while following the instruction within the nameless meditation technique.


    Not to mention, with the newly acquired skill, ¡®Mana Maniption¡¯, he was now able to increase the speed at which he absorbs mana into his body before circting them afterward.


    A whileter, at this time, after absorbing enough mana into his muscles, bones, and organs to both strengthen and increase his body¡¯s affinity, Randy started to absorb the gathered mana into his mana seed to increase his total mana.


    When he finish absorbing the mana into his body, he would then repeat the process of gathering the mana into his body all the while circting the mana throughout his body before gathering it all into his mana seed afterward.


    That was to ensure that his body would get used to the mana gathered, and at the same time, he would have more control over the mana before gathering it into the mana seed on his chest area.


    After doing this for a while, a sudden notification from the challenger¡¯s system shed inside his mind.


    Furthermore, almost as if the challenger¡¯s system knew that by ringing in his mind, it would disturb him, this time, it did not ring the notification and only disyed the texts with the new changes in Randy¡¯s mind.


    [Through circting the gathered mana within the user¡¯s body, the condition of the user¡¯s body have been improved drastically, thus enabling some of the attributes to be transferred over without muchplication]


    [All attributes are slowly being absorbed into the user¡¯s body]


    After this notification, Randy still remained in his meditative state as he read through the text. But before Randy could ponder about these changes, a sudden notification from the other system shed within his mind, with lines of text appearing on the golden screen next to the challenger¡¯s system¡¯s blue screen disy.


    [[Attention!]]


    [[All statistical induction conditions have been met]]


    [[All your basic statistics have risen above the first threshold of 400 points, and with that, your first evolution sequence would nowmence]]


    [[Would you like to initiate the first evolution sequence of your body?]] The system prompted.


    ¡®The first evolution?¡¯ Randy stopped gathering and circting his mana and instead pondered these words for a bit beforeing to a quick realization shortly after.


    ¡®Ah, there was something like that... Ipletely forgot about this since I have now awakened my innate ability.¡¯ While recalling something, Randy inwardly sighed to himself.


    Back then, the main reason why Randy had been forcefully training his body to the extreme despite not having any innate ability or energypatibility had to do with this very evolution that the system had mentioned just now. And just like the name implies, one could evolve their bodies when the necessary conditions were met.


    Ever since the era of ability awakening and hunting of otherworldly creatures, many people had gradually discovered that when their body¡¯s basic statistics had reached a certain threshold, their physique or simply their bodies would undergo something akin to evolution or awakening of their physical prowess.


    Whenever that happened, many people born without talent or with less talent in energy gathering techniques would then develop bodies that would allow their bodies to absorb theirpatible energy easily and naturally within their surroundings.


    For those with a weak constitution, they would gain robust and durable bodies that would rid them of their weaker bodies, and that was just after their first bodily evolution.


    With that discovery, there had been some people who had adamantly risked their lives to increase their physical body statistics in order to at least undergo the first evolution, especially if they did not have innate bodily talents upon their awakening.


    That especially was true for those who risk their lives to be hunters since a weaker body would mean certain death when fighting against a dungeon creature, even if they both had the same power level.


    To that end, some people used crude methods like using the graviton or the weight rooms toboriously train their physical bodies, and for others who had money to spend, they readily used specially concocted medicines to forcefully increase their basic statistics.


    Naturally, using medicines to increase one¡¯s basic statistics had limitations, so one could only take so much of those kinds of medicines before their bodies eventually develop immunity towards them.


    Randy was no exception to this either, as he used to take those medicines in tandem with his regr physical training until his immunity towards them built up, and he had no choice but to stop taking them.


    However, none of that mattered much if one could, at least, increase their basic statistics closer to the first threshold, which was 400 points in all basic statistics.

 Chapter 206

    206 Second Seal


    Physical Strength, Physical Resistance, Physical Agility, and Physical Stamina. These are the four basic statistics that needed to reach 400 points in all of them without exception in order to trigger the first evolution¡¯smencement.


    That was why after discovering this information, Randy decided to train his body to increase his body¡¯s basic statistics to 400, but as time went by, he came to realize that even though he became known as the strongest human with a tough physical bodypared to those who awakened their abilities, Randy still could not reach the first threshold of 400 points in all of his basic statistics no matter how much strain he put on his body.


    Body evolution was his only hope of possibly awakening his innate ability or increasing his body¡¯spatibility to a type of energy. However, all of that became useless when he awakened his innate ability.


    And now, the system was telling him that he had finally reached the threshold tomence his evolution. As Randy read through the lines of text, he could not help but feel emotional as he disyed a bitter smile on his face, especially as recalled the memory of enduring the countless humiliation, bullying, scorning, shunning, and the pain from the graviton as he trained his body every day after school.


    After reminiscing for a whileter, Randy finally cleared his mind of all these depressing memories and focused his mind on his system¡¯s prompt.


    Shortly after, he resolutely dered: ¡°Commence the evolution.¡±


    [[Response Acknowledged]]


    [[Reminder: The evolution process may bring about exceedingly unbearable and excruciating pain all over the host¡¯s body, please be prepared beforehand]] The system advised.


    ¡°That¡¯s alright, this is not my first time enduring such pain. Carry on with the evolution.¡± Randy firmly stated.


    .....


    [[Evolution Commencing]]


    With the next moment, as if he had been struck by thunder, Randy suddenly felt over as he felt all the bones, muscles, ligaments, and his organs churning within his body almost like his entire body was ced in a blender with veins bulging in and out from his body, hisplexion was also turning red as time went by.


    All of a sudden, he abruptly let out a grunt before quickly steeling his mind and enduring the unbearable pain in his body without letting out a scream of pain.


    ¡®This is nothing... I can still endure this much pain. As long as my body evolves, my physical state would also improve with it... So this pain is nothing...¡¯


    Randy constantly consoled himself in his mind as he gritted his teeth tightly while lying t on the ground of the safe room with his body twitching asionally from the pain.


    His expression at this time was full pale and full of pain and he wished to scream out, but he decided to hold it all in and only asionally let out a muffled grunt sound.


    This went on for a few minutes, then an hour, and before Randy even realized it, he had fainted in response to the terrible pain he had was experiencing throughout his body that could cause even those with pain tolerance to scream out loud in an agonizing voice.


    Before Randy lost his consciousness, he was puzzled to discover that the amount of pain he was going through in his first evolution was unlike what was stated by his instructor in his academy.


    He recalled that one would only feel the pain for a few minutes before it would subside afterward, but he had to endure this unbearable pain for more than an hour. However, as Randy pondered the reason, he soon discovered that his consciousness was slowly fading away and eventually lost his consciousness.


    ...


    After Randy lost his consciousness, within his consciousness, two things concurrently happened, a sentient entity descended in consciousness, and, at the same time, lines of text started disying themselves with the changes happening to his body. However, Randy was not aware of this since he was now unconscious.


    As the sentient entity descended, they immediately took this opportunity to confirm something.


    [Who are you?] A gentle voice carefully asked.


    [[The audacity! You dare to infiltrate his body]] This voice sounded annoyed as it started emanating a threatening aura.


    [Ah, I did not know that an existence of your status was the one inside this human¡¯s body] The gentle voice was shocked by the aura emanating from the other party and then doubtfully asked: [Your excellency, I hope you don¡¯t mind me asking, but why are you inside this human¡¯s body?]


    [[Don¡¯t ask nonsense questions. Why should I answer you? Do I know you? Also, your proxy almost disturbed him just now with those unnecessary notifications if I did not stop it beforehand]]


    [[Ah, I apologize for that. My proxy and I did not know that this human was practicing those outdated mana gathering techniques]


    [[Outdated? This is why I dislike ignorant fools like your kind who are born into worlds like this one]]


    [[Furthermore, why were you giving him so many skills just because you sensed a familiar skill within his body? Do you not understand that he needed to grow and acquire those skills by himself? What are those entities doing giving out skills like this?]]


    [Eh? But he did meet the requirement to awaken those skills. Then again, that was very strange... Only the other species and those human apostles undergo this awakening sequence. With that in mind, it was too odd for a human to meet the requirement to undergo the awakening sequence even though they still haven¡¯t reached the required level, not to mention, they even seeded in awakening those innate skills]


    [Just what is the identity of this human, your excellency? On his body, I could sense dense spatial fluctuations; This feeling is fundamentally different from the spatial residues left on the body from teleportation magic, this fluctuation feels almost like he came from a different world oryer...]


    [[...]]


    Hearing this, the other party realized that they should have gotten rid of those spatial fluctuations, but it was not their job to do so and thus they left it as is.


    However, they immediately spoke: [[Don¡¯t ask me such questions, an existence like you do not need to know. Also, stop talking to me]]


    [Come on, It is too boring managing this dungeon for... How many years has it been? It¡¯s been eons that I forgot such things]


    [[...]]


    [Hey, say something]


    [Are you ignoring me?]


    [[...]]


    At this moment, Randy slowly opened his eyes as he stood up with difficulty.


    ¡°Argh, my head... What happened? Did I faint? Also, why do I feel like I heard voices in here just now? Or was I hallucinating?¡± He muttered in confusion.


    Afterward, he ignored that thought and instead observed his body.


    To his surprise, he realized that although he now drained with bullets of sweat dripping down his body, with his entire clothes soaked in sweat, he could vividly tell that something had changed about his body. He could feel that although his strength did not seem to have increased by much, his control over his body seemed to have improved greatly, which alone was satisfying.


    ¡®This is such an amazing feeling... I feel like my reaction speed had increased tremendously with this evolution, but I will have to check it outter.¡¯ Randymented in his mind with a smile on his face.


    However, Randy did not immediately check the attributes or statistics of his overall growth as he did not know how much time had passed after he had fainted.


    With that in mind, he quickly asked his system: ¡°System, how much time had passed since I¡¯ve been unconscious?¡±


    [[Approximately 6 hours]] The system responded almost right away.


    ¡°What?!¡± Randy eximed in shock when he heard this, but he quickly regained his senses and pondered.


    ¡®How much time has gone by outside?¡¯ Randy had no idea how to tell such a thing.


    ¡®Right, I can just ask the challenger¡¯s system about this sincest time I asked my system something simr it simply stated that I could easily find such information in this world...¡¯


    With that thought, Randy turned his gaze to the blue screen on his left and asked: ¡°Challenger¡¯s system, how much time has gone by outside the dungeon?¡±


    [The time difference between this dungeon of beasts and the outside is 24 hours to 1 hour. In other words, approximately 18 minutes had gone by in the outside since the user entered this dungeon]


    ¡°I see... It¡¯s good that not much time had passed by.¡± Randy sighed and prepared to leave the dungeon as he decided to change out of his sweat-soaked clothes.


    After all, originally, he was supposed to be on his first request. But since there was nothing to do after taking care of the surrounding magical beasts, he decided to make good use of his time bying to the dungeon to practice his meditation technique.


    However, after changing his clothes, Randy suddenly had a thought.


    ¡®Since not much time had passed anyway, why don¡¯t I take this chance to learn to undo the remaining seals on the ck tome. Just the first seal already gave me such a miraculous meditation technique, then what about the other seals?¡¯


    With that thought in mind, without hesitation, Randy quickly sat back down after changing his clothes and then took out the ck tome from his storage bracelet.


    Randy ced the ck tome on the floor of the safe room and then urged: ¡°System, I would like to undo the second seal of the ck tome.¡±

 Chapter 207

    207 Cryptic


    ¡°System, I would like to undo the second seal on the ck tome.¡± Randy stated as he opened the first couple of pages in the ck tome, all the way until he could not open it anymore. He then ced his hand on thatst page of the first seal¡¯s pages.


    [[Undoing the second seal on the ancient ck tome would require you to spend 20,000 divine points]]


    [[Would you like to spend this amount of divine points to undo the second seal?]]


    ¡°Ye... Wait, what are these notifications? I almost miss them...¡±


    As Randy was about to respond to the system, he suddenly noticed a few notifications on the notification interface that he had yet to read. Right now, those notifications were disyed without disappearing, seemingly waiting for him to read them.


    With that discovery, Randy proceeded to read these notifications before anything else and thus took his hand off the page and looked in front of his vision instead.


    [[Evolution of the body has beenpleted sessfully]]


    [[You have awakened your body¡¯s first potential state]]


    [[Your current body state is: The Advanced Mortal Body State]]


    .....


    [[Advanced Mortal Body: Your overall innate physical prowess, which includes the durability of your muscles, the brain¡¯sprehensive capability, and the organs¡¯ performances has been greatly improved after awakening this evolution potential state. As an effect, normal attacks without any form of energy would not cause any significant damage to your physical body]]


    [[Furthermore, your body¡¯s energypatibility level had increased tremendously after your body evolution. For instance, as you cultivate or train with your energy gathering methods, the speed at which you can absorb the surrounding energies naturally with the aid of the training method would be 10 times more than that of an ordinary awakened person¡¯s potential talent, which is only 5 times when using a training method]]


    [[Your body has evolved to the first stage and met the requirement of the concealed imprint on your body, thus unlocking the first limit on your body]]


    [[In response to unlocking your body¡¯s first limit, your total blood energy has increased]]


    [[You¡¯re now a second stage evolved human]]


    [[Please check your status screen for more information regarding the various changes to your body]]


    ¡®Blood energy increased?¡¯


    Randy ignored everything else and looked at the notification, which mentioned the increase in his blood energy due to breaking his body¡¯s limit.


    This blood energy has always been a mystery to him enough that he didn¡¯t even bother to mention it to his parents when they asked him about what energies he waspatible with back then.


    The main reason why he didn¡¯t say anything was that he had never heard of this blood energy before, even though it was a type of evolutional energy.


    Evolutional energies could sometimes simply be mana or other forms of energies, but all in all, they only serve to evolve one¡¯s body upon awakening as an evolved human.


    Evolved humans were much stronger at the beginning stages of strength acquisition mainly because their entire bodies undergo massive changes due to the highlypatible energies. As such were unlike those who only had their awakened abilities and with mediocre or bare minimumpatibility with theirpatible energies.


    Hence, most people, especially those with mediocre talents at the beginning stages, depended on thetter discovered techniques from other civilizations, which were the energy gathering techniques.


    The less talented people used these energy gathering techniques to increase their total energy, and as it turned out, some people were talented when it came to this method of getting stronger.


    There were instances of some people who had awakened abilities that worked in tandem with their energy gathering technique; as such, they were able to get stronger faster than their peers.


    That aside, evolved humans were special in the sense that they could naturally umte theirpatible energies through their physique¡¯s unique features or traits, which allowed them to have a head start getting strongerpared to those that only awakened their abilities without evolving.


    During the beginning stages of dimensional rifts, coupled with the invasion of other species, it was the evolved humans who had insanely powerful bodies that contributed to the sess of the defending the human race, and due to that, they were the first ones to be hailed as the pinnacle of human potential.


    That was before those with bizarre abilities started appearing one after another and contributing just as much as evolved humans did in the beginning.


    That aside, what truly mattered the most was the fact that all evolved humans naturally knew how to gather theirpatible energies, and there hadn¡¯t been any exception to this discovery.


    That was why Randy was confused that despite having all forms of energy, he didn¡¯t have any of them as his evolutional energy, and instead, he had this blood energy.


    Aside from that, he initially thought he only needed to fuse or assimte with other creatures¡¯ blood to increase blood energy. After all, it seemed like that was the case with that one-time notification from the system when he used his Blood Fusion Skill to fuse and convert that burr¡¯s blood.


    Randy recalled the notification from back then. At the time, he was given two choices after consuming the burr¡¯s blood.


    ...


    ?[[First Choice: Assimte with the ¡®Purified Blood Essence¡¯ and you would be able to utilize it to retrieve the ¡®Blood Knowledge¡¯ and be able to use all the abilities of the source of this blood]]?


    ?[[Second Choice: Fuse and transform this ¡®Purified Blood Essence,¡¯ thus converting and making it your own, this would bring about a new unique ability, which can activate even without entering the assimted mode, and also increase your Blood Energy or Evolution Energy slightly. Naturally, you would still be able to retain the ¡®Blood Knowledge¡¯ using your ¡®Blood Retain¡¯ skill, which would allow you to use the enhancement effects of its assimted mode, although the enhancement effect will decrease slightly due to the fusion]]?


    ...


    Just as he had remembered, it clearly said that fusing and converting blood would increase his ¡®Blood Energy¡¯ or ¡®Evolution Energy¡¯ slightly.


    However, Randy was now puzzled after recalling this memory andparing it with the current notification from his system. After all, not only was he not able to naturally increase his blood energy, which was his evolutional energy, but now there was another method to increase his evolutional energy, excluding the previous stated method.


    But he didn¡¯t waste much time pondering about this matter and immediately had the urge to check the changes that the system had mentioned to him just now.


    With that thought in mind, for the second time ever since he came to this world of Acruxia, Randy decided to check his status screen.


    But after thinking for a short moment, he decided to ignore everything else on his basic statistics section screen since they didn¡¯t matter much and narrowly focused his attention on the energy section.


    Thus, he looked at his world¡¯s system disy to check out all the energy sections before settling on the blood energy row, and sure enough, it had increased just like the system stated.


    [[Evolutional energy(Blood Energy): 1,006/2,000]]


    ¡®So it increased by that much, huh? If I remember correctly, it was around 600, but now, it is 1,006 points instead. I wonder what the difference would be like... Should I test it out...?¡¯


    After thinking this, Randy immediately activated his Blood Authority Skill the next moment.


    [[Blood Authority Skill Activated]]


    The next moment, Randy felt that otherworldly feeling he always felt when he used this skill. Though he was not manipting any blood at this moment, he could sense the flow of blood within his body more vividly whenpared to before. He felt like he could now manipte other people¡¯s blood or any blood overall, his included.


    ¡°That¡¯s quite the difference.¡± Randy muttered in exhration, and he continued: ¡°My manual control without the system seems to have gotten better too. This increase in my blood energy and the effect on my blood authority skill is iparable to before. This time, I didn¡¯t even need the system to activate it.¡±


    Randy inwardly nodded. He was satisfied when he noticed the improvement with just this evolution of his physical body.


    ¡®Alright, let¡¯s focus on what¡¯s more important. I can check out my attributes and statisticster when I get out. Right now, I don¡¯t have much time to waste. I have to quickly finish this and hurry back toplete my first request¡¯


    With that in mind, Randy ced his hand back on the page in the opened ck tome and spoke afterward: ¡°System, use the 20,000 divine points to unlock the second seal on the ancient ck tome.¡±


    [[Response Acknowledged]]


    [[Now undoing the second seal on the ancient ck tome]]


    [[The second seal would get undone within the next ten seconds]]


    When the system stated this, Randy once again felt warm and soothing energy traveling through the veins in his body and then transferring into the ck tome through his palm.


    This feeling was so wondrous that it was easy to get lost in it, but Randy quickly controlled his emotion and then focused on the countdown on the projected screen in front of his eyes, which disyed the progress of the unsealing.


    [10]


    [9]


    [8]


    [7]


    [6]


    [5]


    [4]


    [3]


    [2]


    [1]


    [[The second seal of the ancient ck tome has been undone sessfully]]


    [[Discovered a magic circle with sealed knowledge, now disying the chapter title of this sealed knowledge: Cryptic]]

 Chapter 208

    208 Third Seal


    Immediately after the system undid the second seal on the page, it disyed another few lines of text in front of Randy without dy.


    [[The restriction on the sealed knowledge magic circle is no longer effective, now disying the description of this sealed knowledge:]]


    [[Introduction to Cryptic Magic]]


    [[Cryptic Magic: A sophisticated and mystical magical art devised by the arch sorcerer when they transcended the concept of magical spells and techniques. This magical art had not been seen before in the history of the entire universe, and thus became an exclusive magical art of the arch sorcerer up until now]]


    [[Special notice: The host should not let go of this opportunity and make good use of this uing knowledge contained within the magic circle of the ancient tome. The knowledge contained within this seal would be immensely beneficial to you on your journey]]


    [[Would you like to spend 5,000 divine points to undo and retrieve the knowledge within the magic circle?]]


    As Randy heard this, he was shocked momentarily, as this was the first time the system had given him a ¡®special note¡¯ regarding something.


    Most of the time, the system would only give him notice about anything relevant to something in question, but not with the prefix ¡®special¡¯ attached to it. That could only mean that whatever this cryptic magic was, it was so ¡®special¡¯ that even his aloof system had to give him an indication of that.


    After the system had stated so much, how could he not notice such a change?


    .....


    Not to mention that he was really interested and heavily invested enough to spend so many divine points on the ck tome, so there was no way he would give up in the middle of the process.


    If he wanted to give up, he would have given up when he heard the cost for the first seal on the tome.


    With that in mind, Randy spoke without reserve: ¡°Spend it.¡±


    [[Response Acknowledged]]


    Just as before, when he used the same amount of divine points to undo the first knowledge magic circle, the knowledge magic circle was now safe.


    Right after that, he ced his hand on it.


    A momentter, a mysterious and unknown knowledge surged into his mind. There were so many words that it felt like his brain were stuffed to the brim with clouds of characters that were vaguely discernible by him.


    Fortunately, the characters restructured themselves gradually, and he was able to make out the characters, except that they were in a differentnguage, which confused him for a great moment.


    The next moment, as he was still trying to decipher the unknownnguage, something mysterious happened.


    All the characters and words he could not put heads or tails to just now had suddenly be readable. It was almost like the indecipherable characters had converted into aprehensiblenguage.


    More urately, a piece of new knowledge regarding the strange characters coupled with their correspondingnguage was gradually stuffed into his mind, which enabled him to understand and read the words they entail.


    Randy wondered if the arch sorcerer was the one who made it like this or whether the system was the one that aided him in understanding the characters.


    If it was the former, what were they trying to do by using these characters and words even though it seemed as though they were using amonnguage of the western district when heprehended the knowledge held within the first seal.


    But if it was thetter, he could understand, as the system¡¯s existence was to support him in any way, even if this was the first time it had done something like this.


    Randy immediately shook his head the next moment to stop his thoughts, and then he proceeded to nce through the contents of the knowledge within his mind briefly.


    However, he was puzzled shortly after. There was so much knowledge in just a few paragraphs that he was instantly overwhelmed by their focus, expertise, and usage.


    For example, there were magical spells such as mental maniption and mind-reading spells using psionic magic spells, and so on.


    Furthermore, there was even the concept of astral ne connection and its magic, which seemed to be rted to the upation shown during his upation selection.


    But Randy had no time to go through all these right now. He came back to his senses and slowly opened his eyes.


    Naturally, he was intrigued by the sheer amount of wisdom held within this second seal, but he still needed to return to his request before it gets dark outside.


    Last time, he had to spend a few hours just reading through the first seal¡¯s knowledge and did not get any sleep. Since he did not n to repeat the same thing as then, he decided to check itter.


    Since he still had some time and a few divine points left to spend, he decided to undo the next seal while he was at it. After all, the more seals unlocked, the better.


    He would have to undo them sooner orter anyway, so now was as good as time as any, as long as he did not spend time to read through it afterward.


    But he was thinking of stopping on this next seal as he did not want to carelessly spend all his divine points and then regret his choicester.


    Even though he did not know much about the divine points¡¯ worth and could only base his knowledge on the minuscule description given by his system, he would not waste them simply because he did not know their true worth.


    One had to be careful if one wanted to survive in an unknown world. Furthermore, not everyone had his type of system or the ability to amass these divine points to use. As such, he did not n on wasting them just yet.


    ording to what he could infer from the system, this divine point function might prove to be more beneficial to him than he could imagine.


    After all, the arch sorcerer used some highlyplex seals on his tome before he died, and up until now, no one could undo these seals, let alone open the book. That should be enough to guess at the capability of this arch sorcerer.


    Thankfully, through his system, he found out that the divine points could undo the seals ced on the tome. That also meant that somehow the arch sorcerer could also use these divine points or something simr, and that was why they set it up for the ck tome to be open in that way.


    Thinking about this, Randy could very much tell that this arch sorcerer was indeed not a simple person and might be dangerous as an enemy rather than a friend, especially when he recalled the description given by his system. Randy truly hoped that he stayed dead; this way, he would be the sole inheritor and user of his legacy.


    With that thought aside, he closed his eyes and carefully examined the newly acquired knowledge in his mind. A short while, he opened his eyes with understanding.


    Afterward, Randy only hesitated for a moment before he decided to spend 40,000 divine points to unlock the third seal, and just like with the other seals, it took a few seconds to undo the seal. He then spent 5,000 divine points to unlock the knowledge held within the third seal¡¯s knowledge magic circle.


    A few momentster, he quickly skimmed through all the text without fully understanding the contents just yet. Therefore, he decided to spend some time grasping the contents of this knowledge.


    After an unknown time had passed, Randy felt enlightened and gradually opened his eyes, albeit still in a daze.


    His current condition was not something that he could help at all. After all, he found out when reading through the unsealed knowledge that there was a single technique rather than a spell as he had hoped within the third seal, which was very profound and quickly drew him in deeper, the more he read about it.


    Thus, before he knew it, he was already immersed in the new technique and had forgotten about time. In truth, he did not n on stopping until he fully grasped this technique as it seemed very useful to the current him.


    Inside Randy¡¯s mental space, he could see mystical runesbining and forming a type of shape, gradually taking form. At first, it looked like flowing characters, but as time went by, they structured into the figure of a human, or more urately, a humanoid figure, as there was no face to define it.


    But Randy could somehow tell that this was the figure of his very own body, which manifested through the mystical runes.


    Although he had no idea what it meant at first, as he continued to observe the changes, he discovered a certain truth, which shocked him greatly. The previously faceless humanoid figure was eventually disyed, replicating his entire body structure, and even his clothes were the same.


    Randy was shocked by this not because he saw a mirror image of himself, but this mirror image was more specifically another him if he had to put it into words. And he was very confident about this to the point that it was very eerie and strange. However, he still believed that to be the case.

 Chapter 209

    209 Incarnation


    As Randy read through the new knowledge held within the third seal in the ck tome, he stumbled upon a hidden spell technique that was part of the knowledge inscribed.


    He decided to take a look, and unexpectedly, he found himself in a trance after ncing at the few words of the technique.


    The state of mind was simr to when the system allowed him toprehend the techniques using his knowledge points. However, unlike when he had to use the knowledge points, this method was him naturally finding himself in an enlightened state without the help of an external source.


    Eventually, as he graduallyprehended the technique through observation, he understood what was going on. That left himpletely engrossed when he discovered the image that looked exactly like him. He was infallibly confident that the figure established was identical to his true self.


    How he understood and was even convinced of such a possibility was most likely through some iprehensible wisdom that dawned on him as he continued to watch the mystical runes form a human figure and eventually coalesced into his physical form without any mistake.


    The longer Randy watched on, the more knowledgeable he became about what was going on and the more shocked and amazed he became.


    Randy tried to break out of this enlightened state after observing the entire process a few times. But for some reason, he did not want to do that, as ifpelled or charmed by the technique.


    He wondered if this was the doing of the arch sorcerer. But when he recalled that his system had already gotten rid of the restrictions, he calmed down and decided to ept the current situation as the spell technique itself did not seem harmful.


    That was because, after reading the introduction, he found the name of the spell technique- Incarnation Technique.


    .....


    The description of this spell technique was creating a clone of sorts with the same appearance as the conjurer and using it to substitute the conjurer. The clone would also be permanent, unlike an ordinary clone. However, the clone cannot disy the full power of the conjurer due toplications.


    The arch sorcerer called this clone that would end up conjured- Incarnation.


    They also stated that it was an iplete technique since there were a fewplications due to the clonecking all the prowess of the conjurer. For that matter, the arch sorcerer seemed to have researched how to make the incarnation have the full capability of the conjurer without any side effects.


    Based on the results of their research, it looked like they had seeded in creating such a method. But it seemed to be omitted in the text of the technique and only vaguely attributed the result to the statement: ¡®one¡¯s origin essence power is needed to establish the proper naturalws of the physical body.¡¯


    ording to the subsequent exnations, it would seem that without that ¡®origin essence power¡¯ of the conjurer, it would be extremely challenging to properly create an incarnation with the full might of the conjurer. Thus, it was impossible for anyone if they did not know what that ¡®origin essence power¡¯ was.


    That would mean that if others got their hands on this technique, they would be unable to replicate the technique¡¯s effects and would only be able to create a temporary existence- a clone or semi-incarnation through the technique rather than a permanent existence like the hypothesizedplete incarnation.


    But, despite that, it was still helpful to have the means to create an incarnation with some of the conjurer¡¯sbat prowess. For instance, it could be employed for various problematic situations if the conjurer were in danger or merely needed it for something that would otherwise be bothersome for the conjurer to handle by themselves.


    That was why, even though it was an iplete spell technique without the necessary ¡®origin essence power¡¯ prerequisite stated in the technique, it was still a valuable technique.


    Randy also realized this to be the case and decided toprehend it and use it, if possible, to avoid any trouble that mighte his way while he stayed in his current world.


    Of course, he does not n on causing trouble himself, but one cannot be so careful when dealing with things in an estranged ce.


    Just a while ago, he was attacked by a stray vampire when he came out of the dungeon of beasts. From that alone, one could tell that his current world was dangerous, and he could not afford to be nonchnt about such an encounter.


    Although he could avoid the danger at that time, that might not necessarily be the case the next time if he were to run into someone much more powerful than that vampire man.


    Thus, if possible, he wanted to use the incarnation spell technique to create a clone to scout his surroundings beforeing out of the dungeon next time. That way, he could avoid trouble ahead of time.


    Another thing to note was that even if the created incarnation were to die in battle, it might not affect him much; he could use it to deceive the enemy instead.


    That was one of the reasons why Randy decided to ignore the unexpected trance and focus onprehending the technique.


    Just like that, he spent an unknown amount of time inside his mental space. This space was simr to when he witnessed the essence, application, and execution of hisprehended techniques using his knowledge points.


    As such, he spent more time in that space than the time that went by on the outside.


    Randy did not mind it too much as he was awed by the mystical runes that kept on constructing his body, which started from his bones, flesh, muscles, ligaments, skin, and eventually, his clothes.


    This method of replicating everything about the conjurer did not seem as simple as it looked. After all, one would expect the incarnation to be made out of energy and not an actual flesh and blood entity, but that was far from the truth when it came to this Incarnation Technique.


    Based on what Randy had observed thus far, the clone or the incarnation was just as the name implied, an embodiment of the conjurer, and they bare the semnce not only in appearance but in body essence.


    What that meant was the flesh, blood, and even the bones of the conjurer would be replicated, and not just that, it would also be hard to tell the difference at a nce.


    That left entranced Randy so much that he wondered how one could create such aplex and profound technique just by being unfathomably powerful. After all, this Incarnation Technique was something that could be said to be a godly technique.


    To be able to create an actual body out of thin air, isn¡¯t that the power of a god?


    Randy shook his head to not wonder too much about the prowess of the arch sorcerer and decided to ept the technique.


    At this point, he firmly hoped that the other party stayed dead; this way, he wouldn¡¯t be threatened by them just in case they came to look for the ancient ck tome.


    Furthermore, since he was lucky enough to get his hands on the other party¡¯s technique, he would make good use of it rather than wonder about how and why it was created or its origin.


    Thus, after a few more observations, Randy finally grasped the essence of the technique and slowly opened his eyes. But he was still in a trance, almost as if he was still pondering about something.


    Although he was still in a trance, he still moved his arms and took out some materials from the ck ring on his finger. It was the spatial ring given to him by the challenger¡¯s system after clearing the dungeon of beasts a few times. All the rewards he received now resided inside the ck ring.


    At this moment, Randy had taken out the magic cores that he received from the dungeon. As for the furs and fangs, with the help of Zophia, he had given some of those away.


    Right now, he needed these magic cores that he had initially kept for research.


    He had initially nned on consuming them with his Myriad Energy Devouring Physique¡¯s Devour ability, but that would have to wait for now.


    ording to what he learned from the Incarnation Technique, he needed to have the main five elemental essences thatprised the human body in order to create the incarnation¡¯s body.


    Naturally, there was another method, but this method was highlyplex and needed the conjurer to manipte the elements of nature themselves andbine them with a magic circle. This method was only feasible if one had reached a high level of strength and mastery in maniptingws, as stated in the description of the technique.


    Randy had no means of manipting these so-calledws with his current level of strength.


    Therefore, he decided to stick to the much easier and more feasible method instead, which relied on magic cores with traces of elemental essences within them. That was the rudimentary method of the Incarnation Technique.

 Chapter 210

    210 Failure?


    The so-called elemental essences are the elements of a world condensed into crystallized forms.


    An elemental essence could be found within magic crystals that naturally form in magic-type worlds like his current world, Acruxia, or within creatures that crystallized their magic cores inside their bodies.


    Furthermore, the purer they were, the better.


    Of course, in the case of such creatures, they needed to have an elemental affinity of some kind for their magic cores to be effective in the spell technique. Furthermore, those elements had to be the main five elements of the existing worlds.


    Fortunately, some of the beasts he defeated in the dungeon of beasts had cores that had elemental essences within them.


    And now, he nned on using those elemental magic cores to create his first incarnation.


    However, there was another problem. It stated that some magical ink was essential to create a runic magic circle. That was if one was using the rudimentary method, but Randy did not have such an ink, let alone whether such a thing even existed in Acruxia.


    After all, the current world, Acruxia, was not the same as that of the arch sorcerer¡¯s world.


    Even if both worlds had mana as their foundational energy, without a doubt, there were potentially bound to be other fundamental differences.


    .....


    For instance, they might not have the same materials necessary for conducting some unique-type spells or techniques such as the Incarnation Technique.


    For now, he nned on using another alternative method devised by the arch sorcerer as a substitute, which was to use his very own blood as the ink.


    Recalling the method from his memory, Randy instinctively frowned. He did not like hurting himself every time merely to use some technique.


    It was okay if he got hurt in a fight and lost some blood, but to hurt himself intentionally and lose some of his blood was not something he could easily adhere to practicing.


    Since it might even affect his state of mind if he were to lose too much blood before battle, but then again, there was no way such a thing could happen. He was most likely worrying too much about this.


    However, Randy hated losing his blood for some reason; It was something that even he could not exin to himself.


    However, as far as he could remember, he had always felt inexplicable whenever he lost even just a bit of his blood ever since his childhood.


    Hence, even though he got hurt and even bled during his battles, he always found it necessary to collect the salvageable blood every time.


    After the conclusion of each battle, he then absorbs his blood back into his body.


    Back then, even cutting himself to use his Blood Authority skill for the first time was demanding for him, and now, this technique deemed it necessary to use his blood to draw some magic circle.


    However, when he thought about how practical the technique could be if he seeded, he silently gritted his teeth for a few moments before calming down.


    Afterward, he poked his right index with a sharp finger energy de on his left index finger, which he manifested with his mana.


    That was his Energy Manifestation skill that he acquired from the crystallized ability stone back when he fought against the chimera monster.


    This manifestation ability was versatile and could be used to manifest or create various things, with the only limit being his imagination.


    At this point, he had snapped out of his trance.


    As he did so, he focused all his attention as he recalled how to inscribe the magical runic circle- a unique type of magic circle necessary for the Incarnation Technique.


    However, before he began with the inscription, he wondered whether he should conduct his experiment in the safe room.


    But eventually, he let his curiosity overwhelm his sense of security and went ahead and started drawing with his blood on the floor ording to his acquired knowledge.


    The method of using his blood has a prerequisite, and that was he needed to have mana in his bloodstream.


    In other words, his blood should contain some mana particles.


    The mana particles in his blood would allow for proper mana transfer or mana cirction.


    The blood filled with mana particles would make the blood conductible for mana, thus would be the perfect substitute catalyst for the spell invocation.


    Comprehending that, Randy concluded that the reason why the nameless meditation technique needed one to absorb mana into their blood was most likely because of this technique, or at most one of the reasons.


    He had this thought as he continued inscribing the magic circle step by step, without missing a single detail.


    Soon enough, Randy managed to draw a highlyplex magic runic circle with six slots, five of which were at the corner of the created pentagram runic circle.


    These five slots represent the five elements thatplete every world in existence.


    ording to what Randy learned from the knowledge from the ck tome, coupled with the incarnation technique, each world in existence wasposed of the five main elements.


    Those elements are the foundational or building blocks of each world.


    Namely, those five main elements were- Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Wood.


    Without each of these elements, a world would be iplete, meaning such a world would not function properly, and the ecosystem would not exist as not all organisms would not survive in such a world.


    After all, all the existing living beings, at their core, were made up of such elements.


    As such, they needed those elements to sustain themselves and to continue existing.


    That was the reason why those elements were necessary for the creation of an incarnation.


    Each of the five circr slots at the corner of the pentagram runic circle represents an element- The five main elements, to be exact.


    The conjurer needed to ce the elemental essences in each circr slot correspondingly in order for the first step of the spell to be consideredplete. That was if excluding the inscribed magical runic circle, of course.


    As for the second step, that was another tricky part.


    ording to the Incarnation Technique, one needed to drop their blood essence in the middle of the center slot of the magical runic circle.


    The blood ced in the middle would serve as the medium during the creation of the incarnation.


    ording to his understanding, this extraction of blood essence was akin to dropping his genes into the magical runic circle for them to be analyzed before the spell-like technique could create his perfect incarnation.


    Although this system was not scientific, it still functioned as such based on the knowledge he received.


    Based on his discovery, he could even say that this was a magical science, which involved the usage of magic instead of technology.


    But like before, Randy was reluctant to part with his blood.


    After all, this was the second time he had to draw his blood to execute the same technique.


    Not to mention that he wasn¡¯t even sure whether it would seed.


    After a bit of hesitation, he let out a sigh as he reluctantly cut his index finger once again since it had already healed a while ago.


    The reason why he did not hesitate this time was due to the fact that he already knew about this from reading through the knowledge about the technique before he even decided to use it.


    It was just that he thought he only needed his blood for the medium of creation and not also the trigger or the catalyst of the spell.


    After all, the technique also mentioned some materials used to draw the runic circle, but he found outter that he did not have such things with him, which was why he had no choice but to use his blood to draw the runic circle.


    Just like that, Randy dripped some of his blood at the center of the runic circle, and then he ced the elemental essence cores associated with the five elements in their corresponding slots.


    With that, the second and third steps wereplete.


    Now only the fourth and fifth steps were left.


    The fourth step only needed him to insert his mana into the runic circle while chanting an incantation devised by the arch sorcerer.


    The recitation process was rtively easy as all he needed to do was fervently and urately chant the incantation words in order for the magical runic circle to resonate with the worldws of his current world.


    After which, he would begin the most significant aspect of the spell technique, but for now, he needed to activate the magical runic circle first.


    To ultimately ensure the sess of the spell technique, there was another factor that he had to make sure to prevent in the middle of the invocation.


    It was stated clearly by the arch sorcerer that if he failed in salvaging the situation, there was a high risk of failure.


    ¡°Possible failure? I won¡¯t let that happen.¡±


    Randy muttered with a determined expression.


    With that said, he took a deep breath as he watched his handiwork for a moment as he pondered something, seemingly considering something.


    As for why he pondered to himself, it was to carefully check and identify any mistake in the magical runic circle he inscribed on the floor, which he conducted byparing it to his memories.


    Subsequently, he ced his palm over the magical runic circle; This runic magic circle was only about one meter in diameter.

 Chapter 211

    211 Risky Endeavor


    With his palm over the inscribed magical runic circle, he poured a bit of his mana into the center of the magical runic circle, causing an immediate reaction in his blood in the middle of the center slot.


    He then began to chant the incantation of the spell three secondster.


    The incantation words sounded very incoherent and yet also mystifying at the same time.


    There was a sense of vicissitudes around his body as he recited the incantation words in a calm and enthusiastic demeanor.


    At this time, it felt like his entire body was resonating with the world as invisible ripples manifested around him.


    Soon enough, some changes had started to ur within the magical runic circle.


    At first, when Randy poured in his mana, nothing happened as his mana only seemed to be contained within his blood, which was in the center of the magical runic circle.


    However, the moment he started chanting the incantation, his mana-infused blood began resonating with the pathways that led to the five elements- Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Wood.


    His mana-infused blood resonated and connected to the five elements using the pathways in the magical runic circle.


    .....


    At that exact moment, an unprecedented change unwitnessed before urred.


    At some unknown point during the incantation, something ethereal had descended upon the safe room. When it did, Randy felt a chill down his spine as he started to feel a suffocating pressure above him, with a strange feeling welling up within his chest, almost like an unseen and insurmountable weight was on top of his body.


    This unknown and ethereal pressure made him feel highly vignt because it felt as if his entire body and soul were under a constant and deadly threat.


    He felt like he was now standing on the very edge of a sharp de, and any careless movement from him would lead to his body being ripped into two perfect halves.


    Randy had never felt such a thing before, and as such, it made him very alert and ufortable; He was also unable to breathe.


    This unknown pressure even rendered his control over his body useless. Thus, he was also unable to move his body temporarily.


    ¡®This feeling... What¡¯s going on?¡¯


    Randy scowled as he wondered to himself in confusion.


    At this moment, he had started to lose his passion for the incantation. But at thest moment, he forcefully continued with the incantation words while ignoring the unearthly pressure on his body.


    One of the reasons why Randy did not stop chanting the incantation words was that he was afraid and feeling regretful that he would waste this great opportunity and the resources used in the spell technique.


    Furthermore, the arch sorcerer had vaguely mentioned something about his current situation in the spell technique¡¯s introduction, so he was rtively calm about the current situation after recognizing what was going on.


    Just as he had calmed down, lines of text began to appear on the golden screen in his field of vision.


    [[Due to your unconventional spell casting, which involved the five elementalws of this world, you have attracted the awareness and scrutiny of the variousws that embody and govern this entire world]]


    [[Attention, your spell technique has caused the variousws, specifically, thews governing the five main elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Nature, to descend and monitor your actions. If your current actions were deemed as unfit or in vition of this world¡¯s foundationalws, you would instantly be ejected from this world as a form of rejection of your very existence]]


    [[Special note: You have two options:]]


    [[1. You can choose to stop your current actions. If you choose this option, it will not only end up in the failure of your spell technique but also prevent the possibility of being rejected by this world¡¯sws. However, you risk the chance of your internal energies spiraling out of control if you stop your incantation at this critical juncture of your spell incantation]]


    [[2. You can ignore everything by continuing with your current actions and trypleting your spell technique. If you choose this option, the system will protect your body in the case that you¡¯re rejected from this world, so you don¡¯t need to worry]]


    ¡®So this was the possible failure? Not to mention that my energy will go out of control if I choose to stop right now?¡¯


    ¡®Forget about being ejected or expelled from the world. I might die from the energy in my body going out of control.¡¯


    ¡®Definitely not letting this happen!¡¯


    Quickly reading through the lines of text, Randy decided to risk it, as he was not about to let his precious blood go to waste just because of a possible threat.


    Furthermore, with the guarantee from the system, he did not need to worry about his life.


    Even if he ultimately ended up being expelled from his current world, he would survive using the protection from his system.


    Although it would be a pity to leave his current world as that would go against his ns, it was still better than letting go of this opportunity, especially after he hade this far.


    Not to mention that ording to the system, it was not a guarantee that he would be expelled out of his current world since it was only a possibility.


    Moreover, if what he learned from the arch sorcerer¡¯s notes were true, nothing should go wrong with the spell technique. Not to mention being kicked out, ording to the arch sorcerer, as long as the spell technique was executed by following the stated procedure, he would not incur the wrath of the world¡¯sws.


    After all, the essence of the spell technique itself conformed to thews of all worlds.


    Furthermore, the intricate runes within the magical runic circle were necessary to make that fact recognized by the world. As such, nothing detrimental should happen, at least.


    But even so, he was still slightly worried due to his current world being a different world from the arch sorcerer¡¯s world. As such is the case, there might be a slight deviation in thews governing the current world.


    However, that should not affect the general spell technique too much. That was why Randy was willing to risk it this time.


    After all, the worst that could happen was getting ejected from his current world and not his ultimate death. And with the protection of his system, he would be able to survive such a predicament.


    Thus, with a firm determination, Randy continued the invocation of the spell technique as various mystical runes emitting varying glows of color shined within the safe room.


    After a while, Randy proceeded to the fifth and final step in the spell technique. This step required him to transfer his soul origin power into the brightly lit magical runic circle.


    At this point, he recalled the system¡¯s exnation at the time.


    ...


    [[The divine point is the origin power of the souls of all living beings that existed within the universe. In other words, the soul power of any living being in a quantified form, which is universally known as ¡®divine points¡¯. Whenever living beings die, their soul power, in other words, their divine points would dissipate and be part of their world¡¯sws]]


    [[As for the uses of the divine points, there are many. For example, the host could use the divine points to rece knowledge points toprehend skills and techniques or use them as an energy source to conduct any skill and technique or disregard the constraints of different energy sources like magical energy, spiritual energy, and life energy]]


    [[However, using divine points is akin to using one¡¯s soul power and thus could lead to a decrease in the user¡¯s life expectancy if the user depletes all of their soul power. Furthermore, without a technique or means to cultivate one¡¯s soul, the recovery of your expended soul power or divine points would take a considerably long time]]


    [[Moreover, the capacity of one¡¯s soul was closely rted to how strong one was, and therefore, if one had less soul power or divine points, they would instantly die from overusing it. Thus, it is rmended not to use one¡¯s soul power unless they had a method to recover them]]


    ...


    At the time, those were the response from the system when he first asked about the divine points function of his system.


    From that response, Randy could infer that this origin essence power stated by the arch sorcerer in the texts about the spell technique was essentially referring to divine points.


    After realizing this fact, Randy was slightly shocked that the arch sorcerer knew about divine points or how to harness them. However, he did not think much about that, as he only needed to confirm whether he could sessfully cast his spell at the time.


    And now was the time to finalize the spell technique.


    The pressure on his body was increasing with every passing moment, but he ignored that and focused on his system¡¯s disy.


    [[Detected you havepleted the first four steps in your spell technique]]


    [[Would you like to spend 3,200 divine points?]]


    ¡®That¡¯s right, I don¡¯t have to spend my soul power for this spell technique since the system had already stored some divine points for me, but...¡±


    Randy surmised his current understanding.


    However, the only thing he was worried about was if the divine points from his system would count as his origin essence power during the spell technique¡¯s execution.


    What if the divine points from the system were determined as not his own since they were extracted from others?


    Divine points were the origin power of the soul. In other words, it was the soul power of a living being.


    But from what he learned, using his soul power could be detrimental.


    Therefore, it was only appropriate for him to use the system¡¯s divine points instead of his soul power. This method would also prevent any repercussions that spending his soul power might bring.


    But in doing so, based on his deductions, there was a slight chance that the spell technique might have some faults during its execution.

 Chapter 212

    212 Cloaked Individuals


    To answer his thoughts, lines of text appeared in his vision, which snapped him back to reality.


    [[The divine points function of the system would consistently purge the extracted soul¡¯s origin power of its original previous owner¡¯s essence upon extraction. Thus, it bespletely ownerless. However, during the transference procedure, the ownerless soul¡¯s origin power would be affected by the host¡¯s essence before the transfer. As such, after the transference, the soul power would always contain the host¡¯s essence]]


    Since that was the case, Randy did not hesitate any longer: ¡°Spend it.¡±


    After being assured by the system, all his previous worries were all dispersed right away. As such, he confidently dered for the expenditure of his divine points.


    With that dered, the number next to the divine points icon decreased after his deration, followed by a warm sensation coursing through his veins before transferring through his hand into the magical runic circle, which caused a reaction right away.


    Randy was already getting used to the transfer of divine points, especially after he underwent the transference ofrge quantities to undo the seals ced on the ck tome.


    Therefore, he only watched as his spell technique was about to bepleted.


    Even the golden mystical runes that appeared during the simtion of the technique in his mind have also appeared.


    Seeing this, Randy knew that the spell was almostplete, and he disyed a smile, but due to that, he lost concentration for a bit as the pressure on his body, which had been steadily increasing, overwhelmed him.


    .....


    Randy uncontrobly fell over.


    His body headed toward the magical runic circle, which was still glowing with iridescent and kaleidoscopic lights, coupled with the golden mystical runes that began to form a shape in the air.


    But at that moment, Randy came to himself and forced himself tond on his side instead, thus avoiding the magical runic circle.


    ¡®That was too close. I shouldn¡¯t let myself be excited just yet.¡¯


    Randy heaved out a sigh of relief as he thought to himself.


    Before he looked up again, there was a sudden bright golden light. It illuminated the entire Safe Room before settling down.


    When it dimmed, Randy brought his hand down from his face from the unexpected light from the magical runic circle.


    ¡°What happened? Don¡¯t tell me I still ended up failing?¡±


    Randy expressed his worry when he saw the light settling down.


    ording to the knowledge of the technique, there shouldn¡¯t have been such a bright glow at the end. It was supposed to settle down gradually after the golden mystical runes had finished creating the body of the incarnation.


    However, there was an abrupt bright glow before the spell was evenpleted.


    ¡®What¡¯s going on?¡¯


    This left Randy confused, but he did not say anything, as at this time, in front of him, his body stood there naked- rather, it was his incarnation that stood there naked with a listless expression.


    Randy was initially surprised by his conjured incarnation body¡¯s form, which was very different from what he had imagined and witnessed in his mind.


    Since it derailed from the spell technique¡¯s original recreation of his body, which included his clothes.


    However, he thought that the system would give him an exnation, and so he quickly looked up in front of himself expectantly.


    Just as he had thought, after the ultimatepletion of the spell technique, the system disyed its usual descriptions of his situation.


    Lines of text were blinking on the golden screen in front of him.


    [[Notice: Four of the five elementalws of this world had judged your actions as not in vition of this world¡¯s foundationalws. As such, you are pardoned for now]]


    ¡®For now? Forget that.¡¯ Randy ignored these lines of text as he had already felt the pressure disappear after hepleted the spell technique.


    Watching this situation and reading the lines of texts, Randy was shocked and wanted toin.


    As if to answer his thoughts, the system disyed another few lines of text in front of his vision, which left him speechless afterward.


    [[The materials used for the creation of this incarnation were of poor quality. As such, not everything of the host was replicated sessfully]]


    Randy read these lines of text. From which, he found an exnation of what had happened and then proceeded to look on in disbelief for a while.


    He then took a moment to observe the creation in front of him.


    Afterward, he helplessly shook his head and muttered still in disbelief: ¡°Damn, what a waste... Isn¡¯t this considered as a failure then?¡±


    However, Randy did not dwell on the matter for long and immediately took out some clothes from his storage bracelet and used it to cover his incarnation¡¯s body as he prepared to leave the safe room.


    A few momentster, after he packed up everything and addressed some things, he immediately vanished from the Safe Room.


    Fortunately, the traces of the magical runic circle vanished along with the creation of the incarnation. The most likely exnation would be that itbined with the mystical runes during the conjuration of the incarnation. As such, there was nothing to clean up.


    Moreover, although the unknown pressure from before had long since disappeared, he couldn¡¯t afford to be careless just yet as it seemed that not all the five elementalws of Acruxia had agreed on letting him off. Thus, he needed to get away from his current location.


    Not to mention that he still had a request toplete. As such, he needed to return to his previous location. He had left that request behind for too long because he had spent time grasping the Incarnation Technique.


    So he hurriedly left the safe room and appeared at the location he teleported from, near a vige close to the Meistic Forest.


    However, a few moments after he appeared there, he immediately sensed two cloaked individuals with strange auras emanating from their bodies. They were walking toward the nearby vige.


    Initially, there shouldn¡¯t have been anyone near his request location.


    Most of the Dungeon Hunters opted to take the request from the church, which was to assist in the tracking of that missing knight captain of the church.


    Of course, they didn¡¯t know that he had already killed him and kept his corpse in his storage bracelet.


    But none of that mattered.


    What truly mattered right now was that the moment he arrived at the location of his request, after departing for a few minutes, he found two cloaked individuals lurking around the vige very suspiciously.


    If they were not cloaked, Randy wouldn¡¯t have thought much and assumed they belonged to the vige.


    However, the fact remained that they were hiding their appearance, which was very suspicious and demanded attention unless they were Dungeon Hunters with strange dressing codes.


    Even if they were indeed Dungeon Hunters, at the very least, he needed to confirm who they were before continuing with his request since they were close to his area of influence.


    At first, Randy had used his Dimensional Sense skill scour around just in case there were enemies like magical beasts nearby after he left for so long.


    But he did not expect to encounter such people immediately after returning to his previous position.


    Thus, to make sure and be certain about the current situation, he focused his perception skill more on those people. But in the end, he only barely saw their faces.


    However, since Randy could not see everything, he couldn¡¯t make any conclusions. Therefore, he tried to concentrate his perception just a bit more to see their appearance.


    But, as if they sensed his probing, one of them red in the direction from where he was observing them.


    The moment that happened, Randy felt a sudden sharp pain in his mind, which caused his mental energy ripples to fall into disarray shortly after. His perception skill was also forcefully deactivated in response.


    Randy scowled when he sensed this: ¡°Who are those people? From their appearance, they don¡¯t look like humans.¡±


    After pondering for a bit, Randy executed his concealment technique to retract all his presence.


    Traceless Form Technique!!


    When he used his Dimensional Sense Skill just now, he discovered that the other parties were about 200 meters away from his current location, which was not very far away, and not too close either.


    Originally, with his skill¡¯s current level of mastery, he shouldn¡¯t have been able to reach that far. At most, only 100 meters after the skill¡¯splete execution. However, he exerted himself a bit and used directional search, which allowed him to see farther into the distance.


    Coincidentally, when he looked in the direction of the nearby vige, he found those people approaching the vige that he was supposed to protect from the magical beasts in the forest.


    After retracting all his presence, he used another skill that he hadn¡¯t used yet until now, which was the Absolute Stealth skill.


    That was the innate skill awakened in response to the Stealthy Python¡¯s Stealth Scales Skill during the awakening sequence.


    [Absolute Stealth Skill Activated]


    After he activated this camouging skill, along with his aura and breath concealing technique, his figure, presence, and aura had thoroughly vanished.


    It was almost like his entire existence had faded from the surface of the earth.

 Chapter 213

    213 sh!


    At this point, no one should be able to discover his presence through ordinary perception skills or abilities, unless they had some unique ability to see through his stealth skill.


    Even if they could see through the stealth skill, since its level was still at 1, as long as they did not discover his aura approaching, he could instantly sneak up on anyone before they would even notice him.


    At this very moment, Randy was truly confident about both his presence concealment and camouged state.


    Without any further deliberation, he headed in the direction of the vige while still maintaining his vignce just in case. He nned on observing the actions of those two people first before making any decision.


    However, as he approached the two cloaked individuals, one of them suddenly turned around without warning and then looked in a specific direction, shocking Randy greatly.


    That was simply because that individual was, at this moment, looking at where he was hiding currently, which was behind a giant rock that he had found close to the vige.


    ¡®Impossible! Did they notice my presence?¡¯


    Randy did not have to guess long, as he heard a voice.


    ¡°Stop hiding like a rat ande out!¡± A deep and hoarse voice, which sounded very disgruntled, resonated in the surroundings.


    .....


    Upon hearing this, Randy hesitated for a brief moment before standing up, dispelling his absolute stealth skill, and then walked out from behind the rock in leisure steps.


    He curiously questioned: ¡°How did you find my location?¡±


    ¡°You... What? A human?¡± One of the cloaked individuals spoke impatiently but then looked slightly shocked.


    Meanwhile, the other demon seemed uninterested at first as he continued to head towards the vige, most likely because they had made prior arrangements when they found him.


    However, he was startled when he heard his partner¡¯s words and turned around, asking.


    ¡°What did you say? A human?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    ¡°How did they know that we wereing here? No matter, there¡¯s only one of them. We can easily kill him off and deal with our matters afterward.¡±


    ¡°...Hm. You¡¯re right. No matter how strong he is, he would still die to ourbination attack. However...¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about? Isn¡¯t that a weakling? I can¡¯t even sense anythinging out of him.¡±


    ¡°You idiot, did I not tell you that someone was following us just now? How did you think I found him, but you couldn¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°What? You don¡¯t mean...¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right, that human knows how to hide his presence almostpletely, most likely also his true strength. However, unfortunately for him, my unique ability to sense ¡®possible threat¡¯ was one of the best.¡±


    ¡°Alright, then let¡¯s deal with him quickly. We can¡¯t afford to waste any more time here.¡±


    ¡°Hm.¡±


    Saying so, they both disappeared, and before Randy knew it, he had been surrounded by the two individuals on both the front and back.


    At the same time, their appearance, which was under the hood of their cloaks, was then revealed.


    ¡®Are these... demons? What are they doing here? Don¡¯t tell me they had some motive foring to this ce?¡¯ Randy raised his brows as he guessed.


    But he was only momentarily surprised before activating and unleashing the effect of his Shadow Beast Leather Armor. His body emanated with shadow mana, which consumed his entire existence a short momentter.


    ...


    A few moments ago, while the demons were busy having their little discussion, Randy did not simply stand there and watch them while doing nothing.


    Instead, countless thoughts and strategies on how to defeat his current opponents scrolled through his mind within a short moment thanks to his increased mental energy.


    Amid those thoughts, he thought of a few methods for defeating these unknown opponents.


    One such method was his Shadow Beast Leather Armor¡¯s property, which he had only checked after the dungeon raid.


    The other method was his newly created incarnation, which he had yet to test out due to someplications, thus stored within his spatial ring for now.


    In the end, he decided to try out his Shadow Beast Leather Armor¡¯s property effects.


    [Shadow Beast Leather Armor]


    [Rank: Legendary]


    [Armor Property(s): Shadow Null (Passive Defense), Shadow Shroud (Active Protection), Shadow Swap (Active Evasion), Shadow Restoration (Self-Repair)]


    [Description: This armor has the property ability to negate elemental attribute attacks passively and actively, except for light attribute attacks. It can also use the user¡¯s mana to solidify shadows around the armor to protect against any physical damage attacks. It even has a self-repair ability through absorbing shadow aura or dark mana]


    ...


    A momentter, he instantly disappeared, reced by a shadow, which was sliced and pierced through by the two demons.


    The next moment, one of the demons was pierced through the chest from their back to the chest.


    ¡°What?!¡± One of the demons widened their eyes in shock when they felt a sharp pain prating their back.


    When the two demons disappeared, he silently activated one of the Shadow Beast Leather Armor¡¯s properties- Shadow Swap Property, which he used to evade the two demons¡¯bination attacks.


    [Shadow Swap: This property allows the user to instantly create a clone shadow that could rece the user¡¯s body to evade deadly attacks. In the process, the form of the user would be hidden temporarily in the void and then swiftly teleported randomly to a certain safe distance away from the battlefield. The interval of the teleportation is dependent on the amount of mana used]


    Naturally, based on the description alone, this armor property¡¯s effect didn¡¯t have directional teleportation.


    However, by using less mana during activation, you could limit the teleportation to a short distance away from the battlefield enough to counterattack against your enemy afterward if you were lucky enough with the teleported distance.


    That way what Randy had done when he activated this armor property¡¯s ability.


    Originally, this armor property¡¯s ability was supposed to be thest stand against an unbeatable enemy due to the nature of teleporting randomly to a safe distance from the battlefield.


    But in this case, Randy creatively used it to evade a deadly attack from his enemy, and at the same time, counterattacked against them.


    Although the two demons were shocked one after another when they saw his figure¡¯s sudden disappearance and then appeared behind one of them tounch an attack, they did not seem shocked for long.


    One of the demons had a calm expression, with two ck horns on top of his head, pale white-skinned, and eerie dark purple eyes that seemed to see through everything.


    The other demon had fiery crimson eyes with a hint of darkness inside his two pupils. He also has red scales all over his body with a fierce expression as invisible heat emitted from his body, which induced the surrounding air to blur in response to the high temperature.


    Other than these features, they all had a humanoid appearance.


    The one with the red scale was the one that was pierced through by Randy¡¯s sword attack since he seemed to be more careless than the other demon.


    As for the temperature, Randy only covered his hand with arm and sword with his Frost Hand Spell Technique that he acquired from Riley¡¯s Magic Compendium, coupled with his Energy Manifestation skill, which he used to solidify the ice around his sword. His hand, especially, was covered to look like a glove.


    However, the next moment, the pierced, red-scaled demon turned his head around with a wide smirk on his scaled face.


    Immediately after, Randy felt a burning sensation in his palm. The weapon he was holding was emitting a burning sensation despite the ice glove around his hand.


    In reality, the moment heunched his attack, the ice around his arm had already melted away, with only the ice glove on which he concentrated his mana persisted until now.


    Right away, he instinctively let go of his sword and made the distance between them.


    As Randy watched on, the spare steel sword he had used to pierce the red-scaled demon melted in liquid. It was then thoroughly absorbed inside the red-scaled demon¡¯s body.


    Within that moment, Randy pondered many things to himself.


    ¡®No wonder he so was careless. It wasn¡¯t that this demon was reckless. With such searing and suffocating heat emitted from his body, naturally, it would be careless and unguarded against my weapon attack, unlike the other demon who seemed on guard the entire time.¡¯


    ¡®This guy didn¡¯t even care about the wound from my weapon attack. But then again, is that all?¡¯


    ording to his guess, this demon most likely had an innate ability to absorb metal to heal himself. Otherwise, it shouldn¡¯t have been unscathed after his attack.


    The next moment, the red-scaled demon momentarily burst out with a peal of condescendingughter and said: ¡°Not bad for a mere human. But if that was all you got, then prepare to die.¡±


    After stating so, the red-scaled demon charged at Randy without giving him a chance to activate his armor¡¯s property and could only rely on his movement skills and technique to dodge its wed attacks.


    However, for some reason, the ck-horned demon, on the other hand, just stood aside.


    He did not bother to fight together with the red-scaled demon and only proceeded to observe their fight instead.


    Randy shed with the red-scaled demon tens of times within a few seconds.


    At this point, Randy had sh marks on his face from some of the red-scaled demon¡¯s attacks.


    Although they seemed evenly matched in terms of physical strength, he still couldn¡¯t keep up with its relentless attacks that prevented him from using his skills.


    Randy had thought that after he underwent his body evolution, he wouldn¡¯t lose to that vampire man he met the other day. Furthermore, he was even confident that he could instantly kill him.


    He believed that since he now had more control over his skills and body, unlike before, that much should be possible.


    Not to mention that, although he had yet to check it, his overall strength, whether it be his physical strength or speed, they had all increased drastically.

 Chapter 214

    214 ck Blood


    With Randy¡¯s current strength, going by his current world¡¯s standards, he should be able to contend against some people at level 60, at the very least.


    However, he could only keep up with this red-scaled demon and not suppress it.


    In truth, he was the one repressed by his opponent instead.


    Just how strong was this demon?


    Furthermore, there was still another demon nearby observing him as if trying to inquire about his weakness, which was very concerning.


    What if the two demons decide to join forces to fight against him together? Wouldn¡¯t he lose terribly by then?


    As he worriedly thought about the possibility of fighting two demons, he still shed with the scaled demon with his cial Beast Sword a few more times, with sparks flying around them and their movements turning into a blur one moment and then visible the next.


    If an ordinary person saw their exchange from the start, at this instant, they would only gasp in shock and wouldn¡¯t know what to make of it, as their appearance kept disappearing and reappearing whenever they moved and shed.


    The red-scaled demon¡¯s ws were very sharp and sturdy, on par with steel metal.


    .....


    No, it was even sturdier than steel metal.


    Otherwise, how else could it remain undamaged even after he shed against his S-rank cial Beast Sword, which was not only firm but sharp enough to cut through steel metal.


    After a few seconds, they had already exchanged hundreds of moves, and Randy had started to get anxious as he watched the ck-horned demon who was still observing their fight with a calm gaze.


    ¡®What the hell is he doing watching on? Is he not nning on attacking me along with his partner?¡¯


    Randy split his attention for a single moment as he thought of the horned demon¡¯s actions. But the moment he did, the red-scaled demon smirked, took advantage of that moment, andunched a feint attack with his ws before switching andunching a punch at his gut the next moment.


    Bang!


    Randy groaned in a low voice as he thrust backward, flying away from the unexpected blow.


    Boom!


    He grunted as he smashed into the rock he had stood behind previously.


    ¡°Kuhahaha. That was fun, human!¡±


    Watching Randy sprawling on the ground, the red-scaled demon couldn¡¯t help but burst into peals of exhratedughter.


    ¡°Enough ying around and kill him.¡± Said the ck-horned demon from the side.


    ¡°You¡¯re no fun, Gleet. This human seemed pretty strong butcked fighting experience. Just look at him. He¡¯s still standing back up with no visible wounds. Why don¡¯t I y with him a little-¡±


    ¡°I said to end the fight quickly. We don¡¯t have time to waste. Do you want me to report to our lord that we were held back in procuring the sacrifices because of you? Also, my name is Gleak for the thousandth time.¡±


    ¡°Tch, whatever.¡±


    The red-scaled demon had a peeved expression as he turned to face Randy in the distance: ¡°Hey, human, I am so pissed right now. I need to release this anger, so I will not be ying around with you anymore. Give it all you¡¯ve got. Otherwise, today would be yourst breath. Then again, no matter how hard you try, you¡¯ll still die in my next attack anyway.¡±


    Randy¡¯s gaze was serene as he stood up and brushed off the dust on his body.


    He stood there motionless without any difort on his face, almost as if nothing had happened to him.


    Before the impact of the red-scaled demon¡¯s attack, his armor¡¯s passive defense property activated on its own and negated most of the blow of the punch thatnded on his gut. As such, he was mostly unaffected.


    Moreover, he still had another semi-defensive skill, Body Strengthen, which he activated to strengthen his stomach when the red-scaled demon aimed for his stomach, which further nullified the impact.


    The Body Strengthen skill was an innate skill awakened in response to his Stealthy Python¡¯s Grip skill, simr to the Absolute Stealth skill, which he awakened from the Stealth Scales skill.


    Naturally, the Body Strength skill wasn¡¯t supposed to be used as a defensive skill since it could only strengthen a part of the body currently, but it could serve as one if used creatively.


    But, despite that, he still felt the reverberated shockwaves clearly when the punchnded on his stomach.


    Based on his estimates, it would have damaged, at least, his internal organs, or at worst, would have resulted in severe internal damage if he did not have his ck coat on and had relied only on his semi-defensive skill, Body Strengthen.


    ¡®Now, I can catch my breath. It was too dangerous just now.¡¯


    As for why he allowed himself to get hit, despite seeing the iing attack beforehand, that was deliberate. He wanted to make a distance between himself and the red-scaled demon to activate his skills.


    Earlier, when he engaged inbat with the red-scaled demon, he couldn¡¯t use all of his skills except his Intermediate Swordsmanship skill. Due to that, hisprehension has increased, as stated in his vision right now.


    [Your Intermediate Swordsmanship mastery has increased, gaining enough experience]


    [Intermediate Swordsmanship Skill has increased from level 1 to level 3]


    ¡®That was at least beneficial.¡¯


    With this, his current understanding of this Intermediate Swordsmanship skill has be basic if he had to describe it.


    Before, he only knew Beginner Swordsmanship, which was enough toprehend basic sword sh and sword pierce techniques.


    But the intermediate level swordsmanship allowed for more maneuverability of the sword, along with the previous effects.


    Along with hisprehension of the sword, the understanding of his sword-based skills also increased slightly.


    With that determined, Randy activated one of his skills.


    [Sacred Sword Skill Activated]


    With the activation of this skill, the cial Beast Sword, which had a cold blue body, was instantly covered with a golden, radiant, and sacred light.


    This sacred light gradually sipped into the de of his sword as it vibrated slightly in response.


    The next moment, Randy channeled mana into his legs, and soon, with a gust of wind, his appearance vanished on the spot.


    [Wind Sailing Movement Skill Activated]


    He did not n on being on the receiving end this time around.


    Within the next few seconds, he traversed the distance and appeared in front of the red-scaled demon while brandishing his light-infused sword, which aimed directly at the red-scaled demon¡¯s neck.


    The red-scaled demon was caught in surprise by his unexpected attacks, and his pupils dted for a split second before quickly blocking in front of himself.


    sh!


    One sh Unleashed, Multiple Sharp Sword Light Gushed Outward!


    This was the essence of his sword attack just now.


    His current attack was possible because he had grasped the basic understanding of the Intermediate Swordsmanship, which allowed more versatility with the sword.


    That coupled with the specialty of Sacred Sword skill that allowed the user toprehend and imitate basic holy sword aura.


    This generated holy sword aura, even though it would only be an imitation at its current level, could still help the user unleash multiple sword auras or des of light.


    By utilizing the Sacred Aura skill, which only provided an aura of light and Sacred Enchant to enhance the effects of one¡¯s equipment, one could graduallyprehend sword aura.


    Sacred Aura Skill was currently at level 9. But by itself, it couldn¡¯t do much. It only allowed the usage of ¡®Aura of Protection¡¯ and theprehension ¡®aura¡¯ generally and not sword aura itself.


    Only through the continuous usage of the Sacred Sword skill could one gradually manifest their sword aura. But that was the most challenging part. It could take years for that to happen.


    That was why that knight captain only had level 5 for his Sacred Sword skill and level 6 for his Sacred Enchant skill, even though he was considered a captain of the church of light.


    Luckily, after inheriting his skills at their current level, naturally, Randy knew how they work and how to use them.


    All that knowledge sublimed together perfectly to unleash his current attack, which contained more destructive power than merely swinging the sword around to sh or pierce.


    The scaled demon¡¯s feet slid a few meters back from the multiple impacts of his sword attack.


    Blood Sttered.


    The red-scaled demon¡¯s eyes widened with a shocked expression as he watched his blood dripping down from the multiple cut wounds on both arms that he used to block in front of him.


    Unlike before, he seemed unable to heal from the sword attack right away, which shocked him further.


    The next moment, that shocked expression turned into madness and fury as he used his w to cut away at all the meat around where the sword had inflicted the wounds.


    Shocking enough, after all the flesh on his arm was torn away, along with the sword wounds, he began to heal rapidly and regenerate the flesh lost from his injuries.


    However, Randy was not shocked simply because the red-scaled demon could heal his wounds faster.


    Instead of that, he was more stunned by the blood of the red-scaled demon. Specifically, the color of his blood.


    The reason was that this red-scaled demon in front of him had ck blood dripping down from his wounds. That scene instantly caught his attention.

 Chapter 215

    215 Shrewd Demon


    Upon seeing the ck blood dripping from the red-scaled demon¡¯s wounds, this instantly reminded Randy of the chimera monster that he fought against beforeing to this world, which also had ck blood mixed in with its red blood.


    At the time, it was the existence of this corrupted ck blood that he couldn¡¯t obtain all the blood knowledge held within the chimera monster¡¯s blood, thus only obtaining iplete skills and abilities.


    ¡®This familiar feeling. This feeling was undoubtedly the same repulsive feeling that I got from that chimera monster¡¯s blood back then. What is the connection between that chimera monster¡¯s ck blood and this red-scaled demon¡¯s blood?¡¯


    Randy frowned as he wondered to himself.


    Now that he thought about it, when he pierced the red-scaled demon¡¯s chest before, he did not see any blood dripping from his wounds.


    At that time, he thought it was because of the red-scaled demon¡¯s regenerative ability that there was no bleeding after he impaled his chest. However, now that might not be the case.


    With that thought in mind, he turned his head and looked in the direction where he had attacked the red-scaled demon before.


    Sure enough, there was a ck stain on the ground, albeit only a little.


    Randy pondered it while looking at that spot as he thought of a few possibilities.


    .....


    But he soon shook his head to clear his mind of distractions as he was still in the middle of a battle.


    Thus, he focused his gaze on the opponent in front of him and prepared his next attack.


    The mad and furious, red-scaled demon shouted with a twisted expression: ¡°Hateful human, how dare you damage my skin with that hateful light. I¡¯ll enjoy slowly ripping your body apart!¡±


    ¡°Farlorn!¡± The ck-horned demon yelled out from the side, seemingly in frustration.


    ¡°Forget it, Gleat. I will take my time to kill this church human, and you¡¯re not changing my mind this time. For this human to dare to sneak attack against me, If I don¡¯t him a lesson today, I will no longer be Farlorn, the ughter-¡±


    While he was busy shouting and bickering, Randy had already approached him and unleashed consecutive sword shes at his face. Each strike carried multiple sword light attacks.


    With his currentprehension of the sword, unleashing these multiple sword attacks in a split second was nothing to him.


    Therefore, he did not hold back down and rained down his light-infused sword attacks on the red-scaled demon ceaselessly.


    He did not even give the other party a chance to retaliate. The current situation was the reverse of the previous exchange.


    Now the tables have turned, and the scaled demon was the one being suppressed instead by Randy¡¯s relentless sword attacks.


    Each time the sword light touched the red-scaled demon¡¯s skin, blood sttered from the light-infused sword wound that seemed highly effective against it.


    As Randy rained down the sword attacks on the red-scaled demon, he pondered why its body was weak against his Sacred Sword skill, the Holy Knight¡¯s skill that he acquired from that Knight Captain he killed upon his arrival in Acruxia.


    Although that Knight Captain might not necessarily be a saint, based on his actions upon their encounter, his status was still befitting of a holy knight who wielded the light attribute.


    Hence, it was no surprise if his holy or light attribute skills worked on demons who represented the evil or dark attribute.


    There was also the possibility that this was how his current world works, and both opposing attributes counter each other.


    Then again, it might also be something else entirely.


    But he didn¡¯t think much about it.


    Because, as long as it was effective, he would continue to use it to defeat his opponent. His only worry was the other demon who had yet to make a move, but he couldn¡¯t be distracted right now.


    Therefore, he put his undivided attention on the red-scaled demon and ripped his skin apart bit by bit.


    At some point, he started to enjoy the exhrating feeling of overwhelming the arrogant demon who had been repressing him earlier.


    He had thoroughly forgotten about the other demon and immersed himself in shing apart the red-scaled demon, who could hardly keep up with his regeneration ability.


    At this moment, a figure silently appeared behind foolhardy Randy, who had lost himself in battle with a wide grin on his face.


    The moment the figure appeared, they decisively aimed for Randy¡¯s head without hesitation.


    They nned to crush the stupid human¡¯s head into mush potatoes with one hit.


    However, Randy had long since been anticipating their appearance.


    Thus, he quickly activated the Shadow Swap ability of his armor and swapped ces with a shadow as he teleported a few meters away from the battlefield at thest minute when the figure was only 3 inches away from his head.


    But Randy had already made a distance between them by traversing 20 feet away, an approximate distance of only 6 meters.


    ¡°Hmm? That same skill again? To think you could anticipate and dodge my attack during my intervention? Is this also due to that perception skill from before? It seems like I have underestimated you, human.¡±


    The ck-horned demon calmly muttered to himself as he gazed into the distance where Randy had appeared after teleporting away.


    ¡®This bastard nned to ambush me from the start. If I hadn¡¯t been on guard this entire time, I would¡¯ve died from his sneak attack just now.¡¯


    A while ago, Randy had surreptitiously activated his Dimensional Sense Skill as he fought against the red-scaled demon despite the drain on mental energy.


    However, to not raise any suspicion of the ck-horned demon, he kept his perception circumference around him as he fought the red-scaled demon.


    He only maintained a 1.5-meter radius around himself. That way, even the preupied, red-scaled demon would not find anything strange, even if it were to detect his mental energy ripple.


    The reason was because of this ck-horned demon that seemed uninterested in their battle since earlier, but that did not make sense the whole time.


    However, just now, when he noticed that his partner was in danger, he suddenly decided to participate in the battle byunching a decisive sneak attack.


    The timing was also so perfect, as earlier, he had appeared to have lost himself in the battle, and all that was intentional to see if the other party would make a move if he acted careless and reckless.


    Sure enough, right as he pretended to let down his guard, that ck-horned demon showed his true nature as the schemer and shrewd type who does not provoke unnecessary fights.


    But they bait their time instead until an opportune moment.


    Moreover, whenever such people make a move, it would usually be critical and deadly.

 Chapter 216

    216 Synchronization


    Naturally, Randy had heard of such cunning people before, but this was the first time he met someone, who was shameless enough to sneak attack someone during a battle, especially when they had initially feigned not to care and were unwilling to intervene.


    However, in anticipation of the ck-horned demon¡¯s eventual participation in the battle, he had been making ample preparations.


    Even as he fought against the red-scaled demon, he did not waste any opportunity in between to prepare further.


    In reality, he had been preparing for this ever since the ck-horned demon punched him against that giant rock, and now was about the perfect time to bring it out.


    He had made the distance between them by purposely using the Shadow Swap ability. Therefore, currently, he only had a few seconds, at most, to put his n into motion.


    Thus, without squandering these few seconds, he quickly used his mental will to bring out something from the ck ring on his finger.


    Subsequently, a silhouette flew out of the ring, and its form became disyed shortly after.


    The true identity of the silhouette was a young man with a simple, gray weathered shirt and pants. His appearance looked extremely modest, almost like he used to live in the countryside. But he had a listless expression on his face, almost like he had no soul.


    This young man was, in actuality, Randy¡¯s incarnation.


    .....


    And from what he had discovered, it did not have any consciousness since it was defective.


    Normally, after the creation of the incarnation, there was an extra step that would allow the conjurer to synchronize their mind with the incarnation to share memory and perspective.


    Essentially, it was akin to having extra eyes to perceive the world through the clone.


    Unfortunately, that turn never came, and instead, it became a lifeless creation, which was no different from a living corpse.


    However, it was not without hope, as he could still insert his consciousness into the incarnation right now.


    Originally, the method of inserting consciousness into a body was mostly performed by conjurers to take control of the minds of conjured clones. Since they usually had their very own personalities after creation, unlike the incarnation that had the same personality as the conjurer.


    Fortunately, the arch sorcerer added some knowledge about how to create a clone and how to control them along with the Incarnation Technique.


    After all, it seemed to be the basis of the Incarnation Technique, so they probably deemed it still necessary to understand that before conjuring an incarnation.


    However, he wondered why they had even created such a tome with so many of their life¡¯s secret research and spellspiled within.


    Were they worried about forgetting their spells, or was it simply to keep records of their lifetime achievements?


    Randy couldn¡¯t care less about their reason, but he cared more about learning the secrets held within the ancient ck tome.


    Then again, without his system, even he wouldn¡¯t have been able to get ess to the secret knowledge contained in the ancient ck tome.


    That aside, Randy had also memorized the method of clone creation, and he easily understood it since it was a rtively simple process.


    Unlike the Incarnation Technique, which needed the construction of a magic circle that hadplex runes that he had no idea what they meant, even though he had memorized and even knew how to inscribe them, the clone spell was simpler as one only needed a sample of their hair to conjure the clone by using the right incantation words.


    But what he needed right now was the mind cloning spell that clone¡¯s your mind¡¯s consciousness and then transfers it into your clone and thus creating a synchronization with the clone.


    Although, in this case, it would be synchronized with a failed incarnation, therefore, Randy had used the time when he knocked against the rock to momentarily cast the spell.


    After ensuring that it worked, he secretly attempted to use his mind to transfer the duplicated consciousness into the ck spatial ring that held his incarnation body.


    Even though the ck ring could only hold inanimate objects, the incarnation body was not fully alive since itcked consciousness, so it was possible to store it inside the spatial ring. Moreover, ording to his system, the incarnated body wasn¡¯t considered a living being. That was why he dared to attempt to put his incarnation into the ck ring.


    After determining that, Randy had stowed his incarnation inside his ck ring at that time.


    But, earlier, when he tried to insert his duplicated consciousness, the ck ring also rejected his incarnation body as his incarnation seemed to being to life.


    Noticing that, he stopped his actions and proceeded to wait for this moment, the moment when he had been separated from the two demons, to take it out and finallyplete the transference of his consciousness.


    The consciousness of a living being was not a tangible thing that could exist in physical form, so it could only be transferred from one mind to another by splitting a portion of one¡¯s mental energy. Otherwise, it would only dissipate without a host.


    Furthermore, to conduct such a highly advanced process, one needs their mental energy level to be high and flexible.


    To determine that, you only need to be able to project and extend your mental energy outwardly from your body. That was something that Randy could do already ever since he acquired his first mental ability, All Law Seeker.


    Moreover, he had relied on his system¡¯s knowledge points to drastically increase his psionic energy level, which was the same as his mental energy in a more sublime form.


    Furthermore, it did not even cause any damage to the caster when the consciousness became duplicated through the art of magic. After all, the duplicated consciousness would be like a file that gets ¡®copied¡¯ and then ¡®pasted¡¯ on anotherputer.


    By that analogy, the original file does not get affected, even if something happened to the ¡®copied¡¯ version.


    However, ording to the arch sorcerer, it was not a rmended practice to constantly duplicate one¡¯s consciousness since there were certain risks involved.


    Ifpared to aputer system, it would be that there are bound to be ¡®viruses¡¯ if you keep ¡®copying¡¯ your consciousness.


    As such, it was stated by the arch sorcerer that the practice of consciousness duplication should be done in moderation.


    With that aside, Randy finally looked at his incarnation that was slowly gaining life, and gradually, a light began to sh in its eyes.


    At the same time, he also felt some intangible existence developing within him.


    It was a separate consciousness that was different from his original consciousness.


    Over time, he started to see another perspective through his incarnation.


    He also found out that he could easily switch between the two perspectives if he wanted to.


    With that, the synchronization of the mind of the main body and incarnation has bepleted.


    A momentter, Randy came back to his senses, and he prepared to face the two demons along with his incarnation this time.


    As such, he decided to let his incarnation body gain independence by undoing the synchronization state.


    However, something unexpected happened.


    ¡°What do you think you¡¯re doing?¡±


    A sudden voice reverberated close to his ears, startling him.


    ¡°What?!¡±


    Shocked, he quickly turned his head around but was met with an expansive, giant fist as big as his entire body; It mmed against his entire body shortly after with great force enough to break all the bones in his body.


    Boom!!


    ¡®How could this have happened? What happened just now? When did he get close to me? He clearly didn¡¯t make any movements since he¡¯s still standing over there at the same position.¡¯


    Randy felt his vision turn dark as he inwardly muttered in bewilderment.


    He flew through the air, leaving his incarnation behind, as he didn¡¯t have enough time to relinquish his control over it.

 Chapter 217

    217 Life Or Death Combat


    ¡°To think you would let your guard down simply because you made some distance between your opponents. How foolish. In the end, you¡¯re just as careless as all the other ignorant and weak humans.¡±


    The ck-horned demon uttered such cold words in disdain when he sessfullynded his attack on Randy, seemingly disappointed.


    The ck-horned demon initially thought that this human was more interesting as he appeared to be weak, but he had strange abilities unbefitting that of a human of his level of strength.


    However, as soon as the human made some distance between them, he let down his guard, which disappointed him because he expected more from him, even if the other party was an enemy he had to kill eventually.


    Having lost interest, he turned to look at what he assumed to be a puppet of the human. However, he was surprised to find the ¡®puppet¡¯ no longer there.


    A momentter, the ck-horned demon¡¯s gaze flickered with purple light.


    ¡®Hoo... Not bad. I thought this scuffle of ours would¡¯ve ended here. As I thought, you¡¯re indeed an interesting human.¡¯


    The ck-horned demon thought before he calmly turned around.


    The next moment, a figure shed with him before being propelled backward, away from the force of the shockwaves that urred from their fists colliding.


    .....


    ¡°Tsk, this failed product. I can¡¯t even use my skills properly in this body.¡± The figure muttered in frustration.


    This figure was Randy¡¯s incarnation.


    However, he shockingly found out just now that besides his physical abilities, he couldn¡¯t use any energy-rted skills with the incarnation body.


    This situation was truly frustrating, considering that he had been relying on his newly acquired skills in this world to fight against the red-scaled demon all this time.


    After all, they seemed effective against these demons. At least the light attribute-based mana attacks seemed highly effective against the red-scaled demon that he fought just now.


    The ck-horned demon calmly observed him: ¡°Is that all you¡¯ve got?¡±


    Annoyed, Randy raised his head and loudly replied: ¡°Of course not!¡±


    ¡°That body of yours seemed to be a puppet of sorts. However, it seemed that its strength is iparable to your original body. Why do you rely on such a thing?¡±


    ¡°...¡± Incarnation Randy did not say anything, seeming lifeless as he stared nkly ahead.


    A momentter, a figure casually approached the two of them in the distance.


    That figure replied instead: ¡°Obviously to buy time. What else?¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡± The ck-horned demon turned his head sideways.


    ¡°Interesting. You do not appear to be hurt by my great fist attack just now.¡± Hemented in slight surprise.


    That was indeed Randy.


    He seemed unharmed by the seemingly destructive punch just now. He casually strode over toward them.


    At least outwardly, nothing seemed to have happened to him. But in fact, that punch just now caused his inside to churn intensely despite the armor¡¯s passive defense property.


    That was because, this time, he failed to activate his Body Strengthen skill since he had been caught off-guard.


    By his estimation, even if he had activated his semi-defense skill, he wouldn¡¯t have remained unscathed.


    That was just how dangerous the previous situation was.


    That ck-horned demon simply did not hold back his punch at all when he attacked him.


    However, the pain he felt when his intestines and other organs received slight damage made him remember something that he seemed to have neglected because he was getting used to his newly acquired skills.


    As such, this time, Randy was not wielding his sword as he approached the ck-horned demon. He was barehanded instead, with his fists clenched tightly.


    However, if one looked closely, one would see ripples of air currents around his clenched fists at this moment.


    ¡°So you gave up your sword to fight me barehanded? Quite courageous, are we?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. I don¡¯t need something that I am not familiar with to deal with someone like you.¡±


    ¡°How arrogant. But I will allow it, considering your confidence. It would make defeating you even more worthwhile.¡±


    The ck-horned demon said before his figure instantly disappeared on the spot.


    In the distance, Randy walked a step, then also disappeared on the spot.


    He reappeared a few meters in front of him, where the ck-horned demon had also reappeared.


    Both of them had closed the distance between them within an instant and then shed with their fists.


    Boom!!!!


    There was a deafening and resounding shockwave afterward.


    A turbulent wind, filled with debris, spread around them, seeming unstoppable.


    One fist was ginormous in size and while the other was an iparably tiny fist.


    Despite that, none of the fists seemed to have been overwhelmed by the deafening sh between the two fighters as both fighters remained stationary as they continued to sh against each other.


    The ck-horned demon seemed to possess a skill or ability to increase the size of his fist to attack.


    However, after shing against Randy¡¯s fist a few times, he felt something, causing him to frown.


    ¡°What skill are you using this time? You can even control the surrounding air pressure? As far as I remember, only those with an elemental affinity to the wind attribute should possess this level of control. However, you don¡¯t appear to be one.¡±


    ¡®Just what is this human¡¯s origin?¡¯


    ¡®From that evasive teleportation spell to the holy sword techniques from the Church of light, and now this unique fist technique, which was unheard of among humans, at least based on the current intelligence we have on them.¡¯


    ¡®Where did he learn such spells and techniques? The Church of light? Impossible. Those guys only raise pompous weaklings that they im to be holy knights.¡¯


    ¡®Furthermore, with my innate ability, I can sense that he seemed to possess more secrets and abilities that he hadn¡¯t shown yet. If I can capture him alive, I will be able to know of such secrets.¡¯


    ¡®With such secrets, forget about the increase in status. I might be able to monopoly and learn of new spells devised by humans, which would be more beneficial to me than some increase in status.¡¯


    With such thoughts, the ck-horned demon¡¯s face had no change but was expectant of the answer from his opponent.


    ¡°It¡¯s not a skill, but a technique. Well, it doesn¡¯t matter what it is since this is what I¡¯m more confident in.¡±


    ¡°Oh... Is that so?¡±


    The ck-horned demon seemed slightly disappointed to receive such a vague answer. But he did not let it bother him as he could always find out what he needed after defeating the humanter.


    Their fists did not stop unleashing unceasing attacks as they spoke with each other.


    At this point, they had already shed a few hundred times without losing their momentum from their initial sh.


    In reality, they seemed to be picking up the pace instead.


    Right now, they are fully engaged in life or deathbat.


    ...

 Chapter 218

    218 Incarnation Randy¡¯s Issues


    Meanwhile, Randy¡¯s incarnation had gained control of himself since his original self had cut the connection between their consciousnesses.


    But he still had Randy¡¯s ego, so he could be considered another him since they had the same memories and personality.


    At this point, he was trying to get used to his new body as he observed the fight between his original body and the ck-horned demon, which was a distance away from him and the red-scaled demon.


    While he was observing the fight between his original self and the ck-horned demon, the enraged and forgotten red-scaled demon snapped out of his shock and dazed expression from Randy¡¯s previous deadly attacks that had overwhelmed him.


    That, coupled with the ¡®untimely¡¯ intervention of his partner, caused his body to tremble on the spot.


    As the red-scaled demon recalled his pathetic state a while ago, his face instantly flushed red in embarrassment.


    In frustration, he angrily shouted out: ¡°Gleat, how dare you steal my prey!!¡±


    The incarnation Randy flinched on the spot when he heard this loud voice behind him.


    ¡°Oh no, I forgot this guy was still here! Wait, why did I forget something like that? Is something wrong with me or with this body¡¯s mental state?¡±


    .....


    Incarnation Randy realized that something might be seriously wrong with either him or his incarnation for him to forget that there was another opponent besides the ck-horned demon.


    ¡°Forget it, I will think about thister. For now, I know how to operate this body, although it seems to be a bit troublesome.¡±


    After observing and moving his incarnation¡¯s body for a while, Randy found out that there was no energy vessel within his incarnation body. That meant that he couldn¡¯t use any energy-rted skills with his current body.


    However, the same cannot be said about any skill that did not explicitly require the usage of a type of energy.


    Furthermore, using his current world¡¯s standards, his body had only inherited his base physical attributes and not mana points.


    Not to mention that the base attributes did not include the temporary attributes that had yet to transfer over, which was another troublesome thing as he seemed weaker than his original body.


    But even though he did not have an energy vessel, it did not mean that he didn¡¯t have any energy at all.


    In reality, his current body seemed to follow his current world¡¯sws and had mana pathways or meridians that gathered in his heart, but he onlycked ample mana.


    The minuscule mana in his body was better than not having anything at all. However, it was problematic for his current situation.


    If there was one fortunate thing, it was that he could use something else to rece hisck of energy.


    Thus, Randy perked up right away.


    ¡°System?¡±


    Randy called out hopefully but was unsure whether the system would be attached to his incarnation body. After all, this was not the body his system was originally attached to.


    With a sh, a screen appeared in his vision shortly after.


    Randy heaved out a sigh of relief but then noticed that the screen in front of him looked slightly different.


    If he had to describe it, it was what the appearance of his system¡¯s screen looked like when he first acquired it. Back then, it was bloody-red just like the current screen in front of him.


    However, he did not mind such irrelevant details. All that mattered was that his system was still with him even when he bes an incarnation.


    With that sorted out, he asked: ¡°System, I recalled you said that I could use my divine points as an energy source, can I use it now?¡±


    He recalled that he still had about a few thousand divine points after spending a lot to undo andprehend the knowledge held within the ancient ck tome.


    [{[The host can indeed use the divine points as a substitute for energy-based skills. However, it would take a few moments for the divine points to transfer over from the main system. How much does the host require?]}]


    ¡°Let¡¯s see...¡± Randy thought for a moment and said: ¡°Give me 2,000 for now. I can¡¯t afford to spend it all right here.¡±


    [{[Please wait for 30 seconds for the transference sequence toplete]}]


    ¡°Okay, so I should-¡±


    ¡°That damned Gleat! He dared say that he wasn¡¯t going to intervene only butt into my fight. Does he think I will lose to that human?!¡±


    The red-scaled demon angrily strode over with his entire body covered in red and ck mes.


    He almost walked past incarnation Randy before suddenly turning and casually waving his hand: ¡°Buzz off, you weakling fake.¡±


    Fwoom¨C


    Crimson dark mes seeming to consume everything in its path with its overwhelming destructive power rushed towards incarnation Randy out of nowhere.


    Incarnation Randy had no means to evade this attack as it covered the entire sky above him. As such, he couldn¡¯t escape even if he could move right this instant.


    After all, his current bodycked his full strength, and this demon was at least a level 60 if using his base strength when he first started leveling as a standard.


    Such a level of strength was not something that the current him could deal with, not to mention defend against the other party¡¯s attack.


    Right as he was about to be consumed by the searing and destructive mes, a sh of light illuminated his vision.


    Lines of text appeared on the blood-red screen in his field of vision.


    [{[Transferenceplete. The host can now utilize any skill, and the system would provide the necessary energy]}]


    Upon seeing this text, Randy quickly activated a skill before speeding up away from the area covered by the mes.


    A momentter, at the area where he was standing before.


    Boom!!


    Siss¨C


    The mes had engulfed everything at the spot where he was standing a while ago.


    At this moment, everything on the ground had been melted by the intense searing me, making a sizzling sound.


    Luckily, although close, they were still far from the forest, so the fire was not a problem.


    The red-scaled demon walked away with an indifferent expression as he headed toward the direction where his partner, the ck-horned demon engaged in deadlybat with the original Randy.


    However, after walking for a few moments, the human, whom he expected to be wailing from the agony of his skin melting from his bones, was not screaming in pain as he had expected.


    Curious, the red-scaled demon stopped in his tracks and turned to face where the mes continued to decimate its surrounding.


    Although he didn¡¯t find the corpse of the human, he instead found out, to his dismay, the human was standing a distance away from him; It seemed that the human had escaped the area his mes brought to ruin unscathed.

 Chapter 219

    219 Incarnation Randy¡¯s Fight


    Earlier, when the red-scaled demonunched his me attack toward his unsuspecting opponent, he didn¡¯t bother to look at them before casually throwing the mes their way, but he didn¡¯t expect the current oue, where his opponent easily escaped his attack.


    Even though he didn¡¯t use his full strength, it was still an attack that should¡¯ve killed his opponent, considering he made sure that they couldn¡¯t escape by covering their surroundings with his mes.


    Exasperated, the red-scaled demon spoke with hatred: ¡°You pesky rat!¡±


    ¡®It turns out that this human was indeed hiding his strength like that bastard, Gleat said. Even his summoned creature was stronger than it looks.¡¯


    He stared straight at incarnation Randy, then continued with a cold tone: ¡°Then, I will deal with you before killing your summoner.¡±


    In the distance, incarnation Randy, who had barely managed to escape the influence of the mes, continued to breathe heavily.


    ¡°That was too close. If I couldn¡¯t activate my Body Strengthen skill at that time, I would¡¯ve melted from just a touch of that me.¡±


    The Body Strengthen skill was initially just a simple skill that worked by greatly enhancing a certain body part. But for some reason, it worked considerably well with his incarnation body.


    He wondered if there was something special about this incarnation body besidescking mana. With that thought, he tried to use another skill.


    .....


    Wind Sailing Skill.


    But nothing happened.


    ¡°...What happened?¡±


    As he was confused by the current situation, the red-scaled demon had charged toward him while unleashing attacks from the distance.


    As incarnation Randy saw the iing burning me, it eliminated all his current thoughts as he quickly activated his Body Strengthen skill and immediately strengthened his body holistically before dodging the iing w manifested mes.


    Boom!


    After dodging one me w, another one came rushing in, followed by another, and then another. At the same time, the entire sky seemed to be covered with balls of crimson-dark mes, seeming to trap him in his current position.


    ¡°Damn it!¡±


    Randy cursed and immediately executed his basic martial art movement technique.


    Chasing Tiger Steps!


    With that, he barely dodged the rain of mes falling from the sky.


    However, even though, he managed to dodge the mes, he could still feel his surroundings turning hotter as time went by, which caused his movement to slow down due to not having enough air to breathe.


    ¡®At this rate, I¡¯ll end up roasted by these mes. What other skills do I have that can be used with this body. Think!¡¯


    Randy contemted as he continued to dodge the me attacks at short intervals.


    However, the red-scaled demon did not give him any time to think, as he surreptitiously appeared behind him using the mes as a cover.


    When he got close, he uttered loudly afterward: ¡°Die!!¡±


    Then, a w with crimson-dark mes, emitting intense and suffocating heat, shed at incarnation Randy¡¯s back.


    ¡°Oh no!¡± Incarnation Randy yelled out in shock.


    Boom!


    With a resounding explosion, he was sent flying shortly after the impact of the wed me attack.


    ...


    The other battlefield.


    Due to the abrupt explosion, both Randy and the ck-horned demon stopped their attacks momentarily and observed the situation.


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    ¡°What an interesting ability you have. That puppet of yours could still move, even without your active control? Do you mind telling me how you achieved this? If possible, do you mind telling me the name of your spell?¡±


    Momentarily observing the fight between Incarnation Randy and the red-scaled demon from the corner of his eyes, the ck-horned demonmented.


    ¡®This puppet is undoubtedly unlike anything I have ever seen from other humans. Not even their strong ones had such abilities. This is truly an unimaginable feat since it does not appear to be a clone made of pure energy but a physical entity instead.¡¯


    The ck-horned demon was inwardly shocked by what he was witnessing with his own eyes, but he still kept his calm.


    Despite his highly intrigued thoughts, as a trained soldier, he knew how to not let his emotions fluctuate in front of his enemies, unlike his partner, the red-scaled demon.


    On the other end, right across from the ck-horned demon, Randy had a confused expression. He had long since noticed that the ck-horned demon seemed interested in his incarnation body, but he had no idea why.


    ¡®Why does he keep referring to my incarnation body as a puppet? Do they have something simr to my incarnation technique?¡¯


    Now that he thought about it, earlier, he had been attacked out of nowhere by the ck-horned demon even though his body was still on the other side near the red-scaled demon.


    ¡®Wait a second!¡¯ Randy was shocked as he came to a sudden realization.


    He immediately turned to look at where the ck-horned demon had sneaked attacked him before he used that opportunity to make the distance between them using his Shadow Swap evasion property of his armor.


    However, what he saw stunned him momentarily.


    Even now, the ck-horned demon¡¯s other body was still standing there motionless, as if it had no life in it. He had initially thought the other body was the ck-horned demon¡¯s afterimage, but he was sorely wrong. It wasn¡¯t his afterimage but an actual body. In other words, it was a body substitute or clone of the ck-horned demon.


    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me...¡¯ Randy¡¯s eyes immediately widened. His eyes filled with worry as he looked back and forth between the two ck-horned demons.


    The ck-horned demon saw the change in his expression and actions before stating: ¡°What¡¯s with that strange look on your face? Are you surprised that I also have a puppet of my own?¡±


    ¡°...¡± Randy said nothing in response, but his heart immediately sank deeply upon hearing the ck-horned demon¡¯s confirmation.


    Seeing this, the ck-horned demon smirked and said: ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t possess the ability to make my puppet move independently like yours.¡¯


    ¡®...Does he mean that his puppet can¡¯t move without his control? If that¡¯s the case, there¡¯s nothing to worry about for now since it won¡¯t be three against two. That would¡¯ve been too troublesome to deal with.¡¯


    ¡®Wait a second! That can¡¯t be right. Why is he telling me this?¡¯


    Randy was bewildered by the ck-horned demon¡¯s actions.


    The other party carelessly revealed their capabilities to him, their enemy, as if it were nothing. Why do such a thing? Shouldn¡¯t that be a secret they should¡¯ve withheld from their enemy instead?


    As he observed his reaction, the ck-horned demonughed and said: ¡°If you¡¯re wondering why I am telling you this, it¡¯s because you¡¯ll be dying here either way. Since your oue would be the same regardless of whether you know the truth or not, why bother to conceal something that would be meaningless to your corpse?¡±


    ¡°Then again, you¡¯ll figure it out gradually as the battle goes on, so it doesn¡¯t matter if you knew it beforehand.¡±


    Randy: ¡°...¡±


    ¡®So he was just confident in himself?¡¯

 Chapter 220

    220 Deranged ck-Horned Demon


    Although Randy heard the ck-horned demon¡¯s confident words, he still felt like it was too much to reveal one¡¯s weakness in a battle.


    However, it was not like the current situation was detrimental to him; It was quite the opposite. After all, the information benefited him greatly, so he did not mind the demon¡¯s blunder in the slightest.


    On the other hand, the ck-horned demon continued: ¡°But I genuinely am curious about how your puppet can still move even without your active control. If I could just... Anyway, shall we resume our fight? You may not know this, but we have an appointment to uphold, and we¡¯re getting quitete in delivery, so I would like to get this over with as quickly as possible.¡±


    ¡®Appointment? Delivery? Does he mean the ¡®sacrifice¡¯ they mentioned in their conversation a while ago? Do they mean human sacrifice? Well, either way, they¡¯re not letting me off even if I try to run away from this ce right now, so I might as well go all-out to fight them and then find a way to escape if possible.¡¯


    With that decided, Randy cleared his thoughts and casually replied: ¡°Sure, let¡¯s do that.¡±


    Bang!


    Immediately, both of them kicked the ground, resulting in a reverberating quake, approached each other, and then unleashed fierce fist strikes in session, which caused shockwaves upon each contact of their fists.


    Randy had been using his Void Ripping Punch technique on the ck-horned demon the whole time since he was more confident in this fist technique he practiced.


    He had used this fist technique during his life-threatening encounters in the past. As such, his mastery of the fist technique could be considered proficient.


    .....


    However, the effect seemed to not work on the demon as he had initially thought when he decided to use the fist technique. Even so, it didn¡¯t seem like it was utterly ineffective. Otherwise, he would¡¯ve been defeated by now.


    The game-changing aspect of the Void Rippling Punch was the umtion of strength, which in this case, was the umtion of waves from each fist strike.


    The first form was the ordinary strike, Void Punch, the second form was the ripple strike, Wave Punch, and the final form was the Shockwave strike, Void Rippling Punch.


    Therefore, as time went by, the effect of his punches would stack by gathering the surroundings wind into waves around the user¡¯s fist with each strike. Furthermore, the residue of the wave generated from each fist strike would slowly permeate the bodies of his opponents.


    Therefore, when Randy struck his opponents with his fist technique, it would show its destructive prowess by causing minimal internal damage to the opponent¡¯s body from the gradual rippling waves.


    However, when the gathered waves stack to a certain degree and then fully unleashed, coupled with the gradual rippling waves that had permeated the inside of the opponent¡¯s body, the resultant effects would be akin to the opponent having chaotic tidal waves within their body.


    Subsequently, as those waves churn inside the opponent¡¯s body, they would cause tremendous and severe internal damage to the opponent¡¯s internal organs.


    But for some reason, during their brief exchange, this ck-horned demon seemed able to easily ward off the gradual rippling waves that tried to enter his body through his pores by using the eerie purple aura surrounding him. That aura around the ck-horned demon¡¯s body seemed imprable by his fist technique¡¯s effect.


    ¡®Is that his body aura? No matter.¡¯ Randy wondered to himself but ignored it for now, as he was finally ready for his counterattack.


    Abruptly, a glint of golden light shed across his eyes. His entire body began glowing with radiant light, which caused his Shadow Beast Leather Armor to lose its shadow aura and protective effects, seemingly suppressed by the intense holy light emitting from his body.


    Not only that, but around his body, there was a bellowing gust of wind that whistled through the air as tremendous as if sharp des were cutting through the air, followed by immense wind pressure.


    A momentter, Randy abruptly clenched his fist, then instantly, the surrounding air rippled with an ear-splitting shrill as if resonating with his fist movement.


    Whoosh¨C


    At this moment, the ck-horned demon sensed something amiss as his dark-purple eyes glowed intensely as he abruptly blocked in front of him with both arms.


    However, before he could react, Randy abruptly appeared in front of him.


    After using his assimtion ability, Randy¡¯s hair visibly turned silvery white and semi-transformed into his werewolf assimted state, then activated its innate Gale Riding skill along with the awakened the Wind Sailing skill that had great synergy with each other, and then breached the distance between them in an instant.


    Without hesitation, he threw a chaotic punch that carried not only the stacked Void Rippling Punch¡¯s shockwaves but a light-infused aura generated from the Sacred Aura skill.


    Shortly after, the highly concentrated destructive force gathered within his right hand¡¯s fist, aimed directly at the ck-horned demon.


    BOOM!!!


    Unable to block the iing in time due to being taken by surprise, the ck-horned demon was instantly blown away by the light-infused chaotic wind; His body flew almost like a sack of ttened meat.


    In the path, ck blood sprayed from the corner of the ck-horned demon¡¯s mouth and all of his other orifices from the internal damage. Not only that, but his chest had gushed wounds from the light-infused chaotic wind.


    A short whileter, hended a couple of meters away, breathing heavily, as if he was on hisst breath. He appeared to be coughing up a mouthful of blood as he sat on his back with a dazed expression.


    ¡°Did I get him? Is it over?¡±


    Randy wondered, but a sudden reverberating manicughter in the distance caused a chill to run down his spine.


    ¡°Kukuhahaha! I can¡¯t believe this!¡±


    ¡°Very interesting! Transformation, enhancement, stacked wind-rted movement techniques, one of which seemed very familiar, and then that final fist strike, abination of turbulent wind and light aura! Although that aura seemed unrefined, it was still a spectacr impromptu orchestration, enough to catch me off-guard! I apud you for such a feat, human!¡±


    ¡°To be capable of unleashing such sophisticatedbination attacks in the heat of the moment, enough to injure me?! Truly marvelous! I¡¯m truly impressed by you, human! You¡¯re indeed worth capturing! You should feel honored, for you¡¯re the first human to pick my interest to this extent!¡±


    It was the ck-horned demon¡¯s deranged voice.


    Despite being utterly bartered from the attack, he seemedpletely unfazed by his life-threatening injuries. Instead, he wildlyughed as if he had gone insane.

 Chapter 221

    221 Strange Ability, Demonic Transformation, And Observed Yet Again


    While Randy was startled and confused by the sudden insane outburst from the ck-horned demon who seemed to be on the verge of death, a strange and dumbfounding scene unfolded.


    What was happening shocked him senseless, and he even doubted his eyes for a second.


    The ck-horned demon, who seemed to be on the verge of certain death, started regenerating.


    No, it was more than just simple regeneration, as even the clothes of the ck-horned demon were gradually being restored to their previous undamaged state, visibly to the naked eyes.


    Still with a dumbfounded expression, Randy suddenly sensed something and immediately came back to his senses, then looked in the distance away, specifically at where the ck-horned demon¡¯s puppet was standing.


    When he saw the puppet this time, unlike before, it was bleeding profusely from all of its orifices. Even the clothes on its body looked ripped apart.


    The puppet¡¯s current appearance looked as if it was carried and devastated unsuspectingly by a hurricane that came out of nowhere. But that should be impossible, as no one sensed such an urrence just now.


    Furthermore, despite the puppet¡¯s current state, there was no expression of pain on its face, as it still had that expressionless countenance that made it appear lifeless.


    ¡°This...¡±


    .....


    After observing the change between the puppet and the ck-horned demon, Randy did not know how to express his disbelief, as he only had a dazed look on his face.


    There was a brief moment of silence.


    ¡°...What kind of ability is that?!¡±


    Randy couldn¡¯t maintain his calm anymore and eventually eximed in shock shortly after.


    After all, this was the first time he had witnessed such a strange and iprehensible ability.


    ¡®Damn it! I had used up almost all my mana points in that attack. Why does this guy even have such an ability?¡¯


    Randy felt cornered upon witnessing the current situation.


    Although with his Myriad Energy Devouring Physique¡¯s effect, recovering his energy reserves had always been faster whenpared to ordinary people, it was still not instant. Due to that, it was too dangerous to run out of energy when fighting against such a difficult opponent.


    Currently, he was in his Werewolf King form, so his physical abilities were higher than before.


    Therefore, he was confident that he would be able to kill the demon off with the sudden increase in his strength. But unexpectedly, unlike his thoughts, they somehow managed to survive his attack with some strange ability.


    Ultimately, he also exhausted almost all his energy reserves to execute thebination attacks because of such confidence.


    Fortunately, he still had his physical enhancement.


    However, he was unsure whether simply having immense physical strength would be enough to defeat his opponent, who seemedpletely unfazed by his physical attacks earlier due to the eerie purple aura around their body.


    Up until now, Randy was nning on not using his assimted state unless he had absolutely no other option.


    But as the battle went on, he realized that the current understanding of his swordsmanship skills was not enough, and thus, it was too dangerous if he did not use his assimted state¡¯s skills.


    Furthermore, his fist technique might not be enough to deal critical damage.


    Thus, it was too dangerous not to use his assimted state¡¯s skills.


    As such, he eventually decided to use it at an opportune moment during the fight after he had made up his mind.


    But as things turned out, he failed to kill his opponent even with a sneak attack that carried almost all his energy reserves.


    ...


    Meanwhile, on the other side, the shockwaves resounding from his ultimate attack attracted the attention of both his incarnation body and the red-scaled demon.


    At this moment, the red-scaled demon felt a chill all over his body as he watched how his arrogant partner was thrashed by that human¡¯s attack, enough that he had to rely on his secret protective measure.


    ¡®If that were to hit me, would I survive?¡¯


    Although he was confident in surviving such an attack as long as he went all out, he was not foolproof against such an attack with his previously disyed strength.


    In reality, they had been holding back this whole time to avoid drawing the attention of any possible powerhouse near the forest.


    But now that it hade to this, it would appear that they had to go all out if they wanted to defeat this human, who seemed to possess multiple strange skills and abilities.


    With that unified thought, both the ck-horned demon and the red-scaled demon unleashed a very dark, sinister, and eerie energy out of their bodies, with their bodies instantly undergoing a drastic demonic metamorphosis.


    It was their demonic transformation.


    Each change in their body elevated their strength to new heights, and from one look, anyone could tell that their gradually transforming appearance was terrible news.


    In the end, both the ck-horned demon and the red-scaled demon¡¯s bodies expanded noticeably until they eventually became enormouspared to their bodies from before, with their bodies now revealing distinct ghastly appearances.


    The ck-horned demon¡¯s pale-white skin became pale-purple with darkness surrounding his body. His height also rose from 7 feet to 10 feet tall, an approximate body height of 3 meters.


    The red-scaled demon¡¯s scales turned from in red skin into dark skin with red patterns with more sheen than a metallic luster.


    Unlike the ck-horned demon¡¯s minimal increase in height, the red-scaled demon¡¯s height rose considerably from 10 feet to about 16 feet tall, and also, its chest width was about 5 feet.


    Overall, the red-scaled demon¡¯s approximate height and chest width were 5 meters tall and 1.5 meters wide.


    Their current appearance was a horrifying demonic transformation, which could elicit fear in any weak-minded people.


    Witnessing this scene, Randy was shocked once again, and he became instantly alert as both his original body and incarnation retreated from their respective opponents.


    ...


    Inside A Certain Dark Castle.


    On A Decorated Throne.


    A charming and beautiful woman sat with one slender leg over the other behind a ss orb as she observed a human fight against two demons that seemed to have invaded the human territory.


    At this moment, their fight had reached a very critical stage.


    ¡®Isn¡¯t that the human from before? What¡¯s he doing back there? Didn¡¯t he leave the previous vige for the city? Why did hee back here?¡¯


    She pondered for a bit before she gave up and thought of something else.


    ¡®Those two demons... Why did I not notice them when they appeared in my territory?¡¯


    ¡®Right, I was busy with the humans who suddenly came to the forest in droves for some particr reason. It seems the demons escaped my sight at that time and managed to get that far.¡¯


    ¡®But I wonder why they¡¯re here in my territory. Those guys usually do not interfere with the territory of others. Are they on some mission? If so, why wasn¡¯t I informed about such a thing beforehand?¡¯


    Usually, whenever there was a special mission, which would inevitably interfere with the territory of others, as allies in the war, they followed the established dogma to inform each other beforehand to avoid unnecessary conflict.


    At least, that was what she was told by her superior.


    But seeing the current situation, that did not seem to be the case with these demons, as they rudely barged into her territory unannounced with unknown intentions.

 Chapter 222

    222 Anticipation, Pursuit, Useless Incarnation, And Contemtion


    ¡®Hmm... Perhaps, It might¡¯ve been an extremely secretive mission if even I wasn¡¯t made aware of it by that person.¡¯


    The beautiful woman deliberated briefly and found her conjecture to be most likely the case. Otherwise, they would be neglecting the established dogma for their selfish reasons.


    No matter the actual circumstances, she had no reason to interfere with it as long as they did not interfere with her. As such, the beautiful woman ignored the existence of the two demons for now.


    However, she became further curious about the origin of the human who had been fighting against those demons.


    For him tost this long against those demons, he certainly had gotten stronger since thest time she saw him, or perhaps when she saw him before, he didn¡¯t disy his full capabilities.


    Either way, she was anticipating the oue of this fight.


    Whoever lost in this fight would not impact her in the slightest.


    After all, for her, it would be better for both sides to perish during this fight.


    The demons were invading her territory, and as for that human, he gave her a unsettling feeling, especially when she witnessed him manipting blood like it was nothing despite being a mere human.


    .....


    Thus, she ignored the other humans within the forest and concentrated on their fight instead with an attentive gaze.


    ...


    Alpheotus City.


    Dungeon Exploration upation Society¡¯s Building.


    Inside a room on the top floor of the establishment.


    At this moment, the branch Society Leader of the organization sat inside his room while silently documenting something when he sensed a familiar aura. He abruptly dropped his pen and looked in a certain direction outside the city afterward.


    ¡°This skin-crawling feeling... It¡¯s the stench of demons with a suffocating demonic aura. The direction those auras areing from is the Meistic Forest?¡±


    ¡°Just what is going on in that forest? I would check it out myself, but I can¡¯t afford to be careless if it was a diversion used by the enemy tounch an attack on the city. I need to send those guys to check it out. After all, that was one of the reasons they came here.¡±


    A whileter.


    The group of people, who came in when Randy was in the middle of meeting with the Society Leader for the first time, walked inside the room in long strides.


    ¡°Society Leader, did you feel that just now? Is that why you called on us?!¡± The handsome blonde-haired young man said as soon as he got inside the room.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, I need you guys to check out what¡¯s happening in the Meistic Forest as soon as possible. There might be casualties resulting from this.¡± The Society Leader calmly responded with a hint of urgency in his voice.


    He then turned to face the healer, Tiana before saying: ¡°If ites to that, your exceptional healing and recovery skills might be required during this time, so can I count you for that?¡±


    ¡°Leave it to me, Society Leader.¡± The skimpy-dressed young woman solemnly responded, no longer disying her yful nature.


    ¡°Alright. You¡¯re all experienced, so I need to say much else. You guys should hurry toward the direction of that demonic aura before it¡¯s toote.¡±


    ¡°Understood!¡± They all responded before departing the room right away.


    ...


    As soon as they left the room, unable to contain himself, the exhrated Gutz broke out into a peal ofughter.


    ¡°Hahaha, finally some action!!¡±


    ¡°Gutz, are you crazy? Can¡¯t you be serious for a second?¡± Tiana said to him.


    ¡°What? Did I say something wrong? And who said I wasn¡¯t serious?¡±


    ¡°Whatever, let¡¯s go!¡±


    A momentter, they all departed from the city and quickly headed toward the direction of the Meistic Forest at their top speeds.


    ...


    Inside the Society Leader¡¯s room.


    ¡°That Gutz...¡± The Society Leader sighed before shaking his head helplessly.


    ¡°I hope nothing bad happens this time.¡±


    ¡°Right, that young man also had his first request today in that forest. I only hope that we do not lose such a young prospect of our human race in this unexpected situation.¡±


    He sighed once again, seemingly frustrated about the current situation. He sincerely wished to go out and deal with this matter himself since he would¡¯ve been the strongest existence in Alpheotus City if those kids from the capital weren¡¯t in his humble city at this time.


    But as the Society Leader of this branch of the organization, he couldn¡¯t simply leave the town to handle every situation that urs during times like this. Otherwise, there would be trouble if the enemy took advantage of his moment of carelessness during one of those times.


    Thus, he could only hope that his worries were for naught and that nothing drastic would happen this time.


    ¡°Those detestable demons... To dare to attack at this time... Luckily, those brats were here, so I didn¡¯t have to venture out myself. Otherwise...¡± He sighed and did not continue with his words.


    ...


    Back to the battlefield.


    A few minutes ago, the two demons had fullypleted their transformation with their momentumpletely different from before. Just standing there, they exuded ferocious and sinister energy that aroused a sense of familiarity in Randy.


    ¡®This unearthly sense of pressure is without a doubt the same pressure I felt at that time when I fought the chimera monster, although that one seemed chaotic, unlike these two demons¡¯ pressure...¡¯


    Back then, just the pressure exuded from the chimera monster was enough to cause him to bleed from his orifices.


    Although he was weaker during his first encounter and could easily handle it better this time, he still couldn¡¯t afford to be careless.


    Thus, as he saw the situation was turning dire, Randy instantly gave up holding back anything and decided to use all his techniques and skills to fight off these two demons. Otherwise, the fate that awaited him would be certain death.


    ...


    Incarnation Randy realized that the current situation wasn¡¯t looking good for either of them.


    As such, incarnation Randy also tried to enter his assimted state as they had the same thoughts.


    [{[Iplete blood knowledge. Unable to enter assimted states]}]


    ¡°Damn it, why is this incarnation so useless at this point at this time.¡± Incarnation Randy cursed in frustration when he read this notification.


    However, not for long, as he pondered how to increase his strength to fight against the transformed, red-scaled demon as he assumed his original self had most likely already thought of his possible solution.


    ...


    Meanwhile, facing the menacing, transformed ck-horned demon, Randy briefly nced at his incarnation as he fell into momentarily thought for a moment and concluded with aplicated expression.


    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me...¡¯


    He wanted to confirm his doubts by synchronizing with his incarnation¡¯s mind, but he was afraid that a moment of carelessness might cost him his life.


    That aside, he contemted how to face the transformed, ck-horned demon with his minuscule amount of mana points left, even after he had recovered some during the few seconds that had passed.

 Chapter 223

    223 Corruption


    As Randy continued to ponder multitudes of solutions within mere seconds, the ck-horned demon coldly dered: ¡°Human, you¡¯ve forced me to use my current state, so don¡¯t count on surviving this encounter. I assume other humans have noticed and are making their way over here as we speak.¡±


    ¡°This mission was already a bust when we encountered a variable like you, so it doesn¡¯t matter. As long as I capture...Forget that.¡±


    ¡°Now, you either prepare to die or surrender yourself. If you surrender, I will spare your life. But I still have to knock some sense into you before you are allowed to surrender yourself. ¡±


    After one-sidedly stating so, he abruptly charged forward.


    ...


    On the other side of the battlefield.


    The red-scaled demon also roared fiercely before charging toward incarnation Randy.


    ...


    However, both Randy and his incarnation did not move to block or flee as this happened. And instead, they pondered about numerous strategies and simtions using their immense mental fortitude built up over the years and through their recent battles.


    .....


    At thest moment, right as both Randy and his incarnation were about to be ripped and smashed apart by both demons using their overwhelming strength and power, something unexpected happened.


    The two demons, who seemed unstoppable after their transformation, all stopped in their tracks, right in front of both Randys, their attacks only a few inches away from the original Randy¡¯s face and Incarnation Randy¡¯s chest.


    At this moment, the two demons looked like statues in front of both Randys. It was a strange sight to behold.


    ...


    ¡°¡±What?!¡±¡± Both demons were shocked by their current inexplicable state.


    The red-scaled demon tried everything he could but found out that he could barely move his body slightly forward after enduring some joint pains, the pain of which was nothing to a demon like him.


    However, the fact that he couldn¡¯tpletely move his body shocked him greatly.


    The ck-horned demon was also surprised by the strange influence on his body, and he fell into thought as he observed his body.


    The next second, both demons wondered with different expressions: ¡°¡±What kind of ability is this?!¡±¡±


    The red-scaled demon was confused and wary of this ability that could prevent his movement to such an extent.


    Meanwhile, the ck-horned demon was very curious about the mysterious ability of his opponent.


    ...


    On the side of the original Randy, the ck-horned demon observed him briefly beforementing: ¡°You also know how to control blood?¡±


    Upon hearing the ck-horned demon¡¯s inquiry, Randy did not reply, but he inwardly sighed when he saw that his incarnation body had also thought of the same solution as him.


    When he noticed that his incarnation did not enter an assimted state, he instantly understood that it wasn¡¯t that it couldn¡¯t think of such a method, but that it couldn¡¯t enter it instead.


    Sure enough, the fact that his incarnation used the Blood Authority skill meant that it could think properly; This also proved that his conjecture was correct.


    ¡°So you¡¯re not replying? Well, it doesn¡¯t matter since I have all the proof I need on my body. But you shouldn¡¯t get too excited just yet.¡±


    After saying so, the ck-horned demon¡¯s body twitched slightly, and the next moment, he started to move his body as if breaking out of some shackles. He moved his body more effortlessly than the red-scaled demon, who could barely move his limps.


    Sensing some danger, Randy reacted right away.


    Instantly, he charged his fist with the minuscule mana points he had left and firmly aimed his fist consecutively at the chest of the ck-horned demon without hesitation.


    BAM! BAM! BAM!


    The ck-horned demon was sent backward from the impact. But he wasn¡¯t sent flying away this time as he only moved 5 meters back from his previous position.


    Unrelenting, Randy breached the 5-meter-distance between them andunched a mini Void Rippling Punch at the ck-horned demon¡¯s face.


    BAM¨C


    ck Blood Sttered from the unguarded, ck-horned demon¡¯s mouth from the impact of Randy¡¯s punch as he flew back uncharacteristically without resistance.


    ¡®Strange... Why is this guy not blocking my attacks? No! I should finish him off right now!¡¯


    Within the next instant, Randy fully transformed into his Werewolf King form with his hair now elongated as it fell over his back before he pursued the ck-horned demon again to finish him off for good.


    After approaching him within mere seconds, he then aimed his sharp-wed arm toward the ck-horned demon¡¯s chest before suddenly stopping at thest moment when he felt a sharp pain in his hand. He retracted his armed back right away.


    ¡°Urgh!¡±


    Randy uttered a cry of pain before backing away from the demon.


    ¡°Hehehe! So you have finally been affected? The moment you touched my demonic body was the moment of your inevitable downfall. I already told you that you shouldn¡¯t be arrogant in front of me with those fancy skills of yours, but you did not listen!¡±


    ¡°Now that my demonic divine ability had infected and corrupted a part of your body, it is toote. My divine ability would encroach on every single part of your body, eating away your body from inside out, before ultimately turning you into one of us- a demonic existence.¡±


    ¡°You should feel honored, feeble existence, to be able to receive thisst gift from me. However, you might not be able to endure the excruciating pain afterward. Since you did not have the privilege to obtain divine blessing and baptism from our god, you might die before bing a demonic existence.¡±


    The ck-horned demonughed with a triumphant expression.


    Randy crouched down in the distance as he held his right hand with his left hand while gritting his teeth from the phantom pains within his bloodstream, now invaded by the sinister dark energy.


    ¡®Damn it! I should¡¯ve known this wasn¡¯t going to be easy when I saw that familiar sinister dark energy on his body. That chimera monster, back then, had caused my entire body to bleed when it unleashed this same type of dark energy.¡¯


    ¡®What should I do against something like this?¡¯


    Randy could feel the dark energy gradually assimting with the cells within his body through his right hand, thus causing his arm to be numb.


    Desperate, he tried expelling the energy using the remaining mana in his body, but it got consumed instantly by the dark energy invading his body instead. Therefore, he could only watch as his entire arm gradually turned ck.


    ¡®At this rate, I might end up dying from this dark energy¡¯s corruption. Think!¡¯

 Chapter 224

    224 Enlightenment! Wait! Did I win, or did I lose?


    With the aid of the life and death situation, Randy felt cornered so much that he racked his brain by going through all his skills, techniques, and abilities, and at some point, an incoherent sequence of thoughts came to him.


    This sequence of thoughts was faint at first, almost elusive, but eventually, they became clear andprehensive in his mind. And when that happened, instantly, he knew what he had to do.


    ¡®Why didn¡¯t I think of these methods before?¡¯ Randy wondered why he couldn¡¯t think of his current thoughts before this.


    However, now was not the time to brood over such matters, so he immediately cleared his thoughts as soon as they surfaced within a split second.


    With firm resolution, within that moment of insight, unbeknownst to him, his eyes abruptly glowed with a faint amber-golden color, reminiscent of his eye color when he entered his ancestral form. However, unlike the times when he entered his ancestral form, his hair color was still silvery-white from his current assimted state¡¯s trait.


    At this point, it was almost like he had purposely semi-regressed into his ancestral form using his Ancestral Regression skill. But in reality, that wasn¡¯t the case at all.


    In truth, ever since he found out that someone had been observing him during that time in the vige he came across after arriving in Acruxia, he had made up his mind to not use his ancestral form carelessly in public, lest it gets traced back to him, or someone learns of his secret identities and use them against him.


    Thus, during the battle against the demons, he unconsciously avoided using his ancestral form and only used his newly acquired skills.


    Even so, at this critical juncture in the battle against the ck-horned demon, not only did he use his trump card, assimted state, but he also unknowingly entered his ancestral form duringbat.


    .....


    However, the current ancestral form was notplete since his hair hadn¡¯t turned blood-red, and he still maintained his assimted state, Werewolf King of Wind¡¯s appearance.


    Unaware of the circumstances surrounding his current state of mind and body, Randy merely activated one of his skills to the extreme.


    [[Blood Authority Skill Activated]]


    Subsequently, ethereal, and imperceptible ripples, which were felt only by him, surged out within his body.


    The next moment, as if under some sort of influence, ck blood started oozing out of Randy¡¯s arm through the pores on his right arm. But the color of his blood at this time was strange, as it was ck instead of the regr red color.


    Although shocked momentarily, he continued to expel the contaminated blood from his body through the numerous pores on his right arm.


    Randy did not dare to cut his affected arm to speed up the process and merely relied on the pores on his skin instead. After all, there was a chance he might fail in expelling the contaminated blood if he did something careless.


    At least, he strongly felt that it was too dangerous to disrupt the flow paths of the blood that only he could sense at that moment.


    Finally, he ended up expelling all the contaminated blood from his body.


    Luckily, the Blood Authority skill did not rely on mana or magical energy to be activated. Instead, it depended on his blood energy, so he didn¡¯t have to worry about hisck of mana.


    Furthermore, just now, in his moment of plight, he suddenly gained enlightenment on his Blood Authority skill, which allowed him to turn the tables at thest minute.


    The Blood Authority skill had also be easier to execute now that his evolutional energy, blood energy, had increased after his first evolution.


    Thus, he further developed new and old applications of his Blood Authority skill.


    They were: Blood Halt, Blood Siphon, and Blood Amplification.


    Both the Blood Halt and Blood Siphon were something he extensively used during his few battles, but the Blood Amplification was a new concept that dawned on him.


    Just by the name, Blood Amplification was a technique that amplifies the rate and flow of his blood to increase his overall physical capabilities when inbat. Not only that, but he could also regte the discharge flow of his blood by speeding up the Blood Siphon effect when used on himself.


    Somehow, he felt like he had used this technique before aftering up with it just now, but he doesn¡¯t remember when.


    Moreover, with his current control of blood and blood energy utilization, all deemed contaminations within his blood could be purged from his body with a mere thought from him.


    Naturally, the dark energy that contaminated his blood was no exception.


    That was why the speed at which he expelled the contaminated ck blood from his body was faster.


    After that, it was easy to get rid of the residue of the dark energy.


    Randy assumed that the reason why he could do such a thing was most likely because of his unknown evolutional energy, which seemed indiscernible even to him.


    ¡°How is that possible?!¡±


    This time, the ck-horned disyed an expression of disbelief when he saw Randy unscathed from the corrosion of his demonic energy¡¯s nature.


    However, the next moment, he felt his body pierced from behind. He looked down at his chest but was dumbfounded. His body trembled in trepidation.


    At this moment, Randy was gripping the ck-horned demon¡¯s heart with his whole arm still inside the other party¡¯s body.


    But, unlike before, Randy¡¯s body did not get pervaded by the sinister dark energy, as it seemed to avoid his arm instead under the influence of his blood energy.


    ¡°How can this be? You¡¯re not affected by my demonic divine ability? Also, how were you able to escape from the influence of my danger sense ability, which should¡¯ve been impossible to bypass... Unless you¡¯re...¡±


    With blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, the ck-horned demon weakly questioned in disbelief. His unique ability had always allowed him to escape life-threatening danger up until now.


    Randy did not bother to answer his question and ruthlessly crushed the ck-horned demon¡¯s heart before pulling his arm from the other party¡¯s chest.


    Afterward, he quickly dispelled the lingering unearthly and sinister dark energy that persistently tried to invade his body.


    Randy didn¡¯t bother to waste any more time on him because he noticed that he couldn¡¯t resist all the sinister dark energy trying to encroach into his body.


    After all, resisting the sinister dark energy took a lot of his blood energy, and he was running out of blood energy after expending much to get rid of the ck blood and dark energy within his body. Thus, he had to end the fight before the other party seeded in using their ability to affect him again.


    ¡®Now, it is finally over. I wonder how my incarnation is doing?¡¯


    With that thought, he ignored his exhausted state of mind and turned to face the direction of the other side of the battlefield where the red-scaled demon and his incarnation body were fighting.


    However, he was instantly shocked to see that there was already an oue.


    Moreover, upon closer observation, the scene resulting from the oue of their fight was very baffling, to say the least, as there wererge craters and destroyedndmarks everywhere but no one in sight.


    ¡°Eh? Wait! Did I win, or did I lose?¡±


    ...

 Chapter 225

    225 Pseudo-Transcendent


    As Randy was baffled by what he had glimpsed on the other side of the battlefield, his system suddenly projected a new screen with a notification, as lines of text disyed in his field of vision.


    Seeing this, Randy immediately stared into the void of space.


    [[You have fought a deadly battle against a pseudo-transcendent existence with considerable strength that wielded an infallible ability that transcends your current capabilities]]


    [[As the opponent had borrowed external forces to achieve their current strength, they couldn¡¯t unleash the full might of a true transcendent as they were still a mortal, thus you were able to manage to kill them and earned yourself an abundance of divine points that exceeded the mortal soul limit]]


    [[You have earned 120,000 divine points]]


    120,000 divine points!


    Just killing this demon alone earn him so many divine points? And what was that pseudo-transcendent his system was talking about? Does it have something to do with why their divine points were more abundant?


    ¡®Thinking back, when I defeated the chimera monster, the system also said that it was due to its body being tempered with.¡¯


    Randy tried to recall the system¡¯s notification at the time by going through his mind.


    .....


    As someone who had more mental energy than most people at his level of strength, his current memory storage and recollection were now beyond human.


    Although it wasn¡¯t too exaggerated to the point where he had a photographic memory, it was still close enough.


    ...


    After he barely managed to kill the chimera monster at that time, this was what his system showed him.


    [[You have killed an enemy that was stronger than your current strength and power level]]


    [[You have sessfully harvested 100,000 divine points within the soul of the enemy]]


    [[The total amount of divine points harvested far surpassed the total amount possible with the power level of the enemy, but since this is a special case that stemmed from the enemy¡¯s body being modified beforehand, all the harvested divine points would be kept for the host]]


    ...


    Based on the way his system had phrased it, it would appear the abundance of divine points within the chimera monster, who was a tempered human, and this demon, who also wielded the same dark energy as the chimera monster, are rted to their ¡®modification¡¯.


    However, the ck-horned demon did not appear to be modified.


    Unlike the ck-horned demon, the chimera monster was most likely experimented on by some wicked people in his world, which turned him into a monster with animal parts.


    So what¡¯s the true reason behind their abundance of soul power? The unearthly and sinister dark energy or their modifications? Or maybe both, since transformation could be referred to as body modification in certain respects.


    Regardless of the truth, the definite and indisputable fact was that if he defeated people who used this dark energy in the future, he might be able to harvest more divine points for his benefit.


    Despite the risk involved, it would be worth it. Moreover, if he made it a habit to prepare for every fight beforehand, the risks involved would be lessened.


    After all, he found out through his previous experience that divine points were most likely even more precious than knowledge points, but just like knowledge points, they were not abundant in nature.


    Furthermore, just like knowledge points, which he needed to harvest from the creatures of intelligence that he killed, he needed to kill his opponents before he could harvest their soul power in a form of divine points.


    Wait a second!


    Why didn¡¯t he receive any knowledge points?!


    He noticed this before when he fought the chimera monster, but at the time, he was so out of it after the battle with it coupled with the subsequent events that he didn¡¯t recall such details afterward.


    Randy was curious about this because he remembered that when he defeated that Holy Knight Captain on their first encounter, he received knowledge points and divine points, respectively. If he received both points, then why didn¡¯t he receive anything when he fought against the chimera monster and this demon? Is it a coincidence? Not likely. Is there a connection? Most definitely.


    With such a deduction, he quickly asked: ¡°System, why didn¡¯t I receive any knowledge points?¡±


    [[Although the opponent you defeated was only a pseudo-transcendent, their power level is beyond the current world¡¯sws. In other words, it is unrestrained in this world and could easily kill beings that are below the true transcendent level of power. However, the demon you fought was only considered a weakling inparison to a truly strong demon in this world. Furthermore, your survival could only be attributed to your luck.]]


    ¡°What?!¡± Randy was shocked, and then he said: ¡°If all the demons wielded such powers, wouldn¡¯t they be invincible in this world?¡±


    [[Indeed, such existences such as the pseudo-transcendents are unfathomable and beyond theprehension of mortals who hadn¡¯t reached the true transcendent stage, and due to that, their mental and psionic energy levels are too chaotic for you to absorb since they¡¯re borrowing high-level power while they¡¯re still mortal]]


    ¡®How can that be allowed to happen, though? Doesn¡¯t this world have gods or something? Or are the gods the ones providing them with the power? Is that why?¡¯


    Randy recalled when the world¡¯sws were putting pressure on him a while ago simply because he tried casting a spell that almost went against this world¡¯sws.


    And yet this ck-horned demon could wield power beyond the current world¡¯sws? How absurd is that? What is the world¡¯sw doing?


    Furthermore, there did not seem to be any side effects when the ck-horned demon used that dark energy. Why is that? What is that dark energy in the first ce?


    ording to his system, the dark energy did not belong to his world or any other world for that matter, and yet he came across it not only once but twice.¡¯


    ¡®That reminds me, earlier that demon said something about divine blessing and baptism of their god...¡¯


    Randy pondered for a moment and then realized something that he hadn¡¯t bothered to ask until now.


    ¡°System, before that, can you tell what is a pseudo-transcendent?¡± Randy asked this because he had no idea what that term meant. He did not remember such a term used in the academy, or more like, his system kept on using terminologies that he had never heard of before, so everything he learned was useless.


    The system did not hide anything from him and exined briefly.


    [[A pseudo-transcendent is any being that borrows a high-level power from an exalted being- A respectable god in this world. Such borrowed powers usuallye with a price like exchanging the lifespan or the soul power of the borrower]]


    [[In the worst extreme case, the more they use the borrowed powers, the more their lifespans would be reduced as a price, eventually losing their lives. And in the least extreme case, they would only be deranged and gradually be intoxicated with their borrowed powers, eventually losing their minds]]

 Chapter 226

    226 Glorious Battle


    ¡®So that was why that ck-horned demon started acting crazy and full of confidence at the end?¡¯ Randy finally understood the deranged state of the ck-horned demon when he started to use his transformation ability. He could now surmise that it was most likely rted to the borrowed power his system had mentioned.


    With this conclusion, Randy also understood something else and stated: ¡°So, in other words, the deranged state of the ck-horned demon allowed its mental state to be unstable, and therefore, you couldn¡¯t absorb the knowledge points for me to use?¡±


    [[The system could easily absorb the knowledge points, no matter what form or state it is in, but the host cannot handle the aftereffects of utilizing such chaotic and unstable knowledge points, as it would only consume the host¡¯s consciousness if not the host is not careful enough]]


    ¡°What a pity.¡±


    Randy sighed and said: ¡°If the divine points alone were this many from just this demon... Wouldn¡¯t the knowledge points be abundant in quantity as well?¡±


    ¡°It truly is a pity.¡±


    Randy sighed again as he brooded over his loss briefly before recalling his current situation.


    ¡°I need to search for my incarnation body and determine whether he is dead or alive.¡± Randy deeply stared into the distance at the razed trees and ruined surface of the ground with a frown on his face.


    Upon closer observation of the surroundings, the first impression that came into Randy¡¯s mind was that it seemed like a severe hurricane had passed by their location and devastatingly destroyed the trees along with the surrounding earth.


    .....


    After standing there for a few moments with a deep frown, Randy suddenly muttered: ¡°I hope he is alive. I don¡¯t want to see my own dead body even if it is only an incarnation.¡±


    Randy silently thought, and he immediately charged towards the other side of the battlefield.


    When he reached there, about a few secondster, he activated his sensory skill, Dimensional Sense, to scour the surroundings in hopes of finding the whereabouts of not only his incarnation but the red-scaled demon that his incarnation was fighting.


    Currently, the battlefield where his incarnation fought against the transformed, red-scaled demon has deformed to the point where the surrounding was either burned or molten by the intense heat.


    Even though they were far away from the Meistic forest before their fight, it seemed that as time went by, they gradually approached the entrance to the forest, which ended up with some trees at the entrance of the forest burning into chars.


    Not only that but there were even craters everywhere, one of which was so huge for some reason, even though it didn¡¯t appear to be caused by the red-scaled demon¡¯s crimson-dark mes.


    The incredulous scene made Randy wonder what had happened between his incarnation and the red-scaled demon when he became absorbed in his fight against the ck-horned demon.


    Although he could hear intermittent explosions from their fight during his deadly fight against the ck-horned demon, he didn¡¯t have the luxury of checking out what was happening as he was also in a pinch at the time with the sinister dark energy corrupting his blood.


    Thinking back on the situation just now, Randy felt a chill down his spine as it was truly a close call just then. If he hadn¡¯t been able to devise a countermeasure in time, he would¡¯ve either died or turned into a demon.


    Putting that thought aside, he continued to search the surrounding area before finding the corpse of the red-scaled demon, who was in a sorry state on the other side of the huge crater spanning about 50 meters in diameter.


    Not far away, about 60 meters away from the position of the red-scaled demon. Directly opposite the red-scaled demon¡¯s position, Randy discovered his incarnation body that was also bartered and looked like a tenderized meat with no bones as ity there on the ground in a very twisted and disturbing position.


    Randy was momentarily shocked by the scene and quickly ran over to check up on his incarnation¡¯s body.


    However, to his surprise, his incarnation body was not breathing but had a proud smirk on his face, almost as though he had died gloriously from the battle, apanying the red-scaled demon.


    Curious about what had happened, Randy tried to use his consciousness synchronization spell on the incarnation¡¯s body.


    As for why he was doing something like that despite the incarnation seeming to already be dead, it was because the incarnation, although it appeared to be dead, it wasn¡¯t truly dead, as he would¡¯ve felt something like a mental attack when the incarnation had died.


    But he hadn¡¯t felt anything like that just yet, so the only logical exnation would be that the incarnation was still alive, or perhaps it was dead but just notpletely, since it was a defective creation in the first ce.


    After all, despite the incarnation body made up of flesh and blood, it was still counted as a weapon or inanimate when he put it inside his spatial ring. Even though the incarnation did not have a consciousness at the time of creation, it still had a soul that should be identical to his.


    In that sense, the incarnation should¡¯ve been considered a living being that only lost consciousness and should¡¯ve been rejected by the rules governing the spatial storage items to prevent the destruction of a living person¡¯s consciousness as they enter the space of storage held within them.


    With that determined, Randy ced his hand on the forehead of his incarnation¡¯s body before he closed his eyes as if examining something.


    A short whileter, he abruptly opened his eyes as countless scenes shed across his eyes, almost like a rolling movie tape with various scenes ying; In this case, the memories of incarnation Randy were ying instead.


    Mind Synchronization Complete!


    Randy then activated his Dimensional Sense skill without hesitation.


    After checking his surroundings and making sure that no one was within a 100-meter radius around him, he closed his eyes again to examine, reshuffle, and experience the jumbled memories of his incarnation.


    ...


    A while ago.


    As Randy was corrupted by the sinister dark energy and wailing in pain, incarnation Randy descried his original self¡¯s situation from the corner of his eyes for a brief moment and immediately understood what was going on.


    Therefore, he did not dare to engage in closebat with the transformed, red-scaled demon who madly pursued him around, intending to burn him to death.


    Incarnation Randy did not give the other party the chance to catch up to him as he continuously sped up.


    Contrary to the red-scaled demon¡¯s intention, let alone burn him to death, he instead evaded almost all of the red-scaled demon¡¯s predictable me attacks at breakneck speed, so in the end, the intense me attacks dealt little damage to him.


    He achieved all that with his enhanced physical strength and agility alone that was brought about by his only usable skill at the moment, which was the ¡®Body Strengthen¡¯ skill.


    That was the beginning of his glorious battle of life and death with the red-scaled demon!

 Chapter 227

    227 Glorious Victory


    Although Incarnation Randy could not emit energy outside of his body, he could use them to strengthen his body internally. Thus, he was able to fight against the now slowed red-scaled demon after his transformation.


    One would wonder how it was possible to fight against the transformed, red-scaled demon if he couldn¡¯t do anything to it or defend against its attacks, but the answer to that was simple.


    While originally, he was confused about his state of mind coupled with his inability to use external skills- the skills that could be projected outward, it seems he was capable of using internal skills- the skills that could only affect the physical body from the inside.


    After discovering this, incarnation Randy decided to go all-in with the one particr skill that he could use- Body Strengthen Skill.


    He did this by using all his divine points on holistically enhancing all of his body for a short duration and when he ran out of the effects, he would activate the Body Strengthen skill again; this process was repeated throughout the battle.


    Furthermore, he even borrowed more divine points from the main system as he fought against the slogging red-scaled demon, who only intended to burn him to death wide range of crimson-dark me breath that was capable of burrowing holes into the ground one after another.


    Eventually, the red-scaled demon ran out of energy and then started relying on his bulky physical ability that restricted his movement greatly after transforming to pursue him. But he couldn¡¯t catch up to him, no matter what.


    Meanwhile, as incarnation Randy continuously used the Body Strengthen skill, he discovered that hisprehension of the skill had reached new heights and he could further increase the intensity of the enhancement.


    Initially, he was only able to increase his strength to 2-3 times by spending 20-40 divine points per second per body part and if he were to increase the expenditure, the intensity of the enhancement could at most increase by 5 times his normal physical abilities- That was only due to his limitedprehension of the skill at the time.


    .....


    But now, he discovered that he exponentially increase his strength tremendously in a short duration. The only downside was that it would impact his physical body negatively. For example, broken bones and snapped ligaments, organ failure, and so on.


    Essentially, it was dangerous to attempt such a thing under normal circumstances. However, Incarnation Randy was not afraid.


    After all, this was only an incarnation body and as much as he would like to keep it safe, it was better to survive the current situation first since his original could always create another one.


    With that in mind, he spent 1,000 divine points to increase his overall strength by 10 times for a short duration of 5 seconds.


    Taking advantage of the sudden outburst of strength that felt overwhelming enough to cause his heart to palpitate as if it would explode at any moment, he madly charged at the now exhausted, red-scaled demons and then obliterated him with one single punch from the shockwaves created from executing his Void Rippling Punch.


    The shockwaves generated from the punch gave off a resounding boom that resonated with the wind as it created a mini-tornado that decimated the ground shortly after.


    The red-scaled demon¡¯s body was mmed heavily by his punch, his skin was then ripped by wind des, and his internal organs were stirred wildly, taking severe internal damage.


    Ultimately, the red-scaled demon was bartered terribly beyond recognition, even some of the weaker scales on his body were ground to dust by the chaotic wind as if a sack of hard meat that had been beaten to tenderize it.


    Although he obliterated the demon, rendering him immobile and bleeding all over, some of the red-scaled demon¡¯s scale did not seem to be too damaged from the impact of his catastrophic punch.


    Incarnation Randy had decided to name the destructive punch he used-Catastrophic Punch.


    The name was very fitting since the fist strike brought about a cmitous force of destruction when unleashed.


    Even the void of space seemed to distort slightly from his all-out punch just then, but even so, those scales of the red-scaled demon were mostly unscathed. That just showed how tough the red-scaled demon was.


    However, after unleashing such an inconceivable punch with his overstrained body, incarnation Randy abruptly felt all the bones within his body breaking down, bringing with it an indescribable sharp pain; He lost consciousness shortly after sensing the changes within his body.


    ...


    At this point, Randy had already recollected all things his incarnation had done, and he let out a sigh shortly after.


    ¡°Not bad. As expected of me.¡±


    He was satisfied with the conclusion of the fight, especially the decisiveness of his incarnation towards the dire situation, which was something that he wouldn¡¯t have done if he was the original him.


    Randy sighed once again in regret. He was so concentrated on the battle that he failed to notice that such an epic battle between cat and mouse ensued right next to him.


    Naturally, he didn¡¯t have the liberty to be carefree and lose his concentration when he fought against the ck-horned demon.


    Regardless, he wished he had personally witnessed it for reference, although seeing from his incarnation perspective was also good.


    After all, such a battle was worth watching from the third-person perspective, as that would be more intense, unlike when he viewed it from his incarnation Randy, which only showed his desperation for survival and eventually his determination for self-destruction.


    Even Randy himself thought it was a miracle that his incarnation had won his opponent, although it had lost consciousness in doing so, it was still a great feat- a glorious victory.


    At this moment, the system notification shed in his vision, alerting him to look into the void of space.


    [[Transference Complete]]


    [[Your incarnation fought and defeated his opponent in a treacherous battle despite the odds of victory being against him due to the immense gap between their power and strength level. Such a feat ismendable, considering the deadly situation]]


    [[You have harvested 110,000 divine points from the soul of the enemy]]


    ¡°No knowledge points again? But as I thought, killing these dark energy-infested people would bring me more reward in divine points- Though the high risk is still a part of this endeavor I have to consider if I decide to take this path.¡± Randymented.


    Afterward, he pondered for a moment and decided to take the corpses of the two demons with him just in case. He also put his incapacitated incarnation into his ck ring¡¯s storage space.

 Chapter 228

    228 Conclusion


    The reason Randy could put his incarnation inside his storage space should have something to do with his incarnation technically dying from this battle; So it was no different from a corpse.


    Furthermore, since it was only an iplete incarnation, its existence itself was bizarre. Therefore, the incarnation could mostly be seen as both living and dead.


    After he took care of that, Randy undid his transformation. In response, his long white hair turned short, then turned back to his natural and curly blonde hair.


    Subsequently, he stopped as he felt a strange but familiar gaze locked on his body.


    Randy could tell that it was the same gaze that followed and observed him right when he arrived in Acruxia. It had managed to keep its eyes on him throughout his stay in that nameless vige.


    He had no idea about their intentions, but for them to be monitoring his movements, they might be up to no good. Thinking about that, he raised his head and turned to face the sky in the direction of the Meistic forest with a scowled expression.


    ...


    Inside A Dark Castle.


    The beautiful woman was still in a daze, as she was shocked by the scene she had witnessed just now.


    .....


    ¡°H-He actually won...? It makes me wonder where this human came from. He¡¯s such a mystery. And did I see it right? He is somehow looking up toward the direction of my irvoyance perspective for some reason.¡±


    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me he could tell that I was watching him this entire time? It¡¯s better not to get involved with this strange human any more than I already have. I might give myself away at this rate.¡¯


    The beautiful woman wondered to herself, but she gradually felt unsettled about the whole thing, the more she found out about that human.


    She didn¡¯t know why, but she felt that something was not right about the human.


    She even wondered if he was some sort of hybrid- an amalgamation of other creatures in the appearance of a human. After all, he could use the different abilities of other species as if they were his own.


    If that was the case, who could¡¯ve created such a monster? The demons? Or the humans?


    Regardless of the situation, it was dangerous to get involved with either of the two races, as they tend to be extreme whenever there are wars, thus implicating innocent lives.


    The more she thought about it, the more frightened she became about the existence of that human, and she quickly reacted.


    Very hastily, she changed the perspective of her irvoyance orb back into the forest to avoid giving out her location. If the other party could detect her irvoyance spell, they could also trace her whereabouts.


    However, a few momentster, she was startled by amotion in the forest. She wondered what had happened when she was distracted by the fight between that human and the demons.


    ...


    Outside the Meistic Forest.


    While still looking up toward a certain part of the sky, Randy suddenly muttered: ¡°The gaze... disappeared? Well, whatever. Once I get strong enough, I will find out who they are and settle the score for spying on me all this time.¡±


    Randy did not like the fact that he was spied on by others wantonly. After all, the other party might¡¯ve already seen all his trump cards using such spying means, which was not a pleasant thing. Furthermore, there was a high risk to his life if the other party were to give his secrets away to his enemy someday.


    He couldn¡¯t let that happen. As such, he nned to visit them and demand answers when he grew strong enough. But until then, he would have to postpone that settlement.


    With that settled, he then quickly looked down to check his armor, which was emitting a sinister glow for some reason.


    After a quick inspection, Randy noticed that his armor had somehow managed to absorb the sinister dark energy from the ck-horned demon¡¯s body when he killed him.


    He recalled that his armor could absorb shadow aura to repair itself. However, it turned out that it could also absorb any form of dark energy, including the demons¡¯ dark energy.


    During thebat, thanks to his Shadow Beast Leather Armor, he was able to survive the ck-horned demon¡¯s initial attacks unscathed until it could no longer resist his attacks.


    When that happened, the armor¡¯s self-repair property kicked in, but it was still getting destroyed instantly by the ck-horned demon¡¯s overpowering fist attacks whenever itnded on his body.


    Over time, the armor became useless in battle. Randy had no choice but to use his movement methods and techniques to avoid critical damage and injuries to his body.


    Before the armor broke down, he did not dodge the ck-horned demon¡¯s attacks. But he instead utilized that opportunity to relentlessly unleash and amplify his fist technique¡¯s effect of ¡®gathering the wind¡¯ around the fist by circting the internal energy within your body.


    Even though Randy¡¯s only armor became useless, and he inevitably suffered some internal injuries as a result, he desperately continued to press on until the conclusion of the battle.


    Unexpectedly, after the battle had concluded, his armor did not only finish its repair, but it even managed to absorb the dark energy as substitute energy to repair itself and thus gained the aura of that sinister and repulsive dark energy.


    Another thing to note about his armor was that despite absorbing such sinister energy that held different effects from Randy¡¯s experience up until now, he was not affected by the dark energy this time even though he was still wearing it currently.


    ¡®As to be expected from a legendary-rank armor. It really is built differently.¡¯


    Although the amount of dark energy the armor absorbed was not noticeable and could barely be detected by the wearer, it was still there.


    Randy pondered for a moment and then suddenlyughed in anticipation.


    ¡°This mighte in handy someday...¡±


    After saying that, Randy took out his cial Beast Sword and then headed toward the direction of the Meistic forest.


    He aimed to continue to hunt some magical beasts to cover his tracks.


    Thankfully, there wasn¡¯t anyone nearby during their fight, so there were no coteral damages.


    During the fight, he purposely lured the demons away from the direction of the nearby vige as they fought.


    As such, he could leave without causing anymotion.


    However, at this time, he didn¡¯t know that their battle just now had scared away all the surrounding magical beasts near their battlefield. Since they were close to the Meistic Forest.


    ...


    A whileter, after Randy left the battlefield, four figures suddenly appeared there one by one.


    The scene those four figures saw shocked them immensely. From therge craters everywhere that seared with intense heat as though there was arva boiling underneath the ground to the destroyed trees.


    ¡®What kind of monster burned and razed the ground into such a state?¡¯ They all wondered in disbelief.


    ¡°Are you certain it was here, Eliana? Are you sure that this is not an undiscovered volcanic site instead?¡±


    ¡°I am certain. You can tell simply by looking at that baleful demonic energy emitting from the craters with the mes.¡±


    ¡°Haah... I guess you¡¯re right. But what exactly happened here? I thought we would run into demons here, but there¡¯s nothing left. Did someone fight them off? Or was there infighting between them, and they ended their fight early and left?¡±


    ¡°Hah?! Do you think someone in this small city could fight a demon and survive?! I don¡¯t believe that! Unless it is the leader, no one should possess such strength in this ce.¡±


    ¡°...I suppose that makes sense.¡±

 Chapter 229

    229 Familiar Aura


    There was a young girl who looked to be about 15 years old among the four figures, who stood silently after confirming their location to her team members.


    These four figures were obviously the team that was sent by the Society Leader to deal with the demons.


    The young girl suddenly spoke up about her conjecture: ¡°I don¡¯t think it was infighting. If you look closely, you can tell that there appear to be two separate battlefields. The one here, with demonic mes, and the other battlefield, on the other side. That meant that there were at least two demons and two people who apprehended them.¡±


    The handsome blonde-haired young man called Vairon also realized the truth and said: ¡°Oh, you¡¯re right. Judging by the temperature of the heating from the mes around here, the battles concluded not long ago. In other words, whoever fought the two demons might still be nearby.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡± The other two members were shocked.


    Tiana, who couldn¡¯t believe that such a thing was possible, readily refuted:


    ¡°You guys think someone fought those demons? And two people at that? Excuse me to say this, but would there even be a single person like that still in this backward city? Wouldn¡¯t they go to the capital after reaching level 50?¡±


    And she continued: ¡°Based on the energy residues, I don¡¯t think those demons were weak. Otherwise, there wouldn¡¯t have been such deep craters created just from their fight. They had to be at least level 60, which no one in this city has been able to reach using the dungeons here.¡±


    Vairon also agreed: ¡°I know I said that but the only other person beyond level 60 was the Society Leader, and he shouldn¡¯t be the one who dealt with these demons since he was the one who sent us here in the first ce.¡±


    .....


    And he continued: ¡°But what if there was someone else besides the Society Leader?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Hearing his words, they all started pondering who could be this mysterious expert that managed to stay hidden within Alpheotus City all this time. Furthermore, there was also a possibility that they might¡¯ve been staying somewhere else and not in the city, which was why they hadn¡¯t been discovered yet.


    ¡°Enough with this talking and thinking about everything! What you meant was that we missed our prey, right?! What a waste of time! And here I thought I¡¯d finally get to beat some demon bastards after so long. We need to look for them right now. I personally want to fight someone like that if they exist!¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Everyone slowly turned to look at him.


    ¡°What? Am I wrong to say that too?¡±


    ¡°No.¡± Tiana shook her head.


    ¡°Right... I knew it made sense.¡±


    ¡°No, you¡¯re wrong. I think you just don¡¯t have the brains to understand the current situation.¡± Tiana bluntly told him.


    ¡°What did you just say Lustiana?! Do you want to fight me that badly?! Do you think I won¡¯t fight you just because you¡¯re a healer?!¡±


    ¡°Who wants to fight a blockhead like you?¡±


    ¡°Enough, you guys! Have you forgotten that we¡¯re on a mission here?! You two are the oldest among us and yet you always act like kids. Can¡¯t you just get along with each other?¡±


    ¡°Hmph! With a blockhead like him, who never uses his brains but his muscles? No way! But I don¡¯t mind getting along with you, though, Leader.¡±


    ¡°Tch! I¡¯d rather die than get along with an exhibitionist of a healer like her!¡±


    ¡°You guys... Whatever... Anyway, we need to investigate this properly before reporting back to the Society Leader with as many details as possible. In the meantime, we should split up. Some of you should check out the other side of the battlefield for any clue on who the people who fought the demons were.¡±


    Receiving their instructions, the group of four splits into two. The young girl left with Tiana to check the other battlefield as she had already finished analyzing the situation on the first battlefield with her magic.


    Meanwhile, the belligerent Gutz stuck with their Leader, Vairon to further search for any clues they might¡¯ve missed. Surprisingly, they found some broken scales after a few runs through an enormous crater that had no mes emanating from it, unlike the other craters.


    The broken scales aside, they were left dumbfounded and speechless when they discovered that this specific crater might¡¯ve not been the work of the me demon but someone else.


    They wondered whether it was the work of the one that apprehended the me demon. If so, how strong were they?


    After all, to be able to unleash such destructive power that seemed to contain less mana residue ording to their analysis of the crater, they should either be strong physically or possess some destructive skill that relied mostly on their physical strength.


    This discovery made Gutz¡¯s blood boil with antsy and anticipation of encountering the other party. Since he was a warrior himself, he had always craved opponents who relied on their fists to fight like him. He had always secretly despised people like Vairon who only relied on their sharp weapons.


    Afterward, the two men stashed away the broken scales for evidence and proceeded to look around some more.


    ...


    Meanwhile, on the other battlefield.


    The two maidens searched this battlefield which did not have as many craters aspared to the other battlefield. But there were traces of pure mana, holy mana, dark mana, and even demonic energy mixed in. There was also a unique smell of blood in the air. This was the smell of blood corrupted by demonic energy.


    ¡®Were they affected by demonic energy? If so, did they sumb to the energy and be one of them, or have they died after the corruption?¡¯ The young girl, Eliana frowned as she thought to herself.


    She then walked around some more and used her search spell to quickly scrutinize the area of about 2 miles around herself before she shook her head lightly.


    ¡®No, if they had died, there should¡¯ve been a corpse lying around here. Unless strictly told by their superiors, those demons don¡¯t bother to clear evidence of their crime.¡¯


    ¡®Then were they sent by someone higher-up to this ce toplete some secret mission and were thwarted by whoever fought them?¡¯


    She continued using her magic to analyze the traces of mana fluctuations as she pondered to herself.


    At this moment, Tiana¡¯s screaming voice sounded behind her, causing her to snap out of her thoughts: ¡°Ellie,e look at this!¡±


    Eliana sighed helplessly and walked toward the excited Tiana.


    At this moment, she was squatting down and ying with something on the ground with her naked thighs on full disy for all to see.


    Noticing this small detail, Eliana frowned slightly but still walked over to check out why her team member had such an exciting voice despite their current situation.


    After all, despite Tiana¡¯s coquettish behavior, she was always diligent when it came to missions, unlike Gutz who was always impatient.


    When she approached her, she bent over and saw a ck substance on the ground. This substance appeared to be blood that had nearly been corrupted but seemed to have been expelled by whoever was corrupted.


    Tiana spoke when she noticed her presence: ¡°Do you see this? The demonic energy, which was said to be impossible to cleanse using the high-level Holy Cleanse magic spell was easily cleansed using my holy attribute mid-level purification spell. Can you believe that?¡±


    Eliana¡¯s expression changed slightly, as she was taken by surprise.


    But she held back her curiosity and calmly asked: ¡°What happened? Is that the blood of the corrupted?¡±


    ¡°Che. Your reaction is as weak as always. This is supposed to be exciting news!¡± Tianained, pouting yfully.


    A momentter, she gave up and began her exnation: ¡°Well, anyway, originally, this partially ck blood seemed to belong to a human or a creature with red blood. However, some kind of mysterious power had nearly purified all the demonic energy¡¯s corruption within this blood. And now, as you can see, even my holy attribute mana could cleanse the remaining demonic energy.¡±


    ¡°Do you know how amazing this discovery is? If we could find the one who fought against the demons, we might be able to figure out the method on how to resist the demons¡¯ corruption ability!¡¯


    Eliana attentively observed Tiana as she used her purification magic on the dark-red blood on the ground.


    As soon as the energy from the spell came into contact with the impurities within the dark-red blood, some of the ck substances, which were the impurities within the blood, began to disappear, gradually revealing the original color of the blood.


    ¡°It actually works...?¡± Eliana murmured nkly in disbelief.


    ¡°I told you so! You thought I was lying?!¡±


    ¡°No, I was just thinking that... Hm? This is...¡±


    As the full red color of the blood was revealed after Tiana fully cleanse the blood of its remaining impurities, Eliana suddenly sensed a familiar aura exuding from the blood.


    In fact, she had been sensing this aura ever since a while ago, but she thought it was just her imagination. After all, this aura reminded her of the aura of someone she recently met. It was the young man she met in the Society Leader¡¯s room the other day.

 Chapter 230

    230 Fury Of The Demon General


    Others may not notice it but as a mage who manipted supernatural power such as mana to conduct various spells, Eliana¡¯s perception of energy was extremely high.


    And yet for some reason, she couldn¡¯t tell how much mana that young man had, almost as if he could casually hide the mana within his body.


    However, although she couldn¡¯t detect everything, for just a moment, she was able to sense his mana, and that was only possible when Gutz had grabbed onto him.


    She assumed that he most likely lost control of his technique to hide his energy due to the unexpected action from Gutz.


    Regardless, what she sensed then shocked her as that young man¡¯s aura seemed to contain chaos itself.


    It was almost as though he had different kinds of energies within his body at once. Those different energies within his body were constantly on the verge of oppressing each other, creating a chaotic ripple around his body.


    This was very unnatural and extremely dangerous if he lost control of himself someday. Thus, she wanted to talk to him about it. However, she was afraid that they might already know about it, and that by doing so, she would only intrude on their privacy.


    Right after the young man left and they were alone with Society Leader, she reluctantly inquired about his identity from the Society Leader after they were done with their meeting.


    However, the Society Leader only gave a mysterious smile and said that he was a new member of the society and a possible recruit from their branch.


    .....


    ¡®A possible recruit...?¡¯ She murmured inwardly.


    The only time the term recruit was used was when the society was recruiting Dungeon Hunters to partake in the unending war between races. And the criteria were high as one could easily lose their life on the battlefield.


    Despite that, the Society Leader said that the young man was a possible recruit. This meant that his talents were exceptional enough for the Society Leader to have such high expectations of him.


    After thinking about this, she then opened her mouth and said: ¡°We should take that blood with us for now. Maybe we can use it to track the owner faster this way.¡±


    ¡°Oh! You¡¯re right! I didn¡¯t think of that since I wasn¡¯t adept at using those kinds of magic spells. But if it¡¯s someone like you, who is considered a genius magician, then we¡¯ll surely be able to find that person. Maybe there¡¯s more than one person, who knows. Hehehe!¡± Tiana said, seemingly overjoyed for some reason.


    Confused by her overly excited reaction, Eliana hesitantly asked: ¡°Uhm... Why are you so excited, Tiana?¡±


    ¡°Oh, about that... Don¡¯t you know that if we manage to aplish this possible unprecedented feat, we won¡¯t have to work anymore with the status and money we¡¯ll be receiving from the royal family through the Society?¡±


    ¡®So that¡¯s why she was excited...?¡¯


    Eliana inwardly shook her head and walked away, as Tiana took out an empty potion bottle to collect the cleansed blood.


    ...


    Elsewhere.


    A muscr but bulky dark-skinned man sat with a dignified and stern expression on his floating watercraft that rocked back and forth from the tidal waves of the sea. The vessel was spacious enough to fit 100 men excluding him.


    At this moment, the dark-skinned bulky man frowned and impatiently inquired: ¡°What happened to Gleat and Farlorn? Why are they taking so long to capture some weak humans? These shouldn¡¯t be their first time, right?¡±


    ¡°My apologies, my Lord. We seemed to have lost contact with them just now.¡± A middle-aged-looking man with pale-white skin who seemed to be his subordinate respectfully responded.


    ¡°Just now? So I wasn¡¯t imagining things. Those two actually lost their lives in the middle of capturing some weak humans? How pathetic. I could understand the stupid Farlorn, but what was his name again? I just said it. Was it Gleet?


    ¡°It is Gleak, my Lord.¡± The subordinate corrected.


    ¡°Damn it! Now I am even forgetting my own subordinates¡¯ names. If it wasn¡¯t for that idiotic Farlorn who kept referring to Gleak as Gleat, how could I make such a mistake?¡±


    The dark-skinned man started cursing non-stop for a good minute.


    Meanwhile, the subordinate simply stood there with his head bowed as he waited for his lord to give his next instructions.


    After realizing his uncharacteristic antics, the dark-skinned bulky man cleared his throat and said: ¡°In any case, for the cautious and sly Gleak to lose, the opponent this time might be terrible.¡±


    This dark-skinned bulky man was called Jarkoffin, a Demon General of one of the divisions of the demon army. This time, his division had been tasked with a vital secret mission from their King-The King of the Demons.


    The most advantageous part was that it was a recurring mission. This meant that the more perfectly theypleted the mission each time, the more resources and rewards they would receive from their King.


    Not to mention that his reputation would only soar from sessfullypleting this secret mission. He might even be allowed more men under hismand as well as more territory to govern.


    At that time, none of the other generals could afford to look down on him. Thus, upon receiving this mission, he intended toplete it with the greatest degree of steadfastness.


    The task of the secret mission itself was simple, as they only needed to procure some fresh humans that would be used as sacrifices necessary for their recently acquired special technique- Flesh Separation Technique.


    This was a cloning technique that sacrificed their lifespan, flesh, and blood to create a separate entity with 70 percent of theirbat strength. This cloning method was brutal and fiendish, and so, they needed human sacrifices to replenish their lost lifespans and vitality every time it was used.


    Their purpose was to send and use those entities to face off against the persistent humans who refused to yield to their control. Meanwhile, their original body would take those times they are not present on the battlefield to slowly umte their power and prepare for the final battle.


    So far, their targets have mostly been small viges unattended by the human popce in general. They would always disguise it as the doings of the magical beasts by killing off some in a brutal manner and then proceed to take the remaining survivors away.


    Naturally, the humans were not aware of their schemes. Otherwise, they would¡¯ve already taken drastic measures against them.


    They had beenpleting this task with rtive ease all this time, as the humans did not pay much attention to the viges around the Meistic forest.


    Originally, he thought that today would just be the same as usual, so he didn¡¯t bother to go with his subordinate toplete such a tedious task.


    As things stood, however, an unexpected variable managed to kill the subordinates he sent and prevented the mission from beingpleted this time.


    This caused him to be filled with endless rage, as this would count as a humiliation to his name. Moreover, it would affect his work ethic if known.


    Furthermore, this task was regarded as a quick and easy way to umte merits. Therefore, there shouldn¡¯t have been any problems, as they had already done this task a few times already.


    If he, a Demon General, was unable toplete such an easy task assigned to him specifically by their King, where would he put his face?


    The thought of his fellow generalsughing at his failure filled him with boiling fury at the one who got in his way.

 Chapter 231

    231 Unknown God Of The Demons


    Demon General Jarkoffin seemed to have gone mad, as veins started bulging uncontrobly on his tanned skin. His eyes glowed with an eerie and ferocious red light, but he held back his anger in the end.


    ¡®I need to calm down... I have to find and deal with the one who murdered my subordinates and got in this general¡¯s way...¡¯ He thought with a determined expression.


    A momentter, as he thought about something, the dark-skinned bulky man said: ¡°Right, there was that thing those sorcerers gave us. Use it to recollect what happened. I would like to see the face of the one who murdered my men.¡±


    ¡°Eh? B-But my Lord, that was something given to us by the King, which was meant to be used under certain specified situations.¡± The subordinate nervously said, regretting his decision the next moment.


    ¡°Hah?! Are you saying that my subordinates dying in a mission that should¡¯ve been easy is not a ¡®certain specified situation¡¯?! Do you think I don¡¯t know what those specified situations were? Are you now telling me what to do as my subordinate? You too are trying to look down on me like those other bastards in the other divisions?!¡±


    ¡°Detestable!¡±


    The dark-skinned demon general angrily shouted at him as a fierce aura exploded out of his body, causing his subordinate to almost fall over from the pressure alone.


    Although this bulky, dark-skinned demon was also a general, his reputation was not as good as that of the other generals. As most of the other Demon Generals were stronger than him and had more territories under theirmands with abundant resources at their disposal.


    Usually, those other Demon Generals mocked him and told him to do things in certain ways so he could attain more merit. But his pride wouldn¡¯t permit him to bow down to those pompous bastards. As such, he was always very sensitive to being told what to do like this subordinate just did.


    .....


    ¡°Ah, my apologies, I didn¡¯t mean to-¡±


    ¡°Enough! Just do as I say and stop talking nonsense!¡±


    ¡°Understood!¡±


    The subordinate quickly responded and rushed back to retrieve something.


    A short whileter, he returned with an intricate device, which at first nce could be ssified as an artifact of sorts.


    The subordinate quickly but skillfully operated the artifact. It looked like an orb about the size of a ser ball, exuding a baleful purple and crimson aura that intertwined around the artifact.


    To begin with, the subordinate inserted a bit of his mana into the orb as it glowed with blinding purple light, followed by inserting his life-blood into the orb after the glowing purple light settled down.


    A life-blood was akin to a life force and vitality of a demon, as it contains not only their life force but their vital essence. This was the substance necessary for the operation of many of their spells and techniques. And that was the case for this artifact as well.


    A few momentster, the artifact started vibrating with satisfaction after consuming the life-blood and it quickly projected a certain scene in the air for all to see.


    The scene projected was when Randy first encountered the two demons.


    Following this, the two of them, the Demon General and his subordinate carefully watched every single scene from beginning to end without missing out on a single detail.


    Naturally, they watched the two fights that urred on separate battlefields, so it took a while.


    However, after they finished watching the fight, both of them were left speechless or rather dumbfounded by the way the human who fought against their people used bizarre abilities one after another, even though he appeared to be a mere human.


    The next moment, the demon general disyed a deep frown on his face and calmlymented: ¡°Unbelievable... No wonder those two had lost to him. Even though they let their guard down, that human also possessed strange abilities unbefitting that of a mere human.¡±


    The subordinate still had a face full of incredulity and did not say anything as he reyed the two battles in his mind.


    ¡®How is it possible that such a person could exist among humans?¡¯ He thought in puzzlement, as if such people existed, even if they were weak, they would be troublesome to deal with.


    Though his outward appearance was calm, the demon general was startled by what he had just seen. A solemn expression appeared on his face as he thought of that human¡¯s fighting style with apprehension.


    ¡®Such a disy of strength and versatility, is he an apostle? No, based on the strength and power he disyed, he is too weak to be considered an apostle. In terms of level, he is at the very least a 60 plus with a strong body.¡¯


    ¡®After all, Gleak and Farlorn were all above level 60 and could even face off against level 70batants and some low-level level 80 after their demonic transformation. And yet they were defeated by just one human?¡¯


    ¡®Impossible! It must be because of his unique skills!¡¯


    What left the demon general bewildered and puzzled was that despite possessing all these unique skills, this human had yet to be discovered by the other humans yet.


    Either that or they had already taken notice of him.


    He thought that the opposite might be possible and that they had indeed discovered this human and had purposely sent him to disrupt their ns.


    But that was unlikely as the human¡¯s upper echelon would have sent more than one person to deal with them if that was the case.


    Not to mention that someone of such caliber shouldn¡¯t be around these parts of the world. They should be in the human empire¡¯s capital attempting a dungeon or joining the human army and yet they were still around these parts of the world.


    ¡®Now that I think about it, that clone magic spell that the human used also seemed different from ordinary cloning magic spells, and even different from our demon race¡¯s newly acquired Flesh Separation Technique.¡¯


    ¡®Was he really not an apostle with such a profound magic spell?¡¯


    In this world, only apostles possessed bizarre abilities amongst the humans.


    However, most of them don¡¯t bother to stay for long on the mortal ne after receiving the recognition of a god. Otherwise, the demons wouldn¡¯t have been so carefree in dealing with them.


    Likewise, the demon apostles of the past also left as soon as they were recognized by their god. But that had long since changed a few hundred years ago when their god was reced by another unknown god.


    No one knew the identity of the demon¡¯s new god. However, it was rumored that this new god had defeated the old god of the demons and reced them.


    After which, they brought about changes to the world¡¯s foundation as a whole.


    The ongoing hegemony wars between the races and species in their world was one example of these changes.


    Nowadays, there are no longer demon apostles, only demon kings who possess simr power levels as the apostles.


    Naturally, if the demon or the human apostles still existed on the mortal ne, they would¡¯ve already intervened in the war and put an end to it effectively.


    But sadly, that wasn¡¯t the case, as they had all left the mortal ne.

 Chapter 232

    232 Report


    Without the existence of the powerful and almighty apostles, it was truly impossible for the war toe to an end any time soon.


    As such, the mortals or those that did not possess anybat abilities were left to suffer from the ravages of the unceasing war that urred covertly and overtly.


    Furthermore, ording to the foundationalws established when their world was created, once an apostle ascends, they would no longer be bound by the mortal world, meaning they wouldn¡¯t be able to return unless they sacrifice part of their divinity or limit themselves by sealing their strength.


    Thus, even if the apostles wanted to return to save their kin, they wouldn¡¯t do so recklessly. This was because they wouldn¡¯t dare risk their lives by limiting their strength just toe to the mortal world.


    Unless the apostles were beyond the absolute control of thews, if they died with their strength limited, they would truly die.


    Of course, another method was to raise an apostle with the aim of not ascending right away.


    The other gods decided that this was a feasible approach to effectively solving the current state of affairs of their world. Because the yet-to-be ascended apostles would possess tremendous powers that would be able to resist the demons.


    However, that approach hasn¡¯t been sessful so far.


    The main reason was that most people wanted to ascend to the realm of the gods once they transcended their limits. To them, this meant breaking through from their level 99 cap that had held them back for so long to level 100.


    .....


    Furthermore, no one would want to risk their lives in a meaningless war between those that could be considered mere mortals. They would rather be an apostle with powers akin to the gods than risk their lives for such debacles.


    After pondering for a minute, the demon general snapped out of thoughts with a cautious expression on his countenance and immediately instructed his subordinate, who also just came back to his senses: ¡°We need to keep an eye on that human we just saw. For now, you should return and immediately report to the military advisor about this matter. Tell him to inform the King about a possible threat.


    And then he paused to think for a moment and continued: ¡°Emphasize that there are strange movements from the humans in the Meistic forest. And that there was a possibility that our ns were exposed. Furthermore, don¡¯t forget to report about that human brat that interfered with the mission!¡±


    ¡°Set off right away! I will stay here for a bit and observe what is going on before heading back!¡±


    ¡°Right away, my Lord!¡±


    The subordinate solemnly responded. He proceeded to take out a scroll and ripped it apart before quickly vanishing from his location, seemingly teleported away to their territory.


    A momentter, the demon general scoffed and said: ¡°How hateful that we failed to procure the sacrifices this time. If I get the chance, I will kill that human myself for getting in my way, in the most brutal way possible. I will make him regret impeding my sess in this secret mission!¡±


    After saying that, he also vanished on the spot. His destination was unknown.


    ...


    Inside the Meistic Forest.


    At this time, Randy was running through the forest in search of some magical beasts to vanquish. He did not n on hunting many, just enough toplete the request.


    However, he has not been able to find any magical beasts so far.


    Although there was no requirement that stated how many magical beasts he needed to hunt down, he still wanted to hunt enough magical beasts. This was to avoid any suspicion of neglecting his mission for whatever reason.


    The fact that he neglected his request for a time made him all the more determined to hunt the magical beasts.


    Currently, he only hunted down two magical beasts, and that was at the beginning when he first arrived at the vige. After that, he teleported into the Dungeon of Beasts¡¯ safety room to practice his mana training technique.


    After finally returning, he ended up meeting those demons that were up to no good.


    After their fight concluded, he decided tomit himself and hunt the magical beasts near the vige as requested, but there did not appear to be any magical beasts around the vicinity of the vige as he had initially thought. Therefore, he decided to explore further.


    However, the deeper he ventured into the forest, the more he found out that there were no magical beasts within 100 meters radius around him.


    Unwilling to give up just yet, he continued to head further.


    Right at this moment, he suddenly heard screaming voices that seemed to be heading in his direction, which prompted him to immediately halt his movements.


    ¡®What¡¯s going on? Why are there people screaming in a forest infested with magical beasts? Isn¡¯t that too dangerous?¡± Randy wondered the reason behind those loud screams, which seemed like a careless action.


    He then paused for a moment to ponder something before shaking his head afterwards.


    As much as he wanted to use his sensory skill to investigate it, he decided to hold off on it for now in case it was those demons again. After all, the pain of having his skill¡¯s connection cut off was quite painful mentally.


    As a precaution, he chose to hide somewhere and observe the situation first.


    About 90 meters away from where he was hiding, he found a group of Dungeon Hunters, who were fleeing from the pursuit of some fierce-looking magical beasts.


    At this moment, one of them cried out with a hint of fear in their voice: ¡°Not good! At this rate, we¡¯ll all die here!¡±


    This person was a young woman, appearing to be in her early 20s. She was dressed in green, tight-fitting battle clothes, wielding various kinds of weapons. Furthermore, from hermanding tone, she seemed to be the leader of her team.


    All of the team members, including her, appeared to be experienced hunters, judging by their quality equipment.


    However, at this moment, they all looked ragged and battle-worn, as if they had endured an extremely harsh battle.


    The green-clothed young woman loudly spoke up again with a grave expression: ¡°I will stall them, and you guys should take that opportunity to go and report the situation to the Society, so they could send reinforcements!¡±


    ¡°But we can¡¯t just leave you behind, Leader!¡±


    The others expressed their disapproval upon hearing the young woman¡¯s words.


    They felt extreme indignation and unwillingness to leave her behind while they saved their own skin. After all, they had spent most of their entire career together.


    Moreover, anyone who saw the swarm of magical beasts would know right away that it was impossible to survive such an encounter, even if those were low-level magical beasts.


    However, these were all C-Rank and above. Their hunting party was only B-Rank in terms of Dungeon Hunter Rank, and while they could deal with C-Rank magical beasts quite easily, they would eventually tire themselves out and die in consequence.


    Not to mention that there were B-Rank magical beasts among these swarms of magical beasts, making it utterly impossible for their team leader to survive.


    In this situation, how could they abandon their leader and escape by themselves? Wouldn¡¯t she be dead by the time reinforcements arrive?

 Chapter 233

    233 Battle Goddess


    Somewhere, far away from their field of vision and perception range, Randy silently observed the group.


    At this moment, his gaze was focused on the young woman dressed in green battle clothes that highlighted her attractive body figure.


    The young woman with the green clothes had silky blonde hair tied neatly behind her back, and her pretty and exuberant green eyes shone like a pair of spotless emerald stones.


    Her figure, appearance, and looks were all stunning. One could even say that she was a peerless beauty, as she even carried this elegant and noble air around her that draws in anyone who stares at her.


    Moreover, she carried herself as a mature and responsible person who genuinely cares about herrades based on Randy¡¯s observation. Because, even though she looked just as tired as everyone else on her team, she still decided to stay behind to fend off the swarm of about 2-300 magical beasts that were madly charging toward them.


    Randy felt a tinge of admiration towards her, but that was all. He still nned to observe them for a bit.


    Considering that they are all Dungeon Hunters, he would only help them when they really needed his help. Otherwise, it would only look like he was stealing their prey.


    As he pondered, the green-clothed young woman spoke up again with a loud but stern voice.


    ¡°Just listen to me and leave! We don¡¯t have much time left! I am the strongest member of our team, and also the Leader! I am greatly confident in being able to stall these magical beasts! On the other hand, if we all stay here, we can only wait for our eventual death! Do you understand?!¡±


    .....


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡®That¡¯s right. Big Sis Sylvana is the strongest, so she should be fine fighting a few magical beasts with her matchlessbat skills. However, the number of magical beasts this time is just too much. Even she might not survive it with her injuries from the previous battle.¡¯ The other team members thought to themselves with reluctance in their gazes.


    However, to Randy¡¯s surprise, there was one person, who was rtively calm despite their dire situation. They weren¡¯t as nervous as the other two members who had grim expressions on their faces.


    This person was a ck-haired girl who wielded two pairs of ck daggers that exuded deadly dark mana. Her eyes were cold, and her face was expressionless as she stared at their leader who was giving out her orders, seemingly contemting something.


    ¡°Liena, you should take the others away with you as you¡¯re the strongest besides me.¡± The green-clothed young woman turned and said to the ck-haired girl.


    ¡°...¡± The ck-haired girl did not immediately reply, as she still seemed to be contemting her decision.


    A few momentster, she helplessly sighed and hesitantly spoke in reply: ¡°Okay, Big Sis Sylvana.¡±


    Their leader finally smiled with a pleased expression when she heard her response.


    She was worried that she would disagree with her decision, and they would all end up dying a meaningless death here by apanying her. After all, they were all young maidens, and a young man, who hadn¡¯t lived for long, unlike her, who was much older than them and experienced more things in her life. Therefore, she did not mind losing her life here if the others could survive this ordeal.


    Afterward, she quickly urged them once again: ¡°Alright, you should get going! The magical beasts are almost here! If you stay here any longer, you¡¯ll only get in my way!¡±


    Thus, two out of the three members turned to leave, leaving only one person behind.


    ¡°...I¡¯m sorry, Big Sis. We¡¯ll definitely bring back reinforcement from the Society right away. Please don¡¯t die before then.¡± A young girl with a staff in her grasp weakly said to her in assurance.


    ¡°Haha... Don¡¯t worry, Hanalta. I won¡¯t die so easily, so carry on with the others. Don¡¯t dawdle behind the others or you might be left behind by them. And all my effort would go to waste.¡± The green-clothed young womanughed and said to her.


    ¡°O-okay. Please be safe, Big Sis.¡± The young girl named Hanalta reluctantly turned around and followed the others.


    The green-clothed young woman watched the figures of her team members disappear before she finally loosen her stern expression and let out a depressed sigh.


    ¡®I guess this would be my end. I only have one regret... I wish I could¡¯ve stayed with the others some more... At least, until they had grown up...¡¯


    After this thought, she pulled out from her back, a luxurious and stylish bow with intricate engravings on its body. She then took out three arrows from her quiver and knocked them on the bow. Her intentions were very resolute.


    Afterward, she took a deep breath, and then she pulled and aimed at the closest magical beast that approached her location.


    After she pulled the string along with the arrows and secured her target, she let out a breath as she released the three arrows effortlessly, which whistled through the air shortly after.


    Piu!


    With this sound as a prelude to carnage, the three arrows struck a bull-faced magical beast in the head, killing it instantly.


    The green-clothed young woman skillfully put the bow and arrows away and proceeded to draw out a blue steel dagger from her waist and immediately charged forward while brandishing it.


    Making use of her high dexterity and agility, she moved exquisitely and precisely as she pounced on one magical beast after another instantly killing them with one blow each.


    Whenever one of her weapons bes useless or difficult to take out of a magical beast after an attack, she would instantly switch to a new type of weapon and then proceed back to her killing spree.


    Furthermore, each time she took out a different weapon, her battle style changes drastically, as if she was some kind of goddess of battle who had mastery over all weapons.


    Moreover, most of these magical beasts were C-Rank and she was a B-Rank Dungeon Hunter, so there was no way she would lose to these kinds of magical beasts.


    Not to mention that with her experience of having fought these magical beasts numerous times, she naturally knew of their weakness and how to quickly and efficiently deal with them.


    Therefore, the hunting of these magical beasts could not be considered actualbat, but rather, it was more like carnage- A carnage of magical beasts.


    Despite that, her movement was beginning to slow down as she fought about 20 magical beasts within mere 3 minutes.


    This made sense, as no matter how powerful or skillful she was, she was only one person, and sooner orter, she would run out of stamina. Not to mention that she was already exhausted from having fought other magical beasts before this.


    ...


    Meanwhile, Randy silently observed her in the distance with a solemn expression.


    ¡®She¡¯s not bad. To be able to fight in such a way in that state. I suppose she¡¯s used to battle. If she wasn¡¯t already exhausted, I assume she could¡¯ve easily taken care of these magical beasts by herself.¡¯ Randy inwardlymented in admiration.

 Chapter 234

    234 Intervention


    Randy was indeed astonished by thebat skills and the uniquebat prowess disyed by the green-clothed young woman. Since, despite hernguished state, she still managed to kill more than 20 magical beasts by herself within a short time.


    That level ofbat prowess, coupled with her mastery of other weapons created a perfect definition of a truebatant- an adept warrior who fought on the battlefield regardless of their state.


    Randy hadn¡¯t directly seen many people fighting before besides watching some videos back in his world. However, this young woman¡¯s disy ofbat made him ascertain that she must be an experiencedbatant, and it was at a level where it was not simply from fighting some magical beasts.


    Randy recalled that this world was currently at war with each other, and he instantly assumed that perhaps, she used to participate in such wars, hence why her skills became this refined.


    Either that, or she was simply a genius fighter. Either way, Randy found it interesting and wish to fight her for reference, as he had never truly fought someone without the intention to kill just yet.


    However, as he saw her struggling to fight with the remaining magical beasts, he decided that perhaps, now was a good time to assist her. Furthermore, this also aligned with his current goals, so it doesn¡¯t hurt to assist her.


    With that in mind, he stepped out of his hiding position and into the open as he brandished his cial Beast Sword, which exuded a cold air in his grasp.


    He had been hiding behind a dense thicket all this time, as it served as perfect camouge.


    Afterward, he took a step forward while channeling his mana into the sword. He wanted to try out something that he didn¡¯t think of during his fight with two demons.


    .....


    Because he was preupied with how to defend against their attacks, he didn¡¯t get to test this out with his sword and only momentarily used it during that battle, but it was ineffective as he didn¡¯t prepare enough for it.


    Indeed, it was the weapon property of his cial Beast Sword!


    Naturally, this sword also had its own weapon property, and it was rted to ice, which could be guessed just based on its name alone.


    Randy simply didn¡¯t have the time to try it out during the battle with demons. But now was different, he had enough time to test it out before stepping out of the bush this time.


    At this moment, the team members of the green-clothed young woman had reached the location where he came out, and when they saw his nonchnt look as he walked forward in the direction they were frantically running away from while ignoring them.


    They were left speechless for a good moment, as it was obvious that they were running for their lives based on how they were panting and frantically running away from the direction that the young man was heading.


    Subsequently, a stout young man in their group, who looked to be about 16-17 years old, shouted at him, seemingly annoyed by this person who couldn¡¯t take a hint.


    ¡°Hey, you! Are you blind or are you crazy? Can¡¯t you see what¡¯s going on?¡±


    This young man obviously did not believe that Randy was strong enough to deal with the magical beasts since he looked to be about the same age as them.


    However, Randy simply ignored him and continued forward in a calm manner.


    Seeing that the other party was not reacting to his words, the stout young man thought that he might not only be blind but also deaf as well.


    Therefore, he decided to speak in a slightly loud voice: ¡°Hey!! Did you not hear me?!! There is a magical beast horde heading this way from that direction!! If you don¡¯t want to die, don¡¯t go in that direction!!¡±


    Randy instantly frowned when he heard the stout young man¡¯s screaming voice.


    ¡®Is this person stupid? Why is he screaming in this kind of ce? Now that I am hearing it, his voice was the loudest among the people that I heard screaming earlier.¡¯


    Randy wanted to avoid anyplications since he nned on intervening without revealing himself.


    He didn¡¯t want to speak or socialize with them. However, as things stood, it was a wrong decision on his part toe out without using his stealth skill. No, it was a mistake for him to think that they would ignore him since they were strangers.


    As he thought, the stout continued to shout behind him.


    ¡°Our Leader is currently fighting those magical beasts off, so take this chance and run away with us back to report back to the Society.¡±


    ¡°Oh right! Damn it! We have to hurry up and report to the Society. Otherwise, the Leader would...¡±


    Randy couldn¡¯t take it anymore and replied with a slightly irritated voice without turning around: ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I know what I am doing.¡±


    Randy slowly walked forward and then after using Dimensional Sense to confirm that no magical beasts were attracted by the stout young man¡¯s shouts, he felt reassured.


    After which, he took one step forward before abruptly kicking the ground and charging toward the direction where the green-clothed young woman was fighting with her life on the line.


    His departure left the stout young man speechless, as he did not expect to bepletely ignored by the other party despite his constant warning.


    A momentter he shouted: ¡°Hey! Where are you going?! You guys, why didn¡¯t you... Huh? Where did the others go?¡±


    As he was wasting his time trying to inform Randy many times to turn around and receiving no reply, hispanion did not linger there any longer and directly left the stout young man behind since it appears that he was the one that couldn¡¯t catch a hint.


    Naturally, this stout young man could take care of himself for a while even if something were to happen to him. However, that was very unlikely since their Leader was currently holding off the horde of magical beasts in the vicinity.


    Thus, they left him behind as reporting their situation was more important.


    Furthermore, their Leader¡¯s life was on the line here, so they couldn¡¯t afford to waste their time on that idiot who only knew how to act arrogant when there was no need.


    On the other hand, after being left in a daze from shock for a few moments, the stout young man came back to his sense and instantly became apprehensive about his surroundings and immediately scurried away without looking back. He no longer cared about that young man.


    ...


    Meanwhile, Randy approached the green-clothed young woman, who was only a few tens of meters away from him.


    He was currently depending on his Dimensional Sense skill to check out her situation.


    And as expected, she was really holding her own against the onught of the different magical beasts.


    But as he had noticed before, her movement was slowing down, although it was not affecting her too much at the moment.


    Even so, as the fight goes on, she would inevitably fall due to either exhaustion or being eaten alive by those rabid magical beasts.


    Not long after, the distance between them closed, and he was only 30 meters away from her.


    At this point, Randy decided to use his Stealth Skill and presence concealment to carefully approach the green-clothed young woman.


    When he was about 10 meters away from her, something unexpected urred, which caused him to abruptly halt his movement and look ahead with a slight frown.

 Chapter 235

    235 Icy Fog


    At this moment, Randy looked ahead of himself as a strange phenomenon was happening right in front of his eyes.


    The green-clothed young woman, who was on the verge of being taken down by the fierce magical beasts, suddenly exploded with a burst of power, as her entire body started glowing in this intense green glow that embraced her entire being. It was almost as though she was a living brilliant light.


    Seeing her like this, Randy was shocked by the power exuding from her body as it did not seem to be just mana. It had this sublime feeling, which gave the impression that something was different about it aspared to ordinary mana.


    ¡®Is this body aura or something else?¡¯ Randy wondered with a perplexed expression.


    With his interest now piqued, he decided to hold back on his intervention for a bit to observe what power she was using.


    Even though he wields different forms of energy within his body enough to be familiar with their nature, this energy still lookedpletely different in nature from what he currently possessed.


    Meanwhile, the surrounding magical beasts winced in trepidation as they tried not to get close to the strange emitting lighting from the green-clothed young woman.


    However, they did notpletely depart from her location, and instead waited, especially the B-Rank magical beasts, who could tell that it was that human¡¯sst-ditch attack.


    They had faced these kinds of attacks in the past from other Dungeon Hunters, and most of them were weaker than even their original output power. As such, they were able to kill them after letting them drain their remaining power.


    .....


    Although these magical beasts had no intention of fighting these humans in the beginning and only cared about running away from a threat, since they were already at this stage, they might as kill these weak humans, who most likely had something to do with the threat within the forest.


    On the other hand, Randy continued to observe the changes happening to the green-clothed young woman¡¯s body.


    He had no idea what that strange power was, but ording to his deduction, she seemed to be using her ultimate attack against the magical beasts since she was about to lose.


    Sure enough, a few momentster, after she stabilized herself and her power, she immediately charged into the swarm of the unsuspecting beasts like a moth to a me with reckless abandon.


    Although her current actions may indeed be reckless, and she most likely nned on dying while fighting those magical beasts, her movement, weapon technique, and visual awareness- all of herbat prowess were showcased effortlessly with a clear resolution and bravery disyed in her sharp gaze.


    Furthermore, herbat skills and techniques were also executed wlessly without wasting any movement as she pounced on the magical beasts, who had no choice but to face her relentless wrath.


    This time, with a long sword in her grasp, she utterly decimated a group of magical beasts who had no idea that their target would suddenly ambush them out of nowhere and was even stronger than they had anticipated,pletely unlike the others that they had faced before.


    Even though she had the upper hand while killing about 10-20 C-Rank and B-Rank magical beasts after her sudden outburst of that strange power, she very quickly lost her steam inbat like a deted balloon.


    Shortly after, she knelt on the ground, a few meters away from the remaining magical beasts, as she started panting with a withered expression. She seemed to have expended all of her energy.


    Furthermore, it appeared that the mysterious and unknown power she used just now had taken a great toll on her body after usage, as she could barely stand and could only use her thin long sword to prop herself up from falling t on the ground as she knelt.


    When the fierce-looking magical beasts, especially the surviving B-Rank magical beasts, who were caught off-guard by her attacks, saw her sorry state, their eyes immediately became filled with redness from going into their frenzied state.


    They wanted to get their revenge on her for killing theirrades, and so with bloodshot eyes, a group B-Rank magical beasts pounced on her with the aim to rip her apart and chew on her bones to sate their anger.


    Seeing the approaching beasts who had savage looks on their hairy faces, the green-clothed young woman simply knelt there with a calm expression.


    Her current appearance could only be described as wretched; Her clothes were wrinkled and tattered, which exposed a bit of her fair skin; Her neatly tied-up blonde hair became undone and disheveled from the battle; There were also countless cut wounds inflicted on her otherwise unblemished skin from the magical beasts¡¯ ws and fang attacks.


    Naturally, most of these wounds came from her previous battle against much stronger magical beasts. These magical beasts couldn¡¯t even put a scratch on her body.


    However, despite her current appearance, the green-clothed young woman did not pay it any attention, as she waited for her end right where she stood without turning her firm gaze away from her attackers.


    ¡®Is this finally it? Will I also die in battle like myrades?¡¯ The green-clothed young woman wondered to herself despite the approaching magical beasts, who only drew closer toward her.


    Within the few moments of silence before her ultimate end, she disyed a mncholic expression before muttering: ¡°Pylona, Pylonard, Celesta... All of myrades... I will be joining you guys soon... Pylona, Pylonard, Celesta... I hope that when we meet again, you will forgive this ipetent Big Sister of yours...¡±


    The moment she finished her seeminglyst words, she gazed into the sky for a moment before she closed her eyes, ready to perish under the brutal beasts¡¯ attacks.


    The magical beasts were only about 30 inches away from gnawing at her supple neck, wing at her chest, and shing her back; Each magical beast aimed at a different part of her body with madness visible in their bloodshot eyes.


    At this critical moment, imperceptibly, something silently appeared in front of the green-clothed young woman.


    The next instant, the entire surroundings were filled with this bone-chilling icy fog.


    The chilly sensation from the icy fog caused the green-clothed young woman to abruptly open her eyes, and to her surprise, at some unknown point, a young man was standing in front of her gantly as he wielded a sword that exuded a cold aura from its de.

 Chapter 236

    236 Tears


    Naturally, the gant young man standing in front of her was Randy, who couldn¡¯t afford to watch it anymore and decided to intervene at this critical time.


    Under the dazed gaze of the green-clothed young woman, Randy unhesitatingly swung his sword horizontally in a wide motion, drawing an arc of light in front of him.


    In the next instant, the icy fog in the vicinity surged and all in his field of vision was covered in thick icy fog before revealing the masterpieces of various magical beasts¡¯ ice sculptures in front of him.


    All the magical beasts trying to pounce on the green-robed young woman froze in the air before dropping down with a ¡®thud¡¯ sound shortly after.


    Without waiting for them to react to their states, Randy closed the distance and casually swung his sword once again without any energy, skill, or technique, simply an ordinary sword strike.


    However, this sword strike was potent enough, as all the magical beasts were cut in half by his sword effortlessly.


    This was because the cial Beast Sword had a sharp edge. It would make no sense if an S-Rank weapon had a dull de in the first ce.


    The green-clothed young woman was dumbfounded by his casual disy of walking and killing those ferocious magical beasts as if they were nothing.


    However, to Randy, these magical beasts were indeed nothing to the current him.


    .....


    By his estimates, the strongest among them was only level 40. And although they had tough bodies, with just his sword, which was not only an S-Rank weapon but also had a sharpness to match, it was not a problem to instantly kill them off.


    After Randy took care of the magical beasts in front of him, he turned around to face the green-clothed young woman.


    He then opened his mouth, about to say something before quickly closing them with a slight frown on his face.


    On the other hand, the green-clothed young woman still had a dazed expression on her face, as she still couldn¡¯t process what was happening right in front of her very eyes.


    One moment, she was on the verge of facing her inevitable end, and then, the next moment, someone suddenly appeared out of nowhere and came to her aim and they proceeded to save her from her dire situation, seemingly with barely much effort.


    ¡®W-Who is this young man? I thought I was ready to die this time since my death has long since been overdue, and yet the gods still want me to survive this? For what reason? Why should I be the only one left behind in this treacherous world of ours?¡¯


    Unbeknownst to her, at this moment, she was shedding tears from the corner of her eyes and Randy happened to notice this, and that was why he didn¡¯t say anything to her just yet.


    He, who had no idea what she was thinking thought that something happened to her and said: ¡°Why are you crying? Did you hurt yourself in your battle just now? I don¡¯t recall you receiving any injuries, though.¡±


    And he continued with a deep frown: ¡°Or are you worried that I would steal your prey?¡±


    Randy casually asked as he had no idea besides these reasons why someone like her would suddenly shed tears even though they were mercilessly massacring those magical beasts like there was no tomorrow before.


    After all, she didn¡¯t even cry when facing the frenzied magical beasts impending assaults just now, and yet after he had saved her, she started crying? Why was that?


    ¡°What?¡± The green-clothed young woman snapped out of her daze with a frozen expression.


    She was immediately stunned by Randy¡¯s sudden questions for a brief moment, as she didn¡¯t know that she was crying at this moment.


    The following moment, she unconsciously touched her face, and she was immediately embarrassed to find tears trickling down her cheeks.


    ¡®How could someone my age cry like a little girl?! How embarrassing!¡¯ She screamed inwardly in disbelief and shame, as she hadn¡¯t shed tears for a very long time.


    She quickly wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and cheeks.


    However, outwardly, besides wiping her tears, she did not react too much, as her expression still remained unchanged.


    Instead, she put on an expressionless face as if nothing had happened just now and said in a somewhat stuttering voice: ¡°D-Don¡¯t worry about that. I would not hold it against you even if you took all the magical beast carcasses. After all, you did save my life just now.¡±


    Her expressionless countenance and her spoken words that were said in a nervous tone created a very strange disharmony, which caused Randy to frown even further.


    ¡®What¡¯s wrong with her?¡¯


    However, Randy did not say anything and was about to nod when the green-clothed young woman spoke up again.


    ¡°Oh right. Thank you foring to my aid even though this is our first time meeting each other.¡±


    She smiled as she said this, her voice sounded very sincere and grateful, no longer nervous, almost as though she just regained her lost senses.


    ¡°...¡± Randy was truly confused by the changes in her demeanor, but he didn¡¯t think too much and only nodded his head when he heard her words.


    Then, he turned around and sucked in all the magical beast carcasses into his ck spatial ring. Of course, he left behind the ones hunted by the green-clothed young woman.


    The green-clothed young woman saw his actions and wanted to say something to him. However, before she could do so, Randy had already left the scene, as he pursued the remaining magical beasts that tried to run away after theirrades were mercilessly killed by him.


    Even though the green-clothed was skilled and could kill a few magical beasts within a few seconds, she could not use an area of effect attack to freeze their movement as Randy did.


    Therefore, the magical beasts were scared senseless by Randy¡¯s strange sword attack that froze theirrades effortlessly, and in response, they immediately veered from their original course to escape his onught.


    But sadly for them, they were unable to escape his clutches. This scene left the young woman dumbfounded with a dazed look on her beautiful face, as she watched him y the surplus magical beasts with seemingly no effort in his path.


    Before long, she came back to her senses when she could no longer see his figure, and she chased after her team members shortly after stowing away the remaining magical beast carcasses left behind by Randy.


    ...


    Meanwhile, Randy continued to chase after the fleeing magical beasts without stopping. Each time, he approached one, he would swing his sword and instantly kill them with one strike.


    The reason for his efficiency in killing off the magical beasts had to do with observing the green-clothed young woman¡¯s fighting style from earlier.


    As he observed her battle against the magical beasts, Randy didn¡¯t simply watch her without taking note of her actions, as he also observed her way of killing those magical beasts with rtive ease, seemingly with no effort by striking specific parts of their body.


    After all, although he could kill the magical beasts if he used his full strength, it was still a bit wasteful whenpared with actualbat, where preserving his energy and retaining his peak state quickly was a must to avoid any ambushes.


    Furthermore, he wasn¡¯t in the state to waste too much energy carelessly, especially after encountering those demons a while ago.


    Who¡¯s to say that he wouldn¡¯t encounter more of them in this forest?

 Chapter 237

    237 Penalty


    Randy continued hunting the magical beasts that fled away, up until he couldn¡¯t sense anymore of them around a 100-meter radius around himself. Only then did he stop his pursuit, as venturing any further into the forest might be too dangerous for the current enfeebled him.


    As Randy was about to turn to leave, he was instantly bombarded with lines of glowing text in his field of vision from his system.


    All this time, he hadn¡¯t seen any notification from his system, not even when he killed so many magical beasts enough to create a small mountain, and he was worried about losing out on his reward, but he didn¡¯t bother to ask about it in the middle of his ughter.


    However, seeing the glowing lines of white text in front of his eyes, he quickly read through them in anticipation, as this was the sole reason why he even bothered chasing after those surviving magical beasts.


    [[You have killed a plethora of weak magical beasts without mercy even though they were truly weaker than you]]


    [[As the opponents were much weaker than you, the system would like to establish a penalty of not receiving any divine points, as the recurrence of the current conduct wouldpromise the privilege of the lives of all the species that you will encounter in the future]]


    [[However, as this was your first timemitting such a massacre against weaklings, and also judging by the fact that there were many of them, and you¡¯re also in a slightly weakened state, you will be rewarded with all the divine points harvested this time without any deduction]]


    ¡®So... Are you saying that I can¡¯t kill any creature weaker than me to harvest divine points?¡¯


    Randy was slightly puzzled, as this was the first time that he was reading about this. At least that was what he thought.


    .....


    Although for some reason, he felt like the system had mentioned it before in a different way, he doesn¡¯t remember it at the moment. Hence why he was puzzled by this discovery.


    Most likely, he was affected by his mental state being exhausted from his previous fight.


    [[That is indeed the case]]


    ¡°Then what about knowledge points?¡± Randy then asked.


    [[Knowledge points can only be obtained from high-level lifeforms with immense intelligence. Most lifeforms, despite being immensely strong with unparalleledbat strength, do not possess much intelligence, so there would be no knowledge points to be extracted from such lifeforms in the first ce]]


    Randy pondered for a moment and then said: ¡°I guess that makes sense.¡±


    If the system hadn¡¯t established such rules, then he would most likely kill off any and all creatures hees across to umte both knowledge and divine points since it was easier and less risky that way.


    However, with this rule of hunting those stronger than him, he would have to work harder to kill his opponents, but that only meant that the rewards would be bountiful.


    ¡°Ah. Then what about those with the same level of strength as me? Will it also be affected by this rule?¡± Randy suddenly asked in confirmation.


    [[Those with the samebat strength andbat power as you do not count, as they could also kill you in case you let your guard down duringbat]]


    Randy sighed in relief when heard this, and he then concluded: ¡°That makes things less of a hassle then. I should probably stick to those as strong as me to harvest both knowledge and divine points for now.¡±


    ¡°...¡± Randy suddenly felt a jolt in his brain after a moment of silence.


    ¡®Wait! Now I remember! The system didn¡¯t talk about the divine points until now, however, I remember that it mentioned this restriction when I was hunting magic beasts for knowledge points in my world.¡¯


    Randy finally recalled why he felt like he had the system¡¯s warning before.


    Shortly after, the system disyed how much knowledge and divine points he harvested this time in on his status screen.


    After a quick nce at the divine points and knowledge points section on his status screen, Randy smiled in satisfaction.


    Sure enough, it was quite a bountiful harvest without a doubt.


    However, the amount he received from hunting a single magical beast wasn¡¯t as much aspared to the amount he received from hunting those two demons separately, so it did not make him that happy. Regardless, the total amount was higher than the two demonsbined since he hunted down more than 150 magical beasts.


    The green-clothed young woman actually managed to hunt down about half of the magical beast before his intervention. Otherwise, he would¡¯ve received more divine points and knowledge points.


    That aside, Randy was still pleased with the oue.


    The corners of Randy¡¯s lips curled into a smile when he thought of the total harvest this time. Once he returns to the city, he would sort them out then, and also try spending some points on some things that he kept for a while now.


    Subsequently, he went back where he came from, as he intend toplete his request with the number of magical beasts that he hunted.


    However, as he passed by the location where he fought the first wave of the magical beasts, he found out that the green-clothed young woman was no longer there.


    ¡®I guess she went after herrades. I should also head back to the Society building and mark thepletion of my first request.¡¯ Randy silently thought.


    ¡°Haah...¡± Randy suddenly sighed and muttered: ¡°It has been a hectic day. So many things happened on this request. I wonder if it would be like this from now on.¡±


    Randy recalled the events that transpired today with a bitter smile as he had been getting into troubletely for some reason.


    A momentter, he shook his head and proceeded forward, as he wanted to return to his room as soon as possible and rx on his bed after such a tiring day.


    Although he appeared calm all the time, mentally, he was exhausted, as he had to spend so much of his brainpower to strategize for his perilous situation, and then also expended too much energy to finally defeat those demons.


    Furthermore, while he wasn¡¯t hurt badly after the fight, he was still left fatigued.


    However, it wasn¡¯t at the level where he would copse at any moment, but it was still there.


    As such, he wanted to end the day earlier even though it was only the afternoon currently.


    Regardless, today wasn¡¯t without its rewards, as he not only acquired an incarnation, albeit defective, he still managed to umte an abundant amount of both knowledge and divine points, enough tost him for a while if nothing unexpected happens.

 Chapter 238

    238 We Meet Again


    At this point, Randy thought of his incarnation, which had been incapacitated from the previous fight. His incarnation was another asset that he obtained from his outing today and would be more useful in the future, even if it was not created to perfection as he has initially hoped.


    After all, even though it was wed andcking extremely, especially with its inability to use some of his skills, it still had the power to transcend its limits with the Body Strengthen skill that was derived from his Grip skill.


    Furthermore, as of the moment, his incarnation depended on divine points to fight since there was barely any energy in its body after its inception. There was also the matter of trying to heal it to see if it would wake up.


    However, he was not certain if it was possible to heal it with his abilities since he didn¡¯t have any healing abilities.


    ¡®Maybe I should find some creature with healing abilities and assimte with its blood...¡¯


    Randy thought to himself as he walked through the forest on the trail that he zed to not get lost in the forest.


    Naturally, he kept his Dimensional Sense skill on in case there was an ambush from a magical beast or anyone. This was why he was not bothering to run back this time, as he was too tired to do so.


    Moreover, he might make an amateur mistake if he weren¡¯t careful enough and decide to run through the forest in his current state.


    A few minutester, Randy was almost at the entrance of the Meistic forest when he saw a man in a ck cloak standing over what seemed to be the bodies of the Dungeon Hunters that he came across a while ago.


    .....


    They all had paleplexions on their faces as theyid there, seemingly unconscious.


    Even the green-clothed young woman was among them, which was not only surprising to Randy who witnessed her prowess in battle but also understandable, considering her state before they separated.


    The ck-cloaked man was currently fighting the ck-haired girl, who seemed quite skilled herself, as she executed her skills and instantly appeared behind the ck-cloaked man with the intention to cut his head off with one strike.


    However, the ck-cloaked man casually dodged her supposed deadly attack with ease, without even looking back, and then mocked: ¡°A bug like you dared to touch me! Know your ce!¡±


    Bang!


    Right after he said this, he had already turned and waved his hand sideways, knocking the ck-haired girl a considerable distance away, almost like he was swatting at some annoying fly.


    Boom!


    The ck-haired girl continued to fly in the air before knocking against a tree on her side, coughing up some blood afterward.


    Despite that, she still forced herself to stand back up shortly after with her cold expression unchanged. It appears that she was not willing to back down, especially after seeing her team members rendered into such states on the ground, making them look as though they had lost their vitality.


    The ck-cloaked man was extremely annoyed when he saw this persistence from her and wanted to immediately kill her off, but he abruptly halted his movements when he suddenly sensed someone approaching him from behind.


    On the other hand, as if surprised by something unexpected, Randy raised his eyebrows when he saw this scene, but he didn¡¯t say anything and proceeded to watch on with a dazed look.


    Meanwhile, upon sensing the presence behind, the ck-cloaked man turned around with a vicious look in his crimson glowing eyes. An evil smirk appeared on his face when he noticed the dazed look on Randy¡¯s face.


    The ck-cloaked man interpretated his expreession as him being shocked senseless from the mere sight of him.


    He thenughed sinisterly and said: ¡°So you are anothermp to the ughter?¡±


    His words sounded like a question and not a question at the same time, as they carried an ambiguous meaning from the way he uttered them.


    He had no idea why there were so many Dungeon Hunters in the Meistic forest, but he could now finally unleash some of his stress by slowly killing some of them off to sate his stress.


    However, Randy was still dazed as he looked at this man for a while before snapping out of his daze.


    Suddenly, the ck-cloaked man felt an uncontroble chill down his spine as all his senses spiraled out of control, and he immediately search for the source for his sudden reaction, and to his surprise, it wasing from the young man in front of him.


    At some unknown point, the young man in front of him was smiling as he continued to observe him.


    ¡®He is smiling...? Has he gone insane from fear?¡¯


    The ck-cloaked man thought that something wasn¡¯t right with that conjecture.


    At this point, the ck-cloaked man narrowed his eyes at Randy for a few moments before his eyes abruptly widened with shock: ¡°Fuck! It¡¯s you again!¡±


    ¡°Hello, we meet again. How have you been? Did you miss me?¡± Randy opened his arms wide and casually said with a smile on his face, seeming quite amicable.


    This situation left the ck-haired girl, who also just noticed that the one who spoke just now was the young man from before, dumbfounded.


    ¡®What is he doing here? Wait, he actually came back unscathed after diving into the forest like that? I thought he was just a reckless fool when he ignored the warning from us. Don¡¯t tell me he was that ¡®young man¡¯? The one that saved the Leader?¡¯ The ck-haired girl wondered as she leaned against the tree beside her.


    She then took out a recovery potion from her pouch and gulped it all down.


    After contemting for a bit, she decided to observe the situation for now as she recovers from her injuries since it appears that that young man knew who that man was, and from the looks of it, they were not friendly with each other.


    Undoubtedly, Randy recognized this man.


    This was the vampire man that attacked him the other day when he came out of the dungeon of beasts¡¯ entrance portal. He thought he wouldn¡¯t encounter him again, but fate would have it otherwise.


    Since the other party brought himself to him, there was no need to hold back in repaying the debt, right?


    Thinking about this, the friendly smile on Randy¡¯s face grew wider and wider, and eventually, it started looking slightly sinister and yet still appear friendly. It was a very strange sight to behold.


    When the man saw his friendly and smiling face and his gaze which contained a trace of wickedness, he instantly broke out into cold sweats before taking one step backward in apprehension.

 Chapter 239

    239 Divine Points¡¯ Usage


    ¡®Shit! I need to run away from here! Why is this hateful guy who was the cause of my stress in this ce? Looking at the aura lingering on his body, he seemed to have gotten stronger even though it¡¯s not too apparent because I can¡¯t see through his strength-disguising technique.¡¯


    The ck-cloaked vampire man could tell that Randy had gotten considerably stronger than before, but by how much he couldn¡¯t tell, since it appears that Randy had used some technique to mask his true strength, or at least that was what he thinks.


    However, contrary to the ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s belief, Randy didn¡¯t use any technique this time even though he does have such concealing means.


    The only reason why no one could tell his true strength at first nce was due to his Myriad Energy Devouring Physique¡¯s unique trait. This prevents the probing of others¡¯ inspection of his true strength due to the chaotic aura that he naturally emits.


    At this moment the ck-cloaked vampire man wasn¡¯t sure whether he should quickly run away from the other party or reach apromise with them. After all, he was not about to lose to the same person again if he could avoid them altogether.


    As the ck-cloaked vampire man fell into deep contemtion, Randy, who was approaching him with a smile suddenly noticed something with his Dimensional Sense skill and turned to look at the beautiful, green-cloaked young woman and herpanions who were strewn on the ground.


    After observing their situation for a bit, he scowled, and the smile on his face disappeared shortly after.


    Earlier, his gaze was fixated on the ck-cloaked vampire man and neglected the condition of the people on the ground, as he could sense using his Dimensional Sense skill that they were still alive.


    However, now that he had looked at them closely, they seemed deadly pale, no different from a corpse, most likely they were on the verge of death.


    .....


    Based on their current condition, it seemed like the ck-cloaked man purposely did not kill them, and instead kept them on the border between life and death for some unthinkable reason.


    Randy¡¯s expression turned cold when he turned to look at the ck-cloaked man once again before opening his mouth to speak in a demanding tone: ¡°You. What did you do to them?¡±


    ¡°...What?¡±


    The ck-cloaked vampire man, who was lost in thoughts blinked and muttered this word as he thought Randy would initiate their fight rather than ask about those lying on the ground.


    ¡°I said what did you do to their bodies?¡± Randy demanded once again in an impatient tone.


    The ck-cloaked vampire man looked between him, and the people lying on the ground for a brief moment, and then spoke afterwards in a curious tone: ¡°Do you know these humans, perhaps? No, you wouldn¡¯t be asking that if you didn¡¯t know them.¡±


    And then he coldly said: ¡°If I knew this information beforehand, I would¡¯ve killed them rather than keep them alive as my ything.¡±


    ¡°However, since I didn¡¯t kill them, I won¡¯t bother to do so now, as I have already had my fill of blood for the day. With this, there¡¯s no need for us to fight a meaningless battle. After all, it¡¯s not like this is the first time that we¡¯ve had an altercation.¡±


    The ck-cloaked vampire man did not want to simply give up to his opponent without any valid reason as that would be shameful. Therefore, he decided to make effective use of the current circumstances to excuse himself from fighting his opponent.


    Furthermore, if he loses to the same opponent twice, there was no way that he would be kept alive by his queen. Since losing again would not only make him look ipetent, but it would also disgrace their kin¡¯s reputation, especially if he lost to a mere individual from the human race. The entire human race was considered weaklings with limited physical prowess.


    When Randy heard the ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s words, he turned silent for a brief moment. He didn¡¯t say anything and proceeded to turn around to check on the others on the ground while ignoring the ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s words.


    As he did so, the ck-cloaked vampire man was speechless since he was already waiting for a rebuttal and possible countermeasures against his enemy.


    Meanwhile, Randy bent over the body of the green-clothed young woman who was close by as he scrutinized her withered and pale appearance with a deep frown on his face.


    At this moment, he wished he had a healing ability to use, but unfortunately, he did not have such an ability. Even though he had regeneration skills, they could only work on him and not on others.


    Randy had a good impression of this green-clothed young woman, even if it was a momentary admiration. He did not wish for her to die before fighting her to temper his skills.


    Not to mention that he had just saved her and now someone nned on killing her right after he had just saved her. How could he let that happen right in front of his eyes?


    After a few moments of observation, he suddenly had a thought.


    And then he asked: ¡°System, can I use the divine points to heal people?¡±


    Although he had not confirmed the various other uses of divine points, healing shouldn¡¯t be out of reach, judging from what he could use them for now.


    In fact, it should be possible, since it was a power that came directly from the body- the body¡¯s soul, meaning he could use it to nourish his body, at the very least.


    He remembered that whenever he used the divine points, he would always feel a warmth in his body that made him feel extremely energetic.


    At the time, he didn¡¯t think much of it, but now that he thought about it, he understood that it was some kind of healing effect- Though the effects weren¡¯t too drastic on his physical body.


    In other words, the healing effects seemed to work more on the soul and mind than on the body itself. Furthermore, he wasn¡¯t hurt during those times when he transferred the divine points, so he didn¡¯t feel much from the healing effects on his body.


    The only problem was if he could transfer the energy to others. So far, he had relied on the system to transfer divine points¡¯ energy.


    The only thing he had transferred the divine points to was the Ancient ck Tome.


    [[Using divine points to heal is not impossible. However, it needs the necessary knowledge and experience to execute such a skill. Because you are unaware of such knowledge, you can only stimte the body of others to promote minor physical recovery with divine points]]


    The system answered him a momentter.


    Randy was pleasantly surprised by this response, as he had simply thrown the question out there without expecting any results.


    However, now that he had received such a response as confirmation of his thought, he decided to ask a few more questions.


    ¡°System, how do I transfer the divine points¡¯ energy into their bodies?¡±


    [[Just imagine the feeling that you experience every time you transfer divine points, and the system would provide the necessary divine points ordingly]]

 Chapter 240

    240 Incapaciting His Opponent


    Randy followed the system¡¯s instructions and attempted to recall the sensation thates with transferring divine points into the ck tome.


    After a while, he managed to recall the sensation he had experienced several times already.


    Subsequently, he tried to transmit some of the divine points through his body. He managed to seed on his first attempt.


    This was because it appeared as though the system was providing divine points in quantified form, so he could easily determine the amount required or needed.


    Therefore, he could easily use them as he sees fit if he memorized the feeling of each quantity of divine points.


    For example, if he wished to use 1 divine point, then the system would transfer 1 divine point through his body, and then he could control it as he sees fit within his body.


    Naturally, it wasn¡¯t easy to control the divine points simply because the system had transferred them into his body. It was mostly because he had experienced the sensation of the warm and soothing energy of the divine points several times now that he had unknowingly developed a sense of how to control or circte it throughout his body.


    Furthermore, it was due to this that he discovered that the divine points had warm and soothing- healing effects on the body.


    After he finished recalling the sensation, he bent over and ced his palm on the green-clothed young woman whoid on the ground, almost lifeless.


    .....


    After he got used to the feeling of the divine points, Randy attempted to transfer some into the green-clothed young woman¡¯s body. For now, he wanted to transfer about 1,000 divine points in total since he wasn¡¯tpletely sure what had happened to them.


    Although he could guess that they might¡¯ve lost some of their blood, the damage they received from that, coupled with their previous injuries was indeterminable by Dimensional Sense skill at the moment.


    Meanwhile, the ck-cloaked vampire man was left speechless when he was ignored by Randy as though he didn¡¯t even exist.


    At first, he wanted to take this chance to quietly leave without alerting the other party, but he was unable to bring himself to do so.


    After all, he wanted to leave under the impression that he was the one sparing them rather than him sparing being spared by the other party.


    Most importantly, there was a possibility that his actions were being monitored by his queen, and there was no way that he would make himself lose any more face.


    Not to mention that this was a terrific opportunity to salvage his previous debacle.


    With that in mind, the ck-cloaked man grinned widely and then silently disappeared from his location with the intention to not alert anyone.


    The next moment he reappeared behind the defenseless Randy, who had his eyes closed as he transferred the divine points into the green-clothed young woman¡¯s body.


    When the ck-haired girl noticed the sudden disappearance and reappearance of the ck-cloaked vampire man, she immediately shouted.


    ¡°Watch out!! He¡¯s behind you!!¡±


    However, as if he did not hear her, Randy didn¡¯t respond despite her warning shout, as he appeared to be too immersed in the soothing feeling of the divine points even as he transferred them over into the green-clothed young woman¡¯s body.


    At first, there were no reactions as the energy entered her body. However, as he continued to increase the quantity of the divine points, there were visible changes on her countenance which were devoid of life before.


    There was a slight frown on her face thatsted for a few moments before her expression gradually turned tranquil and peaceful.


    Although her body still looked pale, it was not as pale as before. There were traces of color returning to her otherwise striking face.


    On the other hand, the ck-cloaked vampire man who silently appeared behind Randy barred his fangs at him without hesitation.


    ¡®Hahahaha!! Stupid human! You dared to show your back to me in a confrontation?! How arrogant!! Now die for me!!¡¯


    The ck-cloaked vampire man shed downward with his bloody w that exuded a sharp red glow.


    When his bloody w was only 10 inches away from the nape of Randy¡¯s turned neck, shockingly enough, he turned around at this moment, stood up, and shed with his hand at the ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s arm that aimed at him, lopping it off instantly.


    Fresh red blood quickly sttered from the arm that was cut off at the elbow joint.


    Before the ck-cloaked vampire man could even scream out in pain, Randy decisively grabbed the jaw of the ck-cloaked man and then gripped it tightly without letting go.


    The ck-cloaked vampire man struggled to break free from his grip, but he failed to escape his seemingly unmovable tight grip. Only his muffled screams could be heard as Randy¡¯s palm covered his mouth.


    The ck-cloaked vampire man felt as though he was being squeezed in between two solid rocks- except that it was Randy¡¯s hand instead.


    A momentter, Randy watched as the vampire man¡¯s arm regenerated with a scowled expression.


    The ck-cloaked vampire man grunted: ¡°Kukh!¡±


    And then he tried to use his other hand to unleash another w attack, but Randy anticipated this and used his de-looking arm that was covered with a chilling aura to lop off the other arm, instantly incapacitating his opponent before they could even attack.


    He then cut off the regenerated arm, leaving behind a freezing effect at the ends of the wounds on both of the ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s arms.


    The freezing effect came from the Frost Hand spell technique, coupled with his Energy Manifestation skill.


    The Frost Hand as the name implied, creates a hand covered with frost that could be shaped into any type of sharp weapon. On the other hand, his Energy Manifestation skill allows the user to manifest anything imaginable.


    Thus, he couldbine these two skills to create a greater effect.


    Due to the effect of hisbination skill, the ck-cloaked vampire man was unable to heal as fast as it could a few moments ago when it regenerated his cut-off limb.


    Randy stared deeply at the man with pale skin and crimson glowing eyes in his grasp, who desperately tried to break free from his grip to no avail.


    Randy¡¯s eyes flickered with uncanny killing intent, as he spoke in a cold tone: ¡°I left you alone for a bit and you tried to sneak attack me? Did you think I was some fool who would listen to an enemy¡¯s words, much less believe them?¡±


    The ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s body trembled uncontrobly when he felt Randy¡¯s overwhelming and intense killing intent that was as powerful as someone who had killed countless beings.


    ¡®What is this guy?! Why does he have such unfathomable and suffocating killing intent?!¡¯ The ck-cloaked vampire man screamed inwardly in trepidation as he broke out in cold sweats.

 Chapter 241

    241 Blood Siphon


    The ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s already pale face turned paler as he trembled slightly in Randy¡¯s grasp.


    At this point, Randy could sense the strange change happening to the aura that he was emitting. The source of this change seemed to stem from somewhere deep within himself, and he immediately frowned at this realization.


    He had once experienced this strange phenomenon when he fought and threatened David Silvermoon. But he didn¡¯t think much of it as he thought it was because he was very angry at him at the time.


    But now things were different from that time, so where did this strange energy of bloodluste from?


    Of course, he was slightly displeased with this vampire, who tried to attack him, but he had it all nned out this time. He was simply trying to verify the truth of the other party¡¯s words and that was the reason why he didn¡¯t bother to fight them.


    Furthermore, helping those in danger was more imperative than fighting that vampire for his revenge.


    However, even though he had control over the situation, he still felt angry toward this vampire man when he attacked him for some reason.


    After thinking about this, he looked at the ck-cloaked vampire man in his grasp, who desperately tried to break free from his grip with despair on his face. However, how could he break free from Randy¡¯s grip, especially after he had used the Body Strengthen skill which he focused on his left hand?


    Randy had grabbed the ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s mouth and his jaws with his left hand; meanwhile, the right hand was encased in a chilling frost de, which he used to cut off the vampire man¡¯s arms to render him helpless.


    .....


    Looking at the vampire man, Randy decided not to think too much about the change in his aura this time as well. Dealing with the vampire was more crucial than whatever was happening to him just now.


    Not to mention that it was harmful to him, and he seemed capable of controlling it to some extent.


    With that in mind, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, regaining hisposure shortly after. Naturally, the killing intent in his aura also dissipated after he calmed down.


    Afterward, he undid his grip on the ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s neck before he coldly but curiously asked: ¡°What were you doing here? Who sent you? Are you rted to the sudden magical beasts¡¯ outbreak in this forest?¡±


    Even though he didn¡¯t bother to inquire about the reason why there were so many magical beasts chasing after the group he met, he was still curious about it.


    There was no way a group of magical beasts of different kinds would travel together, after all. Therefore, Randy wanted to know whether the appearance of this vampire had something to do with it.


    Though he doesn¡¯t care about the things that are happening in his current world, since he was affected this time, he needed to know the reason.


    After learning the reason, he will be able to decide whether to stay in this ce or move elsewhere based on this information.


    Meanwhile, the ck-cloaked vampire man breathed heavily after he fell to the ground, and a few momentster, he spoke full of hatred.


    ¡°As if I will tell you something like that!¡±


    The ck-cloaked vampire man was aggrieved because he thought that as long as he didn¡¯t use his long-range attack like before, the opponent wouldn¡¯t be able to take control of his spell and use it against him.


    But he was wrong to make such a ridiculous assumption.


    Even though the other party did not control his attack, he was unable to even leave a scratch on them before being subdued helplessly. Thus he ended up in his current pathetic state.


    But even so, he would not give in to the demands of his enemy just because he had lost. Furthermore, if his queen was watching him, he has nothing to fear.


    He was certain that his queen would intercede for him since they were currently within her territory.


    With that in mind, he calmed down and his confidence soared.


    However, unbeknownst to him, his queen had abandoned any thoughts regarding getting involved with the human in front of him.


    On the other hand, after Randy heard this response from the ck-cloaked vampire man, he curtly and coldly dered without hesitation: ¡°Is that so? Then die for real this time?¡±


    ¡°You think you can kill me with your attacks? Have you forgotten that you couldn¡¯t killst time? What makes you think you can seed this time? As long as a piece of me remains, I can always regenerate from any wound or damage!¡± The ck-cloaked vampire man said with a smug look on his face.


    In his estimation, even if he couldn¡¯t defeat the other party, he would not be defeated either if he focused on regeneration rather than attacking.


    However, to his surprise, after hearing his words, Randy did not react. Instead, he grabbed and lifted him off the ground in the same position as before he let him go.


    In the next few moments, a shocking and disturbing scene unfolded with the ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s already pale skin turning deadly pale, and his skin began to shrivel shortly after. It was almost as if his blood and vitality were being absorbed from his body. This process carried on until the ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s entire body turned into lumps of dried-up meat on skeletal bones.


    Blood Siphon Technique!


    Within that moment, Randy had executed his newly improved blood maniption technique, Blood Siphon, which was devised from his enlightenment on Blood Authority skill, and he proceeded to use it on the ck-cloaked vampire.


    The effect of which stripped the ck-cloaked vampire man of every single drop of blood within his body, without leaving a single drop behind, turning him into a dried-up corpse with only his bones and flesh remaining.


    This was the only way Randy could think of to deal with someone like him, who depended on blood to survive.


    Furthermore, he wanted to see the effects of his newly improved blood maniption technique after he had broken through to the second stage as an evolved human.


    Before, he needed the opponent to have a wound in order for the blood siphoning technique to work. However, now, all he needed to do was be a certain distance away or get in touch with his opponents to drain some or all of their blood into his body.


    The ultimate result was shocking even to Randy, as he initially only nned on sucking some of the ck-cloaked man¡¯s blood to render his regeneration useless before killing him. But to his surprise, he ended up draining all of the ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s blood instead.

 Chapter 242

    242 Blood Spaces


    Randy discovered something interesting about his ability as he siphoned his enemy¡¯s blood, and that was how he managed to suck in all of the ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s blood into his body.


    This was something that should¡¯ve been biologically impossible, as he couldn¡¯t possibly have the capacity to store two people¡¯s blood within himself.


    Even if the blood-cloaked vampire man¡¯s blood volume was less than his, which was unlikely, he shouldn¡¯t have been able to absorb all of it. This was because he still had an ample amount of blood in his system.


    While he had lost some blood before in his previous fight with the demons, he hadn¡¯t lost enough to warrant his feat of absorbing the ck-cloaked man¡¯s bloodpletely.


    Moreover, there were the scientific aspects of the problem, which needed to be taken into consideration, such as blood type andpatibility. Otherwise, there would be someplications.


    Even if he ignored the blood type, he still had to worry about the possible contamination in the blood beforehand. After all, the ck-cloaked vampire man was not human like him. Therefore, there were bound to be differences in their physiology.


    However, when he absorbed the blood this time, he sucked in everything without cleansing the blood like he always did before assimting with them.


    And that was in part due to his discovery this time.


    In the past, Randy needed to intake blood to initiate his Blood Assimtion Ability. However, what he didn¡¯t know at the time was where the blood that he consumed ended up or how it altered his bloodline as a whole.


    .....


    But now that he had entered the Blood Space within his body with the help of his Ancestral Regression skill, he was able to ascertain that whenever he consumed the blood of others, they get transferred into one of the many blood spaces in his body before the assimtion truly begins.


    ording to what he could observe of the blood spaces, they were tiny blood orbs that seemed to be part of his bloodstream. They floated very naturally within his bloodstream when he used his Dimensional Sense and his Inner Sight to observe them earlier.


    The Inner Sight was something he discovered capable of doing after breaking through to the second stage as an evolved human- it was simply the ability to see the internal or inner workings inside his body.


    Though the Inner Sight function seemed to be limited to only observation, it was still useful. This was more so if coupled with the Dimensional Sense skill that focuses on analysis and scrutiny.


    As for how many blood spaces he actually has in his body, even if he doesn¡¯t know. But he could tell that they were without a doubt part of his bloodstream, so it could be countless.


    However, the current him couldn¡¯t perceive most of them and could only see a few of them after he entered the second stage as an evolved human. For now, most of them were imperceptible.


    He estimates that as his stage as an evolved human increases as well as the increase in blood energy, he would be able to perceive more blood spaces. Furthermore, he would even be able to use them for many things previously unimaginable to him.


    That aside, after visiting the blood spaces a few times with the aid of the Ancestral Regression skill, coupled with the increase in his blood energy he hade to understand the function of the blood spaces in general, as he could now vividly sense and know how to use them due to his elevated stage as an evolved human.


    ording to his current perception and understanding of the blood spaces- he could use them to store blood in his body, which he could then useter to execute his blood-rted skills. This was very convenient, as he didn¡¯t have to worry about procuring blood to carry out his future blood maniption techniques.


    Randy had been worried about using his blood for some time now, so this discovery solved that issue for him.


    As much as he wanted to use his blood maniption frequently in battle, he did not want to use his own blood in doing so.


    Furthermore, it was a hassle to collect blood in containers or something just to use his ability, so he never bothered with them. So now that he could siphon the blood of others in close proximity and also store them forter use, most of his problems were solved.


    And just like that, he hadpletely drained the ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s blood to thest drop.


    The vampire man, however, had a look of disbelief on his face the whole time as he felt his life-blood drained before he could even utter a scream of pain.


    Furthermore, he wasn¡¯t even able to regenerate as Randy also absorbed the factor of his regeneration through siphoning all of his blood.


    This was only natural. As vampiric beings were creatures of blood, they may have survived for a few minutes without blood in their bodies, but eventually, they would die if exposed to sunlight. More so if they did not consume blood in time before sunrise.


    However, Randy cruelly absorbed all of the ck-cloaked vampire man¡¯s blood into his body without leaving a single scrap behind, so he instantly killed the ck-cloaked vampire man before he had time to react to the pain that ensued afterward.


    Although this blood-cloaked vampire man hasn¡¯t yet disintegrated into nothing due to the shade within the forest, he would quickly disappear when exposed to the sunlight.


    Before Randy executed his blood siphoning technique, he first made sure that the vampire man did not have ck blood like the demons that he fought earlier. Because for some reason he couldn¡¯t assimte, or rather he thinks that he couldn¡¯t assimte with their blood.


    Not to mention that he was almost done in by their dark energy. That sinister dark energy very likely has something to do with their blood being blood instead of any color for that matter.


    Randy instinctively loathed the dark energy that those demons and the chimera monster used; it was to the point where he felt it repulsive rather than sinister.


    This was one of the reasons why Randy didn¡¯t bother to use such a powerful technique on the ck-horned demon. Another reason was the potential failure in the execution of the technique since his enemy was vastly stronger than this ck-cloaked vampire man.


    A short whileter, Randy suddenly dropped the husk of the ck-cloaked vampire man on the ground, breaking the eerie silence in the forest.


    Meanwhile, the scene that had unfolded dumbfounded and frightened the only bystander in that ce- the ck-haired girl.

 Chapter 243

    243 A Weakling


    The dumbfounded ck-haired girl stared inplete shock with a gawking expression on her pretty face.


    After she witnessed thepletely bizarre scene of that vampire man, who was feared by both her and herpanions for his ridiculous and powerful regenerative ability, being dominated inbat, and even losing terribly with no possibility or chance of salvation, that left her mouth agape with her jaw dropped uncharacteristically from just the sight of this inconceivable oue in front of her.


    The vampire couldn¡¯t even manage to use his proud regenerative ability before helplessly sumbing to death at the hand of the young man in front of her.


    On the other hand, both she and her team members had suffered considerably under the onught of this vampire. Yet it was killed very quickly by this young man in front of her, and brutally so.


    With a dazed expression, she nkly mumbled the words, ¡°Who is this guy? And where did hee from? Why hasn¡¯t anyone heard of him until now?¡±


    Normally, she wasn¡¯t fazed by the most gruesome of things since she had seen many such cases in her line of work. However, this scene of a human killing a vampire in such an unorthodox way waspletely unheard-of.


    No, it was unprecedented for a human to even have the skill, ability, spell, or whatever he used to kill a vampire.


    No one would even believe her if she were to tell them what she had witnessed here. That¡¯s just how unreal the current situation was to her.


    That was why she was shocked to the core, and even her cold and frozen expression disappeared, reced by a baffled expression shortly after.


    .....


    She pondered as she reyed what happened just now for a while. However, she still couldn¡¯t understand how the young man was able to achieve such a feat despite being a human just like her.


    Meanwhile, Randy hadpletely forgotten that someone was watching him as he brutally sucked the blood out of the ck-cloaked vampire man.


    Soon after dropping the dried-up corpse of the ck-cloaked vampire man, he looked at the ck-haired girl for a moment, who had a gawking look on her pretty face before turning his gaze away to focus on healing her team members.


    He did not care whether she was there or not, as he didn¡¯t need to hide his ability. He couldn¡¯t care less at this point since someone has already been observing him for a while now.


    Furthermore, if they ask himter, he could just lie and say that it was a secret spell or something from his family. After all, there are bound to be people with unique spells or techniques just like him, who do not want to disclose their heritage to others.


    With that in mind, he dismissed the ck-haired girl¡¯s fixed gaze on him and continued to heal the green-clothed young woman. She has already recovered a bit from hisst treatment session. Therefore, he didn¡¯t need to spend too much time on her before he would proceed to treat the others.


    Despite there being no benefit to saving these people since many of them were strangers, and at most, acquaintances, he still wanted to heal them.


    Furthermore, he would use them this time to practice the usage of divine points for the future.


    If possible, he wanted to try healing his clone using the divine points¡¯ healing effects since he did not have a healing skill or spell at the moment.


    In the meantime, he read the lines of text that blinked in his field of vision at this moment.


    [[You havepletely dominated and killed an opponent who had the same level ofbat power as you do. Although they may have lost terribly, enough to appear as though they were a weakling, that is not so. In any battle, the ultimate victor wasn¡¯t determined just by their power level, skill mastery, or evenbat strength, but by their overall prowess]].


    [[For this reason, you need to make a habit of employing effective tactics to destroy your opponents before they can use their abilities. Otherwise, you might lose to an entity considered a ¡®weakling¡¯ by you. Even though this opponent was not a weakling, he lost to your unique technique. Therefore, the penalty for defeating a weakling does not apply in this case, and you will fully harvest all of the divine points in his soul]].


    [[You have harvested 3,200 divine points from your opponent¡¯s soul]]


    As he finished reading through this, Randy frowned slightly and muttered under his breath: ¡°So that vampire was only as strong as that Holy Knight Captain I killed before? No, that shouldn¡¯t be the case. There should be another reason for this.¡±


    He recalled that this was the number of divine points he received when he preemptively killed the Holy Knight Captain at that time. However, at that time, he didn¡¯t get to witness the Holy Knight Captain¡¯s fullbat prowess before he sumbed to death from his relentless attacks.


    Moreover, he remembered that he failed in his preemptive attack against the Holy Knight Captain. This surprised him then but not anymore, as the Holy Knight Captain¡¯s strength wasparable to the vampire he just killed only in power and not in physical strength.


    ¡®A weakling, huh?¡¯


    Recalling the system¡¯s words and the seemingly long but informative exnation, caused Randy to ponder for a while.


    ¡®Is the system saying that there are weak people out there who can defeat strong opponents with their unique abilities...¡± Randy suddenly mumbled to himself in conclusion.


    Afterward, he shook his head and ignored the meaning behind the system¡¯s words for now, as he focused on healing the green-clothed young man; herplexion was recovering as he poured more divine points into her body.


    A few momentster, he decided to move on to treat the remaining members when the green-clothed young woman¡¯splexionpletely recovered.


    Even so, she was still unconscious. Most likely because of the loss of blood or her fatigue, but Randy didn¡¯t care too much. He had done everything he could to prevent her death at the very least.


    A whileter, he hadpletely healed the remaining two members, as they regained the color of their skin, no longer pale. And just like the green-clothed young woman, they were still unconscious despite seeming fully recovered physically.


    ...


    Meanwhile, at the location where Randy had fought the two demons a while ago, a storm was brewing.


    At this very moment, there happened to be an unexpected face-off between two opposing forces, and just by standing there, the surrounding mana seemed to be spiraling out of control within the vicinity where they stood, almost as though a battle would break out at any given moment.

 Chapter 244

    244 Face-Off


    The two opposing forces were evidently Demon General Jarkoffin and the four Dungeon Hunters sent to exterminate the already-dead demons.


    However, despite facing each other¡¯s intense gazes, no one dared to make a move just yet and they all continued to stare at each other with varying expressions.


    Demon General Jarkoffin stood there calmly with his bulky and huge body that was nearly four meters tall, as he purposefully released his baleful and fierce dark aura outward.


    By doing this, it made his presence be elevated, making him appear as though he was an unstoppable force in the eyes of the weak.


    At the same time, he condescendingly stared down at the four humans with clear contempt in his gaze.


    He had initially traced the location where his subordinates were killed in hopes of finding that human and dealing with him ordingly. But unexpectedly, he ran into these humans who were snooping around at the battle site.


    Based on the strength of their auras, he could tell that they were most likely sent to ascertain what happened in their current location.


    Furthermore, just like him, it appears that they too had missed the human who killed his subordinates.


    Meanwhile, the group of four Dungeon Hunters stood there with cautious gazes at the dark-skinned demon that was exuding this unfathomable and suffocating aura that made them want to gasp for air. Even so, they maintained a rtively calm expression on their faces.


    .....


    Sensing the auraing from the demon in front of them, they all suddenly realized something and screamed inwardly shortly after.


    Demon General!


    Undoubtedly, only those with the status of Demon General possess such unfathomable auras, as they had met some of them on the battlefield before.


    However, whenpared to the Demon Generals they met on the battlefields, this particr Demon General was leagues stronger than them. This caused their hearts to immediately sink to the bottom of their guts.


    They had onlye here to deal with the demons that were causing havoc near the Meistic forest. They were extremely confident in being able to handle the situation since the auras they felt from those two demons weren¡¯t enough for them to feel threatened.


    However, those two demons¡¯ auras were nowhere near the auraing from just this demon in front of them. This current situation waspletely beyond anything they had imagined beforeing here.


    First, not only were the demons that they came for already vanquished by unknown variables, but now even the almighty demon general of the demon¡¯s army purposefully came to the site of the battle for some reason- something that demons of their status wouldn¡¯t care about.


    After all, they had so many subordinates, and during war and missions, they were bound to meet their ends due to an unexpected situation or encounter with their enemies. And yet this demon general came for his subordinate.


    There could only be one exnation; whatever mission his subordinates were conducting was very secretive and most importantly vital to them.


    Other than that, there shouldn¡¯t be any reason besides the fact that the demon general was a sympathetic or considerate type, which would be an impossible assumption. No one would believe such a conjecture.


    Therefore, they found their current predicament extremely dangerous, as they could lose their life in this small ce. But they couldn¡¯t simply turn tail and run away from the situation either- as that would be disgraceful. There was also the question of whether they could run away in the first ce.


    Furthermore, even if they survive this ordeal, their reputation would be tarnished.


    While the others were ying mind games with each other to see who would sumb to their fears and make a mistake first or attack first, one of the four members suddenly stepped forward from the other humans.


    ¡°What are you doing standing there in a daze for?¡± Isn¡¯t it just a little bit stronger than the other demons we fought before? We just need to fight it together and we¡¯ll surely win against it.¡±


    The other three members raised their eyebrows and slowly turned to look at the one who spoke just now in surprise- especially when they heard how this person referred to the demon as ¡®it¡¯.


    Of course, this person was Gutz.


    He couldn¡¯t stand the still atmosphere that the others had going on. And while he wanted to wait for their Leader to make the final decision on what to do, he eventually got impatient and decided to act first.


    Unlike the others who liked to use their brains every time they meet an adversary, he preferred directly smashing his opponents in the face before they have the time to react to his existence, so one could only imagine how impatient he would get when all they had to do was stare at their opponent without doing anything for minutes on end.


    Naturally, the only reason he hadn¡¯t attacked yet was that even he was well aware that the opponent this time was not something to take lightly. If it were normal times, he would¡¯ve been the first to charge at the opponent with the others following suit afterward.


    However, this face-off was unexpected. As such, no one was willing to make the first move only to end up losing when there could¡¯ve been a better alternative.


    Furthermore, they were facing an enemy that was stronger than anything they had ever faced, so they couldn¡¯t risk it without thinking about their actions and their consequences.


    Therefore, after looking at Gutz for a brief moment, the other three turned back to look at the menacing demon general as they pondered how to escape this situation. They couldn¡¯t afford to avert their gaze for too long, lest they suffer from a sneak attack.


    As they did this, Demon General also didn¡¯t bother to initiate a fight with them.


    He couldn¡¯t bother to attack weaklings like them unless they initiated the fight themselves. He found it beneath him to be the one to attack such weaklings.


    Furthermore, he enjoyed the fear hidden within their seemingly calm expressions. This was a feeling that he relished every time he fought humans. Since they always put on a fa?ade that they were unperturbed by anything even when their legs began shaking from fear.


    However, for some reason, one of the humans this time, although they appeared to be shaken by the mere sight of him, did not seem to be afraid- rather they merely looked surprised.


    ¡®What a strange human...¡¯


    This got Demon General Jarkoffin intrigued for a moment but then he ignored it as he could still deal with all of them without even breaking a sweat.


    ¡®Hah! Worms are worms regardless of their appearance or state of mind.¡¯ He believed.


    Momentster, Gutz gritted his teeth in annoyance when the others still had the same looks on their faces as they ignored his words.


    He then snorted and said: ¡°So what if it¡¯s a Demon General? Are you guys scared because of that? If you don¡¯t make a move now, when are you intending to do so?¡±


    ¡°...¡± The others didn¡¯t respond to him, almost as if they didn¡¯t hear his words as they continued pondering to themselves.


    ¡°Fine! I will fight it by myself!¡± He dered before charging forward without hesitation. He was determined to face off against the Demon General by himself.

 Chapter 245

    245 Hopeless Battle


    Within a few seconds after Gutz¡¯s deration, he had closed the distance between them and the aloof and expressionless Demon General.


    When he was within reach, he clenched his fist as he gathered destructive and explosive mana into his fist, his body glowing in this fierce fiery aura.


    He then shouted at the top of his lungs: ¡°Die! Vile demon!¡±


    A bellowing battle cry that shook the surrounding mana came from his mouth as he aimed his mana-infused fist at the Demon General.


    Watching the fly-like existence buzzing towards him, Demon General Jarkoffin scoffed before casually swatting at the approaching Gutz as if he were an annoying fly.


    He didn¡¯t even bother to use his energy in the attack- that was how terrifying the difference between them was.


    BANG!


    A momentter, under the shocked gaze of everyone present, a dull but loud impact reverberated in the vicinity.


    Crack!


    .....


    With a crisp sound, Gutz felt all the bones in his right arm broken, and even his internal organs were affected by the reverberating shockwave from the impact.


    ¡°Arghhhhh!¡±


    Gutz couldn¡¯t help screaming in pain as he flew away like a broken ragdoll from Demon General Jarkoffin¡¯s casual attack, and he crashed onto the ground shortly after.


    Afterward, he rolled on the ground for tens of meters before crashing against arge boulder not far away. His right arm was loose, swollen, and twisted in the wrong direction. He even coughed up a mouthful of clotted blood from the internal damage.


    Coincidentally, this was the same boulder that Randy had crashed into when he fought against the two demons. Therefore, when he crashed into a boulder, it immediately broke into smaller pieces of rock, burying Gutz underneath the rubble.


    It was at this moment that Tiana snapped out of her shock and shouted: ¡°Gutz!¡±


    She ran toward the direction where Gutz was buried without turning back, as she was the healer of their team. Furthermore, there was no way she would let a team member die in front of her if she could prevent it.


    Momentster, she dragged Gutz¡¯s body from the rubble, ced his head on herp, and then quickly used her healing skills to recover his injuries. These injuries were quite serious- life-threatening even.


    Almost all the bones in his right arm were shattered and his internal organs were breaking. ording to her initial examination, it will take a while before she is able to sessfully heal him.


    Fortunately, she was very adept at healing, as she could even recover missing body parts, so recovering broken bones wasn¡¯t a problem. However, such injuries usually take a long time to heal.


    For someone like Gutz, who specialized in strength to be in this state, one could only imagine the force that he had to endure just from this brief confrontation thatsted for mere seconds.


    Despite his current state, Gutz still maintained his consciousness as he red in the direction of Demon General Jarkoffin.


    Meeting his gaze, Demon General Jarkoffin only briefly looked at Gutz in the distance before turning away to face the others and then curtly said in derision: ¡°Worms! You should all squirm like worms before this general.¡±


    At this point, the other had also snapped out of their thoughts.


    Vairon, who was the leader of their Hunting group was peeved that he let his cautious behavior get the better of him, as it really didn¡¯t matter what countermeasure they thought of. Since they would lose to this demon either way.


    Therefore, seeing hisrade in such a life-threatening state, he red at the demon and madly shouted: ¡°Demon General!¡±


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    Demon General Jarkoffin met Vairon¡¯s intense gaze that was full of determination.


    Vairon then said: ¡°Why don¡¯t we have a one on one match between just the two of us? In exchange let myrades go.¡±


    ¡°Hah! Just you? You are not worthy, worm!¡±


    Naturally, Vairon was aware that he couldn¡¯t do anything to this demon, even if he were to use his full strength against it. He would be fighting a hopeless battle from this moment onwards.


    However, he was only stalling for time until Tiana finished healing Gutz. After that, they would think of a way to escape their current predicament.


    As such, Vairon gritted his teeth and continued: ¡°Are you afraid that you¡¯ll lose to this worm? Is that it?¡±


    Demon General Jarkoffinughed and then spoke in a mocking tone: ¡°A worm like you is trying to rile me up with those obvious words. I could kill you with just my sneeze, so there¡¯s no way I will take your words seriously. Besides a few people among you humans like those peak-levelbatants and the apostles, no one can make me fight them seriously.¡±


    ¡®Apostles? What¡¯s he talking about? Haven¡¯t we been defeating the Demon Generals just fine until now even without an apostle on our side? Although we haven¡¯t been able topletely defeat them each time, they were still badly injured during the previous wars.¡¯ Vairon thought that this demon was most likely boasting about himself.


    After all, while the Demon General were terrifying in battle, a group ofbatants with power levels between level 70 and level 80 were enough to defeat them with few casualties.


    For them to truly defeat them without causing casualties, they only needed to send someone with a power level of 90 and higher.


    Though those with level 99 usually don¡¯t participate in such battles.


    In reality, even the demons do not send out their main forces during wartime- they only send a few demon generals and their armies.


    Unbeknownst to Demon General Jarkoffin, just now, he almost gave out some secret that shouldn¡¯t be divulged to the humans.


    Even when he heard such strange words from the demon, Vairon was only confused by his words, and he said: ¡°I get that you¡¯re strong since you could even cause that impatient muscle-head in our group to fall into such a state. However, don¡¯t look down on me too much. I am much stronger than him. Otherwise, there¡¯s no way I will be the Leader of our party!¡±


    Demon General Jarkoffin didn¡¯t reply to him. Instead, he turned his head back to look at the young woman healing the barely conscious Gutz with a frown.


    ¡®What a frightening level of healing prowess. To think someone with such mastery over healing magic existed among the humans besides those damned apostles...¡¯ Demon General Jarkoffin was inwardly shocked. However, he still had a nonchnt expression on his face.

 Chapter 246

    246 Overwhelming Power


    There was a sudden flicker in Demon General Jarkoffin¡¯s eyes shortly after he observed Tiana. He tried to hide it by turning his gaze back to Vairon.


    However, Vairon noticed the changes in his gaze after he looked at Tiana, and he recognized his gaze and the meaning behind it.


    It was greed!


    Although he had no idea why the Demon General was staring at Tiana with those eyes, it still didn¡¯t change the fact that he couldn¡¯t let him get closer to hisrades at this time.


    ¡°Damn it! If you¡¯re not willing to attack, I will attack you instead. Eliana, support me with your magic!¡±


    After he said so, he had already charged forward while brandishing his Sacred long sword. After imbuing the de of his sword with mana, he immediately activated his familiar skill.


    Sacred Sword!


    Within a moment, his sword glowed with intense holy light. It then extended for a few meters before he shed downwards, unleashing a blinding golden sword light at the Demon General.


    Demon General Jarkoffin didn¡¯t even bother to dodge and merely used his dark aura to block and consume the sword light.


    .....


    One would assume that he would be weak against light attribute attack since he had dark attribute mana, but that was not the case for those with ultimate power.


    As long as the other party¡¯s power level was less than theirs, they would always prevail against them, regardless of the attribute of their mana. This was also the case regardless of how much of their weak mana they used to activate their skills.


    And that was the case here. Even though Vairon had used his full strength to unleash that golden sword light, it wasn¡¯t enough to defeat Demon General Jarkoffin. He was leagues above him in terms of both qualities of power and strength.


    Vairon was shocked for a moment before he sucked his teeth in frustration and turned to face the young girl behind.


    ¡°Eliana! Now-¡±


    Before Vairon could finish his sentence, an unstoppable weight fell on his entire body forcing him to the ground a momentter.


    BOOM!


    He fell t on the ground as he felt his insides churning. He was ttened by this unknown pressure, unable to get back up no matter what he tried.


    ¡°Hmph! You truly are worms. Just my pressure is enough to make you feel hopeless and drive you to despair.¡±


    After saying this, Demon General Jarkoffin turned to face the young girl and said: ¡°Now it¡¯s your turn, little female human.¡±


    For some reason, despite his policy of not attacking weaklings, he took the initiative to attack this time. Perhaps, it was his instincts or simply because this human did not appear to be afraid of him as much as the others.


    No matter the reason, it didn¡¯t matter anymore, as a deadly shadow fist loomed closer to the young human girl in front of him.


    The power behind the shadow fist is capable of devouring the source of her entire existence from the world.


    This is one of Demon General Jarkoffin¡¯s deadly attacks- Shadow Fist of Destruction.


    Whoever gets hit by this move would experience a mental breakdown from having their consciousness destroyed by the shadow fist. This was a skill used against those he couldn¡¯t defeat in battle in terms of physical strength.


    And yet, he used such an attack on a female human he initially considered a weakling. Not to mention that she was only a young human girl. Even for a demon, it was too much.


    If others of his kind saw this, he would be condemned. However, there was no one around to judge him for his action, anyway.


    Meanwhile, Eliana had a serene look on her delicate face as she ignored the iing attack. Instead, she calmly looked at herrades who were easily defeated by the Demon General for a brief moment, and then she let out a long sigh.


    Soon after, she turned to face the iing attack and she hastily mumbled a few inaudible and incoherent words.


    And then that was when it happened.


    Profound and seemingly boundless energy erupted from her small body, causing her robe to flutter even though there was no wind blowing in the vicinity.


    Furthermore, as if time itself had been stopped within a few miles radius, Demon General Jarkoffin¡¯s seemingly destructive shadow fist attack stopped in mid-air in front of Eliana, which shocked him greatly.


    Demon General Jarkoffin had his eyes widen in shock from witnessing the unstoppable and otherworldly power, which exuded out of the tiny body of that human girl before shattering his almost full-out attack that should¡¯ve turned her into meat paste.


    Momentster, she stared at the Demon General in the distance. This startled him enough to make him flinch on the spot as he suddenly felt shivers from her cold gaze.


    Demon General Jarkoffin¡¯s eyes were still wide in shock, and with his body trembling, he spoke with an expression of disbelief: ¡°Y-Y-You... Such power... Impossible... Who are you?!¡±


    Without wasting any more of his breath trying to figure out what had happened or who she was, he quickly turned tail and ran away as fast as he could.


    His instinct was screaming at him to run away without looking back. Otherwise, only death awaits him.


    Therefore, there was no way he was willing to risk his life just to find out who that person was.


    What was the point in even finding out? He could already guess the identity of that young girl even without hearing her say it herself.


    Therefore, he needed to run away as quickly, and as far as possible. Since there was no way that he could defeat someone like her.


    Meanwhile, Eliana mumbled something to herself as countless magic circles appeared around her body. Following this, the aura she emitted dissipated shortly after when she saw the Demon General run away from fright.


    Momentster, she murmured to herself: ¡°So this is my limit, huh? What a bother.¡±


    ....


    On the other side.


    Randy, who had finished healing the other team members of the green-clothed young woman, suddenly felt his blood boiling and his heart palpitating intensely for some reason.


    Seeking the source of his sudden reaction, he instinctively looked in a certain direction, where an overwhelming power surged for a brief moment before settling down.


    Randy was shocked when he sensed this power. He had never felt such terrifying power before, and it made him feel like this world was quite dangerous if someone with such power existed among them.


    He then turned to face the ck-haired girl who was carrying the unconscious stout young man but found that both her feet were trembling on the spot for some reason.


    Seeing that, Randy could only surmise that he probably wasn¡¯t the only one who felt that overwhelming power, or how unfathomable that power just then truly was.

 Chapter 247

    247 Unfriendly


    Momentster, Randy suddenly said: ¡°Let¡¯s hurry up and go back to the city.¡±


    Upon hearing his voice, the ck-haired girl agreed with a silent nod, clearly still feeling apprehensive toward whatever power they momentarily felt, and its source.


    Randy was aware of her apprehension even though, outwardly, she appeared to be calm. He could tell from her gaze as she furtively but cautiously looked around their surroundings as if searching for an enemy.


    Randy admired her cautious nature.


    Of course, he was also cautious, so he kept his Dimensional Sense skill activated the whole time, just in case the source of that power approached them somehow without their notice.


    However, he didn¡¯t say anything to her and simply walked ahead with the two people he was carrying- the green-clothed young woman in his arms and the young mage girl on his back, who was held on his back using a mana rope created using his Energy Manifestation skill.


    Thus, with Randy carrying the unconscious, green-clothed young woman and the mage girl on their team, and the ck-haired girl carrying the stout young man, they both made their way out of the forest and towards the city.


    Shortly after walking out of the forest, they unexpectedly ran into Eliana, who was carrying her team members with some magic spell as they floated in the air.


    This greatly surprised Randy when he saw what was truly happening.


    .....


    ording to his observation, it didn¡¯t seem to be telekinesis like his instructor¡¯s ability, but pure mana control based on his initial deduction. It was even more so when he used his dimensional sense skill to perceive the flow of the mana around.


    ¡®Such dense and immense mana... What kind of monster is she? I have never felt this level of mana fluctuations from anyone before, except perhaps from my mother.¡¯


    He only briefly looked at the young girl when he walked toward her, who was on the path that led to the city.


    But upon sensing the mana she was emitting from her small body, he decided to employ his Dimensional Sense skill to secretly observe her. However, he was shocked when he noticed the density of the mana fluctuationsing from her body.


    Curious, Randy unconsciously turned to face the young girl who wielded such a tremendous level of power. However, to his surprise, the young girl was also looking at him intensely when he did. This caused Randy to feel a sense of nostalgia, as he remembered the feeling of that gaze from somewhere.


    ¡®Wait! Isn¡¯t that the girl fromst time? Why is she still looking at me like that? Did I offend her or something?¡¯ Randy was bewildered by this young girl who looked younger than him by a few years.


    He doesn¡¯t recall offending herst time either when they met in the Society Leader¡¯s room, but she gave him a strange look at that time.


    And now, she was doing the same thing as before- staring at him with that gaze that seemed to be probing him for something.


    When he was about to ask her why she was looking at him in that way, just then, the young girl¡¯s eyes met his. This caused him to nkly stare at her glowing blue eyes.


    After a moment, the young girl averted her gaze away from him quietly. Therefore, he could only give up on his thoughts.


    Meanwhile, Eliana slowed down her pace as she carried herrades using her magic spell.


    She watched as Randy walked away and then fell into deep thoughts.


    ¡®As I thought, the auraing from his body is the same as the aura of that blood we found on that battlefield. If so, does that mean that he was the one that apprehended those two demons?¡¯


    ¡®But that should be impossible! That level of power should only be possible for those at level 60 and above. But ording to the Society Leader, he only joined recently. And even though they said he monstrously leveled up within a short time after registering, he was only supposed to be level 55 officially.¡¯


    She gave Randy a quick nce as he walked away with the ck-haired girl, and then murmured under her breath: ¡°So how did he do it? Even if I ount for that unknown chaotic aura he emits, it shouldn¡¯t be possible with just that level of power fluctuation alone.¡¯


    ¡°Furthermore, there were two battlefields. However, there was only one of him, so he shouldn¡¯t have been capable of fighting those two demons by himself. Don¡¯t tell me he fought them with those people with him? Are they hisrades?¡±


    The more she thought about it, the more likely that conjecture seemed to be the case.


    Although she didn¡¯t know if they were hisrades, she could tell that they very likely had a hand to y in the battle against those demons.


    This was evident from the fact that most of the people who were with him were unconscious.


    Furthermore, judging from their current state, it appeared as though they had fought a harsh battle with their lives on the line, resulting in their current states.


    However, despite her thoughts, she still nned on investigating what had truly happened once she reported the situation to the Society Leader.


    In the meantime, she could only carry herrade back to the city since all of them were unconscious from their altercation with the demon general just then.


    Although Tiana was not affected during the actual fight, she had drained all her mana points to heal her injuredrades¨C including Vairon who was rendered unconscious with a few broken bones from enduring the Demon General¡¯s overwhelming pressure.


    As soon as Tiana healed Gutz and Vairon, they immediately fell unconscious from the trauma.


    Naturally, they lost consciousness only when they realized that the enemy was no longer present.


    However, Tiana fainted from exhaustion, as she used up all her mana in her body.


    Thus, Eliana had no choice but to carry all of them back to the city.


    Fortunately for her, she had a magic spell just for the asion, so it wasn¡¯t a hassle for her to do so.


    ...


    Meanwhile.


    After leaving that strange girl behind, Randy proceeded to the city with the ck-haired girl. They both decided to quicken their pace in order to reach the city faster and treat the green-clothed young woman and the others.


    After all, he may have healed them, but he didn¡¯t recover the blood that they had lost when they encountered the vampire man.


    Furthermore, his healing technique wasn¡¯t considered actual healing, so they needed to be checked on by a doctor or healer to be truly safe.


    Sometimeter, they arrived in the city, and everyone was shocked when they saw Randy carrying two women- one on his back and the other was carried like a princess.


    The men they came across in the city were envious of him, who carried two beauties. They wanted to know why he was carrying them.


    However, they never approached Randy, who appeared unfriendly, as he had this cold expression on his face that made them think twice about their actions.


    For some reason, the gazes those people were giving him reminded him of his days as a loser in his ss. Back then, his ssmates only scrutinized him for faults no matter what he did, and he felt that gaze from these people.


    A whileter, they entered the Society building, shocking everyone in the building when they saw them walking in the building, especially Zophia, the receptionist.

 Chapter 248

    248 Summoned


    ¡°W-What happened to them, Randy?! Why are they unconscious?¡± Zophia immediately asked him upon his arrival in the building.


    ¡®Hm? Are they famous Dungeon Hunters?¡¯ Randy¡¯s eyebrows raised slightly as he wondered inwardly, judging from the reaction he saw from Zophia and the gazes of the other Dungeon Hunters in the building.


    He turned to Zophia and said: ¡°They were attacked in the Meistic Forest and I happened to save them on my way back.¡±


    Randy answered without mentioning that it was a vampire that attacked them, as it would only cause amotion if he did. He didn¡¯t like being in the limelight, especially with so many people around them.


    Furthermore, since he said, ¡®attacked in the Meistic Forest¡¯, they would automatically assume that it was the work of magical beasts. This was also true as they were indeed attacked by magical beasts before they were harmed by the vampire man.


    Moreover, he could simply tell Zophia the truthter. But now was not the right time.


    But, then again, those four Dungeon Hunters fought the vampire man, so they should be able to tell that it was a vampire. Therefore, he might not have to say anything in the end.


    ¡°Anyway, I am tired today, so can you take them from me? Even though I healed them, it wasn¡¯t with a true healing spell, so they still need proper check-up and treatment.¡± Randy said to her before she could respond.


    ¡°Oh, Okay. Please follow me to the infirmary. You can ce them there.¡±


    .....


    ¡°Alright.¡±


    Randy followed Zophia to a designated medical room at the back of the building and then ced the two women down before leaving shortly after.


    As he was leaving, the ck-haired girl wanted to say something to him, but he left before she could do so.


    After Randy left, Zophia turned to Liena before asking: ¡°What happened to you guys in that forest? With your group¡¯s strengthbined, you shouldn¡¯t have suffered any deadly injuries even if you faced A-Rank magical beasts.¡±


    Liena said: ¡°It wasn¡¯t the magical beasts. Although we were attacked by a magical beast horde, we managed to survive thanks to that young man aiding and helping our leader to escape with her life.¡±


    Zophia tilted her head and said: ¡°If it wasn¡¯t magical beasts, then what did you guys fought?¡±


    As she said this, Zophia suddenly recalled hearing from the Society Leader that there were sightings of demons near the Meistic Forest, and her eyes immediately widened with shock.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you guys fought against demons?¡±


    ¡°Of course not. How could we face demons with just us alone?¡± Liena was confused by her words, as she wasn¡¯t aware demons were near the Meistic Forest.


    They were preupied with saving their own skins against the plethora of magical beasts, so they didn¡¯t notice anything out of the ordinary.


    Not to mention that they were too far away to sense anything out of the ordinary with their current level of strength. Perhaps, their leader might¡¯ve sensed something, but they certainly didn¡¯t notice anything.


    ¡°Then...?¡± Zophia continued to ask.


    Liena pondered for a moment before answering: ¡°It was a man who appeared to be... No, it was a vampire.¡±


    ¡°A vampire!¡± Zophia eximed when she heard.


    To run into a vampire was considered bad luck since they are a pain to deal with due to their insane regeneration abilities and extraordinary physical prowess.


    Normally, unless they were strongbatants, they wouldn¡¯t leave to tell the tale, as they would be sucked of their blood and then die shortly after.


    And then she turned to the two women and the stout young man who were sleeping on their respective beds and continued: ¡°Are you guys okay? Is that why they look like that? Did they get their blood drained by that vampire?¡±


    ¡°Yes, we¡¯re okay thanks to that young man.¡±


    ¡°You mean Randy? But how...? Furthermore, why do they look like nothing happened to them? If I recall correctly, those who survive a vampire assault usually have pale skin from losing so much of their blood.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re right. However, that young man you called Randy used some type of spell that I had never seen before to heal the others until they recovered their skin color. But it seems like he wasn¡¯t able to recover their blood which was understandable, considering he said that it wasn¡¯t a ¡®true healing spell¡¯. Liena said to her.


    ¡°I see. It¡¯s great that you guys are okay. Anyway, I think I need to report both the magical beast horde incident and the sighting of this vampire to the Society Leader.¡± Zophia said.


    Following that, Zophia left Liena alone, as she nned to report what she heard from her to the Society Leader.


    Of course, before leaving, she proceeded to ask some more questions regarding the situation in the Meistic Forest and whether or not there were casualties.


    In case there are casualties, they need to send reinforcements as soon as possible to minimize the damage.


    ...


    Meanwhile, Randy walked over to the reception area to confirm thepletion of his request.


    However, he soon realized that Zophia wasn¡¯ting out of the infirmary for some reason.


    Therefore, he decided to pay a visit to check in with the other receptionist.


    Randy found out that, including Zophia, there were three receptionists in the Society building, and they were all young women.


    Thus, after confirming thepletion of his first request with one of the receptionists who was avable at the front desk, Randy proceeded to his room.


    He then came out shortly after to take a bath in the public bath in the Society building. After which, he decided to take a rest for the rest of the day, as he was so tired.


    Unknowingly, he had slept for three whole days without his awareness, and he was only woken by a knock on his door.


    When he heard the knocking on his door, he jolted awake from his sleep and immediately used his Dimensional Sense to check out who it was. He let out a sigh of relief shortly after when he discovered that it was Zophia.


    Even though he knew that this ce that he was staying in would be safe, considering that it was a public building, he still couldn¡¯t afford to let his guard down.


    ¡°I¡¯ming. Give me a minute.¡± Randy said outwardly.


    About a minuteter, Randy came out of his room fully dressed, as he took off his clothes before sleeping.


    When he came out of the room, he had his hair brushed backward, which allowed his handsome appearance to be revealed for the first time.


    Zophia was instantly dazed by his handsome face and well-built body when she saw himing out of his room, wearing nothing but a ck tank top.


    After all, Randy¡¯s appearance wasn¡¯t that unattractive. In fact, he actually had a decent face that would easily make most girls swoon his way when they see him.


    But sadly, due to his reputation as the loser of his school, most of the girls don¡¯t even bother to get close to him. They were afraid they would contract his bad luck or something.


    ¡°Zophia?¡±


    When he came out, he pretended that he didn¡¯t know that it was her and immediately asked: ¡°What is it? Do I still have toplete another request?¡±


    ¡°Ah, no. That¡¯s not it. I came to tell you that you have been summoned by the Society Leader.¡± Zophia snapped out of her daze.


    ¡°Summoned?¡± Randy frowned slightly. He didn¡¯t know why he would be summoned by the Society Leader, considering theirst meeting was not long ago.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°For what?¡±


    ¡°He wants you toe to his room to discuss some matters rted to the incident three days ago. He said you cane whenever you have free time.¡±


    ¡°Wait, what?! Did you just say three days?¡± Randy was shocked by this discovery.


    ¡°Eh? Yes.¡± Zophia raised her eyebrows at his sudden reaction.


    ¡®What¡¯s wrong with him? Why is he reacting like that?¡¯


    Randy then asked: ¡°How long have I been sleeping? No, how long have I been in my room?¡±


    ¡°Now that you mention that, after I heard from my co-worker that you returned to your room, you didn¡¯te out of your room the following day. I thought you may have left the building without my notice, but I guess you were here the whole time, huh?¡± Zophia said as she looked at his disheveled hair, dumbfounding him.


    ¡®Damn! In this dangerous and unknown world, I had wanted to maintain caution at all times... But to think that I would fall asleep for three whole days straight without care. Was I that tired?!¡¯ Randy cried inwardly, as he felt like he hadmitted a blunder simply because he was tired and slept for that long despite the possible danger.


    No wonder he felt refreshed after waking up. It turned out that he had been building up too much fatigue in his body- both mentally and physically.


    If he thought about it, although timepse was different from the outside world, he had to spend a few days inside the dungeon of beasts without much rest, and he also failed to sleep properly when he came, because he was caught up in absorbing the knowledge within the unlocked seal on the ck tome.


    Momentster, Randy finally calmed down and sighed: ¡°Okay, tell him that I would visit him after taking a quick bath.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Then I will leave you alone.¡± Zophia said before walking away.


    A few minutester, Randy finished taking his bath before proceeding to make his way to the top floor of the building.


    Recalling from his memory, he made his way to the Society Leader¡¯s room, knocked on the door, and then waited.


    Shortly after, a response was heard.


    ¡°Come in.¡±


    Hearing this response, Randy immediately opened the door and walked in right away.


    There, he saw the grey-haired middle-aged man from before, standing with his back facing him.


    After taking a few steps into the room, the grey-haired middle-aged man slowly turned around to face him with a weing smile on his face.

 Chapter 249

    249 Work Alone


    Right after Randy entered the room, the grey-haired middle-aged man smiled and said: ¡°Take a seat, young man.¡±


    Randy did not hesitate and sat on a couch right across from him.


    The grey-haired middle-aged man proceeded to speak: ¡°First and foremost, I didn¡¯t call you here because you have caused any trouble. I only wanted to hear your side of the story regarding what happened three days ago.¡±


    The middle-aged man then narrowed his eyes at him and continued: ¡°Especially regarding the demons that appeared near the Meistic Forest.¡±


    Randy¡¯s eyebrows raised slightly in shock when he heard him, as he didn¡¯t know how the Society Leader knew about the demons.


    ¡®How did he know?¡¯


    Even if he could sense their presence, he shouldn¡¯t have been able to discern that he fought with them. And yet, he spoke with confidence, hinting that he knew that he fought against the demons.


    Unbeknownst to him, Eliana had already met with the Society Leader a few days ago and informed him of their findings. Of course, this included her spection on the identities of the ones who fought against the demons.


    However, sheter found out from Liena and the others that they didn¡¯t fight any demons, so only Randy became the prime suspect. After all, there was conclusive evidence to support the im. And that was the blood they found at the site of the battle.


    .....


    Since things had alreadye to this, Randy didn¡¯t bother to hide anything.


    Furthermore, he had intended to tell him about it anyway, since he was implicated this time, and he doesn¡¯t want to get involved in this world¡¯s battles too much.


    Therefore, it was better to leave everything to this world¡¯s people to handle. Doing this would take some of the pressure off him, rather than keeping to himself and letting the dangers escte without anyone in this world knowing about it.


    At that time, even if he didn¡¯t want to be implicated and choose to remain low-key, he would still be drawn into the chaos of their battles.


    Thus, Randy took a deep breath and proceeded to recall his encounter with the demons while he was fulfilling his first request.


    He also mentioned how he had no choice but to fight them to death since they wanted to kill him upon their encounter with him.


    However, he held back on telling him about what he heard them talk about since he wasn¡¯t sure whether it was the kind of ¡®sacrifice¡¯ he was thinking about. After all, it could mean something else entirely, and him mentioning it without any proof would most likely lead them astray.


    But that doesn¡¯t mean that he would not find a way to tell him about it.


    ¡°And you won...?¡± The Society Leader was still baffled even though he already expected it to be the case.


    ¡°It was a difficult battle, but yes.¡± Randy said in confirmation.


    ¡°Unbelievable... To think you were able to defeat two demons with power levels above level 60 while being only level 55... Do you have any of their corpses with you right now?¡±


    ¡°I do. Do you want me to bring them out here? I have them in my spatial ring.¡±


    ¡°...No, that won¡¯t be necessary. That can wait untilter. Anyway, continue.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    Randy nodded and then continued to recount his experience about how the magical beasts were scarce around the vige he was assigned. Therefore, he had to venture deeper to find and hunt the closest ones.


    He then narrated his encounter with the green-clothed young man and her group, who were running from a horde of magical beasts to their encounter with the ck-cloaked vampire man.


    ¡°So you mean you not only fought against a horde of magical beasts to protect Sylvana, but you also fought against this vampire that they encountered on their way out of the forest?¡±


    ¡®Sylvana? Is that the name of that woman?¡¯ Randy silently wondered to himself.


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Randy then nodded.


    ¡°Amazing. You¡¯re quite a fascinating young man. I knew I wasn¡¯t wrong about my initial judgment of you.¡± The Society Leader praised, and then continued: ¡°The power and strength required to aplish the feats you mentioned were not small. I would say that to be able to defeat the two demons, your physical and mana points must be quite considerable.¡±


    ¡°But if I add you fighting the magical beasts and the vampire man afterward, then your stamina must also be exceptional.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, good job on your first request. Furthermore, I would like to thank you for protecting one of our city¡¯s strongest Dungeon Hunters. You may or may not know this, but they were an A-Rank party of hunters. Their leader is actually an A-Rank Dungeon Hunter. Moreover, your contribution is not small this time if I had the information regarding you defeating the two demons.¡±


    ¡°Ah, that reminds me, did you try searching for that Knight Captain from the church while you ventured into the forest, by any chance?¡± The Society Leader suddenly asked him.


    ¡®This again... He is already dead, because I killed him, so what would be the point in searching for a dead man in my storage bracelet? But of course, I can¡¯t tell you that.¡¯ Randy inwardly sighed.


    He then curtly replied: ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°Do you mean you searched for him but didn¡¯t find him? Or you didn¡¯t bother to search for him?¡± The Society Leader asked.


    Randy opened his mouth, but he paused for a moment and then said: ¡°Yes, I tried searching, but I couldn¡¯t find anyone. And since I didn¡¯t want to linger in the forest for too long, I left right after dealing with the magical beasts.¡±


    Since the Society Leader hopes that he finds this ¡®Knight Captain¡¯ for some reason, it was better for him to im that he tried searching but couldn¡¯t find them. This way, he wouldn¡¯t be pestered by him anymore after this.


    Hearing his words, the Society Leader sighed in disappointment and then said dejectedly: ¡°So even you couldn¡¯t find him after all that, huh? What a pity.¡±


    ¡°Why do you want me to search for him anyway? I only joined the Society just two days ago¨C no, six days ago.¡± Randy couldn¡¯t help but ask.


    The Society Leader said: ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you used to live near the Meistic Forest? I thought you would at least know the terrain around the periphery of the forest. This was the reason why I wanted you to aid in the search in the first ce.¡±


    ¡°Not to mention that if you had indeed managed to find him, our Society¡¯s reputation in this small ce would soar. This would mean that more people wouldmission us to deal with all sorts of things. In other words, more money woulde our way. But s, it¡¯s such a pity.¡±


    ¡®So that was the real reason and your real intention from the beginning?¡¯ Randy silently thought when he heard him.


    ¡®It seems that this city is quite small, so there isn¡¯t much work for the Dungeon Hunters in this ce.¡±


    Earlier, Randy noticed that there weren¡¯t many requests or missions on the Quest Board, and most of them are recurring requests and missions.


    The Society Leader continued: ¡°But more importantly, if those demons are snooping around at that ce, then it could only mean that they¡¯re nning something. I would need to report this to the Royal Family in the Imperial City after this.¡±


    ¡°Since that is the case, you have contributed a lot more to the Society and more so to the Royal Family than you could ever imagine. So expect to be summoned, or some kind of rewarding your way anytime soon after my report.¡±


    Randy could only silently nod his head when he heard him. Even though he would rather reject this reward, it was not a wise choice.


    This was the Royal Family of this world we are talking about. If he carelessly rejects their summons or their rewards, it will only bring him trouble.


    Meanwhile, the Society Leader noticed his silence.


    He pondered and then added with encouragement: ¡°Don¡¯t be discouraged by your encounter this time and continue to support the Society. Also, if the Royal Family summons you, you don¡¯t have to worry too much about it. Rather, it¡¯s actually a good thing for the current you. You¡¯ll find outter.¡±


    ¡°Furthermore, with your strength, sooner orter, you would be recruited by the Royal Family to provide support on the battlefield.¡±


    ¡°Judging by your equipment from your first run in the dungeon, I can tell you did not simply y around in there.¡±


    ¡°Most people usually die in that ce, as they blindly seek power without thinking about their limits, but that was not the same with you.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re more than talented enough just from your initial attributes, so I wasn¡¯t worried about your safety at first, only when you were spending more time than necessary on the rank mission that I was anxious that we¡¯d lose a new member. But now I am certain that you are more than qualified to participate on the battlefield.¡±


    The Society Leader threw a plethora of praises his way as he looked at him with a pleased expression as if looking at a treasure.


    Momentster, he then suggested: ¡°How about I introduce you to some friends? You have already met them in the morning when we had our first meeting, three days ago.¡±


    ¡°They¡¯re one of the most talented Dungeon Hunters in Alpheotus City right now. They came from the Imperial City, after all. If you join their party, you¡¯ll be able to aplish more things in the future. So how about it?¡±


    Recalling his experience when he met those people, Randy¡¯s face turned pale as he quickly refuted his suggestion.


    ¡°I prefer to work alone.¡±


    The society leader sighed as if he expected this response and said: ¡°Too bad, you would¡¯ve gotten along very well if you were to spend some time with them. Moreover, if you met on the battlefield in the future, you¡¯d have been able to coordinate better.¡±


    ¡°Well, okay, you can leave now. From today onwards, you will be able to choose your own missions and requests at your own pace.¡±


    ¡°However, make sure youplete at least one mission or request within each month. Otherwise, you would be stripped of your Dungeon Hunter Card.¡±


    ¡°I understand.¡±


    ¡°Then I would take my leave.¡± After saying these words, Randy immediately stood up, turned around, walked away, and then left through the door momentster.


    He didn¡¯t bother to wait for the Society Leader to say anything else before leaving the room right after that conversation ended.

 Chapter 250

    250 Inquiry


    Judging by the sequence of their conversation, Randy was afraid that the Society Leader would begin to talk about something else or try to persuade him any further. Thus, he wasted no time leaving when he noticed the topic kept digressing.


    Momentster, Randy unexpectedly returned to the room and then informed the Society Leader about the two demons attempting to procure some sacrifices in the vige.


    Furthermore, he mentioned that since he ran into those demons, they couldn¡¯t take any humans as sacrifices. He then also hinted by saying that they might¡¯ve already done this act before and that the Society Leader needed to think about it himself.


    After saying that, he immediately left the room again, leaving the Society Leader speechless.


    ¡°What a cold fellow...¡± The Society Leader shook his head and muttered shortly after he had left the room with a bitter smile on his face.


    But he wasn¡¯t displeased with his rejection of his suggestion or his behavior in the slightest. Mostly because he could tell that he had his own reasons for acting the way he was. Furthermore, it was because he believes that he has potential, and therefore, it was better to not nitpick about his behavior currently.


    ¡°Sacrifices, huh? Now that I am hearing this...¡±


    The Society Leader pondered these words briefly before a sudden realization dawned on him. He then recalled the recent strange urrences of missing vigers and the brutal attacks of magical beasts near the Meistic Forest and other ces.


    After the investigation was conducted, it was concluded that it was the work of magical beasts due to ws and fang marks left on the bodies that were discovered.


    .....


    However, what if that was what they were led to believe?


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me... So that was it... I absolutely need to add this to my report. The fact that they had appeared was already bad news and now this? Those demons are definitely up to something terrible if they had to risk exposure to procure human sacrifices.¡±


    The Society Leader immediately took out amunication magical artifact and immediately began to report the current findings to the Royal Family in the Imperial City. He did this through the Main Branch of Imperial City¡¯s Dungeon Exploration upation Society.


    The magical artifact would only allowmunication between the Society Branches and the Main Branch situated in the Imperial City. Therefore, to ry the information to the Royal Family, the only way was to send it to the Main Branch beforehand, and they would take care of the rest.


    After he finished recording his report about his findings and rying it, he frowned and then said: ¡°To think the reason why there had been so many attacks against viges had nothing to do with the magical beasts but the demons¡¯ schemes... How vicious.¡±


    ¡°As to be expected of those vile demons. They didn¡¯t even spare the young and the elderly during their invasions.¡±


    After saying this, he stood up and exited his room, and then left for somewhere to meet with some people.


    ...


    Meanwhile, Randy sat on his bed as he looked at the projected screen in front of him. He hadn¡¯t looked at the progress of the assimted body¡¯s attributes since his body underwent evolution.


    He recalled from one of the system notifications that he had supposedly assimted some of the temporary attributes, which added to his base attributes.


    Aside from that, he wanted to determine his current growth, and also check out how much knowledge and divine points he had currently. After all, these two point system functions were very beneficial to him, especially the divine point function, which seemed universalpared to the knowledge point function.


    Furthermore, he had yet to spend some divine points to learn some of the techniques he took back then. Although he could still use knowledge points, it cost a lot numerically.


    After taking a few deep breaths and letting them out to calm his mind from the sheer excitement, he turned to look at the lines of words written on the blue screen in his left field of vision. This was the Challenger¡¯s system¡¯s user interface.


    [Name: Randy]


    [Species: Human]


    [Title(s): Challenger(+1)]


    [upation: None]


    [Level: 55]


    [Mana Points: 1,299(+110)/1,299]


    [Health Points: 800(+700)/800]


    [Strength: 80(+70)]


    [Endurance: 80(+70)]


    [Vitality: 80(+70)]


    [Stamina: 79.5(+70)]


    [Agility: 70(+70)]


    [Perception: 140(+70)]


    [Magic Limit: 129.9]


    [Intelligence: 290(+70)]


    Randy smiled and said: ¡°Not bad. All my attributes increased by 40, except for Magic Limit.¡±


    ¡°Hmm... Wait a minute. Didn¡¯t I increase my mana with the Nameless Meditation Technique, why is there no progress disyed on here?¡± Randy suddenly realized that nothing changed about his Magic Limit attribute.


    [...]


    ¡°What? Not you too.¡±


    [[The host is currently using an ancient mana training method to strengthen his body. As a result, the system used the ancient mana training method¡¯s power system for a better understanding of your current training method]].


    [[From now on, your mana capacity for each magical realm would be doubled]].


    ¡°O-Oh, is that so? But why isn¡¯t it disyed on here, Challenger¡¯s System?¡± Randy was bewildered and continued to ask.


    ¡®Why is my system the one responding?¡¯ Randy wondered to himself.


    [[...]]


    [...]


    ¡°W-What¡¯s going on? Why did you not respond this time?¡± Randy felt like something was not quite right with his systems.


    At some unknown point, his main system was interfering with the other system.


    Unbeknownst to him, the two systems are having telepathicmunication with each other at this moment.


    Momentster, the Challenger¡¯s System¡¯s screen shed with thetest update on his Attribute Screen.


    Randy immediately noticed the change and looked at the screen unconsciously.


    The next moment, he discovered the parenthesis that appeared next to the Magic Limit had a different number within it. Evidently, this was the change to his Attribute Screen.


    [Magic Limit: 129.9(239.9)]


    Looking at this, Randy immediately understood that the number in the parenthesis was his total Magic Limit Attribute. This meant that his actual mana points is 2,399 instead of 1,299.


    However, since his magical realm capacity was altered, he needed 2,598 mana points to reach the peak of the Fourth Cycle of Magical Realm.


    Momentster, Randy said: ¡°Can you just get rid of the first number? It would be confusing if the temporary attributes are added next to that sectionter on.¡±


    [Affirmative]


    The Challenger¡¯s System¡¯s screen shed again with the changes made to the Magic Limit Section.


    [Magic Limit: 239.9]


    After this was done, Randy turned his attention to the golden screen on his right- this was his main system¡¯s Status Screen.


    After checking his Status Screen, Randy found out the changes on his main system screen were proportional to the ones on the Challenger¡¯s System¡¯s Attribute Screen.


    The only difference between the two systems was that the Status Screen¡¯s basic statistics had zero at the end. For example, if his body¡¯s attribute or statistic on the Challenger¡¯s System was 80, then it would be 800 on his main system¡¯s disy.


    That aside, Randy looked at the divine points function and the knowledge points function.


    However, he ignored the knowledge points for now and looked at the total divine points. The smile on his face grew wider as he counted the number of digits.


    [[Divine Points: 643,090]]


    ¡®More than half a million points!¡¯ Randy inwardly eximed in excitement.


    With this amount of divine points, he could finally learn some of his techniques and even absorb some ability stones. However, there were more pressing matters, such as healing his incarnation and acquiring elemental essence crystals to create a foolproof and genuine incarnation with a fully functional body.


    With that in mind, Randy dialed down his excitement and came out of his room and walked to the front of the building and then to Zophia¡¯s counter. He wanted to ask the only person he knew around here that was knowledgeable about various things.


    Momentster, he stood in front of Zophia and asked: ¡°Zophia, where can I get my hands on elemental essence crystals?¡±


    ¡°Elemental essence crystals?¡± Zophia raised her eyebrows at his sudden question.


    ¡°Yes, or do you not know what it is?¡±


    ¡°No, I know what it is. I was just surprised to hear you ask about something that only a handful of magicians demand when creating artifacts.¡± Zophia said.


    ¡°Oh, so they can use them for artifacts?¡± Randy was somewhat surprised to hear this information even though he already knew that cksmiths, craftsmen, and weapon refiners could create weapons using beast cores back in his world.


    Zophia nodded: ¡°Yes. But you can either get elemental essence crystals from the lower floor of the Dungeon of Beasts, but their quality might be low, or... Wait! Didn¡¯t you clear the Dungeon of Beasts by yourself? Did you not get any elemental mana cores from the Elemental Beasts that you hunted in the dungeon?¡±


    Randy confirmed: ¡°I did, but as you said, the quality is not that high since they came from the dungeon beasts, I think.¡±


    And he then asked: ¡°I need ones of better quality, so where can I get them? Do they sell high-quality ones at the market?¡±


    ¡°No, they don¡¯t normally sell higher quality ones at the market.¡± Zophia said and then paused briefly before asking: ¡°Why do you need them if you don¡¯t mind me asking? Do you need them to create an artifact or to make a weapon?¡±


    Randy shook his head: ¡°None of that. I only need it for my tech... spell.¡±


    ¡®Tech spell? What is that? Is it a type of magic spell? Anyway, it¡¯s none of my business.¡¯ Zophia quietly thought to herself.


    ¡°Oh, I see. But if you want higher quality elemental essence crystals, other than the ones from the dungeons, there are only two other ways to procure them.¡± Zophia suddenly said to him.


    .....


    ¡°Oh?¡± Randy¡¯s eyes lit up and he immediately asked: ¡°What are they?¡±

 Chapter 251

    251 Gift


    Randy immediately perked his ears when he heard Zophia¡¯s seemingly hopeful words that would likely solve one of his problems.


    Zophia noticed the brief change in his expression, but she still continued: ¡°If you want high-quality elemental essences without impurities, you can either go to the long-eared humans¡¯ territory, where they refine the elemental mana cores into elemental essence crystals or pay a visit to an Auction House in this city to purchase them directly or bid on them since they are always in high demand by the magicians and those who craft artifacts and weapons.¡±


    ¡°Though I¡¯ll have to warn you that while you could get your hands on some pretty high-quality elemental essence crystals if you decide to visit the long-eared humans¡¯ territory, they do not wee other races into their nation without prior notice due to their passive stance in the current ongoing war between races and species.¡± Zophia warned.


    ¡®So that¡¯s how things are, huh? I suppose it matches with what the Society Leader said to me the other day.¡¯ Randy recalled hearing something simr when he met with the Society Leader for the first time.


    ¡®For now, I will put visiting their territory aside to avoid offending them.¡¯


    ¡°I see, so how do I get to the Auction House you mentioned? Do you have the map to that ce?¡± Randy asked a momentter.


    Zophia looked at him with a strange gaze for a brief moment before she thought to herself, ¡®Right, he is still a rookie here. I keep forgetting that since he¡¯s a higher Rank Dungeon Hunter despite registering for only six days or so.¡¯


    She then replied: ¡°Anyway, I was assigned to be your personal receptionist while you¡¯re in the Society, so you can ask me for anything from now on. Here. This is the map leading to the famous auction house in Alpheotus city.¡±


    ¡°Oh, right. When you reach the Auction House, give them your Dungeon Hunter Card and you¡¯ll be served with the appropriate treatments.¡±


    .....


    ¡°Okay, thank you.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. I am only doing my job, after all.¡± Zophia smiled.


    ¡°Alright then, I will take my leave now.¡± Randy said to her.


    ¡°Hm.¡± Zophia nodded but then she suddenly said to him: ¡°Wait, do you have money with you? How much? You would need a hefty amount of money to purchase just a low-grade elemental essence crystal, after all.¡±


    Randy turned around and said: ¡°I have a few thousand gold cards with me. Would that not be enough?¡±


    Zophia shook her head and said: ¡°No, you need more than a few thousand gold cards. Your budget should be at least 10,000 gold cards before you can purchase a low-grade refined elemental essence crystal. If you want a high-grade one, you need 100,000 gold cards.


    ¡°Oh, and that¡¯s just for one fist-sized elemental essence crystal- the high-quality ones, that is. If you want a bigger size, you¡¯ll have to bring more money since the bigger the elemental mana core, the more elemental essence it contains.¡±


    ¡°That expensive?¡± Randy¡¯s eyes visibly widen in shock when he heard the amount of money it required just to purchase an elemental essence crystal, and he even wondered why it costs so much just to buy an elemental essence crystal.


    However, when he thought about what he could do with it, he realized that it made sense. Because if he could easily get these elemental essence crystals, the Incarnation Technique wouldn¡¯t be that special or heaven-defying as a technique.


    After all, we are talking about creating life out of thin air using nothing but some stones and aplex magic circle. There was, of course, the most influential factor, which was the ¡®divine points¡¯ or ¡®soul power¡¯.


    Momentster, when Randy wanted to ask some questions, someone with a strong presence suddenly crept closer to him from behind.


    The moment he sensed such a strong presence behind, he became alert and instinctively turned around ready to fight but when he saw the one behind him, his eyebrows raised before losing his guard.


    ¡°Hey, Zophia. Sorry, I overheard your conversation just now.¡± A feminine voice said as she approached them at the counter.


    In the sight of everyone that was present in the building, the owner of the voice approached Randy before bowing and saying: ¡°Once again, thank you for saving me at that time. And also, I heard you even saved us- me and myrades when we were attacked by that vampire, even wasting your precious spell on us, so I would like to thank you for that as well, and if possible, I would also like to show you my gratitude somehow.¡±


    Of course, this person was the green-clothed young woman and her party members, who had also bowed following their leader¡¯s example. They seem to have recoveredpletely over the past three days that he had been sleeping.


    Randy was briefly surprised by her sudden gesture and words, but he shook his head a momentter.


    ¡°There¡¯s no need for that. I saved you guys on a whim. I didn¡¯t do it to get something in return. As for healing you guys, that was just an experiment on my side, so you don¡¯t need to worry about it.¡± He calmly said to her, surprising her as she thought that he would definitely demand something, especially when he healed them, who were on the verge of death.


    Although she had no idea what spell Randy had used on them, she felt like her soul and body had been cleansed when she woke up. This made her curious about what kind of spell had that effect.


    The only closer feeling was the high-leveled holy cleansing spell from the church of light, but no one could use that besides the pope or the cardinals of the church.


    Even though she was interested, she did not pursue the matter as that would be rude to her savior.


    Meanwhile, the other Dungeon Hunters who heard the green-clothed young woman¡¯s words, especially the men, were left stunned and dumbfounded, as this was their first time hearing her speak in such a tone full of gratitude.


    As far as they were aware, she was usually cold and stern towards others besides herrades. The most frustrating part was that she didn¡¯t even give the men in the Society a nce, calling them kids and such.


    Therefore, no men were willing or able to approach her because of that. This was because they all get belittled by her all the time even if they didn¡¯t approach her. Moreover, she was a strong warrior that hadbat power, strength, and experience that could even match those S-Rank Dungeon Hunters.


    And yet, that same person was bowing and thanking that young man almost as though they were equals. Even though he was a man just like them?


    ¡°Hey, do you know who that guy is?¡±


    ¡°Beats me. This is my first time seeing him in here.¡±


    ¡°What are you guys talking about? I saw him register a few days ago. He¡¯s just a rookie Dungeon Hunter.¡±


    ¡°Really? I guess that¡¯s why I haven¡¯t heard of him.¡±


    ¡°But I heard that he was already promoted to B-Rank Dungeon Hunter a while ago, but I¡¯m not sure if that was true or not.¡±


    ¡°What?! That¡¯s impossible! How could he get promoted so fast?¡±


    ¡°Who knows? Maybe he¡¯s some genius with extraordinary attributes? He might¡¯ve received that ranking because he earned it.¡±


    ¡°Bullshit! That shouldn¡¯t be enough to get promoted to B-Rank. You need to hunt in the dungeon andplete a couple of missions for that to happen, especially the Rank Mission, which is not easy as you have to hunt so many dungeon beasts by yourself rather than in a party.¡±


    ¡°If you don¡¯t believe me, you can go ask him yourself.¡±


    ¡°Do you think I¡¯m afraid to ask such a simple question? Watch me, I will ask him when he¡¯s done.¡±


    Moments after their conversation, Randy turned to Zophia to ask about a couple more things, and as Sylvana paid attention to them, she got the gist of their conversation.


    She then interrupted them: ¡°Uhm... Savior, if you don¡¯t mind, I can give you some elemental essence crystals.¡±


    ¡°What? Really?¡± Randy unconsciously blurted out these words when he heard her words, but when he calmed down a momentter, he turned around and said: ¡°No, I already said that I don¡¯t need your gratitude or any payment.¡±


    ¡°But I never said that it was in exchange for saving my life.¡± She casually said.


    ¡°Eh?¡± Randy felt awkward by her words.


    ¡°In truth, these elemental essence crystals were something that I no longer have any use for, and besides they couldn¡¯tpare to our lives that you have saved, Savior.¡± Sylvana exined.


    ¡°Uhm... Can you not call me, ¡®Savior¡¯? It feels strange to hear someone call me that. My name is Randy. You can just call me Randy.¡± Randy suddenly said to her, as he didn¡¯t like the sound of the word ¡®Savior¡¯.


    Even though it was said in a different worldnguage, the meaning was explicitly the same. He doesn¡¯t want to be some saint or hero, so such entitlements are unnecessary.


    Furthermore, as he said to her, he only healed them because he wanted to confirm his doubts and they just happened to be the most suitable test subjects.


    Sylvana smiled and said: ¡°Then Randy, as I said before, I don¡¯t mind giving you the elemental essence crystals on me. You can think of it as a gift on our first encounter or on our friendship if you will.¡±


    Randy didn¡¯t immediately reply to her, as he pondered for a moment before sighing and saying: ¡°Okay. I will take them.¡±


    No matter what, he needed these elemental essence crystals, and it didn¡¯t look like she was nning to give up even if he continued to refuse.


    Based on his analysis of her current behavior, she would most likelye up with something else to offer him just because he saved their lives.


    Randy didn¡¯t know if it was because of her nature or some other reason, but it did not matter to him since he got to receive free elemental essence crystals that would¡¯ve cost him tens of thousands of gold just for low-quality ones.


    Moreover, if the ¡®gift¡¯ she was about to give him turned out to be a high-quality one, then it would be an even better harvest.

 Chapter 252

    252 Visiting The Auction House


    Randy suddenly realized his shameless thoughts and shook his head inwardly to clear away these thoughts.


    Momentster, he received emerald-colored crystals about the size of a fist from Sylvana. They reflected the color of her eyes, which were also emerald in color.


    ¡°This is... Wood elemental essence crystals. The size aside, their purity is unlike what I used to create my incarnation... No wonder it was defective.¡± Randy mumbled to himself when he examined the seven emerald crystals in his hands.


    ¡°Is it enough? Unfortunately, that¡¯s all I have. If I could return home- ¡± She suddenly paused in her sentence.


    ¡°Anyway, we are taking on a mission after a while, so we¡¯ll leave you guys alone.¡±


    Sylvana turned and left with her party members, leaving Randy who was still in a trance as he observed the crystals.


    Momentster, Randy snapped out of his daze and hurriedly said: ¡°W-Wait, I can¡¯t ept this... Eh, where did she disappear to?¡±


    Zophia shook her head with a bittersweet smile and said: ¡°She already left.¡±


    ¡°What?¡±


    .....


    ¡°Anyway, you don¡¯t have to worry about it. Since she gave it to you, she won¡¯t ask for it back.¡± Zophia cleared his doubts.


    ¡®But it¡¯s amazing that Sylvana would thank someone to such an extent. You must¡¯ve left a very good impression on her.¡¯ She thought to herself.


    ¡°Oh, okay.¡±


    ¡°Anyway, here¡¯s your reward forpleting the first request.¡± Zophia handed him a bundle of gold cards, which he quickly put inside his ck spatial ring.


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    ¡°No problem. But I guess you don¡¯t need to visit the auction house, right? Since you just received the elemental essence crystals from Sylvana.¡±


    ¡°Even so, this isn¡¯t enough. I need the elemental essence crystals for all five main elements.¡± Randy said.


    ¡°All five elements?¡± Zophia raised her eyebrows.


    ¡°Yes. Thank you for the information, Zophia. But I guess I¡¯ll be visiting the auction house, after all.¡± Randy said to her before leaving.


    ...


    Having spent some time walking through the city and navigating the surrounding area while following the map with the destination marked on it, Randy eventually arrived at the Crescent Moon Auction House, Alpheotus Branch.


    Before asking about the elemental essence crystals, Randy made sure he turned in the magical beasts that he hunted during his first request for his reward.


    Furthermore, he hunted more magical beasts of higher levels, so his reward money was considerable- 50,000 gold cards in total. This amount may seem a lot, but it actually wasn¡¯t that much, considering what he was trying to buy at the auction house. However, he still wanted to pay the auction house a visit just in case.


    Randy stood in front of a grandiose but luxurious building that gave off the feeling that it was made for nobility. It was tall and had five stories. One look and one could tell that it was made with expensive items, as the entire building exudes this repellent aura.


    ¡®Is that the protective barrier or is the entire building made of our artifact¨Cor is it an artifact?¡¯


    Randy couldn¡¯t tell because even without using his Dimensional Sense skill, he could feel the overwhelming aura from the building.


    However, when he tried to examine it using his Dimensional Sense skill, he received a backless attack in his mind. This feeling was simr to when the ck-horned demon cut off his skill but much stronger.


    ¡°Damn it... That hurts... I shouldn¡¯t try probing everything with this skill anymore.¡± Randy muttered to himself as he approached the entrance of the grand building, but he was immediately stopped by the security guards at the guarding gate to the building.


    ¡°Halt!¡± One guard shouted.


    ¡°What is your business here? Do you have an appointment?¡± One of the guards inquired.


    It was at this point that Randy recalled what Zophia told him.


    The next moment, he took out his Dungeon Hunter Card and disyed it clearly enough for them to see, shocking them when they saw his credentials.


    ¡°B-B-Rank Dungeon Hunter? I apologize for my behavior just now. You may enter.¡± One of the guards said to him afterwards, as they made way for him to enter.


    ¡®It seems Dungeon Hunters are highly reputable in this city.¡¯ Randy silently thought to himself upon seeing the change in attitude toward him when the guard realized that he was a Dungeon Hunter.


    Momentster, Randy entered the grand building and was immediately greeted with a smile.


    ¡°Hello. Wee to Crescent Moon Auction House How may I help you? Are you here to sell or purchase? Or perhaps auction off an item?¡±


    A youngdy with a servile cloth unique to their establishment spoke to Randy immediately after entering the grand building.


    ¡°I am here to purchase.¡± Randy said.


    ¡°What might you be looking to purchase?¡±


    ¡°Elemental essence crystals. Do you have them?¡±


    ¡°Oh.¡± The youngdy let out a surprised voice.


    Randy asked again: ¡°So does that mean you have them or not?¡±


    ¡°Sorry. We don¡¯t have them currently as we sold out, but we will be acquiring some soon.¡± The youngdy said.


    ¡°Eh? What do you mean?¡±


    ¡°There is an auction currently held in our establishment and one of the guests happens to want to trade off elemental essence crystals for some items in our auction this time. If you wish to purchase those elemental essence crystals, you will have to wait until the auction is over. In the meantime, you can choose to watch the auction in one of our rooms. You can alsoe backter when the auction is adjourned.¡± The youngdy said to him.


    ¡°I see.¡± Randy nodded and then pondered for a moment before saying: ¡°I would like to watch the auction if you don¡¯t mind.¡±


    ¡°Certainly. Since you can enter here. It means you have the capital. As such, you should be treated as an esteemed guest of our establishment. Please follow me.¡± The youngdy smiled and said to him before leading the way with Randy following closely behind her.


    She led him to one of the avable viewing rooms in the VIP section of the building.


    Momentster, Randy sat down on a couch in this luxuriously decorated room with a table filled with various snacks and tea. However, he was not used to such treatment, so he ignored the tea and snacks and focused on watching the ongoing auction.


    At this moment, a new item was revealed after the previous item was sold off.


    ¡°Ladies and gentlemen. Our next item for auction is the one and only cure-all potion concocted by a mysterious alchemist with exceptional skills. A drop on your wound would cause it to instantly heal upon contact. Furthermore, missing flesh would regeneratepletely without leaving any scars behind.¡±


    ¡°And that is not the best part about it- this potion, if someone with missing limbs were to directly drink it, they would recover their missing body parts within a few days of rest.¡±


    ¡°Starting bidding price- 10,000 gold. You can increase the bidding price by at least 500 gold¡±


    Auctioneer announced to the audience in spectators¡¯ seats, instantly arousing their curiosity and gaining their attention.


    ¡°What?! Does such a miraculous potion exist in this world? If it is genuine, I definitely need to get my hands on this priceless treasure!¡±


    One of the guests in the spectators¡¯ seat eximed with a voice full of disbelief, as such a miraculous potion was unheard of by people that lived most of their lives in Alpheotus City.


    The other guests also had simr reactions, whichsted for a few moments before the race to get their hands on the potion started.


    ¡°10,500 gold.¡±


    ¡°11,000 gold.¡±


    ¡°12,000 gold.¡±


    ...


    Meanwhile, Randy watched the translucent bottle filled with a green liquid with a bit of interest. However, while he was interested, he had no intention of bidding on the item on disy, as he only came here to purchase elemental essence crystals.


    After all, he only came to the auction house with the intention of purchasing elemental essence crystals and not purchasing other items. Moreover, it was not as though he could afford anything being auctioned off right now.


    Fortunately for him, although the Auction House did not have any elemental essence crystals presently, there was an ongoing auction in which the seller of the elemental essences would be participating. He nned on checking them out and purchasing directly from themter, hence why he chose to stay rather thane backter.


    As time passed by, various weapons, armors, potions and artifacts, and equipment of all kinds were sold one by one. And eventually, they reached thest item of the day.


    This was an intricate bow with gems embedded in pretty much every part of its body, making it look more like a decorative bow than an actual body used for hunting. However, if one looked carefully, one could feel an overwhelming aura radiating from the bow.


    ¡®What a powerful bow.¡¯ Randymented when he saw this bow that it seemed more like a magical weapon, the more he observed it. He was tempted to use his Dimensional Sense skill to check it out, but he gave up when he remembered his previous experiences.


    Before the Auctioneer could introduce that intricate and decorative bow, a feminine voice suddenly echoed melodiously from one of the VIP rooms on the top floor.


    ¡°1,000 refined elemental essence crystals for that bow! No need to waste any more of my time!¡± This voice sounded quite impatient.


    When the guests in the spectators¡¯ seats heard these casual words, they were instantly shocked and left speechless.


    ¡°T-T-This...¡±


    Someone tried to say something but could only stutter, unable to finish what they want to say.


    The audience did not expect someone to shell out such a ridiculous amount of money for some decorative bow.


    Even Randy, who knew that the bow was extraordinary had his eyes widened with shock when he heard this casual and tant disy of wealth.

 Chapter 253

    253 Unreasonable Woman


    With a dazed look on his face, Randy would unconsciously use Dimensional Sense to peek into the room next to his only to find a long-eared beautiful woman with a cold appearance seated on her couch as someone raised her assigned number up for her- that person also had pointed long ears just like hers.


    When Randy saw this, he was bbergasted to find out that these people were not humans.


    In the next second, almost as if she had just discovered him, the long-eared beautiful woman¡¯s face twitched all of a sudden before a deep frown appeared on her cold yet beautiful face.


    The next moment, she mmed her slender hand on the table in front of her and shouted in an annoyed tone: ¡°Who dares peek into my room?!¡±


    ¡°Guards!¡±


    Everyone within the auction was shocked to hear the feminine voice once againing from one of the VIP rooms.


    To their bewilderment, this time, the feminine voice sounded more aggressive than inpatient.


    Right away, they began whispering to each other regarding the identity of the owner of that feminine voice.


    When the guards heard her calling out to them, they quickly arrived in her room with solemn but fearful expressions on their faces, as they did not want to offend someone of her caliber.


    .....


    ¡°H-How may we be of assistance, esteemed guest?¡±


    ¡°Cut the crap! Someone was observing me in my room just now. I want you to find who that person was! They should be close to my room!¡±


    ¡°What?! That¡¯s impossible! Who would dare to-¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t care what¡¯s possible in this ce! I want you to find out who they are and bring them to me! I will deal with that obnoxious person myself! If not because this is your auction¡¯s establishment and I don¡¯t want to cause trouble in this ce, I would¡¯ve razed this ce to the ground and would¡¯ve searched for them myself!¡±


    The next second, the long-eared beautiful woman exuded this mysterious yet iprehensible power from her body, causing the surroundings to feel as though they were standing in a swarm, as the guards felt the room turning slightly damp and ufortable.


    The guards trembled on the spot as they immediately felt a chill run down their spines when they heard her cold words which carried a sense of unmasked intention. This gave them an uncanny sense of foreboding threat.


    ¡®She¡¯s not joking around! This woman would definitely raze this ce to the ground if we don¡¯t find the one she is talking about! Not even the master would be able to stop her if she decides to act!¡¯ The guards inwardly cried in apprehension.


    ¡°W-We¡¯ll see to it right away!¡± The guards didn¡¯t dare to stay for too long and immediately set out to search for the culprit who dared to peek into their esteemed guest¡¯s room. They had to find them at all costs. When they find them, if possible, they will beat them to appease that personage.


    Meanwhile, Randy heard everything that was said in the other room, and he immediately scowled.


    Although he might¡¯ve been wrong to casually peek into her room, it was not as though he peeked into her bedroom or anything like that. Since that wasn¡¯t the case, why the sudden hatred toward me? Randy felt like this woman was either too hotheaded or too unreasonable to reason with.


    He was intending to apologize after his transgression just now. However, upon hearing her words that sounded like she wanted to kill whoever dared to peek at her room, he gave up that thought instantly.


    However, he was also well aware that he couldn¡¯t defeat this unreasonable person as she was much stronger than anyone he had ever met thus far. Not to mention that she also wields that mysterious power that the green-clothed young woman- Sylvana was using during her dire straits before he arrived to save her.


    ¡®What is that power? Is it a power exclusive to this world?¡¯ Randy couldn¡¯t help but wonder.


    Randy also wondered if it wasn¡¯t a power unique to this world, but a type of mana nature simr to light and dark attributes.


    This was the second time that he saw and felt this mysterious power. Furthermore, it was from two different races- Sylvana, who was clearly a human, and this long-eared human, who looks just like those elves that inhabited part of Earth- where he came from.


    However, Randy could tell that this long-eared human looked slightly different from the portrait of elves he saw back at his academy. The one noticeable difference was that this long-eared beautiful woman¡¯s ears were slightly shorter than the elves in his world.


    But that was not relevant right now. He needs to get away from his current location before those guards arrive in search of him. With that in mind, he immediately nned his next course of action.


    Momentster, a group of guards with stern and grim expressions came knocking on his door. However, there was no answer after many attempts, almost as if there was no one in there.


    When the guards realized this, they immediately kicked down the door to the room, and to their surprise, there really wasn¡¯t anyone in the room. This confused them because the room clearly stated that it was upied.


    To double-check, they looked around the room a few more times just in case. However, they couldn¡¯t find anyone inside the room no matter how hard they searched, so they had no choice but to leave momentster.


    Unbeknownst to them, Randy had already left the room the moment they kicked down the door to the room.


    He was already outside the building at this moment, as he pretended to have just arrived at the entrance of the Auction House. Not even the youngdy who greeted him at the entrance saw his figure as he left the building.


    As these guards were not particrly strong to sense his presence, he was able to fool thempletely using his Traceless Form Techniquebined with his Absolute Stealth skill.


    Randy sighed in relief when he discovered that his Absolute Stealth skill and Traceless Form Technique were notpletely useless.


    Although thest time he used thisbination of technique and skill together he was seen through by the ck-horned demon, that was only because that ck-horned demon had a unique innate ability to sense danger, which was why he could tell his location right away.


    The Absolute Stealth skill is only at level 1 and the Traceless Form Technique was at maximumprehension the moment he learned it with knowledge points.


    The only thing limiting the Traceless Form Technique was his current power level and control. This was because the stronger he got, the more uses the Traceless Form Technique will have in battle besides hiding his aura and breath.


    As for the Absolute Stealth skill, it was an awakened skill, so he could only increase its level to know its full effect.


    That aside, he turned his attention to the grand building- Crescent Moon Auction House, as he had been hearing somemotion within the building for a while now.


    A short whileter, themotion seemingly died down and a group of people came out of the building, all of whom ignored Randy¡¯s existence almost as though they couldn¡¯t see him there.


    Randy waited until everyone in the Auction House exited out of the building before undoing both his skill and technique.


    He then proceeded to walk inside the building once again. However, he immediately stopped at the entrance when he realized that the woman with long ears and her entourage had yet to leave the building.


    Randy hesitated for a moment before marching forward as naturally as possible. Regardless, whether or not that woman was inside the building or not didn¡¯t matter to him, as he only cared about the refined elemental essence crystals that she had exchanged for that ornamental-looking bow.


    Momentster, Randy entered the establishment once again as he approached the youngdy from before.


    Once in front of her, he asked: ¡°Has the auction ended?¡±


    ¡°Eh?¡± The youngdy¡¯s eyes widened with shock when she saw himing from the front gate.


    Randy knew what she was thinking and casually replied: ¡°Sorry but I had left for a while because of an emergency, so I couldn¡¯t watch the entire auction. Sorry for not informing you when I left.


    The youngdy was still suspicious as she was there the whole time and she didn¡¯t see him leaving the establishment, so what is he saying?


    She then thought of themotion just now. However, she shook her head and thought to herself, ¡®There¡¯s no way that he was the one they were looking for right? I mean his assigned room was right next to that personage, after all.¡±


    To confirm her doubt, she asked: ¡°If you don¡¯t mind me asking, when did you leave? What item was being sold at the time?¡±


    ¡°The miraculous potion.¡± Randy calmly responded.


    Naturally, he was aware that the youngdy still doubted him, but it doesn¡¯t matter as he had already prepared his excuse beforeing back inside.


    He then continued: ¡°Anyway, since it appears the auction is over, can I now purchase the elemental essence crystals that you traded?¡±


    ¡°Who wants to purchase my elemental essence crystals?¡±


    A voice suddenly resounded from behind.


    ¡°Who?¡± Randy instinctively muttered without turning around.


    At some unknown point, a figure silently appeared behind Randy, and they proceeded to re at him as soon as they appeared.


    The voice did not respond and instead said in an interrogative tone: ¡°Are you the one who wanted to buy my elemental essence crystals? How did you know that they traded elemental essence crystals? What do you need them for?¡±


    At this point, Randy had already recognized the owner of this voice and he turned around, and sure enough, he knew the identity of the owner of the voice.

 Chapter 254

    254 Suspect


    Of course, the identity of that voice was that of the long-eared beautiful woman whose room he had identally peered into just a while ago. For some reason, she was looking at him with a deep frown on her face, disying slight hostility towards him.


    ¡®What¡¯s up with her? What¡¯s up with these questions? She couldn¡¯t have possibly realized that I was the one who peeked at her, right? That shouldn¡¯t be possible as I left my assigned room right away when themotion started. Does she also have some ability to sense my existence despite my concealed state?¡¯


    Randy wondered if this person was like the ck-horned demon, who had a special ability that allowed him to perceive his existence even though he was concealed at that time.


    During this time, the long-eared beautiful woman was also having her own thoughts as she leered at him with a suspicious gaze.


    ¡®Although he appears to be weak since I can¡¯t sense his true strength, there¡¯s still this ufortable feeling I get from those chaotic auras his body is emitting. Is he the one who peeked at me just now? Though the people who peeked at me carried no malicious intention, that person was able to elude my senses if not because of...¡¯


    ¡®Furthermore, I sensed this human¡¯s aura in one of the rooms next to mine, so he is a suspect. However, just now, he said that he left during the time when the potion was being auctioned, so he couldn¡¯t have been the one who peered at the room I was assigned. But what if he¡¯s lying about when he left his room?¡¯


    While she was deliberating this, Randy suddenly said: ¡°Excuse me, but who are you? I don¡¯t think I know you, so there¡¯s no need for me to answer any of your interrogative questions. I didn¡¯t steal anything from you, after all.¡±


    Hearing his rude remark, the entourage behind the woman fumed with anger and he immediately shouted.


    ¡°This insolent fool-¡±


    .....


    The long-eared, beautiful woman waved her hand dismissively, and the entourage immediately ceased his aggressive behavior.


    She then turned to look at Randy and coldly said indifferently: ¡°Brat, either you answer me, or I will force the answer out of you! Your choice. You pick!¡±


    ¡°E-Esteemed Guest? This-¡±


    Before the youngdy of the Auction House could finish speaking, she was interjected by the long-eared beautiful woman.


    ¡°You stay out of this! I just want to find out who peeked into my room earlier! And I suspect that he might be the one! Though I have no proof to my ims, I can obtain one right now if he answers my questions truthfully.¡±


    She red at Randy before continuing in a cold tone: ¡°Furthermore, I would let you know beforehand, but I can tell immediately if you lie to me, so keep that in mind.¡±


    ¡°Now answer my first question. When did you actually leave your assigned room?¡±


    Randy paused for a moment and then calmly said to her: ¡°Like I said just now, I don¡¯t know you, so I have no reason to answer your question nor do any of your bidding for that matter.¡±


    ¡®This person seemed arrogant because of her status. But so what of it? I can¡¯t just bow to her just because she told me to.¡¯


    Randy had already met and dealt with many unreasonable people in the past, and most of them relied on their family status to bully others.


    In terms of family status, Randy could say that he had a considerable one- a strong background. However, his world was full of dangers from sudden invasions of other creatures from other worlds.


    Therefore, in order to prepare and nurture the children to survive in such a tumultuous world, parents aren¡¯t allowed to intervene with their children¡¯s problems at school, unless absolutely necessary.


    Furthermore, Randy never had a healthy rtionship with his parents for the past four years. Therefore, he didn¡¯t like to rely on them, afraid they would only use that as an excuse to rebuke him for his ipetence.


    Moreover, his only dependable friend Jiang Chen advised him to tell his parents, but he refused each time with some random excuses. That was how things had been between him and his parents until he ultimately awakened his innate ability.


    Even after awakening, that personality had stuck with him. Therefore, he subconsciously avoids depending on his parents as much as he can. As he strives to improve himself and gain even just a little bit of independence before he starts attending University.


    With that being said, he couldn¡¯tpletely do everything by himself as he didn¡¯t have the fund to procure certain things for his strength improvement.


    Regardless, he nned on facing any trouble that came his way with his own ability now that he had awakened.


    He had sworn to never let anyone trample on him again, and the same holds true for this long-eared beautiful woman, who seemed like nobility or monarch unting her authority and power to demand whatever she wanted, even if the opposition initially refused their demands.


    ¡°So you want to be forced, huh? Very good!¡±


    The long-eared beautiful woman spoke shortly after his stubborn response, which had left her stunned for a moment.


    BOOM!


    The moment the long-eared beautiful woman finished speaking, she exploded with this immense presence and pressure that caused the surrounding air to ripple and bend to her will.


    However, this pressure was not the kind that would actively inflict physical damage, as such the building of the Crescent Moon Auction House was still intact.


    Even so, just because it doesn¡¯t inflict physical damage doesn¡¯t mean that it is harmless. This was because being affected by this pressure would cause the targeted victim to feel tremendous pressure on their psyche, inducing fear and powerlessness shortly after.


    The long-eared beautiful woman had this prideful look on her face as she waited for Randy to grovel on the ground with a painful and distorted expression as a result of her pressure.


    But to her surprise, Randy was casually standing there, unperturbed by the pressure that caused everyone within the Crescent Moon Auction House to be unable to breathe due to the immensity of the mental pressure.


    Though these people were not the focus of the pressure, they still felt as though they were sinking in a bottomless ocean unable to breathe and could only choke.


    Meanwhile, after feeling the pressure on his body for a while, Randy could finally understand the purpose of this pressure that had no effect on him whatsoever at first.


    ¡®So this affects the mind, huh? Is it a mental attack? No wonder, I¡¯ve been feeling this prickling sensation in my mind as when my Dimensional Sense skill was forcefully deactivated.¡¯


    Randy silently thought to himself as he felt the pressure on his body increasing as time passed by.


    Momentster, Randy suddenly smiled and thought to himself, ¡®However, this is not too bad. In fact, this mental pressure is actually helping me improve my mental energy that was previously difficult to control properly. Who would¡¯ve thought that this was a blessing in disguise?¡¯


    On the other hand, when the long-eared beautiful woman saw him suddenly smiling despite the mental pressure she ced on him, she was in disbelief for a few moments before she immediately fumed with anger, increasing the intensity of her pressure by many folds.


    ¡®Oooh! This is better than I thought. I can feel my mental energy saturating and turning into a liquified state, making it easy to... Wait! Liquified state? Was that supposed to happen?¡¯


    Although Randy knew that this mental pressure was helping rather than harming him, he had never thought his mental energy which was scattered around in his mind would suddenly coalesce and change into a liquid-like state, almost as though it was undergoing a qualitative change.


    However, even though he had no idea what this change would bring about, he instinctively knew that it wouldn¡¯t be detrimental to him. If anything, after all the mental energy has coalesced into a liquified state, this would improve his mental abilities and skills such as All Law Seeker ability and Dimensional Sense skill.


    ¡®What the heck is this brat¡¯s brain made out of? Why isn¡¯t he falling to his knees and groveling at my feet?¡¯ The long-eared beautiful woman was in disbelief, as she watched Randy standing without any sign of pain on his face.


    ¡®This is already the most effective non-violent method I could use to subdue him without inflicting severe damage to his brain. If this doesn¡¯t work, I would have to use some of my strength to knock him out first...¡¯


    ¡®No, this is not our territory. If anything happens to him, it might potentially spur war between us, and that was something that we don¡¯t have the means to participate in. Furthermore, he seems to be treated as an esteemed guest, meaning he has some reputation among humans.¡¯


    With a serious frown on her face, the long-eared beautiful woman contemted quietly.


    Momentster, she couldn¡¯t tolerate it anymore as she became frustrated by the smug look on Randy¡¯s face as he endured her mental pressure and shouted in annoyance.


    ¡°Damn brat! You forced my hands!¡±

 Chapter 255

    255 Improvement


    ¡°How dare you show such a face in front of me! Know your ce!¡±


    BOOM!!


    The second after the long-eared woman bellowed her words, she released an even greater pressure that was more intense than before, seemingly exerting her full strength this time.


    This gush of tremendous mental pressure fluctuated violently within the vicinity and even caused everyone within the Crescent Moon Auction House to copse from shock. Some fell unconscious shortly after with the exception of those who had artifacts to resist mental attacks.


    Meanwhile, Randy was standing there with a dazed look on his face as lines of text kept scrolling in his field of vision, bringing a smile to his face, and at the same time angering the long-eared beautiful woman who had no idea why he was smiling.


    Unbeknownst to the long-eared beautiful woman, Randy was currently looking at a series of notifications from his system about the changes happening to him due to the mental pressure.


    [[You¡¯re currently being affected by an immense amount of mental pressure enough to destroy your psyche and cause psychological damages. However, due to your psionic level being high enough, you are able to resist the mental fluctuations. Furthermore, these harmless mental fluctuations are assisting your erratic and scattered mental energy to integrate and condense, thus initiating the first step to creating your mental energy vessel.]]


    [[Special Note: You should make use of this opportunity to temper your mental energy. If you seed, the system will assist you in creating your mental seed as promised. Either that or you could create the Mental Seed yourself. This would normally take a long process to achieve if you excluded the time it would take to procure the resources to develop it]].


    [[Your mental-rted skill and ability are undergoing a qualitative change due to the changes urring to your mental energy in tandem with your psionic energy. The next time you used them, you notice improvement in their activation time]]


    .....


    Randy read through all of these with a bright smile on his face as he felt like some shackles were being lifted from his body as the pressure from the long-eared beautiful woman increased tremendously.


    Normally, one would faint from the amount of mental pressure being as were the people who were in the Crescent Moon Auction House. But Randy was not only unaffected by the pressure, but he was also even benefitting from it. This was unexpected for even him.


    However, while the situation might be fruitful for Randy, the same cannot be said about the one who was attacking him. Due to that, the beautiful woman who saw that he was not harmed by her mental pressure felt the need to use her powers even if it might trigger a potential war between their races.


    Randy suddenly noticed the pressure on his mind disappearing and the aura and presence of the long-eared beautiful woman began to increase as this happened. Noticing this, he immediately scowled with a worried look on his face. Yet, it wasn¡¯t because he was afraid of that mysterious power emanating from the long-eared beautiful woman¡¯s body. Instead, he was worried about something else.


    ¡®What are you doing?! Why are you stopping now of all times?! Keep it up! Keep iting!¡¯


    Randy silently encouraged the long-eared beautiful woman when he noticed the decrease in the overall pressure on his mind. But no matter how much he cheered her on in his mind, the pressure continued to recede.


    Randy suddenly realized something when he saw her power building up as her pressure decreased.


    ¡®Is she trying to attack me now that she knows her mental pressure isn¡¯t working on me? No, I can¡¯t allow that to happen. I don¡¯t get these kinds of opportunities every day, after all.¡¯


    Randy was technically not a psionic ability holder as he only acquired mental ability, so he never knew how they trained their mental energies. Therefore, the situation where just being pressured mentally was enough to help him increase the overall quality of his mental strength couldn¡¯t be more enticing and weing.


    After all, he never knew when he would get to experience this kind of a blessing in disguise situation again. Unless he fought someone with the same attacking methods as hers. This was very unlikely, as most would simply kill their opponent without bothering to use things like their mental pressure.


    Thus, he thought of a way to prolong the mental pressure.


    The very next moment, Randy suddenly dropped to his knees, moaning in pain shortly after, as he clutched his head.


    ¡°Argh, what did you just do to me? Do you think I would give in to you just because of this?¡± Randy struggled to speak with a twisted expression on his face, seemingly in excruciating pain.


    Seeing his current state and hearing his voice, the long-eared beautiful woman¡¯s eyes widen slightly with her eyebrows raised in a puzzled manner, ¡®Huh? Why is he suddenly on his knees and saying something like that? I thought my pressure wasn¡¯t working on him. Is it working on him now? But he didn¡¯t show any signs on his face until now? So what happened? Or maybe he was just pretending to be unaffected this whole time, and now, he couldn¡¯t take it anymore?¡¯


    Of course, he was only pretending to be affected by the pressure since that was the only way to make the long-eared woman continue with her mental pressure. However, as long as this long-eared beautiful woman is fooled by his antics, then his actions would be worth the efforts.


    Sure enough, after observing Randy¡¯s painful expression for a few moments, the long-eared beautiful woman finally concluded that Randy was without a doubt suffering from her mental pressure and decided to continue pressuring him.


    In the subsequent moment, the long-eared beautiful disyed a victorious and disdainful look on her face before scoffing and coldly saying: ¡°Now that¡¯s how you should be in front of me! A mere weakling like you dared to oppose me, time and time again! Now, you will answer all my questions regardless of whether you want to or not. If not, I will only increase the mental pressure until you be lifeless and braindead. If you think I¡¯m joking, I dare you to try me!¡±


    Randy did not say anything and only gritted his teeth and continued groaning and moaning in pain.


    Watching him like this, the long-eared beautiful woman felt pleased with his sorry state and there was this evil smile on her face.


    She then took a seat behind her and turned to her entourage, who seemed unaffected by her mental pressure, and nonchntly said: ¡°Bring him over here. I need to talk to him directly. If he turns out to be the one who spied on my room with his skill, I will personally dig his eyes out inpensation for his behavior.¡±


    ¡°Understood.¡± The entourage said and approached Randy who was kneeling on the ground with a painful expression.


    Once in front of him, he proceeded to grab his arm and shouted: ¡°Insolent brat! Get up! How dare you make mydy wait for you?!¡±


    As soon as he said that, he pulled and dragged Randy off the ground, and momentster, he was thrown in front of the long-eared beautiful woman.


    At such a close distance, Randy could finally see the features of this long-eared beautiful woman clearly. She was very pretty with silver hair and blue eyes- she was on par with Sylvana in terms of appearance alone. However, their demeanor was quite different.


    Randy slowly stood up and looked at this beautiful woman in front of him with a dazed look on his face. It was almost as though he had forgotten the pain he was feeling before as he was no longer clutching his head in pain.


    This reaction immediately caused the long-eared beautiful woman to frown as she had a bad feeling about his reaction which made her feel disgusted, as that was the look all men gave her when they met her for the first time.


    However, unbeknownst to her, Randy didn¡¯t look at her because he was actually entranced by her or interested in her at all. Instead, as he began to stare at her body, her appearance changed in his vision.


    [All Law Seeker], activated!


    Within a second, Randy could see a grey smoky silhouette that resembled the figure of the long-eared beautiful woman in his vision with red pigments on certain parts of the silhouette.


    The long-eared beautiful woman opened her mouth to speak when Randy suddenly reached his right hand out abruptly before striking her right on her chest- bosom, to be more urate.


    Randy had intended to poke the center of her chest, where one of the red pigments was glowing with intense light. However, due to his vision of her figure turning grey, he was unable to see properly and identally poked her breast with his finger strike.


    The long-eared beautiful woman immediately fumed in anger with a flushed face when she noticed the finger poking at her chest, and she shouted in a trembling voice: ¡°Y-You bastard! How dare yound your hand on my breas- Just die!¡±


    Realizing his mistake, Randy quickly adjusted his hand and urately struck the red pigment on her chest, instantly halting the movement of the long-eared beautiful woman and dispersing her umted power shortly after.

 Chapter 256

    256 Acquring New Abilities


    ¡°W-What did you do to me? Why can¡¯t I move my body and why can¡¯t I use my power?!¡± The long-eared, beautiful woman spoke with a grim and fearful voice as all her energy seemed to escape her body all of a sudden from Randy¡¯s attack.


    ¡®No, it feels like my energy pathways were sealed by his finger strike! What did he do to me just now?!¡¯ She cried inwardly as she immediately felt helpless when she couldn¡¯t move nor use her power anymore.


    Randy stood up from the floor and shrugged before calmly answering: ¡°Beats me. I have no idea what I did to you either. I only know that it was your weakness. And I have to say, it was more effective than I thought.¡±


    The long-eared, beautiful woman was unconvinced and shouted: ¡°Bullshit! If you don¡¯t undo-¡±


    ¡°I can¡¯t undo it and I don¡¯t want to either- this is what you get for acting arrogant and domineering when you meet people for the first time.¡±


    Randy interjected with a cold expression, no longer putting up with his pretense from before.


    ¡°Damn it! Lukziah, kill him for me!¡± She turned to her entourage, who was oddly silent this whole time, almost as though he didn¡¯t even notice hisdy being assaulted.


    Randy casually said: ¡°Don¡¯t bother. He can¡¯t move nor talk even if he wanted to.¡±


    Before being thrown down, he managed to hit all the red pigment on that entourage¡¯s body, especially his throat and limps. Due to this, he was rendered immobile shortly after tossing Randy down in front of the long-eared, beautiful woman.


    .....


    Randy leaned forward while reaching his hand out as he opened his mouth, seemingly about to say something to her when someone barged into the Auction House and shouted, halting his movements.


    ¡°Stop! Do noty your hand on that person, young man! Otherwise, the consequences would be catastrophic!¡±


    Randy raised his eyebrows when he saw the grey-haired middle-aged man with a solemn expression on his face.


    ¡®The Society Leader?¡¯


    Unexpectedly, it was the Society Leader that came.


    ¡®What is he doing here? Did hee here because of her?¡¯ Randy wondered and then turned to look at the terrified woman who was still sitting on her chair, and he thought, ¡®Turns out her identity was special in this ce. Is she a member of a Royal Family or something?¡¯


    However, Randy was unrelenting and said: ¡°Society Leader. This woman tried to assault me just now and I only retaliated to protect myself. Shouldn¡¯t I fight back if someone tries to harm me?¡±


    ¡°I know. I heard about the situation from her. But you can¡¯t touch that personage, or you will suffer the consequences of which even I cannot save you from. So just forget what happened here.¡± The Society Leader pointed at the youngdy that received Randy when he came into the Crescent Moon Auction House.


    ¡°...¡± Randy remained silent when he heard the Society Leader¡¯s words, which clearly hinted that that long-eared, beautiful woman had a high status even among the humans.


    ¡°Anyway, why did youe to the Auction House? What did you want to purchase?¡± The Society Leader asked.


    ¡°I came here to purchase elemental essence crystals and I heard someone would be trading them for items in the auction today and that I could purchase themter. However, before I could do so, I was stopped by this woman here for her own reasons.¡± Randy said to him.


    He was clearly not telling the whole truth since he never nned on revealing that this whole situation was caused by him identally peering into her room out of curiosity, without thinking much about the situation at the time.


    ¡°I see. If that¡¯s all you need, then you can take your leave now. I will have someone bring the elemental essence crystals to your roomter. For now, I need you to leave. I will handle the situation from here onwards.¡±


    ¡°Eh? But I haven¡¯t paid for them.¡± Randy said.


    The Society Leader waved his hand and said: ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll have them bring everything they have in stock to you. You can pay for themter.¡±


    ¡°O-Okay.¡±


    Randy could tell that the current situation was very troubling, as the Society Leader was trying to drive him away from the Auction House as soon as possible. He was even resorting to paying for his elemental essence crystals himself. Since he didn¡¯t want to escte things any further than this, he decided to leave as suggested.


    However, just as Randy was about to walk out of the building, he was stopped by a voice.


    ¡°Hold it!¡±


    Randy halted his steps and turned back around and asked: ¡°What is it?¡±


    ¡°Undo whatever you did to her.¡± The Society Leader said to him.


    ¡°But I don¡¯t know... Fine, let me try.¡± Randy was not lying to the long-eared beautiful woman when he said that he didn¡¯t know how to reverse what he had done to her, as he only did it instinctively while using a bit of his mana during his finger strike.


    However, since he was able to strike her weakness with that attack, which was enough to leave her defenseless, he should be able to enable her to move again if he struck the same spot using the same method of attack.


    Thus, he approached the long-eared, beautiful woman again with his index finger sticking out.


    Meanwhile, when the long-eared, beautiful woman saw his gesture, she thought he was nning to do the same thing again and restrict her movements further.


    In reality, the finger strike Randy used on her chest did not render her immobile but instead caused her flow of energy to be in disarray. This caused her to temporarily lose the ability to move her body. However, given enough time, she could move her body again.


    But if Randy were to strike her again, she was afraid that she might suffer some irreparable damage.


    ¡°W-What is the meaning of this? Are you nning on attacking me again?¡± The long-eared, beautiful woman spoke in a trembling voice, almost as if she was afraid of Randy- or more specifically, his finger strike that managed to render her body into such a miserable state.


    Randy did not bother to exin and activated his mental ability, All Law Seeker, and right away the same gray silhouette appeared in his vision. He was able to detect the weaknesses in the form of red pigments on the long-eared beautiful woman¡¯s figure.


    He intends on identifying the red pigment that he struck on the long-eared, beautiful woman¡¯s chest earlier. Since he had already struck it once, there was a possibility that the weakness might disappear. However, that was not guaranteed as this was the first time that he was attempting something like this.


    Randy immediately began scouring for weaknesses on the long-eared beautiful woman¡¯s body the moment her gray smokey figure appeared. Sure enough, he was able to identify the red pigment on her chest shortly after. With his index finger that emitted a bit of mana that gathered on his fingertip, he aimed for the red pigment without hesitation.


    ¡°W-Wait! Stop him! Don¡¯t let him touch me!¡± The long-eared screamed with a frightful look on her face, as she struggled to move her body- albeit only slightly. She clearly did not look like the haughty person from before. Most likely, losing her powers suddenly caused her to lose her confidence.


    The Society Leader also kept an eye on Randy¡¯s movements very closely in case he does anything harmful intentionally or unintentionally.


    Meanwhile, when Randy saw her frantic reaction that made him look like an evil person, he frowned but he ignored her and struck the center of her chest with his mana-imbued finger, and just as the long-eared, beautiful woman was about to scream louder, she noticed that her sealed energy seemed to be unlocked and she could use her powers once again.


    ¡®My powers are no longer sealed? But how? Is it because he struck my chest just now? What kind of spell did he use?¡¯ The long-eared, beautiful woman was impressed and scared of Randy¡¯s finger strike that could effortlessly seal her powers.


    Momentster, Randy turned to the entourage of the long-eared beautiful woman and after repeating the same thing on his body, the entourage felt his movement was no longer restricted and could move just fine. He had a terrified expression on his face as he watched Randy proceed to walk away after undoing his restriction.


    ¡®Who is that human? How could he use such a profound skill?¡¯ He wondered for a moment before rushing to attend to his master, who was standing and inspecting herself and her recovered powers.


    ¡°A-Are you okay, mydy?¡±


    ¡°Hmph! Do I look okay to you? How can you call yourself my guard if you simply stood there and did nothing as I was assaulted? Is that how you n to protect me? How could you be so useless to lose a fight before even fighting? How would you face my parents if something had happened to me just now?¡±


    ¡°...¡± The entourage was left speechless by her questions that contained her frustrations. After all, she was stronger than him, but she also lost to that human.


    The Society Leader calmly watched Randy¡¯s figure as he reached the exit, about to leave the building, before he spoke from behind: ¡°Thank you, young man.¡±


    Randy silently nodded but did not say anything and simply left the establishment, as he made his way back to the Society building.


    ...


    After some time, Randy arrived at the Society building. He currentlyid on his bed staring at the ceiling wondering what he should do now that he had nothing to do besides waiting for the delivery of the elemental essence crystals.


    ¡®Should I take on a mission?¡¯


    At this moment, he suddenly remembered that he still had some business to take care of before he decides to venture out this time. His recent encounters brought to his attention that he needed more experience with his skills and techniques.


    But since he didn¡¯t have the time, he could simplyprehend more skills and techniques. However, he doesn¡¯t have any mana-rted skills and techniques to learn, so he decided on acquiring new abilities, especially the ones that he stored away in his system.


    ¡®I haven¡¯t yet acquired those abilities that I extracted from the weapons that I took briefly from that burr. I should acquire those abilities first since there were useful ones. There were also the crystalized ability stones, which had actual human abilities. I wonder if I should acquire those first instead.¡¯

 Chapter 257

    257 Palm Of Double Return


    Now that he had a lot of knowledge and divine points to spend, Randy decided that he would be using his free time right now, to focus on acquiring new abilities. After all, having more skills and expertise would ensure his survival.


    Before that, he looked into the void of space in front of him and read the system notifications from earlier regarding the changes that urred to his mental state.


    [[Your tolerance towards your opponent¡¯s mental pressure has increased]]


    [[The mental pressure is no longer affecting your mental strength and psionic energy because your tolerance has increased. Your mental resistance has increased slightly in response]]


    [[Attention! You have sessfully resisted the tremendous mental pressure ced on your mind]]


    [[You have met the requirement to form a ¡®Mental Seed¡¯]]


    [[Your mental energy vessel, ¡®Mental Seed¡¯ is currently being created. The duration beforepletion is indeterminate for now]]


    Once Randy was tossed in front of the long-eared, beautiful woman, these system notifications popped up in front of him.


    This was why Randy gave up on the thought of extending the mental pressure¡¯s duration. In addition[Instead,], he decided to take advantage of the moment to test his improved mental ability.


    .....


    With that in mind, he immediately gave up on his pretense of being affected by the mental pressure, as there was no longer any need for it, and decided to attack the long-eared, beautiful woman instead.


    The results were quite satisfactory if he had to be honest. Compared to before, he was able to activate his mental ability, All Law Seeker ability, in mere seconds. This was unlike before, where he not only needed the target to stay stationary but also required more time to activate. Furthermore, he also didn¡¯t need to be stationary to trigger the mental ability, as he could be in motion to trigger the mental ability without anygs or failure.


    This activation requirement was undoubtedly better than before his mental energy underwent its current changes. Presently, he discovered that his control over his mental energy and ease over both mental ability and mental skill usage had increased significantly.


    That aside, he proceeded to look at the golden screen of his system, and then his gaze fell onto the section where his stored- recorded abilities were listed.


    ¡ª


    ?[[Records]]?


    Current Recorded History:


    Skill(s)


    [1,000,000 KP] [10,000 DP]


    [1,000,000 KP] [10,000 DP]


    [500,000 KP] [5,000 DP]


    Technique(s)


    [1,000 KP] [10 DP] ¨C [Already Learned]


    [100,000 KP] [1,000 DP]


    [10,000 KP] [100 DP]


    [50,000 KP] [5,000 DP] ¨C [Already Learned]


    [50,000 KP] [500 DP]


    [30,000 KP] [300 DP]


    [Varying KP per spell and technique]


    [Varying KP per spell and technique]


    ¡ª


    Briefly ncing through the recorded skills and techniques, Randy turned to look at his remaining knowledge points.


    ¡ª


    [[Knowledge Points: 30,300]]


    ¡ª


    And then he turned to look at his remaining divine points.


    ¡ª


    [[Divine Points: 643,090]]


    ¡ª


    ¡®Hmm... I seem to have more divine points than knowledge points...¡¯


    Randy realized that he had amassed more divine points than divine points despite killing so many magical beasts. Although he didn¡¯t get anything from those demons, he should¡¯ve gotten more knowledge points, considering the number of magical beasts he killed. However, that wasn¡¯t the case here.


    ording to his understanding of knowledge points, the opponents needed to be intelligent for there to be abundant knowledge points. Otherwise, there would be less harvest even if he killed them, or worst-case scenario, he gets nothing from them if they are weaker than him.


    However, divine points share the same condition for point harvest when ites to the choice of opponents- the opponent needs to be of the samebat strength, or stronger than you inbat power level regardless of energy type in order to harvest more divine points.


    Combat power is different frombat strength andbat strength is different frombat prowess.


    Combat power is essentially the level of umted energy, andbat strength is essentially the physical prowess of someone.


    As forbat prowess, it is thebination of bothbat strength andbat power.


    Therefore, having abundant energy doesn¡¯t always mean that you are stronger than someone with less energy. After all, physical prowess such as muscle strength, agility, and stamina would y an active role in determining one¡¯s overallbat prowess.


    That was why the demons of his current world were stronger than humans and other races overall when it came tobat prowess. After all, they had robust bodies and their stamina was also higher than others. Due to that, they were fearsome in battle.


    However, humans were only strong when it came tobat power alone, as their physical bodies could neverpare to demons when they fought.


    That was why the demons were surprised that Randy could fight them almost evenly using nothing but his physical prowess despite being human like everyone else.


    Unbeknownst to them, Randy wasn¡¯t a native to their world. As a result, his initialbat strength was higher than most talented people in their world. Not to mention his assimted states that boosted his overall strength when used inbat.


    That aside, Randy turned his attention back to the recorded skills and techniques. At this time, he was looking at the skill section as they had skills that he wanted to acquire right away.


    Ultimately, he decided to acquire those three skills first since the order in which he would acquire these skills or abilities did not matter to him.


    Thus, he began to deliberate about which skill he should acquire first among the disyed skills.


    Skill(s)


    [1,000,000 KP] [10,000 DP]


    [1,000,000 KP] [10,000 DP]


    [500,000 KP] [5,000 DP]


    Momentster, Randy gave up thinking too much, and without hesitation, he said: ¡°System, I want to spend divine points to acquire the ¡®Palm of Double Return¡¯ skill.¡±


    [[Acknowledged]]


    [[Would you like to spend 10,000 divine points to acquire the skill, ¡®Palm of Double Return¡¯]]


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    [[Response Acknowledged]]


    Within the next moment, Randy felt his vision shift slightly as he found himself in this pitch-ck space. Shortly after, he felt himself transforming into something inhuman while floating in a void.


    Confused by his current state, Randy gave a quick nce at himself using his Dimensional Sense skill, and to his surprise, he had turned into a mirror- specifically the Reflecting Mirror of Double Return, the artifact from which the skill, ¡®Palm of Double Return¡¯ was derived.


    Randy was frightened by his current appearance and instinctively struggled to move from his position but to no avail. It was then that he realized that he was only in his mental space and that his current state was most likely part of the skill acquisition process.


    The next moment, Randy inwardly frowned upon this realization.


    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me I have to be a mirror to acquire this Palm of Double Return skill? While it sort of makes sense since this skill was derived from that S-Rank Mirror, it still doesn¡¯t feel right to turn into an inanimate object- even if it¡¯s only an illusion.¡¯


    Although Randy understood the process, it was just that he felt that a transformation of this kind was not good for his sanity.


    This was because he truly felt like he had be an actual mirror, as he even lost all of his senses. Except for his consciousness that still persisted and allowed him to use his mental skill, Dimensional Sense, he couldn¡¯t feel anything.


    However, as he found himself in the state of this mirror, he was able to understand various things about the Reflecting Mirror Of Double Return Artifact. These included the original skill of the artifact and its S-Rank weapon property, known as ¡®Double Return¡¯.


    Momentster, Randy found himself transformed back into his human form with his palm exuding this transparent energy that resembled that of the surface of a mirror.


    Unlike an actual mirror, one cannot see their reflection on the surface of this transparent energy. Instead, any attacks that struck this transparent energy would be reflected back to the source with double the effect- hence the term, ¡®Double Return¡¯, in the name of the skill.


    As for how it works, Randy didn¡¯t understand itpletely despite the information he received. However, he decided to read the descriptions since it was easier to get the general application of the skill, and sometimes even how it works.


    [[You have sessfully acquired the skill, Palm of Double Return. Please check the skill description for more information]]


    After reading these lines of text in confirmation of his acquisition of the skill, Randy used his mind to select the skill on the screen. Soon, the description of the skill was disyed on the holographic screen in front of him.


    ?[[Palm Of Double Return]]?


    ?[[Grade: S]]


    ?[[Type: Skill]]?


    ?[[Description: A skill derived from the artifact, Reflecting Mirror Of Double Return. Using this skill would not only allow the user to negate elemental attacks but also reflect them back to their source twice their output. This was achieved by absorbing and supplying the absorbed attack with the appropriate amount of energy, enough to ensure double reflection of the opponent¡¯s attack]]?


    The system did not only provide him with the information and description of the acquired skill, but also the activation method of the acquired skill.


    [[Special Note: As this skill is a magical skill, you can only activate it using mana or divine points. Therefore, any other form of energy would not be able to activate this skill]].


    .....

 Chapter 258

    258 Temporary Attributes Deadline


    Momentster, Randy digested the information regarding this newly acquired skill. It worked roughly the same way as he had thought when he had been bestowed the otherworldly and vague knowledge about the skill.


    ording to interpretation, this skill could absorb attacks and amplify said attacks before releasing and reflecting them back at the attacker. However, he only knew how it worked theoretically as he had yet to experience using this skill in battle.


    After pondering this point, Randy suddenly realized that, unlike techniques that show demonstrations of how to execute them before fully grasping the know-how, skills work differently as they directly give you the means to execute them. Even if it was your first time using a skill, it would feel like you had used it throughout your entire life.


    This was just like the skills he acquired in this world that felt natural to use. Furthermore, the skills in Acruxia were simr to the innate abilities that ability holders and awakeners possess after awakening.


    ¡°That begs the question, do the people in this world not awaken to their abilities like in my world? Or maybe they never had to awaken since their world was already a supernatural world, unlike Earth where people only started awakening almost a century ago...¡±


    Randy pondered this but he found this topic irrelevant to him. This was because, either way, the people in this world were already endowed with the Dungeon System. Anyone with enough bravery could acquire a ss by raiding a dungeon, as it was the only prerequisite to acquiring skills.


    Moreover, those skills were simr to awakened abilities in his world. After all, the ability to use a sword without prior knowledge was already on par with that famous awakener in his world that awakened Weapon Mastery as his innate ability decades ago.


    If his current world¡¯s system grants people these skills, then they don¡¯t even need to undergo awakening since they could still be stronger with their granted skills.


    Putting that thought aside, Randy looked at the remaining skills on the panel in front of him. He pondered for a moment before deciding to acquire them all.


    .....


    A short whileter, a series of notifications appeared with lines of text scrolling in his vision.


    [[You have sessfully acquired the skill, ¡®Shadow Mirage Barrage¡¯. Please check the skill description for more information]]


    [[You have sessfully acquired the skill, ¡®Blood Ray¡¯. Please check the skill description for more information]]


    Just as before, in order to acquire these two skills, he had to turn into their correspondent weapons. Fortunately, the Shadow Mirage Barrage and the Blood Ray were both a Weapon Property of the same spear. Therefore, he didn¡¯t have to experience the transformation twice.


    Since that was the case, he chose to acquire them together when he realized that the two skills were derived from the same weapon that acquired two Weapon Properties- albeit at different timelines with different wielders.


    ording to the information from the system, a spear genius who once wielded a Divine Spear lost to a Demon General, who then used some unknown method to corrupt and turn the spear into a Demonic Spear. This then allowed the spear to acquire a new Weapon Property, which was the Blood Ray. The previous Weapon Property was Shadow Mirage Barrage.


    After acquiring these three skills, Randy wanted to continue acquiring more skills using the Crystallized Ability Stones since he still had time to spare, but he decided against it. After all, multi-tasking was only effective if he had more than one body to perform those tasks or more time to spare, but he didn¡¯t have any of those things. Right now, he only had himself and his defective incarnation.


    Until his current incarnation was fully functioning, and he acquires more incarnations hopefully after he receives the Elemental Essence Crystals from the person who would be delivering themter, only then would he think about acquiring those skills.


    Currently, the three skills he had just acquired would be enough for him. Not to mention that he had yet to test them and confirm their overall usage. Furthermore, even if he had more skills, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use them efficiently and effectively in battle.


    As such, he needed to get used to these three skills first before thinking about others. To do that, he needed to train them alongside his body for better coordination during battle-


    ¡°Wait! I forgot that my temporary attributes would expire in seven days. What day is it today?¡±


    Randy suddenly remembered that the deadline stated by the challenger¡¯s system was approaching.


    Unknowingly, he had forgotten about this matter after sleeping for three days straight. It was because he was inactive for three whole days that he unconsciously thought that he still had time. Only now did he realize that he had already wasted three whole days of that time frame.


    Now he only had had-


    ¡°Two- At most, I only have two and a half days topletely assimte with those attributes. Otherwise, I would have to hunt in the Dungeon again, which would be a waste of time, to be honest.¡±


    Randy shook his head and immediately stood up from his bed. He decided that there was no point in pondering his decision any longer. Since there was such a rule that stated assimting with attributes that are disyed as temporary in the attribute screen before the deadline, there should be a method to expedite the assimtion process.


    With that thought in mind, he made up his mind to seek help from a native of this world. Preferably someone who has more experience being a Dungeon Hunter.


    The only one he could think of was that green-clothed young woman he met, Sylvana, and her teammates. Other than them, perhaps the Society Leader would be a better choice. But there was also Zophia, but Randy wasn¡¯t sure whether she was a Dungeon Hunter or not.


    As Zophia was more like an ordinary person rather than a person who would risk their lives inside Dungeons, Randy didn¡¯t think of her when the thought came to him. But it couldn¡¯t hurt to ask her since she seemed to be an experienced receptionist.


    Even if she wasn¡¯t a Dungeon Hunter, she might have some information from other Dungeon Hunters on how to expedite the attribute assimtion process. Furthermore, he didn¡¯t know when Sylvana and her teammates would return. Even if they had already returned, he didn¡¯t know where they lived.


    In the end, he still needed to see Zophia for those pieces of information. That was if he ignored the possibility of confidentiality and other factors, such as only team members are allowed in their abode or simr circumstances.


    Ignoring those possibilities, Randy walked out of his room and headed to the front of the building. Later on, he stood in front of Zophia with a few queries and demands regarding his expiring attributes.

 Chapter 259

    259 Leaving Alpheotus City


    After remembering the deadline for his temporary attributes, he would visit Zophia and would be pointed towards the Imperial City at the Royal Capital to train at this special Coliseum used by diators to fight and entertain the Royal Family of the Imperial City at the capital.


    Randy was shocked that such a thing existed in this world. And he wasn¡¯t shocked by the Coliseum. Instead, he was shocked by the fact that the Royal Family, or more precisely, the humans had the time to entertain themselves by watching others fight in Coliseums when their entire race was in danger.


    Although he thought that it was outrageous, he didn¡¯t really care as he had already found his solution to turning his temporary attributes into permanent ones quickly. However, there was another issue. Which was the distance from his current location to the Imperial City. This caused Randy a headache as it seemed it would take months to get to the Imperial City by a carriage drawn by magical beasts.


    Coincidentally, as he was stuck in a dilemma, the Dungeon Hunters who came from the Capital were nning on heading back to the Capital. They came to say their farewells to the Society Leader. Once they entered the Society Building, they saw Randy having a chat with Zophia and then walked up to him intending to greet him.


    Once they got close enough, they overheard their conversion, and they immediately saw an opportunity to befriend this new Dungeon Hunter. This was especially so after hearing about his achievement from the Society Leader.


    Vairon and the others came up with a n on the spot. They would offer to take Randy along with them to the magical teleportation formation that they would be using. Furthermore, he wouldn¡¯t have to pay for its usage since it would be free if he joined them. And since Randy had less money to leave using this magical teleportation formation, he would helplessly ept their offer after contemting to himself.


    The most optimistic among them was undoubtedly Gutz, who had already recovered as he flexed his muscles by putting on any top today. Naturally, the others like Vairon and Tiana were friendly towards Randy as they were willing to help a junior and also make a friend.


    As for Eliana, she didn¡¯t say anything and only nodded in greeting when she saw Randy. Her gaze still felt strange to Randy but he was already getting used to it by now.


    Vairon and the others could tell that Randy was quite unfriendly. At first, he tried to ignore their existence when they tried to talk to him, and he only turned their way when he heard them mention the magical teleportation formation, baffling them.


    .....


    That aside, all that mattered was that Randy had decided to leave Alpheotus City with them. Randy had only spent a few days here, so he barely had any attachments aside from Zophia whom hemunicated with the most in this city.


    Meanwhile, the Society Leader was thrilled when he heard the news that Randy would be leaving with them as that would unintendedly contribute to their Society for offering such a genius Dungeon Hunter and a possible recruit. Their funds from the Royal Family would only increase if this went through, not to mention themissions.


    Before the day of their departure, the Society Leader called Randy over and handed him a pouch to him with some things inside.


    ¡°These are the Elemental Essence Crystals that you requested. And before you ask, no, you don¡¯t have to pay for them.¡± The Society Leader said to him afterwards.


    Randy was slightly surprised by this as he was certain that it must¡¯ve cost a lot to purchase the Elemental Essence Crystals based on the weight of the pouch. By his estimates, there should be more than seven Elemental Essence Crystals. But he couldn¡¯t tell how many there were specifically since the pouch was a magic item like his ck spatial ring.


    The Society Leader continued: ¡°I have already deducted the amount needed from the money that you¡¯ll be receiving for defeating the two demons.¡±


    Hearing these words, Randy rolled his eyes inwardly. He thought that the Society Leader was giving it to him for free, but it turned out that wasn¡¯t the case. He was essentially still the one who paid for it.


    ¡®This brat almost caused a serious case with that vixen from the long-eared tribe. I didn¡¯t know that he was that fierce, even against women. Though I understand where he¡¯sing from as that woman was simply too much. I would¡¯ve beaten her myself if not for her status.¡¯ The Society Leader frowned as he thought about how he had to repeatedly lower himself to that old wench from the long-eared tribe.


    While the long-eared humans were no longer participating in the wars between races, they still weren¡¯t people that they could trifle with. Thus, the Society Leader immediately rushed to handle the situation when he sensed the unique power of the long-eared humans.


    Fortunately, nothing drastic had urred before he arrived, and he was able to salvage the situation in time. Even if he didn¡¯t like the attitude of that woman, he still couldn¡¯t be the reason a conflict would arise between their kind.


    Randy suddenly interrupted the Society Leader¡¯s thoughts with a question: ¡°So when should I expect to receive my money for those two demons? I still have their corpses in my spatial ring, after all.¡±


    ¡°Ah.¡±


    The Society Leader snapped back to reality and said: ¡°About that... We don¡¯t have enough funds to give to you at this branch. I was already requesting someone from the Imperial City toe over and handle the appraisal, but that won¡¯t be necessary anymore. Once you reach the Royal Capital, head to the Imperial City Branch of the Society and submit the demons to them. Tell them my name and they should give you your rewards.¡±


    ¡°I see...¡±


    Randy didn¡¯t say much as he pondered for a moment before asking some more questions regarding some things. After receiving the answers he needed, he left right away to prepare for his departure that would be happening early at dawn as it was already gettingte presently.


    ...


    The following day, Randy woke up early. After saying his goodbye to Zophia, who had woken up early to see him off, and the Society Leader, he went to the front of the building to meet up with Vairon, Gutz, Tiana, and Eliana.


    Before they left the vicinity of the Society Building, Vairon approached him.


    ¡°Randy, are you all set to leave?¡± Vairon asked him.


    ¡°Yes.¡± Randy nodded and said: ¡°Once again, thank you for bringing me along with you guys.¡±


    Although he felt awkward being with these experienced Dungeon Hunters, he still appreciated their help in bringing him along.


    ¡°Don¡¯t mention it, don¡¯t mention it.¡± Vairon repeated these words as he waved both of his hands dismissively with a smile on his face.


    He then asked: ¡°Right, have you made sure that you didn¡¯t forget anything? You wouldn¡¯t be able toe back here in a short time if you left with us without bringing everything with you.¡±


    ¡°Yes. I have all my things inside my spatial ring.¡± Randy confirmed.


    ¡°Spatial ring?¡± Vairon raised his eyebrows in slight surprise, but not for long.


    The next moment, he turned away from him and said in a loud voice: ¡°Alright, let¡¯s head out everyone! We have much to look forward to once we return!


    After confirming things with Randy, Vairon announced to everyone before taking the lead. He led them in the direction of the magical teleportation formation operation facility, which was not that far away from the Society Building.


    At this time, Gutz came close to Randy and began a conversation with him. Most of their topics were about how they trained their bodies and their daily training routine.

 Chapter 260 - 260 Meeting of the Demons

    260 Meeting of the Demons


    Although Randy didn¡¯t want to talk to Gutz at first due to his overly touchy nature, when he thought about how they were helping him, he decided to say a few words in response to Gutz¡¯s questions.


    After some time, they arrived at their destination. After Vairon stepped forward and paid the teleportation operation fees, which caused Randy¡¯s eyes to widen in shock, the five of them proceeded to stand on the magical formation.


    Immediately after the conductor was done powering up the magic formation, the magic formation shed with a blinding light before their figures disappeared. They had teleported to the Royal Capital¡¯s Imperial City.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, the Society Leader stood by the window on the top floor as this[he watched] Randy left with Vairon and the others.


    ¡°I was worried about the trouble he caused the other day and how to hide him from the clutches of that woman from the long-eared tribe in case shees back for revenge. However, this development saved me some trouble. Furthermore, this would make up for my effort in pacifying that arrogant woman.¡± The Society Leader was all smiles as he watched the silhouette of Randy disappearing into the horizon with the others. He couldn¡¯t wait to hear from the Royal Family from the Main Branch about his contribution.


    Naturally, this was the main reason he advocated for Randy to join those Dungeon Hunters. Currently, the Royal Family was looking for strong men to join in on the war, but there were barely many who qualified for the position.


    That was why when he saw Randy¡¯s potential, he took special care to test him and also attempted to get him to be noticed by the Church of Light in the capital if he managed to find their Knight Captain. Although he failed in his attempts, Randy himself managed to defeat two demons by himself and those demons were not mere foot soldiers but lieutenant-level powerhouses.


    As a result, when the Royal Family heard about this prospect, they fervently wanted to recruit and nurture him as soon as possible. However, Society Leader broke the news to them about Randy¡¯s untamed character and they could only frown and find other methods to ensnare him.


    .....


    While the Society Leader didn¡¯t like the idea of making him be indebted to the Royal Family, he thought that this was the only way to make someone like Randy willingly join the war without resistance.


    They could force him to do so against his wishes, but what would be the point in that? Wouldn¡¯t they simply make an enemy rather than gain an ally?


    With that in mind, he hoped that this voyage would change Randy¡¯s mind about many things. Perhaps, after witnessing the state of Imperial City, he would be moved and willing to fight to protect the peace of the people.


    With that being said, it all depends on whether he was apassionate person or a cold-hearted person. Even if he was a cold-hearted person, as long as he was not truly evil, it would still be good to have him as an ally. However, if he waspassionate underneath his unmoved bearing, that would be a blessing for the entire human race.


    After all, a human that could defeat two lieutenant-level demons by himself couldn¡¯t possibly be weak. If he were to reach the limit of this world, he could increase their chances of winning the war against the demons drastically. This was a chance that they couldn¡¯t afford to pass up unless they were blind.


    ¡­


    Two days ago.


    Demon Continent, Demon King¡¯s Castle, Inside the Grand Hall of Meetings.


    Inside a Grand Hall that spans a few kilometers in both length and width, and was a hundred meters tall, there was a gathering of a group of people who had a humanoid appearance, but they were clearly not human if one looked at their unique features, such as their skin and horns.


    At the highest elevated tform of this Grand Hall, a massive figure whose appearance couldn¡¯t be discerned with the eyes and covered in this thick baleful darkness sat on a majestic yet grotesque-looking throne. This skeletal throne was made out of the skeletal bones of the strongest magical beasts in the world, making them very durable than some of the best weapons out there.


    The massive figure that sat on this Skeletal Throne while naturally exuding a profound and regal aura was the Demon King¡ª the ultimate being that rules over all the demons in this world. The Demon King was a being that held absolute power that could even rival or even transcend thebat power of the apostles of gods before they ascend to the gods¡¯ ne.


    However, this Demon King was unique as they were even stronger than the previous Demon Kings. Just sitting there, they naturally carry this unfathomable aura around their body that would strike unprecedented fear into anyone with a slightly weaker mind.


    Sitting there on the Skeletal Throne, the Demon King had a look of boredom and nonchnce as they watched the situation in front of them.


    At this moment, the relevant members of the Demon King¡¯s Army were having a heated discussion regarding their next course of action in the war against the other races when a presence suddenly appeared at the entrance of the Grand Hall of Meetings.


    Without saying any word of the announcement, the owner of the presence immediately bowed reverently behind the gate to the Grand Hall of Meetings and proceeded to wait there for acknowledgment.


    The presence behind the gate was actually a dark-skinned, bulky man with a very tall figure, towering more than 3 meters in height. Although they look human presently, they were actually a demon. If Vairon and the others were to see this dark-skinned, bulky man right now, they would recognize him as the Demon General that they encountered, fought, and lost against near the Meistic Forest.


    Indeed, this was Demon General Jarkoffin. After hurriedly running away from the battle with Eliana, he teleported a few times before finally arriving at the Demon Continent which was many miles away from the human continent. Without wasting any time upon his arrival, he came to make his report.


    By now, all the other members within the Grand Hall had begun to notice the presence behind the gate. Furthermore, they recognized who the presence belonged to as they were all too familiar with them since they all served the same liege.


    When almost everyone in the Grand Hall sensed the arrival of the dark-skinned Demon General, the Demon King¡¯s emotionless voice floated out of the Grand Hall, prating the thick gate into Demon General Jarkoffin¡¯s ears.


    ¡°Jarkoffin? Why are you back here? Have youpleted your assigned mission?¡±


    When Demon General Jarkoffin heard the Demon King¡¯s hoarse and indiscernible voice, his body jolted involuntarily and immediately replied with a respectful tone: ¡°My King, please forgive this general, for I have yet toplete my mission due to an unexpected variable that stood in my way, preventing me from doing so.¡±


    ¡®Did my subordinate not arrive yet? Or have the military advisor not informed the liege regarding that human?¡¯ Demon General Jarkoffin felt like it was strange that the Demon King was speaking to him as if they were unaware of his current predicament that involved that human they encountered during their mission.


    ¡°Then why did you show yourself in front of me? You do realize that this is pivotal to our sess on the battlefield. You should¡¯ve done whatever you could toplete that mission. Yet, you came back after you suffered a single loss? If so, then did youe here to receive your punishment for failing your mission perhaps?¡±


    Demon General Jarkoffin quickly replied: ¡°That is not my intention! I only want to seek an audience with my liege regarding a certain matter that I have uncovered during my mission! I believe it is of utmost importance to our grand n!¡±


    ¡®It seems that my liege has indeed not received my report. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t be questioned by the liege. Maybe my subordinate hasn¡¯t arrived yet¡­?¡¯ Demon General Jarkoffin confirmed this to be the case, as even he had to spend three days to get back. It usually takes about 5 to 7 days to reach their continent even with teleportation.


    After all, they don¡¯t have the mana points to use it consecutively without rest. Even if that was possible, they can only use it until they reach the border of their continent and then continue the remaining miles on foot.


    ¡°Is that so?¡± The Demon King appeared slightly surprised by his words and fell silent for a brief moment without urging him on.


    Meanwhile, the other members in the room took this chance to discuss among themselves seeing as how their liege was not saying anything. However, one of them loudly voiced their opinion on the matter.


    ¡°Huh? Did he just say our grand n? I hope my liege does not listen to his babble. I believe he is only making up an excuse for his ignominious failure.¡± One of the members whose authority seemed quite considerable among the people in the hall suddenly scoffed and said before turning to face the gate of the Grand Hall: ¡°Jarkoffin, how dare you mention the grand n when you couldn¡¯t evenplete such a simple mission?¡±

 Chapter 261 - 261 Demon King’s Decision

    261 Demon King¡¯s Decision


    The moment the first person spoke up, almost like a domino effect, the other members in the Grand Hall also chimed in and ridiculed Demon General Jarkoffin.


    ¡°Indeed. Truly disgraceful. Your mission this time was simply cutting and plucking weeds that had no way to retaliate against you whatsoever. How can you still fail such a simple mission?¡± Another member in Grand Hall agreed with them.


    ¡°As expected of the weakest general among us. Jarkoffin, you truly bring shame and dishonor to our title as the Demon Generals of our liege.¡±


    ¡°As a fellow general, how can you still have a face to show up in front of the liege after you failed toplete such an important mission?¡±


    ¡°You should¡¯ve killed yourself for failing such an easy mission that any of us could¡¯ve handled properly without failure, Jarkoffin.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Meanwhile, Demon General Jarkoffin still knelt behind the enormous gate of the Grand Hall without any movement or changes to his posture. However, if one looked at him closely, one would see that his body was trembling on the spot with visible veins bulging in and out of existence, seemingly attempting to control his emotions as he was in the presence of their liege.


    Among the members who spoke out were the ones that held the title of Demon General, the same rank as him, but his treatment among them was very differentpared to the rest because he was the weakest Demon General.


    .....


    Even though they were all Demon Generals, the others had always treated him as if he was beneath them. They don¡¯t see him as an equal, and to make matters worse, he had less army tomand. This further prevented him from acquiring enough merits on the battlefield to get a territory with enough resources. He had always felt frustrated and even hated these Demon Generals for looking down on him, but he was the weakest among them.


    What could he do or aplish by himself, when faced with the strongest Demon Generals¡¯ oppression?


    He couldn¡¯t retaliate against just one of them even if he wanted to. Thus, he could only swallow his anger and ignore their disparaging words toward him.


    After all, there was nothing he could do to change his situation at the moment but endure their insults. Furthermore, he still hadn¡¯t heard a reply from their King, who was still silent without uttering a single word.


    At some point, the Demon King raised a hand while emanating a terrifying and unfathomable aura, turned to the Demon Generals who were still hurling mockery words at Demon General Jarkoffin, and said: ¡°Silence! I don¡¯t recall asking you for your opinions.¡±


    All the Demon Generals and the others immediately closed their mouths and halted their speech as they felt the suffocating pressure of the Demon King on their bodies.


    Their liege was angry! No one would dare to purposely make their liege angry as the consequence would be one that would be worse than death itself.


    ¡®Hahaha! Serves you guys right! My liege, thank you for upholding justice for me.¡¯ Jarkoffin was inwardly pleased when he saw the other Demon Generals cowering in momentary fear, as it seemed like their liege was displeased with their behavior before their presence.


    ¡°As for you¡­¡±


    The Demon King then turned to Demon General Jarkoffin and coldly red at him for a moment before saying in amanding tone: ¡°Tell me what happened during your mission. Do not leave out a single detail. Tell me everything, do you understand?¡±


    ¡°Yes, my liege!¡± Demon General Jarkoffin solemnly replied, and then began his recount of the events that transpired after he left toplete his assigned mission. He made sure not to leave out any detail even if it was an embarrassing event as he was afraid of being seen through by his liege.


    ¡°A human apostle? A strange human who happens to be at the location of your mission? That is indeed very strange¡­ More importantly, ording to what you said, if the human apostle was real, then they must¡¯ve arrived there to investigate the battle site right after they sensed the demonic aura emitting by your careless subordinates¡­¡± The Demon King pondered deeply afterwards without saying anything else.


    The other Demon Generals, Supervisors, Managers, and Advisors also held their breaths as they waited for their liege. Even as they waited, various thoughts were running through their heads regarding what they had just heard.


    Some were doubtful of the words spoken by Jarkoffin, as they believed he was mostly lying to avoid punishment from their liege. Others were cautious and apprehensive of the possibility of this news being true and the implications behind it.


    At some point, the Demon King suddenly spoke: ¡°If what you say is true, then just like us, the humans are also plotting something behind the scene. No, it would be more appropriate to say that the gods of this world had found a way to intervene with the world despite the previous restrictions that prevented them from doing so. With that in mind, it seems that I would have to visit the human continent to check things out myself. I have to verify the validity of this information and also to confirm and clear some of my previous doubts.¡±


    ¡°What?!¡± The Military Advisor of the Demon King eximed when he heard this deration and then said: ¡°My liege, you can¡¯t!¡±


    The Demon King didn¡¯t mind this advisor¡¯sment and instead asked in a calm voice: ¡°Why not? Do you think that this King can¡¯t handle a task such as this?¡±


    ¡°T-That is not what this subordinate meant by his words.¡± The advisor took a deep breath to calm himself down and exined: ¡°If my liege were to visit the human territory, your holy presence would no doubt be instantly discovered.¡±


    ¡°Hmph! Are you saying that this King is incapable of doing something as simple as retracting the aura I naturally emit? Are you looking down on me, Sidisfin?¡± The Demon King red at him, causing him to break out into cold sweat.


    However, the Advisor did not relent despite facing the threatening re of the Demon King.


    ¡°This subordinate wouldn¡¯t dare to look down on the liege¡¯s capabilities. This subordinate is only suggesting that it would be better to reveal yourself only during the climax of the war. This way, we would be able to achieve ultimate victory without revealing our hands.¡± He solemnly said.


    He then continued with a very serious expression: ¡°However, if my liege were to somehow be discovered by the humans before then and also witness my liege¡¯s great power. Without a doubt, those humans would take drastic measures to thwart our current ns from proceeding any further. That would be counterproductive my liege. Which is why it would be better for my liege to leave this kind of menial task to us who¡ª¡±


    ¡°Enough! You talk too much!¡± The Demon King suddenly cut him off and said with a hint of annoyance: ¡°I know what I¡¯m doing, Sidisfin.¡±


    As they spoke, they unconsciously released a bit of their overbearing pressure, causing everyone to keep their mouth shut.


    Noticing this, the Demon King calm down and retracted their pressure. They thought for a moment and then added: ¡°As for my presence, as long as I don¡¯t go with my true form, it should be okay. No one would be able to discover my identity unless I let them. Bring me one of the ordinary-looking vigers that we¡¯ve captured. I would possess their body and soul and then visit the human territory to investigate the truth in order to further our ns without any setbacks.¡±


    ¡°The Divine God is getting impatient with how slow the progress has been. We need to find a way to expedite the conquest of this world, and join the Divine God in conquering the other worlds.¡±


    Hearing this response, the advisor still appeared worried, but he didn¡¯t say anything as it seemed like their liege had firmly made up their mind. At this point, no amount of words or arguments would be able to change the Demon King¡¯s mind, so the Advisor could only give up and hope things turned out well with their liege¡¯s sudden decision.


    ¡­


    Present time.


    At this time, Randy and the other Dungeon Hunters had arrived at the magical teleportation operating center on the other side and were currently walking out of the building.


    Vairon exined to Randy as they made their way out of the building: ¡°This is the nearest operation building located near the Imperial City. This ce is a few miles away from the Imperial City as the Royal Family had prohibited teleportation to and from the Imperial City. Therefore, we still have some distance to travel before we will arrive at the imperial city.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡± Randy nodded.


    After some time, they came out of the building and took a carriage drawn by magical beasts for the remainder of their journey. It took them 4 to 5 hours to arrive outside of the gate that led inside the Imperial City.


    Of course, they could have chosen to walk the remaining distance as the distance to the city gate was only a few miles of running distance. However, there was no need to go through all that hassle when they couldfortably ride in a carriage to their destination.


    Randy himself would have preferred to run since he wanted to see if he could have caused his temporary attributes to be permanent through the exercise. But he was a neer to this ce and didn¡¯t even know which direction the city gate was located, so he could only follow the others all the way until they eventually reached their destination.

 Chapter 262 - 262 State of the Imperial City

    262 State of the Imperial City


    ¡°We¡¯ve arrived!¡± Vairon said to them as they approached the heavily guarded city gate in the distance.


    He then turned to Randy and exined: ¡°After passing through the city gate, and walking for some more, we would arrive at the Imperial City of the Royal Capital.¡±


    Once they were within reach of the city gate entrance, one of the guards immediately stopped them vigntly and demanded their identification. They all proceeded to show their Dungeon Hunter Cards, which served not only as an upational identification but as an official identity when entering other cities in the nation.


    After confirming that their identities were genuine with shocked expressions, the guards respectfully stepped aside for them to go through the city gate. The reason for their actions was very simple. All of them were of higher ranks as Dungeon Hunters.


    Aside from Randy who was B-Rank Dungeon Hunter, the others were all A-Rank Dungeon Hunters with considerable reputations within the Royal Capital¡¯s Imperial City. As such, when the guards saw their names on the Dungeon Hunter Card, they immediately showed their due respect.


    These guards were new recruits, so that was why they didn¡¯t know the faces of Vairon and the others. If they were veteran guards, they would have instantly recognized them and immediately gestured for them to go through the gate without any word from them.


    Although it could be considered dangerous to simply let them through without them showing their identifications, especially if there was a possibility of someone using their identities to infiltrate the Royal Capital, the fact still remains that Dungeon Hunters are highly respected individuals among humans, and sometimes the irrational and tacit gestures like this are given to them as a form of privilege, even if there are certain dangers to them.


    That doesn¡¯t mean that there aren¡¯t certain countermeasures put into ce to ensure that this kind of privilege doesn¡¯t bring misfortune. For some reason, the Royal Family wanted Dungeon Hunters to be treated with the utmost respect.


    The most likely reason for this decision from the Royal Family was because any Dungeon Hunter could be recruited at any time to fill up the number of dead soldiers in the war. In other words, they would risk their lives for the sake of the survival of humanity.


    .....


    Furthermore, the Royal Family themselves were not afraid of intruders as they seem to have ways to discover these intruders before they even manage to do anything in the city. ording to the exnation from Vairon, the Royal Family seemed to have set up a barrier to alert them of intruders or something of that nature that allowed them to immediately identify and trace a new arrival in the city.


    A few minutester, they finally entered the vicinity of the Imperial City. There are people walking around on the streets, booming with activity all around them, and from a few nces around, it looks like a prosperous city whenpared to Alpheotus City. Not to mention the spacious building that facilitates easier business and maneuvering in the city.


    Although these things were surprising, Randy only found them to be natural, as the bigger the city, the better the amodations. On the other hand, he was once again shocked to see the structure of buildings that seemedpletely out of ce in the city, as they resembled something that modern civilization should have instead of this medieval civilization world.


    This was mainly because this world did not have the technological knowledge to build such sophisticated buildings, as they relied on their magic and magic tools for most things. Even their baths were running on mana cores, essentially making them magical artifacts rather than technological products.


    However, the buildings in the Royal Capital, instead of being made out of wood or y, were built with refined bricks. Furthermore, the architectural designs of the buildings also seemed modern, especially the intricate roof tiles.


    Randy could see story buildings everywhere he turned his gaze. In the distance, he could see a majestic mansion that was a couple of kilometers wide, with a height that eclipsed other buildings behind it.


    ¡®Is that huge building perhaps the Royal Castle where the Royal Family lived?¡¯ Randy took a quick guess as he continued to listen to Vairon¡¯s exnation about some of the famous and prominent buildings in the city, such as the Artifact Shop, the Weapon Shop, the Potion Shop, and many other relevant shops that they passed by.


    As he introduced these things, he also talked about the state of the city, and how it farespared to other cities like Alpheotus City, the small city they came from. He practically boasted about how peaceful the Imperial City waspared to other human cities in the world due to how heavily guarded it was against demons and magical beasts.


    However, he mostly attributed it to the work of the Royal Family who employed some means to erect not only the alert barrier but an anti-demon barrier around the city that couldn¡¯t be seen with naked eyes, nor could it be seen even with magic-enhanced eyes.


    Randy was curious so he decided to use Dimensional Sense Skill to check to look back at the front of the gate but he couldn¡¯t discover anything out of the ordinary. From that alone, he was able to ascertain the truth in Vairon¡¯s words.


    Meanwhile, Vairon still carried on with his introduction of the Imperial City with Gutz and Tiana asionally chiming in once in a while. As for Eliana, she didn¡¯t say anything and silently walked with them as if none of what they were saying interested her.


    On the other hand, Randy quietly followed them as Vairon introduced the city to him, asionally nodding his head in understanding without saying much. Even though he wasn¡¯t interested in the things in the Imperial City, he still listened to Vairon while asionally looking at the surroundings.


    At some point, Randy gradually started to discover something odd about the Imperial City¡¯s citizens. More specifically, some of the citizens¡¯ appearance looked different from the others even though they resided in the same city.


    Although it was not noticeable at a nce as there are fewer of these types of people wandering the streetspared to the rest, it was still evident that the city was not as prosperous as it appeared to be. That was because there were some emaciated kids wandering the street in tattered clothes while holding half-broken bowls in their hands, seemingly begging for money.


    When Randy paid attention to the surroundings some more, he discovered that in the alleys there were some women with their kids sleeping in the alley, their bodies were scrawny, and they were all malnourished. It was as if they hadn¡¯t eaten for a few days.


    Randy wanted to ask Vairon why there are such people in the Imperial City, but he quickly recollected that despite the peaceful atmosphere in the city, they were at war with the demons. He could surmise that most of these people were the ones that lost their family members as coteral during the wars or their family members simply died while fighting in the war.


    Regardless of how things were in this world, it had nothing to do with him. He doesn¡¯t belong here, after all.


    Furthermore, although it was very tragic for these people who had to leave their lives on the street, the same thing was happening in his home world so this wasn¡¯t something new to him. Compared to this world, there weren¡¯t people living on the streets, as the government had provided shelters and sponsors for those who suffered from dimensional rifts.


    With no change in his indifferent expression, Randy calmly averted his gaze and continued to follow the others.


    As they made their way through the streets, some people who knew who Vairon¡¯s team were, greeted them from time to time. The citizens greeted them with fervent respect, and as for the other Dungeon Hunters they met on the way, they only made funny snide jokes with them. Some curious ones even inquired about new face Randy who followed closely behind them.


    When that happened, Vairon would introduce Randy to them, including his achievements, shocking them. When they heard that he was an up-and-rising rookie who climbed the ranks within a few days upon registering as a Dungeon Hunter, they were further left shocked and left speechless. Afterward, they would continue their journey towards the Imperial City. This scenario was repeated several times as they made their way through the city.


    As Randy watched the back of Vairon and the others and recalled how the people treated them as if they were heroes, he could tell that Vairon¡¯s group was very reputable in this city. Furthermore, they most likely grew up in this city, which was why they knew most people in the city.


    Currently, they were making their way to the Dungeon Exploration upation Society¡ª Imperial City Branch to report in for their mission. Randy was only tagging along without saying anything until they left the town area of the city and went to the business area where there were fewer clouded buildings. Instead, there were fewer buildings. However, these buildings had many floors and clearly indicated that they belong to many top organizations in the Royal Capital.


    At this point, Randy couldn¡¯t suppress his impatience. He wanted to ask something all this time but chose to maintain patience until Vairon stopped talking before he would ask him about it. And now that they had reached the business area, there were fewer things to introduce so he took this chance to approach Gutz who was near him.


    ¡°Where can I go to participate in the diator match?¡± He asked in a hushed voice as he didn¡¯t want the others to hear him.

 Chapter 263 - 263 Great Lord Yonder(I)

    263 Great Lord Yonder(I)


    Even though Randy¡¯s voice was low, as they were all not far from each other, the others also heard his hushed question. He initially didn¡¯t want to keep his voice down. However, he didn¡¯t want to appear tactless in front of the others.


    This was especially so in front of Vairon, who took his time introducing the cityscape and its outlook to someone like him who evidently was new to the ce. Therefore, he kept his voice down when he spoke to Gutz.


    Meanwhile, Vairon chuckled when he heard his question to Gutz, and before Gutz could respond, he spoke: ¡°You¡¯re already thinking about dealing with official business even though we just arrived, huh? Well, I can take you there after¡ª¡±


    Gutz interrupted, eagerly saying: ¡°Let me take him there. I also want to participate in a diator match for a while now since I have yet to assimte with my recent increase in levels.¡±


    Vairon nodded and said: ¡°Okay, then you can take him. The rest of us will go and report our presence to the Society. Just remember to bring him to the Society once you¡¯re done on your end.¡±


    ¡°Sure.¡± Gutz nodded, turned to his left side, and said: ¡°Randy, shall we go? I¡¯m very familiar with that ce so I¡¯ll guide you there. Also, I know a shortcut to get there quickly.¡±


    Randy gratefully replied with a slight smile: ¡°Then I will have to trouble you then.¡±


    He doesn¡¯t have much time left to assimte his temporary attributes so he really appreciated Gutz¡¯s willingness to help him speed up the travel.


    In response, Gutz only waved his hand dismissively and said: ¡°No problem. As I said, I originally wanted to go thereter, but I am only heading there earlier than I nned. Moreover, I want to see how you fare against others in thebat ring. After all, this is a good chance to see you in action against others. No, it¡¯s even better since you wouldn¡¯t be able to rely on any of yourbat skills. Once we get the Coliseum, if possible, I would also like to challenge you to a mock battle, but I¡¯ll let you finish your business first.¡±


    .....


    ¡®Without relying on any of mybat skills? What does he mean by that?¡¯


    Randy had no idea what he meant by those words but he still replied: ¡°Alright.¡±


    Thus, with Gutz leading the way, they both made their way to the Coliseum, where the diator matches would be held. As this was a diator stadium wherebat was held, it was more appropriate to call it Colosseum rather than Coliseum, but since it was conducted in a form of harmless sport, the first name was more appropriate.


    ¡­


    Around the same time.


    In a secluded building not far from the Royal Castle Building in the distance, inside the undergroundyer of this secluded building, there was a research and experimentation facility. Within this underground research and experimentation facility,ing from one of the rooms, certain voices could be heard faintly. However, the voices were so tiny and negligible that you would think they belonged to mosquitoes.


    These voices carried different sounds and decibels as they resounded through this underground facility.


    Among the voices were those crying intermittently in loud shrill voices, as if their bodies were being mutted and ripped apart bit by bit.


    Some voices were harrowing and depressing as they begged for forgiveness with mournful voices. Others were shrieking madly as their voices gradually broke down, seemingly suffering from excruciating pain resulting in intense misery after being subjected to some inhuman torture.


    As these voices kept on howling with painful and heart-wrenching tones, their endless chaotic emotions produced a dense mist of miasmic fog in the air within the underground facility. This mist of miasmic fog, which was formed from their chaotic emotions, could easily induce negative thoughts into anyone who was near the ce without protection.


    The thick walls of this underground research facility were smeared with red blood stains, making it appear extremely eerie at a nce. Some of these smeared blood had yet to dry up, looking like they had only recently been smeared on the cemented walls.


    However, the majority of the blood that stained the wall had already dried up, seemingly for a long time now. The fresh blood continues to stter on top of the already dried-up blood, making sshing sounds alongside the various screaming voices.


    The current appearance of the cemented walls in the facility made it appear as though they were painted in red, but in actuality, these walls were originally painted with spotless white paint.


    In summary, this underground research and experimentation facility is a repulsive and gruesome location with a shocking and traumatizing environment. The atmosphere within the room was spine-chilling and horrendous, enough to put any surgeon with enough experience in dealing with human body parts to shame.


    As soon as anyone identally walked into this room, the first thing they would see was the various blood-colored torture devices of differing sizes and purposes that were aligned on the walls and also strewn on the blood-painted floor. This was enough to make them shudder in horror.


    Not only that, but if they were to see the bloody walls and the current scene of dismembered limbs, mutted body parts, and the countless protrusions sticking out from some of the restrained bodies resulting from being impaled by sharp spikes, they would experience an intense and uncontroble churning in their stomachs. The sudden ufortable assault inside their stomach would be enough to make them regurgitate whatever food they ate recently out of disgust.


    Either that or they would experience a dreadful chill in their bones enough to render them helpless and breathless, inundating them with a trepidatory feeling in their guts that would leave them unable to express themselves for a long while. It might vary for each individual. Some people might even experience a Vasovagal Syncope attack and faint at the mere sight of blood. This would be due to the considerable amount of blood that was currently sprayed everywhere in the room of the underground facility.


    Inside this sickening and unnerving room filled with a disgusting and terrifying atmosphere was a sharp-looking middle-aged man with a chilly expression that seemed to carry no form of fluctuation of emotion on his face.


    He was currently tightly gripping a saw as he slowly grated the leg of a weeping youthful boy who fiercely screamed loudly in a harrowed voice. His face disyed intense agony and suffering from the pain of having his legs grated slowly by the saw.


    The eye sockets of this youthful boy were empty, seemingly having been dug out by the middle-aged man beforehand, so he could only shed tears of blood as he was subjected to endless cruel torture that would only stop once he had died.


    Meanwhile, the middle-aged man¡¯s expressionless gaze was cold, resembling a block of chilly frozen ice, as he grated and slowly tortured the teenage boy. It was as if he was devoid of all the humane emotions that a human being should have. He waspletely unfeeling and unsympathetic.


    He indifferently ignored the agonizing scream of the teenage boy and continued applying more pressure as he grated his leg. He did this until hepletely cut through the flesh, then bones, and finally ridding the teenage boy of his remaining limb.

 Chapter 264 - 264 Great Lord Yonder(II)

    264 Great Lord Yonder(II)


    Currently, there are no longer any limbs remaining on the boy¡¯s body after the middle-aged hack hisst leg, so he couldn¡¯t mount any resistance against the unbearable pain even if he wanted to now. His body could only squirm in uncontroble spasms.


    As that happened, blood continued to flow out from the section from which his limbs were amputated like a fountain, sttering on the nearby walls and coloring them red.


    The painful shrieking cry of the young boy reverberated throughout the room when hisst leg was cut off. His voice was so loud that it felt as if it were attempting to pierce through the walls as if to call for help. The ripple that was created by his shrieking voice was enough to cause anyone to instinctively cover their ears from the sheer intensity.


    Unfortunately, the young boy¡¯s effort would go unrewarded, no matter how much he screamed his throat out.


    Despite how loud the young boy¡¯s voice sounded, it still couldn¡¯t escape the room, as it seemed like it was being trapped within the room by some sort of barrier. As a result, the young boy¡¯s harrowing voice, as well as the other voices within the room could only helplessly persist without any hope of salvation¨C there would not be any helping their way.


    Some of them realized this fact and started begging the middle-aged man to kill them with mournful expressions, but he only coldly stared at them for a brief moment as if he was examining something before moving on to the next person to be tortured. They were all subjected to the same treatment; all of the captives in the room were tortured gruesomely after being restrained and crucified by the middle-aged man.


    Even though these people lost so much blood from having all their limbs hacked away by the middle-aged man, they still weren¡¯t able to faint from the unbearable pain, as the middle-aged man had given every single one of them a strange liquid that made it so that they couldn¡¯t faint from the immense and torturous pain and had no choice but to endure all the suffering with their consciousness remaining intact.


    Not only that, but once they had ingested the strange liquid, the effects of the strange liquid would also increase their body¡¯s sensitivity to pain. In other words, the effect of the strange liquid was to cause them to experience more pain than usual.


    At this moment, the middle-aged man was done with the young boy¡¯s procedure and turned his gaze to a crucified young girl, about the same age as the young boy, who was trembling non-stop while shredding endless tears from her small eyes as she looked at the familiar but no longer recognizable young boy next to her.


    .....


    The middle-aged man held a spherical object in his hand as he scowled and muttered with a troubled expression: ¡°It seems there was not enough pain so the essence extracted this time was very poor and of low quality as well as quantity. Increasing the dosage of the pain enhancement drug is a must to ensure a refined and quality essence extraction.¡±


    The middle-aged man then reached out into the void of space and inserted his hand in the void, his hand disappearing briefly as he grabbed at something. Following this gesture, he pulled his hand out of the void of space.


    In his grasp was a bottle filled with a colorful liquid. This was the pain enhancement drug that he gave the captives and subjects of his experiments before he began their torture session.


    The middle-aged man looked at the bottle of purple liquid with a pondering expression.


    ¡°This concoction seems to be too useless for its purpose. It is no longer useful for carrying out the essence extraction procedure. Rather than increasing the dosage, I should get more poisonous medicinal herbs with potent effects to create the perfect pain enhancement drug. Regrettably, while this ce does have a bountiful harvest of medicinal herbs, theycked the poisonous herbs that I require. The demon continent might have some of the poisonous herbs that Ick¡­ I don¡¯t want to touch that ce just yet because of that Demon King¡¯s existence. Unless¡­¡± The middle-aged man said to himself in contemtion.


    While he was contemting, he slowly thought up a solution to his problem and he realized he needed to arrange a few things beforehand. As he was about to call on someone, his expression changed slightly. He suddenly sensed a new and unfamiliar presence within the Imperial City.


    ¡®Hm? A neer has arrived in the city? And what is this presence that I¡¯m sensing? They seemed to carry some sort of enigmatic aura on their body, making it nearly impossible to see through them with simple inspection spells. I didn¡¯t even notice their presence until they were deep within the city. Very curious¡­ I need to take a closer look first to see who they are.¡¯


    The middle-aged closed his eyes and then muttered something under his breath, seemingly an incantation for a spell, as he attempted to closely observe this newly arrived individual. The next moment, he was left with a deep frown on his face and visible shock was written all over it.


    ¡®Just who is this person? I couldn¡¯tpletely see through his power and strength even with my barrier¡¯s perception spell. How is that possible? That barrier is part of my domain so nothing could escape my senses, yet the only thing I was able to sense was some chaotic aura emanating from their body naturally. Although there was a trace of mana within their body, there were also other forms of energies, such as a subtle yet terrifying baleful negative energy.¡¯ The middle-aged man¡¯s brows were furrowed deeply but his interest was already piqued.


    ¡°Such immense baleful negative energy¡­ Could it be...?¡±


    He had been in this world for an exceedingly long time, but this was the first time he met someone with such a chaotic energy fluctuation. Not to mention that subtle and overwhelming baleful negative energy he sensed from them that quickly caught his attention.


    Even though he wanted so badly to catch that person and dissect them to find out all the secrets hidden within their body, he decided not to act hastily before confirming all the details of that person first.


    With that in mind, he sent a telepathic message to call upon the person that was currently guarding the entrance to the underground facility. Very soon, a young man seemingly in his twenties, who donned a full-body Silver Armor, briskly came down from the stairs that led to the underground facility and then respectfully bowed as he knelt on one knee in front of the middle-aged man in greeting.


    ¡°Great Lord Yonder, how may I be of assistance?¡± The guard solemnly and respectfully asked with a fervent look of reverence clearly discernible in his firm gaze.


    The middle-aged man, who was referred to as ¡®Great Lord Yonder¡¯ indifferently looked at him and instructed: ¡°There is a neer in the Imperial City. Help me look into them.¡±


    ¡°What?! There is an intruder! Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s a demon!¡± The guard eximed in shock, clearly misunderstanding the middle-aged man¡¯s statement.

 Chapter 265 - 265 Great Lord Yonder(III)

    265 Great Lord Yonder(III)


    The middle-aged man frowned with an unsightly look on his face and impatiently said: ¡°It is not an intruder. Just a new person who was being led by a group of Dungeon Hunters into the city. I haven¡¯t seen him in Imperial City before, so I want you to find out who he is. Check all the records of those that entered the city today to find anyone who meets such criteria and report back to me. For now, forget about your guard duties and carry on this task for me.¡±


    The guard felt immediately embarrassed when he heard the refutation and correction from the middle-aged man, but he resolutely and fervently responded: ¡°Leave it to me, Great Lord Yonder! I will see to it right away!¡±


    The guard bowed and immediately turned around and briskly walked away in the same direction he came from. Except, this time, he was picking up his pace to leave the mansion of the middle-aged man, rather than remain there to guard the entrance to the underground facility. He was initially tasked with protecting the entire mansion of the middle-aged man to make sure no one came any closer to disturb the middle-aged man as he carried out his experiments.


    After he left the middle-aged man¡¯s residential area, he made his way to the Dungeon Exploration upation Society, as that was the ce most Dungeon Hunters check in their information when they first arrive at the Imperial City.


    On the other hand.


    After the guard left the vicinity of the residence, the middle-aged man disyed a sinister smile and said with anticipation: ¡°If that person carries some secrets within his body, I would like to find them out slowly by torturing him. It¡¯s been a while since I was this excited about a new specimen. I should end my activities for today. The results were terrible, anyway.¡±


    He had been staying in this world for many decades, slowly influencing the history and civilization of this world behind the scenes. Even the Royal Family are at his beck and call because of his immense influence on them. However,tely, he was getting bored with everything, as he couldn¡¯t find anything new that couldpletely excite his interest in this boring world.


    Just when he was thinking of finding a reason to get more specimens, a new and attractive specimen with unknown factors had shown itself at his doorstep. So how could he not be excited about the prospects of these unknown factors?


    He was someone that liked to seek out the truth behind everything that he couldn¡¯tprehend at first nce. As such, this time wouldn¡¯t be any different from other times. He just hopes that this person does not possess any unnecessary background that would impede his advances.


    .....


    With that in mind, his sour mood was enlivened and full of anticipation.


    Standing there, he thought for a bit, and with a casual wave of his hand, the space fluctuated for an instant. Within that instant, all the amputated limbs on the ground and the bodies of the dismembered captives were turned into dust. Only a single teenage girl remained in the room. She was still crucified on a wooden beam erected in the bloody room.


    ¡°Hmm¡­ So you¡¯re the lucky one today. In that case, I will personally relieve you of suffering the same torture as your friend and set you free without any of the painful memories.¡±


    By ¡®friend¡¯, he was talking about the teenage boy that he was torturing and mutting just now. Though that teenage boy and everyone else in the room aside from her got turned into dust from his disintegration spell just now, the gory appearance of the room was still the same.


    Meanwhile, the teenage girl couldn¡¯t say anything in response to his words. Instead, she stared nkly ahead when she saw the teenage boy turn into dust right in front of her. She looked as if she had lost her soul.


    Seeing her like this, seeming as though she was devoid of life, the middle-aged man frowned and said angrily: ¡°Ungrateful little girl. To think I was taking pity on a lost soul. Then you shall die like everyone else.¡±


    The middle-aged man tapped her forehead and she instantly turned into a puddle of blood and bits of flesh. She couldn¡¯t even scream from the sudden excruciating pain before she died instantly from the middle-aged man¡¯s touch.


    Then with a quick grab in the air, something escaped her liquefied body andnded in the middle-aged man¡¯s grasp. Its appearance was almost imperceptible, as it was illusory and couldn¡¯t be seen with the naked eyes.


    However, as soon as it was trapped within a circr barrier formed by the middle-aged man, it appeared as though it was misty fog, as it swirled around inside the circr barrier. The circr barrier was spherical and was about the size of a baseball, but its color was blue and visually translucent.


    ¡°Because of her state before death, the quality of the extracted essence is better, but the quantity is still little to be of use by itself. Regardless, this gain is better than nothing.¡± The middle-aged man muttered as he reached into the void of space again and ced the circr sphere of misty fog away along with countless others of the same size.


    For the next while, he stood there staring in the direction of the Royal Castle with his expressionless countenance, deeply lost in thought.


    At some point, the guard returned with news from the Dungeon Exploration upation Society. He immediately reported everything he found to the middle-aged man.


    ¡°Great Lord Yonder, that was all I could uncover from the Society.¡±


    ¡°You mean to tell me that this person didn¡¯t immediately go to report in at the Society and instead hurried to the diator Coliseum to have a match?¡±


    ¡°That is indeed what I¡¯ve heard from one of his guides.¡±


    ¡°How interesting¡­ To immediately seek to visit the diator Coliseum upon his arrival in the city instead of reporting in at the Society? Perhaps, he is one of those trying to assimte with the so-called attribute power acquired from the dungeon by using the diator Coliseum?¡±


    ¡°That is what I thought of as well. But something else was strange about this person.¡±


    ¡°What was strange?¡±


    ¡°He just recently registered in Alpheotus City to be a Dungeon Hunter. However, within a short span of a few days, he had already increased his Dungeon Hunter Rank to B.¡±


    ¡°Hoo¡­Is that so? He is quite an amusing person.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right, it is strange that¡­ Eh? Amusing, you say, Great Lord?¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t it? To be able to obtain such a rank means he was originally strong enough to receive such a rank. That Dungeon Hunter¡¯s registration was merely a formality, but it was likewise a necessary method to dere his existence. Isn¡¯t that amusing?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s¡­¡± The guard was left puzzled by his words. He couldn¡¯t figure out what he was thinking of at this moment to find that amusing.


    ¡°Anyway, you can go back now. I will be leaving this ce as well.¡± The middle-aged man said to him.


    The guard thought of something and tentatively spoke: ¡°Is the Great Lord perhaps thinking about¡­¡±


    ¡°Yes. I would like to see this person for myself before anything else. Perhaps, he would be pivotal to ending the war with the demons. Based on what you said, he looks quite promising as a possible recruit.¡± The middle-aged man confirmed with a profound grin on his face, causing the guard to shudder for some inexplicable reason.


    ¡°I-Is that so¡­¡± The guard then said: ¡°However, if the Great Lord says so, then it must be true. I shall take my leave now. I would have to report this great news to His Majesty on behalf of the Great Lord.¡±


    The middle-aged man nodded satisfactorily with the profound grin still on his face: ¡°Do so.¡±


    With that statement from the middle-aged man, the guard quickly left the underground facility, departing from the mansion entirely. After leaving the mansion, he then began to elerate his movement as he headed in the direction of the Royal Castle Building that was only a few hundred miles away.


    With his current top speed, he would make it there within 2 hours. That was considerably fast. After all, it usually takes about a week of normal travel to reach the Royal Family¡¯s territory from their current location.


    Though, with a speed-type magical beast, it would only take about an hour to get there. Furthermore, this showed how powerful, or rather, how fast the guard¡¯s movement speed was when he did not even have a magical beast¡¯s stamina.


    On that topic, it actually only took the guard about 30 minutes to get to the Imperial City, as teleportation was minimally allowed within the city, but the same cannot be done within the vicinity of the Royal Capital for safety reasons. Furthermore, from their current location, the distance to the Royal Castle Building was farther than the distance to the Imperial City.


    Thus, the silver-armored guard continued to speed up as the sun reflected on his shining armor, and very soon, his figure could no longer be seen within the vicinity of the mansion.


    Although he had already traveled a considerable distance away from the middle-aged man¡¯s mansion, his speed did not seem to be decreasing. Instead, he was speeding up as he gained momentum.

 Chapter 266 - 266 Match Registration

    266 Match Registration


    Shortly after the silver-armored guard left, the middle-aged man abruptly revealed a sinister grin and vanished on the spot. He had cast a long-distance spell to teleport to the closest location to the Imperial City.


    Although the Imperial City could be said to be within the Royal Capital, it wasn¡¯t actually on the same tform as the Royal Capital was separated from the Imperial City by a wall that forms andmark elevation. Though this wall was not enough to eclipse the height of the Grand Royal Castle, so it could still be seen while in the Imperial City.


    The location where the middle-aged man¡¯s building was situated was directly within the Royal Capital. In other words, his building shared the same tform as the Royal Castle, except he was still a considerable distance away from the Royal Castle.


    The middle-aged man reappeared again, and he had already traveled a few hundred miles away from his residence. Currently, he had transported himself to the gate that led to the Imperial City.


    However, as soon as he appeared, he met a luxuriously decorated Carriage drawn by magical beasts who were already making their way through the gate with many entourage following suit. When the person inside the luxurious Carriage noticed the sudden presence and spatial fluctuation around them, they frowned and were about to berate them for having the audacity to use teleportation magic within the Royal Capital¡¯s vicinity.


    However, the person in the luxurious Carriage blinked and immediately recognized the identity of the person who just appeared was using teleportation. Their expression instantly turned solemn and respectfully spoke: ¡°So it is Great Lord Yonder. If the Great Lord is heading out without a Carriage, why don¡¯t you join this Princess? This Princess is currently making her way to the Coliseum in the Imperial City and I still have some space in my humble Carriage.¡±


    It was a voice belonging to that of a young woman with a gentle and soothing tone of voice. As she spoke, her tone was so polite that people who didn¡¯t know anything about the middle-aged man would wonder why a Princess such as her was speaking in such a respectful manner to the middle-aged man.


    ¡°Hm.¡± The middle-aged man curtly replied. He didn¡¯t think too much about it and instantly disappeared and reappeared inside the luxurious Carriage and then sat opposite the young woman in the carriage with his eyes half-closed as if he was resting or meditating.


    This young woman was the Crown Princess of the Human Kingdom of this world. She was dressed in a simple golden silk dress embroidered with the crest of the Royal Family all over, indicating her noble and royal status.


    .....


    At this moment, she curtsied while sitting and disyed a beautiful and friendly smile on her gorgeous face, enough to captivate the heart of many men who saw her charming expression, but the middle-aged man was still expressionless in front of her, making her feel slightly awkward.


    Along their way into the Imperial City, she would attempt to start a conversation with the middle-aged man, but he would only reply curtly without saying much. After their exchanges, they discovered that their destination was the same ce, which was the diators¡¯ Coliseum.


    The Crown Princess was making her way to the Coliseum to watch the diator match to see if she could find trustworthy aides to join her faction, as she needed people to take her side when the time came for the session of the throne. Meanwhile, the middle-aged man was simply visiting the Coliseum to check out the newly arrived person for himself.


    Thus, they quietly continued their journey without saying much else after discovering each other¡¯s destination.


    ¡­


    On the other side.


    After walking around some buildings and infrastructures while following the shortcuts suggested by Gutz along the way, Randy finally arrived at the Coliseum which was structured in a shape of a dome. Randy stood there to marvel at the Grand Coliseum which was about the size of one and a half Stadium before following Gutz¡¯s lead inside to register for a diator match.


    Before they registered, Randy considered and said to Gutz: ¡°Is it possible to spectate one of the matches before my turn is up?¡±


    ¡°Are you trying to check things out before attempting your match?¡± Gutz guessed his reasons.


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Randy nodded and said: ¡°Since this is my first time, I wanted to see how people fight before stepping on the stage. Is there a rule against that or is it allowed?¡±


    Gutz shook his head and exined: ¡°Actually, there is no rule against spectating other diator matches as a fellow diator. While it isn¡¯t stated in the rules, it is tacitly allowed for one to know their opponent¡¯s fighting style or at least some of the fighting styles used on the stage.¡±


    ¡°Knowing this kind of information would be helpful when facing your opponent, as if you¡¯re lucky, your opponent might use the same fighting style as the one you would observe. As you¡¯ll find outter, most people use the same fighting technique while on the stage. The only difference would be their experience with their fighting technique.¡±


    ¡°I see. So that¡¯s how it is.¡± Randy nodded in understanding.


    ¡°Anyway, you can still register now. Afterward, you can spectate some matches as you await your turn. Trust me, you will enjoy your first experience fighting without your skills.¡± Gutz said with a face full of smiles as he recalled his first time.


    ¡®This again? What does he mean by fighting without my skills.¡¯ That was the second time Gutz said this statement to him. He wanted to ask him, but he felt that it would make him look in dumb or appear as a bumpkin whockedmon knowledge, so he decided to experience it for himself to confirm what Gutz meant by his words.


    Right after their conversation, they went to the counter to register. They didn¡¯t require much for the registration process. Randy only needed to hand over his Dungeon Hunter Card to confirm his information and sign him up for a match with someone with the same strength. Furthermore, Randy told the receptionist to register him for indefinite matches until his temporary attributes get assimted with his body.


    That meant he would be having multiple back-to-back matches without any rest, but he didn¡¯t mind it at all. After all, he wasn¡¯t sure how long it would take for himpletely integrate with his temporary attributes and turn them into permanent attributes.

 Chapter 267 - 267 Power-Restraining Bracelet

    267 Power-Restraining Bracelet


    Currently, Randy was Level 55 in this world, and his stats or attributes are higher than a regr level 55 due to possessing stats from his original world. Therefore, he would have to fight against people with a slightly higher or simr level of strength as him if he wants to increase the chances of his temporary attributes permanently bing his strength within a short time and not expiring after the deadline, which was not far off.


    Shortly after that adjustment, the receptionist handed him his diator Card with some number engraved that read: [69].


    ording to the receptionist¡¯s exnation, this was his match number. The currently ongoing match was the 66th diator match. In other words, he would have to wait for about 2 to 3 hours for the next three matches to finish, as it usually takes 30 minutes to an hour for a match to end.


    This caused Randy to feel a slight headache as there wasn¡¯t much time left before the deadline for his attributes, but there was nothing he could do about it. He just hoped that he still has enough time by the time it was his turn.


    Otherwise, he would just have to resign to his fate and start from scratch and Dungeon Hunt once again to gain his attributes that would be lost then. Although it would be tedious, which was why he was trying to avoid it if possible, he would not have a choice then.


    ¡­


    The Spectators Seat.


    As this Coliseum was in the shape of a dome, the seats of the spectators, which were made out of bricks, were curved and connected. From a bird-eye view, it looked sort of like a winding staircase. At the center was the elevated tform¡ª the stage for the diators to partake in their matches.


    Currently, there were rowdy noises as the next match, the 67th diator match was about to begin. The next match was between two burly men who were undoubtedly warriors. One of them was short and slightly plump and the other was tall with thick arms there were as big as his head.


    .....


    At this moment, the two of them faced each other with solemn expressions on their faces.


    Today¡¯s match was a friendly match the two of them happened to be on the same level of strength. They wanted topete to see who was stronger. The loser would get to give out one of their treasures aspensation to the winner. In other words, this was an internal bet match between the two parties. Furthermore, there would be an external bet deciding on who would win or lose as always.


    Watching the two contenders from the spectators¡¯ seats, people startedmenting on the match.


    ¡°Who do you think will win?¡±


    ¡°Without a doubt, Sir Great Sword Dien would win. I mean, look at those thick muscles. He would squish his opponent with just one grab.¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about? You¡¯re so wrong that you don¡¯t even know it.¡±


    ¡°What do you mean by that? How could I be wrong?¡±


    ¡°Sir Fortress Defender Manock is a tank, and he could easily defend against deadly attacks that could prate through thick walls with just his flesh. Hence his nickname Fortress Defender, and you think he would lose to Sir Great Sword Dien? Are you stupid?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re the one who is stupid! So what if he could defend against deadly attacks on the battlefield? Did you forget that in here, without his skills, it would be useless? I doubt without his skills, he would be able to block a move from Sir Great Sword Dien.¡±


    ¡°You are an ignorant fool. Say no more. Just watch and see for yourself.¡±


    While the others in the spectating seats were having their opinionated discussions regarding who would triumph in this diator match, the Umpire in charge of overseeing this diator match, suddenly raised his voice to announce, causing everyone to focus on the stage.


    ¡°All diators put on your assigned Power-Restraining Bracelets!¡±


    Right after this statement, the two contenders quickly put on two identical ck bracelets, wrapping around their two wrists. Following this, the bracelet adjusted to their wrist size before emitting a faint ck glow with tiny sprites of light that came out of the bracelet and entered their bodies shortly after.


    ¡°Are those Runes?¡± Randy recognized this sprite of lights to be simr to the golden runes he saw when he was conjuring his first incarnation. Although the characters and appearance were different, they were, without a doubt, runes. He wondered what the purpose of those runes was as a guess suddenly popped up in his mind.


    ¡®Are those rted to what Gutz was saying about not being able to use skills during the diator match?¡¯


    The moment he thought of this, he turned to Gutz, who smiled at him in his direction as if he could tell what he was thinking of at this very moment.


    ¡°Are you curious about those bracelets that they got on their wrists?¡±


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Gutz quickly exined: ¡°Those are the necessary artifacts created specifically for training the body. Only through fighting with nothing but your fleshly muscles¡­ I mean, fighting with just your physical body, only then would you realize your limitations and try to break through them. Otherwise, it would be difficult to break through the limits of the body solely relying on skills that barely had effects on your body, as you don¡¯t have to put in much effort to learn skills in the first ce. The same goes for the energy¡ª mana. As long as the physical limitations broke through during physicalbats, the body¡¯s constitution would undergo changes, and the energy capacity and attributes would also increase correspondingly. In order to achieve these effects, those artifacts were necessary. I believe that this was the true purpose of those artifacts... for diators to use during their matches.¡±


    ¡°So that¡¯s why.¡± Randy finally understood what Gutz meant.


    ¡®I guess I would have to rely on my basic martial arts techniques then.¡¯ Randy silently thought to himself.


    He suddenly thought of something and asked: ¡°Then, do you know who created those bracelets.¡±


    Gutz shook his head and said: ¡°Honestly, I don¡¯t know who created them. But, from what I know, they had been around for a very long time, so nobody cared about their origin. People say that they were crafted by some Legendary Great Mage, and others say that they were crafted by an apostle before they ascended, but who knows the truth? Whatever the case may be, as long as they are useful, that¡¯s all that matters. I don¡¯t care about their origin. I always assume they were artifacts from the Dungeons, anyway. Most of the known artifacts were retrieved from the Dungeons that existed in the world, after all.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­¡± Randy muttered as he turned his attention to the tform where the diator match was about to be held with anticipation and curiosity. He wanted to see the effects of those bracelets that could prevent the usage of skills and energy.

 Chapter 268 - 268 Spectating The Match, The Frightening Effects of the Bracelets

    268 Spectating The Match, The Frightening Effects of the Bracelets


    At this point, the Umpire looked and confirmed that both the two contenders had put on their Power-Restraining Bracelets and that the bracelets were functioning as they should. After that, he made a silencing gesture with his hand as he loudly announced themencement of the diator match for everyone in the Coliseum to hear.


    ¡°Today¡¯s diator Match 67 will officially begin right now. You are all aware of the rules of this Coliseum by now. Regardless, I will still state them just in case.¡±


    The Umpire took a deep breath and said: ¡°As this establishment was built with the aim to nurture warriors for the Kingdom, there is no bloodshed allowed during each match, so anyone whoes here to exact some vendetta or hold hostility during the matches would be disqualified from participating in the current and future matches indefinitely.¡±


    ¡°Furthermore, anyone who disregards the rules, depending on the severity, would not only be disqualified from the diator match but also subjected to Capital Punishment from the Kingdom. You are warned!¡±


    ¡°With all that out of the way, diators with the moniker Great Sword Dien and Fortress Defender Manock, prepare yourself. Make sure that you¡¯re not carrying with you any weapons or metallic objects of any kind. Otherwise, if found, you will be disqualified as that is also against the rules of the diator match.¡±


    After saying that, the Umpire who stood between the two contenders looked to his left and right. Meanwhile, the two contenders routinely checked themselves, even though they already made sure beforehand that they didn¡¯t have any metallic objects on themselves before stepping up on the stage.


    Afterward, the two contenders gave a nod of confirmation to the Umpire, who also nodded before raising his hand and shouting in a deep voice.


    ¡°GLADIATORS!!! AS WARRIORS REPRESENTING THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE, I IMPLORE YOU TO FIGHT WITH ALL YOU¡¯VE GOT ON THIS NOBLE STAGE!!! DO NOT HOLD ANYTHING BACK BECAUSE THAT WILL ONLY LIMIT YOUR GROWTH IN THIS HOLY ARENA AIMED TO SURPASS YOUR LIMITS!!! NOW, I PROUDLY ANNOUNCE, BEGIN YOUR FIGHT!!!¡±


    After this deration, the Umpire¡¯s hand made a gesture of striking down. The Umpire¡¯s voice suddenly jumped up several decibels as he dered the beginning of the match. His tone was frighteningly firm and full of devotion, almost as though he was fervently chanting some forbidden spell.


    .....


    However, this was only a tradition that was performed at every match to hype up the spectators in the Coliseum and pump up the diators on the stage.


    Sure enough, the moment the two contenders heard this deration, they roared like madmen. As if they were beasts with their leashes cut off, they wildly sprinted toward each other with all their might. They had nothing to support themselves except their physical bodies and muscles that contracted as they exerted their full potential. They faced each other without the aid of skills or energy to empower themselves.


    Shortly after, they shed and exchanged their first moves.


    Having confidence in his thick, and strong muscr arms, Great Sword Dien clenched his right hand¡¯s fist and preemptively thrust it at Fortress Defender Manock¡¯s face without hesitation. He nned on knocking his opponent out with this attack before they could make their move. In response to this move, Fortress defender Manock used both hands to guard in front of himself at the right time. It was almost as though he had seen through his opponent¡¯s attack beforehand.


    Although Fortress Defender Manock¡¯s arms weren¡¯t as thick as Great Sword Dien, he was still bulky. Thus, he was able to easily and masterfully block his opponent¡¯s fist attack. He then lowered his body and countered with a left hook to the side of Great Sword Dien¡¯s waist after parrying his fist attack.


    This startled Great Sword Dien and he immediately twisted his body to block the sudden attack from his opponent. When they exchanged their first moves, the spectators who waited with bated breaths suddenly erupted into an uproar from the neck-to-neck exchange between the two diators.


    ¡°Holy shit! That was too awesome!¡±


    ¡°I thought Sir Great Sword Dien would be a better fighter as he uses the Great Sword, but who would¡¯ve thought Sir Fortress Defender Manock also knew how to fight so well?!¡±


    ¡°For real though. The way Sir Fortress Defender Manock moved was like that of a professional fighter. The timing was on point so much so that he almost caught Sir Great Sword Dien off-guard!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s true! It seems like this match is going to be a tight one!¡±


    Meanwhile, on the spectators¡¯ seat, where Randy and Gutz were watching from, Gutz was breathing heavily and ruggedly next to him from sheer excitement. This caused Randy to look at him with a strange look on his face.


    ¡®What the hell is wrong with him?¡¯ Randy thought with a puzzled expression. However, he ignored him the next moment and focused on watching the diator match, attempting to discern fighting styles.


    From what he observed so far, it seemed like the Power-Restraining Bracelets were able to effectively seal off the skills and mana flow within the bodies of the two fighters in the arena.


    Although he could still sense the mana within their bodies due to his high perception and natural affinity with mana which increased from practicing the Nameless Meditation Technique and that this meant that their mana was notpletely ¡®sealed¡¯ but instead ¡®restrained¡¯, he was still surprised by the effects of those Power-Restraining Bracelets.


    Then a sudden frightening thought shed through his mind.


    ¡®If whoever created these Power-Restraining Bracelets manages to use them to suppress their enemies during a fight, then they could easily ughter their enemies without any resistance, like ughtering livestock. These bracelets could effectively render all skills and energy useless, after all.¡¯


    This sudden and scary thought came and quickly faded away as Randy shook his head to dismiss it.


    After all, it was impossible for that to happen, unless one simply stood there and allowed themselves to be bound by the bracelets. If the bracelets could expand and contract with a thought, then it would be possible. However, from what he had observed, they could only adjust the size to others¡¯ wrists, and the diameters of the bracelets were made to fit the biggest of wrists.


    With that thought aside, Randy watched the match for a while, and he discovered something unusual.


    ¡®Why does it seem like they don¡¯t know any martial arts or any movement techniques? They only charge, assault, and defend and then do it again with an asional side-step... There are no rhythms to their movements at all.¡¯ Randy found it strange that these two diatorscked professional movement despite being as strong as they are.

 Chapter 269 - 269 Lacking The Basics, Finally Taking the Stage

    269 Lacking The Basics, Finally Taking the Stage


    Back in his home world, even if onecked energypatibility, they could still train in the foundational martial arts provided by the government to prepare themselves. Randy had long since mastered the essential martial arts, such as basic movement technique and basic fist technique.


    That was mainly why he never flinched when he fought people for the first time. After all, despite being an amateur when it came to fighting experience, he had a solid foundation after mastering basic movement and fist technique.


    As such, when he fought the sunsses man and his men, despite being outnumbered and cornered, he wasn¡¯t afraid at all. This was not only because he was confident in his newfound abilities, but also in his fighting techniques. All that contributed to him barely winning against them.


    Furthermore, he had already gained rich and valuable experience from his recent encounter with those demons. Right now, he could even say with confidence that he was now a professional fighter that had just graduated from being an amateur. As such, from his point of view, these diators are not that amazing at all. The main reason for that was very simple.


    They simplyck the basics.


    Otherwise, judging by their strength alone, they are strong enough topete with him. He just hoped that it was just these two guys thatcked the basics for some reason, and not all of them who didn¡¯t know the basics. This way, he would be able to surpass his limits while fighting them. If not, he was afraid that he would not be able to exceed his limits in time before the deadline for his temporary attributes.


    ...


    Even though Randy had hoped that what he was afraid of was not the case, he was soon proven otherwise and left disappointed. This was because he discovered that after the match ended with the Great Sword Dien losing to Fortress Defender Manock, the next match alsocked rhythm, as they all fought in the same manner as the first match.


    ¡®Don¡¯t tell me¡­¡¯ Randy suddenly recalled what Gutz said to him when they were on their way to register. He said that most people fought with the same fighting style. At this point, Randy finally understood what he meant and then inwardly sighed.


    .....


    ¡®Hopefully, the one I¡¯d be facing would have some different fighting style or something. Otherwise, I don¡¯t think today will be my lucky day. I need to think about where to start hunting after my temporary attributes expire.¡¯


    On the side, Gutz seemed to be enjoying this man-to-man brawl with twinkles in his eyes, itching to go out there and fight. Randy gave him a side nce and shook his head helplessly.


    Gutz noticed that he wasn¡¯t enthralled by watching the matches and couldn¡¯t help but ask: ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Did you not learn anything from watching the matches?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not it, it¡¯s just that¡ª¡±


    ¡°diator number 69,e to the stage and prepare yourself!!¡±


    At this moment, the voice of the umpire resounded loudly shortly after the 68th match ended.


    Randy had no choice but to pause his speech and instead said: ¡°It¡¯s my turn now. I will head out.¡±


    ¡°Alright.¡± Gutz suddenly advised: ¡°Since this is your first time fighting without your skills or energy, remember to pay close attention to the movement of your opponent, or you will lose terribly. I remember when I¡­ Never mind, just show your opponent that you¡¯re fearless, and you might win your matches.¡±


    Randy smiled and said: ¡°I will keep that in mind.¡±


    After saying that, Randy took off his ck coat and top shirt, revealing his perfect muscles, stunning Gutz, who had a fetish for muscles.


    ¡°I knew it! When I groped them that time, I knew you were a true man among men! Such godly muscles!¡± Gutz blurted out such embarrassing lines with a dazed look on his face, as he was mesmerized by Randy¡¯s perfect body.


    Randy had trained for many years using the Graviton room, so his muscles were near perfect and would instantly shock even professional trainers. Furthermore, after awakening and receiving the strengthening effect of the various energies and then evolving his body recently, his body could now be considered to be in perfect shape. It was no doubt that Gutz would be shocked when he saw his bare body.


    Under Gutz¡¯s shocked and strange gaze, Randy hurriedly jumped from Spectators¡¯ Seat,nded on the squarely ground near the arena, and then continued by walking up the staircase that led to the elevated tform in the middle.


    Everyone in the Spectators¡¯ Seats was shocked by the mboyant appearance disyed by Randy when he jumped from a height of nearly 60 meters and thennded on the ground without any disorientation.


    ¡°Such gaudy appearance. Who is this guy?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Who is he? I haven¡¯t seen him before. Is he a new diator?¡±


    ¡°Most likely. He seemed like a nimble one. He didn¡¯t even adjust his fall, but he stillnded perfectly.¡±


    Meanwhile, in one of the VIP booths at the center of the Spectators¡¯ Seat, two figures sat next to each other. They observed the appearance of this new diator.


    One of them spoke to a servant.


    ¡°Is that him? The one that defeated the demons Lieutenants back in Alpheotus City?¡±


    ¡°Yes, your highness. ording to the description gathered from the intel and his new face, it should be him.¡±


    ¡°Oh! So it is him!¡± This person eximed, disying a blissful face, whispering inwardly: ¡®He looks quite handsome!¡¯


    However, this person, who was in fact the Crown Princess, said outwardly: ¡°I want to confirm his talent for myself, and see if he qualifies to have such praise from the Royal Council.¡±


    On the side, the second figure, who was the middle-aged man called Great Lord Yonder, nced at the Crown Princess briefly and disyed a knowing expression that says he could see through her true intentions.


    He thought of something and then suddenly took the initiative to ask: ¡°Is this young diator that famous?¡±


    The Crown Princess¡¯s eyes widened in momentary astonishment upon hearing the middle-aged man¡¯s voice. She had been painstakingly trying to strike up a conversation with this old man for a long time, but she failed at every single attempt she made.


    But for some reason, he was now taking the initiative with her. Why? Did he change his mind because of that young man? That can¡¯t be right!

 Chapter 270 - 270 Foreboding Feeling, First Match

    270 Foreboding Feeling, First Match


    Despite thinking such things, the Crown Princess still respectfully asked for confirmation: ¡°Does the Great Lord not know of this young man¡¯s recent feat?¡±


    The middle-aged man shook his head lightly and said with an indifferent expression: ¡°I only found out about his existence today, so I decided to check him out. Now tell me. What do you know about him? Tell me everything.¡±


    The Crown Princess finally understood. She already knew what kind of person this man next to her was, and also the indisputable and insurmountable influence he carried within the nation. Even her powerful and royal parents had to show him great respect when they spoke to him, not to mention her, whose only title was ¡®Crown Princess¡¯ of the human kingdom.


    Furthermore, as far as she was aware, this Great Lord Yonder was the type who never left his mansion. He also didn¡¯t care about insignificant things that were outside his interests. Unless it was something of great importance or of concern to him, he wouldn¡¯t bat an eye.


    As such, the feat of defeating demons wasn¡¯t something her parents or the Royal Council would bother him with, as it was already a norm for humans to exterminate demon spies in their nation and humans getting killed by demons due to the ongoing war.


    With that in mind, she took a deep breath, cleared her unnecessary thoughts, and narrated what she knew about the new diator, Randy. She included his recent achievements in defeating two demons that had the strength of Demon Lieutenants in her narration. As that was what piqued her interest enough for her to purposelye to the Coliseum with the excuse of assessing his talents to check him out and recruit him if possible, she assumed that the middle-aged man would be interested in that bit of information.


    Not only would she garner his attention with her forthrightness, but she could also build some trust with him, even if just a little. She hoped that she would be able to receive his aid during the right of session when the time came in the foreseeable future.


    ¡°Is that so?¡± After listening to her information, the middle-aged man was not that surprised by her words. Instead, he looked at the back figure of Randy, who was climbing the stairs as a strange light shed in his eyes and then said in a mysterious tone: ¡°I suppose he does possess some otherworldly talents.¡±


    On the other hand, the moment the middle-aged man nced at his back, Randy felt a chill on his back that prated his skin to his spine. It was as if he was being hunted by a predator of some kind. He instinctively put up his guard and looked behind him and coincidentally stared in the direction of the VIP booth that had two silhouettes sitting in it.


    .....


    With his heightened perception, he was able to see that it was two people sitting together. One was a beautiful youngdy dressed in exquisite clothes befitting that of a nobledy or royalty, and the other person was a middle-aged man, who wore a long spotless white robe.


    Their eyes met.


    Strangely, this middle-aged man was facing his eyes without averting them. He carried a deep sense of vicissitudes in his aura as if he had seen his fair share of fortune and misfortune in his life, and that nothing could escape his scrutinizing eyes.


    This situation startled Randy greatly because he didn¡¯t expect the other party to be staring at him at the same time. Not to mention the foreboding feeling he got when their eyes met. He felt as though he had been seen through by the middle-aged man. He quickly averted his gaze and continued onto the stage while thinking to himself.


    ¡®What was that indescribable feeling just now? Did ite from that man? Just who is he?¡¯


    Randy was puzzled by the uncannily dangerous feeling he got from that middle-aged man. He was so alert that he wanted to maintain his guard up against the unknown threat he felt, but as he had a fighting up, he pushed those thoughts behind his head and focused on the uing diator match.


    The moment he reached the surface of the tform, the umpire announced to the crowd of spectators with a booming voice.


    ¡°The 69th diator match will bemencing shortly. However, before that, I will inform you all that this is a free-for-all challenge. In other words, our new diator here is seeking challengers to break through his current limits and gain new heights after umting enough achievements in the Dungeon.¡±


    ¡°With that said, for this challenge, only those who are level 55 and above would have the right to participate in this challenge. Anyone below level 55 does not qualify.¡±


    ¡°Although there are some low-level warriors with enough physical strength to challenge higher-level warriors, that only applies to ordinary warriors. From the information that I received just now, despite his short career as a Dungeon Hunter, our brave diator had aplished some impossible feats by himself. He could be considered an unprecedented genius of this generation, so keep that in mind for those who decide to ept the diator challenge. For those who are curious about his feats, it is confidential, so I cannot tell you all.¡±


    ¡°With that aside, I hereby announce themencement of today¡¯s 69th diator match¡­ Challenge of the Strong!!¡±


    ¡°The Challenger should have their level checked when they¡¯re ready and make their way to the stage to begin the challenge.¡±


    Shortly after the umpire finished speaking, the first challenger swiftly rushed onto the stage. He was a slender man with muscr arms. Although he wasn¡¯tparable to the Great Sword Dien and Fortress Defender Manock or the other diators after them in terms of the thickness of their muscles, he was still well-trained and could even unleash the same power with the right amount of umtion.


    Randy looked at this challenge with interest. This was because he could tell that this person was fast on his feet,pletely unlike the diators he witnessed fight just a while ago.


    While Randy was sizing up thenky but muscr man, the other party was also sizing him up.


    Once both diators were on the stage, the umpire handed them each two Power-Restraining Bracelets, and they proceeded to put them on without dy.


    As they put them, thenky diator suddenly spoke.


    ¡°Young man, as a veteran diator, I don¡¯t want to bully a junior, nor do I want to take the initiative with you. As a show of courtesy, you should attack first as this seems to be your first time. Judging from your attack, I will be able to defeat you without using too much strength.¡±


    ¡°Why should I?¡±


    ¡°Because if I attack, you might get hurt.¡±


    ¡°Do you think you¡¯re stronger than me just because you¡¯re a veteran? I only need three moves to defeat you.¡±


    ¡°...¡± Thenky man was left speechless by the arrogance of this young man. However, he was an experienced diator, so he wouldn¡¯t let such an obvious taunt work on him, clouding his judgment.


    Then, all of a sudden¡ª


    ¡°GLADIATORS!!! AS WARRIORS REPRESENTING THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE, I IMPLORE YOU TO FIGHT WITH ALL YOU¡¯VE GOT ON THIS NOBLE STAGE!!! DO NOT HOLD ANYTHING BACK BECAUSE THAT WILL ONLY LIMIT YOUR GROWTH IN THIS HOLY ARENA AIMED TO SURPASS YOUR LIMITS!!! NOW, I PROUDLY ANNOUNCE, BEGIN YOUR FIGHT!!!¡± The umpire¡¯s booming and roaring voice resounded once again, startling Randy, who did not expect such an urrence.

 Chapter 271 - 271 Taunt, Strange Ability

    271 Taunt, Strange Ability


    ¡®Was all that speech really necessary?¡¯ Thought Randy who flinched upon hearing the umpire¡¯s sudden voice. However, he quickly cleared these misceneous thoughts from his mind and focused his attention on the opponent in front of him.


    Previously, Randy purposely taunted his opponent. He wanted them to fight him with all they had. The only way to prevent them from holding back their strength with their so-called reason for being kind to their juniors was to taunt them. He didn¡¯t need their kindness, nor did hee here to simply spar with someone. He wanted to break through his limits and turn his temporary attributes into permanent attributes as soon as possible.


    However, he was disappointed by the nonchnce of his opponent. Despite his provocations, the other party didn¡¯t seem to be angry.


    Instead, he calmly said: ¡°Young man, it is not without demerit to be too overconfident simply because you¡¯re talented. However, since you do not want to take the initiative to attack first, I will take the initiative to avoid wasting time.¡±


    Immediately after saying so, thenky diator¡¯s figure shifted and disappeared on the stage. To be more precise, he moved so fast that those without any perception skills would find it very difficult to keep up with his figure. To normal people, it would appear as though he had disappeared from his position.


    Randy raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. He already knew that this person was fast, but they were much faster than he had expected. If this was them without skills, then he wondered how fast they would be if they used speed-enhancing skills. Regardless, in front of him, the opponent¡¯s current speed was still too slow to be a threat.


    ¡®This feeling is very strange, but I think I got used to it faster than I thought I would.¡¯ Randy muttered inwardly as he examined the changes in his body after putting on the Power-Restraining Bracelets.


    It took a few moments, but he got used to the feeling of all his power receding and being restrained inside his body.


    It was finally time for him to act!


    .....


    Right at this moment, thenky diator shifted a few times, leaving behind afterimages as he circled around Randy.


    Meanwhile, the crowd of spectators was in an uproar from the movements of thenky diator.


    ¡°On my god! How could he be so fast?! Is he cheating and secretly using his skills?!¡±


    ¡°You idiot! How could that be? Didn¡¯t you see them put on their Power-Restraining Bracelets? Wait a minute, is this your first timeing to the Coliseum?¡±


    ¡°Eh? Not really, but this is my first time seeing this diator fight.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so that¡¯s why. Well, it¡¯s not surprising for you to be shocked if this is really your first time seeing Sir Swift Wind Chaser Dion. He is indisputably the fastest diator in this ce.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. ording to rumors, he was born with the attributes of his agility being higher than normal, so he was faster than an average person. Also, since he was an assassin, so he probably added most of his attributes to increase his speed, but that¡¯s just my guess.¡±


    ¡°No wonder he was so fast without using any skill. Then, I wonder if that new diator would be able to survive with such a difference in talent.¡±


    ¡°I doubt it! Don¡¯t worry, it should be ending soon.¡±


    Just as this person finished speaking, on the stage, thenky diator finally decided tounch his attack. He silently approached Randy from behind while confusing him with his seven to eight afterimages.


    Randy, on the other hand, simply stood there and waited. Once thenky man noticed that Randy was simply standing there without attempting to retaliate, he smiled and understood that he had seeded in misleading his opponent. He also understood that it was time for him to strike while they were in a trance.


    Without hesitation, he threw a jab at the back of Randy¡¯s head. His only aim was to knock him out with one strike. As he was an assassin, he always made it a habit to find the weaknesses of his opponents and finish them off with one strike.


    His fist decisively approached the back of Randy¡¯s head and was only a few inches away from striking and immobilizing him. However, before the fist struck its target, Randy, who had been standing still all this time, suddenly shifted his head to the side. He did this without moving his body from his position. This shocked thenky diator whose fist finally reached its target but could only pass Randy¡¯s ears without touching him.


    ¡°Impossible! How did you dodge my wless attack?!¡± Thenky diator was shocked by not only the fact that he dodged his attack, but also that he barely moved from his position. He only made minimal movements to evade his lethal attack. Such means could only show that his attack had been seen through or anticipated from the beginning.


    Randy turned his head behind him and said in response: ¡°Does it matter how?¡±


    ¡°No, you¡¯re right. Since you managed to evade my sneak attack with 70 percent of my speed, then I would have to increase my speed by 10 percent.¡± Thenky diator said when he came back to his senses.


    Randy frowned and said: ¡°That won¡¯t make a difference, and I am pressed for time, so use all your power to attack me! Otherwise, you will lose miserably!¡±


    ¡°Such an arrogant tone!¡± Thenky diator felt that he was being disdained by his opponent and loudly said: ¡°Alright, you asked for it!¡±


    ¡°Hah!!¡±


    Suddenly the surrounding wind picked up a notch with thenky diator at the center. It was as if thenky diator had melded with the surrounding wind, turning


    Randy was shocked by this unnatural disy of power and wondered if this person was somehow using a skill, but when he saw the Power-Restraining Bracelets still around his wrists, he knew that it wasn¡¯t the case. But then he was bewildered by the sudden turbulence in the wind.


    ¡®Then, is that not a skill but something else?¡¯ Randy wondered in bewilderment.


    Although Randy was a bit bewildered by thenky diator¡¯s strange ability, he didn¡¯t let his guard down just yet. After all, he didn¡¯t know the effects of the power his opponent was disying.


    Swoosh!


    Suddenly, there was a whistling sound in the air and before Randy could react, a fist that was gradually growingrger was approaching his face. The fist soonnded on its target, kicking up some wind and sending shockwaves in the surroundings.


    Bang!


    The sudden collision caused the concrete ground to form visible cracks from the tremendous power of thenky diator¡¯s all-out fist attack. This in turn caused debris to fly and smoke to pervade the whole tform¡¯s atmosphere, finally obscuring the spectators¡¯ vision.


    There was a momentary silence all around the Coliseum.

 Chapter 272 - 272 Sudden Realization, Life Energy Application

    272 Sudden Realization, Life Energy Application


    Momentster, the smoke and debris finally cleared and the state of the two contenders on the stage was slowly being revealed.


    Fortunately, there was a barrier around the tform to prevent any unintended idents from happening, even if the diators would not be using energy or skills. Thus, aside from being blinded by the smoke, the spectators near the stage didn¡¯t receive any damage.


    Meanwhile, the spectators watched with widened eyes in suspense about the oue of this confrontation.


    However, most of the spectators, especially those that were witnessing thenky diator¡¯s fight for the first time, were shocked by this supernatural move disyed by him.


    ¡°What was that move just now?¡±


    ¡°That was Sir Swift Wind Chaser Dion¡¯s special move. Even I don¡¯t know what its principles are, but I heard it wasn¡¯t a skill.¡±


    ¡°If it¡¯s not a skill, then how could it have such a powerful effect?¡±


    ¡°Who knows? But that new diator is done for the moment that he made Sir Swift Wind Chaser Dion use his special move.¡±


    While they were discussing this, the dust finally cleared, revealing the figures on the stage. However, the spectators were shocked to find that things didn¡¯t unfold as they had imagined.


    .....


    At this moment, Randy was simply standing firmly on the stage. The back of his feet burrowed a few inches into the ground of the stage after sliding backward. He had sessfully managed to block his opponent¡¯s attack, but unexpectedly the force behind the fist attack was stronger than he had thought, so he was pushed back.


    ¡®Such a powerful attack! If I didn¡¯t manage to react in time or mobilize my life energy to strengthen my muscles, I would¡¯ve suffered some minor damages.¡¯


    ¡®Wait! Life energy! I can still use my Life energy, so that means the seal doesn¡¯t work on Life energy that was essentially a vital energy of the body?¡¯


    ¡®If that is the case then I might be able to bypass the Power-Restraining Bracelet and execute my martial arts techniques!¡¯


    Although thenky diator¡¯s attack was powerful, it wasn¡¯t a threat to him enough to warrant using his martial arts or life energy. Just now, he instinctively used it to block the sudden unknown attack from his opponent.


    But more than that, he wanted to confirm his doubts, so he decided to use his life energy to fight against thenky diator for a bit. At this point, he had already assessed his opponent¡¯s fullbat strength so, he wasn¡¯t afraid of them. Since his opponent couldn¡¯t pose a threat to him, he secretly wanted to use them as an experimental subject to confirm his theory.


    On the opposite side, thenky diator had a strange expression on his face as he watched the unscathed Randy standing with a mystifying smile on his face. He had no idea why he was smiling, but he could infer from his appearance that his attack just now didn¡¯t work on him.


    With that thought, he was preparing to concede the match as it was pointless to continue fighting any longer. It was at this time that he heard a voice.


    ¡°Hey¡­ Senior diator, it is now my turn to attack.¡±


    After saying that, Randy suddenly exuded the minuscule amount of life energy in his body to cover his body without receiving any restriction from the Power-Restraining Bracelets, shocking thenky diator, who saw his aura suddenly change.


    After confirming that there was no problem, Randy retracted the life energy back into his body before his figure suddenly sprinted forward. He started moving in a fast and strange pattern of movement.


    Chasing Tiger Steps!


    ¡®Too fast!¡¯ Thenky diator eximed inwardly when he saw the approaching Rand, who moved in fast and confusing steps. He then attempted to dodge by unleashing his own speed, but he failed to evade him in time, as he was caught off guard by the sudden increase in speed of his opponent.


    Randy¡¯s fist struck out toward his face. The powerful rippling force caused the wind pressure to dissipate around him. The rippling force also caused his long, tied hair to be disheveled and scattered about, almost as though he had been electrocuted. He swallowed loudly and immediately said in a dispirited tone: ¡°I-I concede defeat in this match.¡±


    ¡®He didn¡¯t even use three moves and I lost. I guess I was the overconfident one.¡¯ Thenky diator sighed dejectedly as he thought to himself.


    Just now, Randy had attempted to use the Void Rippling Punch with his life energy, but the effects were less potent than when he performed it with his abundant magical energy. This was partly due to having less Life energy and also because he had not practiced using Life energy before.


    Even then, the power disyed was enough to disperse whatever ability thenky diator was using with just one punch. Though it was not his intention to end the fight quickly.


    Regardless, he had confirmed his doubts with this fight. For some reason, life energy wasn¡¯t restrained by the Power-Restraining Bracelet. He could only assume that it only worked on mana for now.


    However, he doesn¡¯t n on relying on life energy to fight his opponents, as it was proven that he wouldn¡¯t be able to break through his limits if he did. It was clear with the abrupt defeat of thenky diator just now.


    ¡°It ended just¡­ like that?¡±


    The crowd of spectators were unable toprehend what had just happened as they had gawking expressions on their faces. Some even doubted their eyes and ears when they saw how thenky diator suddenly conceded the match. They only saw a blurry movement and when they blinked, the new diator¡¯s fist was in front of thenky diator¡¯s face and then the match ended.


    ¡­


    Inside the VIP booth.


    At this time, while the spectators were shocked and dumbfounded by the oue of the match, including the Crown Princess, the middle-aged man next to her, on the other hand, was greatly surprised by something as a change appeared in his indifferent expression.


    Evidently, this change was not influenced by the oue of the match. Instead, it was because of the energy that the new diator, Randy, used to bypass the Power-Restraining Bracelet to defeat his opponent.


    ¡®Pure vitality¡­ He can manipte his own vitality to increase hisbat strength...? Not only that, but he could negate the effects of the ¡®Supernatural Force Suppressing Bracelets¡¯ that I carefully crafted. However, such a technique is truly unheard of in this world.¡¯


    The more the middle-aged man learned about Randy, the more his worth as a valuable experimental subject increased. He was simply thrilled toe across such a specimen with so many secrets to be uncovered by his lonesome.


    Although he knew how to cast spells to increase his vitality or blood activity, as amander of supernatural forces, he wouldn¡¯t use such a spell to initiate an attack against his adversaries. After all, he could simply use a potent offensive spell. One that didn¡¯t need his physical body to exert its power to destroy them without leaving a speck of their existence behind.


    Because the means used by this neer, from his observation, was not a spell but a technique to control the body¡¯s vital energy by will. With that being the case, it was more intricate than using spells to achieve the same effect.


    However, he doesn¡¯t care about such tricks; he only wanted to find out his origin and the secret behind the mysterious, baleful aura around his body. But, for now, he ns on keeping an eye on him until he finds the opportune moment.


    After all, it would be too abrupt and suspicious if he was missing or if something happened to him after his diator match.

 Chapter 273 - 273 Challenge All at the Same Time

    273 Challenge All at the Same Time


    On the stage of the elevated tform.


    Randy, who had just won his match, had a frown on his face. The reason was that he didn¡¯t gain anything from this match. He wanted to use this diator match suggested by Zophia to increase his chances of assimting with his temporary attributes. However, as things stand, he might not be able to achieve this goal.


    He suddenly thought of a solution to his problem, and immediately turned to the umpire and said: ¡°I would like to increase the number of people who can receive my challenge. Is that okay?¡±


    ¡°Why do you want to do such a thing?¡± The umpire was puzzled by his words.


    Randy hesitated for a bit before he arrogantly proimed: ¡°Because everyone is too weak! Facing off against one person is not enough for me to break through my limits! I challenge all who qualify to take the stage right here and now!¡±


    When everyone in the Coliseum heard his arrogant promation, they instantly turned speechless. Then they all became angry at his impetuous words.


    Even the veteran diators couldn¡¯t stand being looked down on by this junior that came out of nowhere and loudly rebuked him from their booth.


    ¡°This newbie diator is too arrogant!¡±


    ¡°Mhm. He is too unbridled and conceited. Such bold and reckless words... Does he really think he can face off against more than one diator by himself?¡±


    .....


    ¡°But what if he could? I mean we wouldn¡¯t know until we see him fight, right?¡±


    ¡°Bullshit! Fortress Defender Manock, do you really hear yourself right now? Which one of us hasn¡¯t attempted fighting two people at the same time without relying on our skills? It¡¯s simply physically taxing, so everyone tacitly agreed that it was impossible to fight opponents at the same level of strength without our skills.¡±


    ¡°Indeed! That is how it has been until now. How could a no-name newbie like him im he wants to challenge more than one diator? Isn¡¯t he looking down on us too much?¡±


    ¡°See? Even the others agree with me, so what are you on about, Manock? That he could achieve what we couldn¡¯t? Ridiculous!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m just saying that you can¡¯t judge people by their attitude or demeanor. Didn¡¯t you guys see him use some means to defeat Swift Wind Chaser Dion, who had the ¡®blessed by the wind spirit¡¯ trait from his lineage?¡±


    ¡°Fortress Defender Manock, I, Great Sword Dien, may have lost to you, but do you think I would lose to anyone else here, let alone that brat with his slightly fancy movement?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not just slightly. If you pay attention you will notice theplexity behind each precise movement and also there was a rhythm...¡±


    ¡°What rhythm? Wasn¡¯t he dancing around like some monkey?¡±


    ¡°All right! You guys should calm down! There¡¯s no need to fight among yourselves. There is only one way to confirm your doubts, and that is to have some people receive our newbie diator¡¯s challenge. Is there anyone who is willing to take on this challenge?¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°No one?¡±


    ¡°Why don¡¯t you go? Since you seem to acknowledge the situation clearly, then you should go and take on that newbie¡¯s challenge. Why do you wait for someone else to take on the challenge instead?¡±


    ¡°Well, I am mediating here, so how could I bring myself to go on the stage? Who would take my ce if I did that?¡±


    ¡°Bullshit! You just want to use others to test the waters before taking the stage yourself. You think I can¡¯t tell what kind of person you are, Twin Snake Dagger Zeroth? You¡¯re always cunning. Even Dion is slowly bing unscrupulous because he listened to your advice.¡±


    ¡°...What are you talking about? I was simply trying to¡­¡±


    ¡°Enough nonsense! I don¡¯t really care what you¡¯re trying to do then or now! But if no one is going, then I, Great Sword Dien will take the newbie on and show him the terror of us veterans!¡±


    ¡°...There is no need for that, senior. Let us juniors fight him together and teach him some manners.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. He dared to show such arrogance his first time in the Coliseum. No one can tolerate such behavior no matter how talented they are!¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­ You two¡­ Well, then I¡¯ll leave it to you guys. Just make sure you don¡¯t hold back when you fight, or you will regret it!¡±


    ¡°¡±Naturally!¡±¡±


    These two diators, who decided to take on the challenge, left to confront Randy in ce of the senior diator, as they felt that it wasn¡¯t necessary for the senior diators to act. They were the new batch of diators who came under the orders of the kingdom to train and prepare for the war.


    That aside, as older juniors, it was only right for them to teach a new junior his ce. Furthermore, this would establish their reign as seniors in the future. Therefore, they had to grasp this opportunity in front of them.


    Shortly after the two diators left, one of the senior diators, Fortress Defender Manock, suddenly said: ¡°Hey Dien, are you sure you¡¯re not simply getting heated up because your half-brother Dion lost to that kid?¡±


    ¡°Hmph! That stupid brother of mine mainly focused on speed and neglected his training in other areas. Otherwise, he wouldn¡¯t have lost to that brat!¡± Great Sword Dien didn¡¯t deny it, but he didn¡¯t admit it either.


    Knowing him, Fortress Defender Manock could only shake his head helplessly as he smiled. He knew that although he won against this friend of his, it was only by exploiting his weakness, which was his overconfidence in his body. Otherwise, he couldn¡¯t have won so easily when they fought a while ago.


    Not to mention that after using his skills, he was almost unstoppable with his swordsmanship and overwhelming strength inbat. On the battlefield, he was like a War God as he yed demons on the front line alongside him.


    He had always wanted his little brother to learn swordsmanship, but he refused, iming that it wasn¡¯t his passion. Even though his little brother focused on speed and dagger mastery, he still doted on him.


    That was because he knew the capabilities of his little brother were beyond normal standards and that he wouldn¡¯t lose to most people on the diator stage.


    However, his little brother suddenly lost to a newbie diator who came out of nowhere?


    He most likely couldn¡¯t ept such an oue because of the pride he had in his little brother.


    Thinking of this to himself, Fortress Defender Manock looked at the grumpy Great Sword Dien and said inwardly: ¡®This guy is too temperamental, but I am also curious about the capability of this newbie. His strange movements were too sophisticated to be just random movements. Moreover, that punch he threw, although he didn¡¯tnd it on Dion, it still contained a tremendous power, enough to disperse the wind around Dion. Though I wonder if he had simr ability as Dion to be able to unleash such powerful punch under the effects of the Power-Restraining Bracelet. I need to observe him more closely to find out.¡¯


    With that in mind, he focused his attention on the stage and observed attentively.

 Chapter 274 - 274 One Against Twenty!

    274 One Against Twenty!


    At this point, the two diators had already descended to the stage and were prepping themselves to face off against their opponent.


    At this time, a voice suddenly made them halt their movements.


    ¡°Just you guys? You guys are not enough!¡± Randy bluntly told them while shaking his head.


    ¡°What?¡± The two diators couldn¡¯t help but nkly ask this out of habit the moment they first heard him. The next moment, they came back to their senses as they processed what they had just heard. Their faces immediately twisted in anger, and they were about to speak their minds before being rudely interrupted again by Randy¡¯s indifferent voice.


    ¡°I said you guys are not enough of a challenge! Did you not hear me the first time?! Then I will repeat myself. I want to challenge all of those who qualify to ept my challenge at the same time!¡±


    This deration caused the entire Coliseum to be like an abandoned house. It waspletely silent all around. Only the whistling of the wind could faintly be heard in one¡¯s ear at this time.


    ¡°This bastard has taken it too far!¡±


    With a single sentence from one of the spectators, who couldn¡¯t take it anymore, almost like a domino effect, the other spectators also started cursing at Randy without any restraint in their words. While some wished they could beat him up themselves, their levels were too low, which had prevented them from being able to take on the challenge.


    They couldn¡¯t understand why this newbie diator was taunting others and overestimating himself just because he won one diator match. They haven¡¯t met anyone with such a conceited nature until today, which says a lot about how much they hated his overbearing attitude and unfounded confidence on stage. He dared to challenge everyone. Not even the senior diators were this arrogant when they fought. They wanted him to be taught a lesson to set a precedent, so no one dares to act this arrogant in the future.


    .....


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, inside the room where the senior diators were watching the match from. At this moment, a loud noise suddenly resounded in the entire room of the booth.


    Bang!


    A huge fist has smashed into the wall, forming a cobweb-like crack in it.


    ¡°That does it!! I am going to teach this unbridled brat a lesson! No one can stop me!¡±


    Great Sword Dien shouted exasperatedly with a twisted expression. Veins could be seen on his forehead as he gritted his teeth. Then, he descended towards the tform. He couldn¡¯t stand it anymore and chose to take on the challenge directly rather than leave it to those two juniors.


    On the other hand, the other senior diators hesitated and were indecisive about joining the challenge. Even though they were also angry, they couldn¡¯t afford to lose their dignity as seniors by partaking in a bully-like fight against a newbie.


    However, to their shock, Fortress Defender Manock shook his head with a smile and also directly jumped straight down from the booth. He descended in the direction of the tform.


    ¡®That guy really is too temperamental. But at this point, I might as well join in. It will be more fun to observe the newbie up close rather than strain my eyes to observe at the distance.¡¯ Fortress Defender Manock silently thought with a delighted smile on his face.


    The other diators silently watched this situation develop and felt that they were the odd ones out and some also decided to descend as well. After all, they were being challenged by an arrogant junior, so if they still did not show themselves, they wouldn¡¯t have the right to call themselves seniors, now would they?


    As for bullying? No one could me them. Moreover, all the spectators could serve as witnesses.


    The remaining ones, including Twin Snake Dagger Zeroth, were still deliberating their decision as they stood there ncing at each other without saying a word.


    ¡­


    On the tform.


    The moment Great Sword Dien showed up, tried his best to maintain hisposure, then said calmly with a hint of coldness: ¡°It seems like winning one match made you, a mere junior, be too conceited! You do not know your ce and even had the gall to challenge all of us at the same time? I will take it that you¡¯re ready to receive some thrashing as discipline for your arrogance this time.¡±


    ¡®Thrashing, huh?¡¯ Randy muttered inwardly to himself and could feel the hostility in the other party¡¯s words, but he did not mind it at all.


    At this moment, Fortress Defender Manock, who had just arrived at the stage not long ago, said with a smile: ¡°This junior is quite courageous to challenge us all at the same time. I admire you! I can¡¯t wait to see what made you so confident. However, I have to warn you right now¡­ Think of it as a piece of advice from a senior. It would do you good to show us all what you¡¯ve got without holding back. Otherwise, a few broken bones will be the least of your worries after we¡¯re done.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Randy could tell that the first guy was really pissed off without a doubt, but he didn¡¯t care as that would make it all worth it. The angry they became before the match, the better, as they wouldn¡¯t hold back on him when they fight in a bit.


    As for the second guy, Randy felt that he seemed excited about this situation rather than annoyed, which was very strange. It was impossible for him to tell what his true motive was. Even so, that didn¡¯t matter as long as he participated in his challenge. That was all that mattered to him in the end.


    A few momentster, the remaining diators that had decided to participate descended and joined the four people on the stage. The two diators that epted Randy¡¯s challenge to build their reputation were left dumbfounded and in a daze at the number of people present on the stage.


    20 people! Including them, a total of twenty people faced off against one person! This is too unprecedented!


    They didn¡¯t expect the situation to drastically change just because of a few words from this newbie diator.


    Even the umpire who initially was perplexed was shocked by the turn of events and wanted to stop the match. However, there wasn¡¯t any rule against multiple brawls in the Coliseum¡¯s diator matches.


    In reality, no one could aplish the feat of fighting against two people at the same time without losing instantly from the coordinated attacks of two people, unless it was a three-way battle. Thus, the umpire decided to refrain from interfering and let this unrestrained diator suffer the consequence of his own actions.

 Chapter 275 - 275 Anxious Gutz, Crucial Point

    275 Anxious Gutz, Crucial Point


    Randy calmly swept his gaze across the group of people on the stage briefly before nodding his head in satisfaction. He would soon be facing off against 20 experienced diators, but he wasn¡¯t worried at all. Instead, he was thrilled with the lineup.


    ¡®This is the only way to expedite the assimtion of my temporary attributes.¡¯ He thought to himself.


    He initially thought it would take more taunting, but who would¡¯ve thought that 20 people woulde with a few sentences from him? Although they may be offended by the way he acted, the result was all that mattered.


    After all, he might not meet these people again after this diator match. Even if they did meet, the most they would do was pick a fight with him or alienate him for looking down on them on their first encounter.


    Either way, he couldn¡¯t care less. The whole point of his journey to this world was to get strong as quickly as possible, not to make friends or be close with others.


    That was why he was trying his best to not build any close rtionships with anyone ever since he set out for the city from the vige. Even though he was now entangled with Gutz¡¯s group, that was only temporary. Once he was done with his business here, he would cut his ties with them so as to not implicate them in his troubles.


    ¡­


    At the spectators¡¯ seat.


    Gutz was sitting on the edge of his seat, feeling frantic and anxious about the current unexpected situation.


    .....


    While he wanted to see Randy fight against diators, he never would have thought the taciturn Randy would suddenly challenge the whole diator to mortalbat.


    Although the Coliseum did not allow killings, idental deaths were an exception to this rule. After all, no one could predict what would happen in any type ofbat.


    Even if it was a friendly match, there are bound to be unintended idents.


    However, this ¡®idental death¡¯ rule was usually taken for granted, as there was no way anyone would suffer life-threatening injuries on the stage if they fought against one person.


    The only way for there to be a possibility of death would be facing off against more than one person. It was already dangerous fighting two people without skill or energy, but Randy had decided to challenge 20 people at the same time.


    This was simply madness!


    Even though he wanted to jump down to stop him, it was already toote for him to do so. Perhaps, if he had told him beforehand, he could have advised him against it, but now that he had already announced it himself, it was all up to him to decide his fate.


    Not to mention that he would be punished or killed for interfering in a holy battle between diators regardless of his reasons. With that in mind, he could only pray for him silently and hope that he would survive this ordeal.


    ¡­


    Back to the stage.


    The moment everyone lined up with their shirts off, revealing their well-built bodies filled with bulging muscles. Some even had scars that weren¡¯t healedpletely on their bodies.


    Randy observed their bodies and thought these people had probably been through so many life-and-death situations. Otherwise, they wouldn¡¯t have so many scars on their bodies, especially when there should be healers or potions in this world. For them to still have those scars could only mean that those wounds were not simple wounds and couldn¡¯t be healedpletely with magic or potions.


    There was also the possibility that they couldn¡¯t afford to waste money on healing their wounds. Either way, Randy still admired their dedication to training and fighting to protect their kingdom.


    Randy already learned from Gutz on the way here about the other purpose of the diator match, or rather the Coliseum¡¯s purpose, which was to nurture fighters for the ongoing war. He felt a deep respect for these diators, who risked their lives on the front line.


    That aside, he turned to face the nearest diator who was warming up and gestured for him toe with his finger. This was one of the senior diators that camete and stood the closest to him since the others were on one side of the stage.


    ¡®This bastard!¡¯ This senior diator couldn¡¯t stand his nonchnt attitude as he faced 20 of them. He was instantly filled with anger. He was about to charge forward when the umpire¡¯s booming voice suddenly resounded from the side, officially announcing themencement of the match.


    ¡°GLADIATORS!!! AS WARRIORS REPRESENTING THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE, I IMPLORE YOU TO FIGHT WITH ALL YOU¡¯VE GOT ON THIS NOBLE STAGE!!! DO NOT HOLD ANYTHING BACK BECAUSE THAT WILL ONLY LIMIT YOUR GROWTH IN THIS HOLY ARENA AIMED TO SURPASS YOUR LIMITS!!! NOW, I PROUDLY ANNOUNCE, BEGIN YOUR FIGHT!!!¡±


    ¡®Fuck¡­ Almost scared me to death. I still can¡¯t get used to this traditional announcement¡­¡¯ The senior diator, who was about to rush and attack Randy, suddenly halted his movement when he heard the startling voice of the umpire.


    He almost made a mistake just now. If he had attacked before the official announcement, he would have not only been disqualified but also fined or even punished for breaking the rules and sneak attacking the opponent. Fortunately, the umpire¡¯s voice came right on time before that happened.


    In reality, the umpire noticed his action and immediately took that chance to announce the fight to prevent any mishaps from happening in this unprecedented diator match.


    The moment the umpire finished his announcement, a figure suddenly shot forward past the senior diator that was close to Randy, shocking him for a moment.


    ¡®What was that?¡¯ He dumbly turned to look forward, only to see Great Sword Dien rushing forward like a mad bear with his huge fist clenched tightly. When he got close to Randy, under his calm gaze, he thrust his fist at him without hesitation. The huge fistnded squarely on Randy¡¯s two arms, which he used to guard against the sudden fist attack.


    Boom!


    Randy slid on the ground for a bit before stopping 2 to 3 meters away. Once again, his feet dug into the ground from the resulting impact, leaving behind two long deep marks as he slid onto the floor of the stage.


    At this moment, he could faintly feel a tingling sensation in his two arms.


    ¡®This is¡­ Pain?¡¯ He wondered, but the next moment he saw something that made him smile widely, causing the diators, including Great Sword Dien, to shudder, thinking that he was some sort of masochist that enjoyed pain.


    Contrary to their belief, in front of Randy¡¯s vision were a few lines of notification on his challenger¡¯s system disy screen.


    [Strength +2]


    [Endurance +4]


    [Vitality +3]


    [Stamina +3]


    [Agility +1]


    When Randy saw such good news, how could he not be happy? Finally, he was getting somewhere!


    It was at this moment that he suddenly realized a crucial point.


    ¡®Getting beaten would increase the chances of my temporary attributes integrating with my body? Then, should I test it out?¡¯


    When Randy thought of this possibility, he couldn¡¯t wait to test it out. After all, this was the key factor that spurred the assimtion of his temporary attributes with his body just now. Not only that, but it appears likely that his temporary attributes would only assimte faster into permanent attributes as a result of this factor.


    The only downside was that he would have to get beaten for an unknown duration.


    What was he afraid of? What was he waiting for? This small bit of pain was nothing to him! He felt the worst kinds of pain throughout his journey to awaken, and even after he had awakened, it was no different. In reality, he endured more pain when he fought his enemies in the past.


    Whenpared to those kinds of excruciating pains, this much pain was nothing but a scratch! At most, it would leave him with some bruises that would naturally heal without any scars if left on their own.

 Chapter 276 - 276 Harsh Battle, Brutal Gladiators

    276 Harsh Battle, Brutal diators


    As soon as Randy realized the crucial point to integrating his temporary attributes into his body, he felt extremely excited. Then, his gaze unconsciously swept through everyone on the stage with a wide smile, causing them to feel that something was strange about Randy¡¯s sudden change of expression.


    ¡®Is he really a masochist? If so, then it would make sense why he had the audacity to challenge all of them together.¡¯ The diators on the stage all silently thought at the same time.


    Randy didn¡¯t care what they were thinking and immediately beckoned: ¡°Bring it on! Attack together!¡±


    The diators snapped out of their confusion. They angrily and aggressively sprinted toward him.


    ¡°Arrogant bastard! Everyone! Beat him up!¡±


    ¡°Scratch¡ª I mean, thrash him!¡±


    ¡°Attack together! Do not give him a chance to beg for mercy!¡±


    The subsequent events would be so heart-wrenching to watch. So much so that it would cause some of the spectators to begin to doubt their eyes and even feel some pity for this newbie diator.


    After all, aside from guarding his face, Randy didn¡¯t retaliate against his opponents¡¯ relentless assaults at all and simply had a disturbing smile on his face. His entire body was covered with bruises from punch marks and some scratch marks.


    .....


    Some brutal diators were secretly scratching his skin with their long polished nails as a form of revenge. This was also to teach him a lesson to not be so arrogant just because they couldn¡¯t use their weapons. However, despite their efforts, Randy simply smiled as his gaze remained fixed on the void in front of him. Some words scrolled through his vision.


    [Endurance +10]


    [Strength +2]


    [Vitality +2]


    [Stamina +2]


    [Agility +1]


    [Endurance +15]


    [Strength +1]


    [Vitality +1]


    [Stamina +1]


    [Endurance +10]


    [Endurance +10]


    [...]


    [...]


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, inside the VIP booth.


    The Crown Princess couldn¡¯t stand watching it any longer. She felt like it was too much for the senior diators to gang up on Randy, even if he was arrogant in his promation.


    As such, she was about to order a stop to the match before the situation got out of hand.


    After all, Randy was a possible recruit for not only the military, but also her faction, and she couldn¡¯t allow anything that could jeopardize her chance with a possible follower under her watch.


    On the other hand, when he noticed what the Crown Princess was trying to do, the middle-aged man casually raised his hand to stop her actions.


    ¡°Great Lord Yonder¡­?¡±


    The Crown Princess had a questioning gaze, but the middle-aged man didn¡¯t answer her or say anything outwardly about his thoughts. However, inwardly, he was surprised by the tenacity of Randy¡¯s body.


    Earlier, when he heard that Randy was going to challenge all the diators at the same time. He felt curious. He also wanted to see the depth of this young man in front of him, so he secretly manipted the Power-Restraining Bracelet to further restrain his powers to the maximum.


    As a result, he would feel like a mortal without any of the support of his supernatural power. Not even his pure vitality could be mobilized without going out of control.


    Contrary to his expectations, not only was Randy able to take on the attacks of the diators without breaking his bones, he was even getting stronger as time went by.


    ¡®Such a terrifying tenacity and mysterious constitution¡­ Indeed, he is worth researching.¡¯ The middle-aged man grinned slightly without realizing it due to excitement.


    When the princess witnessed this scene, she was greatly taken aback. Her mouth was slightly agape as she wondered what could possibly amuse this aloof old man. As far as she could remember, she had never actually seen this man smile about anything. At least she hadn¡¯t seen it before.


    Then, she wondered further if he had noticed something about Randy and unconsciously turned her gaze back to observe the brutal match once again. However, Randy was still taking on the merciless attacks of the diators one by one without any resistance.


    It was a pitiful sight to behold.


    ¡®Wait! How could he still stand with all the attacks? He didn¡¯t move from the spot he stood a few minutes ago. It was as if he was getting used to the weight of their attacks¡­?¡¯


    The Crown Princess trembled in her seat. She finally discovered that Randy did not get any serious injuries throughout the match, nor did he seem like he was the one on the receiving end. Instead, it seemed like he was gradually getting stronger as time passed.


    ¡®What a monster! I must get him on my side no matter what! I can¡¯t let my brother get to him first!¡¯ She swore to herself and immediately made arrangements with her servant. They would immediately leave to meet him when the match ended regardless of whether he won or lost.


    Then, after pondering for a moment, she made up her mind and even nned on stopping the match if it looked like his life could be in danger. This way, she could even gain his trust after saving his life.


    ¡­


    Back to the stage.


    Randy was still getting thrashed by the 20 diators. The ones whose attacks packed a punch were Fortress Defender Manock and Great Sword Dien.


    However, the one who was more hardworking was without a doubt Great Sword Dien. When he realized that his frontal attack wasn¡¯t working on Randy, he aimed at Randy¡¯s stomach from time to time with hisrge fist that was as thick as his own head.


    In response, Randy clenched his stomach, squeezing and knitting his abs together to form a flesh defense with them, and then took on the attack, only moving backward a few inches. Other than some slight pain in his stomach, he was mostly unfazed and simply smirked as he stared into the void in front of him, seeming unusually happy.


    This not only shocked Great Sword Dien, but also sparked a me of hatred inside him.


    At this time, he decided to use all his strength to wipe the arrogant smirk off his face. Behind him were some sinister diators who brandished their well-polished ws and followed his movements as they waited for opportunities to strike from the shadows.


    This one-sided beatdown continued, and Randy persistently endured their attacks. He had also gradually gotten used to their rhythm and their punches. Now, no matter how deadly their attacks were, they didn¡¯t make him move anymore.

 Chapter 277 - 277 Change of Tactics, Increase In Perception

    277 Change of Tactics, Increase In Perception


    Although it appeared as though Randy was getting stronger as he endured the many attacks from the diators, he wasn¡¯t truly getting stronger. Instead, his body was bing ustomed to the strength that was being transmitted over from the assimtion of his temporary attributes.


    This only allowed him to get better control over his body and not actually increase his strength. ording to his understanding, temporary attributes, to him, were simply a kind of potential attributes or enhanced attributes. As such, they didn¡¯t truly feel like his genuine strength.


    However, once they were turned into his permanent attributes, he could feel his muscles adapting to the new strength and gradually adapting to it as the fight goes on the stage. With that being the case, he found his current strategy very effective in increasing his permanent attributes and his control over them at the same time.


    Regardless of how effective his current strategy was, all good things muste to an end.


    At some point, Randy realized that aside from his ¡®Endurance¡¯ attribute that hadpletely transferred over, his ¡®Strength¡¯, ¡®Vitality¡¯, ¡®Stamina¡¯, and ¡®Agility¡¯ attributes had stopped increasing. There was also his ¡®Perception¡¯ and other attributes that hadn¡¯t changed a single bit throughout the course of his beatdown.


    Randy pondered for a bit, and then recalled that he had to train his body in actualbat in order topletely integrate with his temporary attributes. And right now, he was only defending himself without actually fighting back, which might not constitute improving his body holistically.


    When he fought the two demons back then, although he was pressured throughout the fight, he still had his assimted states to rely on, so he wasn¡¯tpletely hopeless. That was why his attributes didn¡¯t transfer over at that time.


    However, right now, his powers are sealed by the Power-Restraining Bracelets, and he could only rely on his physical body to fight. This situation was very optimal for him to reach his limits while polishing hisbat techniques and his control over his body.


    All in all, not only would he be able to reach his limits, but he would also be able to break through them in his current state.


    .....


    Furthermore, for whatever reason, he could feel that the restraining effects of the Power-Restraining Bracelets on his body had increased dramatically. It was almost as though someone was manually controlling its effects without notice.


    Right now, his entire body felt heavy, as though he was a mere mortal without any supernatural strength to support him. This feeling was simr to when he hadn¡¯t awakened, but at the same time it wasn¡¯t the same. He felt weakerpared to then.


    He wondered if it was the umpire who arbitrarily increased the effects of the Power-Restraining Bracelets, but on second thought, he did not mind the oue since it was partly due to this potent effect that his temporary attributes started integrating with his body at a much faster speed.


    At his current rate, he shouldn¡¯t have to worry about not meeting the deadline. Even so, he should still try to hasten his pace by changing his tactics and integrating with the remaining attributes as soon as possible just in case.


    With that in mind, he decided to stop defending himself against the attacks from the diators. Instead, he decided to take the offensive approach against his opponents, as that might be the only way to get used to his attributes quickly.


    Following his thought, he immediately roared loudly and charged forward after blocking a frontal attack from one of the diators. This sudden change shocked the others momentarily, but not for long, as they also surrounded him andunched coordinated attacks from all around him.


    Randy ignored the back and side attacks and solely focused on the front attacks. This was because the truly strong diators were in the front and the weaklings, whose punches could hardly hurt him, were sneaking up from behind and on both sides.


    With that thought, Randy charged forward like a raging bull. Shortly after, he arrived in front of Great Sword Dien and Fortress Defender Manock.


    Without a shred of hesitation from his movements, he madly hurled a deadly punch at Great Sword Dien¡¯s face.


    The opposition managed to dodge in time but failed to realize that it was only a feint, as Randy immediately followed up with his left hand and punched his stomach, sending him flying backwards.


    Randy ignored him and turned his sharp gaze towards Fortress Defender Manock and then twisted his legs and kicked as hard as he could at him.


    However, to his surprise, Fortress Defender Manock easily fend off his kick and mmed his body against him, knocking him back a few meters as he was caught off guard. Meanwhile, the others behind him immediately seized the chance and rained their fist, kick, body, and scratch attacks on Randy¡¯s back and side.


    Randy scowled when he felt the familiar, slightly itchy scratch marks on his skin once again.


    Earlier, he noticed that some people were purposely using their long fingernails to scratch his back and sides like a bunch of feral cats.


    Although he could endure these underhanded attacks, he still didn¡¯t like the ufortable itchy feeling on his body. He could tell that these people most likely purposely grew their fingernails to attack their opponents since weapons weren¡¯t allowed on the stage.


    Regardless, Randy could no longer tolerate these sneaky people. Thus, his sharp eyes immediately singled out those bunch of unscrupulous diators.


    Without giving them a chance to react, he swiftly approached them one by one, then he mercilessly knocked them out cold with a hard punch to their chins, jaws, and the back of their heads. They all fell to the floor, making dull sounds, almost like bags of rice were dropped to the ground consecutively.


    With those guys taken care of, only 15 people remained conscious on the stage.


    At this point, Great Sword Dien had already made his way back from the edge of the tform where Randy¡¯s assault sent him. Once he arrived, he immediately saw the sleeping bodies of the 5 of the junior and senior diators that Randy had knocked out, and his expression became solemn.


    Although he hated to admit it, that newbie diator was indeed strong. Without a doubt, he had every right to be arrogant. After all, despite their relentless attacks, he didn¡¯t budge an inch, but when he attacked him, he was instantly sent flying by a powerful force.


    His condition was like that of a rag doll or a thrown piece of flesh. He clearly couldn¡¯t maintain his bnce or position until he fell a distance away. Hended on the edge of the tform. He was almost disqualified just now, which would have been so embarrassing.


    His pride as a senior diator was hurt at that moment.


    Even though he clearly knew that he was inferior, he just didn¡¯t want to ept such an oue no matter what. Therefore, he could only choose to fight him to the end.


    With that thought and determination, he decided to coordinate with Fortress Defender Manock instead of moving by himself like before.


    The two of them were the strongest on the stage, and now that they had joined forces, the battle would only get more difficult for Randy.


    On the other hand, Randy weed such a turn of events as the more coordinated their attacks were, the more desperate he would get to break through them.


    Thinking of that, Randy took the initiative to charge toward them once again. He nned on being on the offensive rather than being passive like before.


    At this time, a new notification appeared in his vision.


    [Perception +20]


    This only spurred him on, as he increased his speed and sprinted toward the two strongest diators.

 Chapter 278 - 278 An Uninvited Guest, Confrontation

    278 An Uninvited Guest, Confrontation


    While Randy was engaged in a fearless battle against the diators on the stage, the middle-aged man, who was observing every single movement of his body with appreciation, suddenly scowled with an unsightly and twisted expression.


    He then looked into the void in a certain direction far away and muttered under his breath with clear displeasure: ¡°An uninvited guest? How bold! What rat dared to sneak in without my permission?¡±


    The middle-aged man¡¯s aura exploded and billowed with undisguised fury, scaring the Crown Princess beside him. She looked at him in apprehensive horror, unable to breathe properly. She could only beat her chest in desperation.


    ¡°G-Great¡­ Lord¡­ Yon¡­ der¡­ I¡­ can¡¯t¡­ breathe¡­¡±


    As she couldn¡¯t bear it anymore, she opened her mouth, choking on her words, struggling to speak with all her might. However, before she could plead with the middle-aged man, he instantly vanished from his seat.


    Only then was she able to gasp for breath.


    ¡°Haa¡­ Haa¡­ Haah¡­¡±


    The Crown Princess¡¯s expression was terrifyingly pale with fright as she breathed heavily after the middle-aged man left the scene.


    ¡°W-What happened¡­? Such a terrifying killing intent¡­ I felt like I was drowning in an endless abyss¡­ Did something happen?¡±


    .....


    She struggled to speak as she pondered what could arouse the attention of the middle-aged man enough for him to be so furious and release such a murderous aura.


    Aside from her, the servants that were close by all froze on the spot with ripples of fear stered on their serious faces. They did everything they could to hold back their fear, but they still failed to suppress it from showing on their faces.


    ¡®What a horrifying murderous aura! It felt like my whole body was submerged and suppressed in a bottomless ocean with no means to swim! I¡¯m afraid someone poked the ho¡¯s nest without knowing! I hope we don¡¯t get implicated!¡¯


    They all thought at the same time.


    As servants of the Royal Family, they were not weak at all. In fact, they were one of the strongestbatants of the kingdom hailed for their stern demeanor from having fought many battles. They had experienced a lot of things in their lives to finally be selected as guards of the Royal Family.


    Each Royal Guard had killed numerous enemies on the front lines of many battles. Therefore, they weren¡¯t fazed by mere murderous auras, as they had experienced such auras countless times during their many battles. They could even say they were used to the feeling of treading on the brink of life and death. In other words, they were fearless in battle.


    However, even with their enormous experience, they still couldn¡¯t resist the overwhelming and terrifying murderous aura released briefly by the middle-aged man. That just showed how frighteningly powerful the other party waspared to them.


    It was a total and overwhelming suppression of power!


    ¡­


    A few hours ago.


    In front of the Imperial City¡¯s main gate.


    A hooded and cloaked figure silently appeared there. Their entire appearance was shrouded in a dense fog of darkness, obstructing any form of perception through irvoyant spells or skills.


    With that being the case, they walked forward brazenly, casually strode past the two guards, and then entered the main gate. The two vignt guards didn¡¯t notice anything unusual at all.


    This hooded figure continued to walk through the Imperial City¡¯s streets for a while. However, no one saw them, just as the two guards at the main gate had failed to spot them. However, the hooded figure did not dawdle around admiring the bustling city.


    Instead, they moved swiftly while avoiding contact with the people on the street, as if they were in a hurry. They didn¡¯t stop moving until they reached the gate that led to the Royal Capital, where the Royal Family resided.


    Then, they proceeded to walk through the gate with no eyes observing them, nor was there any detection from theplex mechanisms set up to catch intruders that attempted to pass through the gate to the Royal Capital.


    This unknown person seemed to have found a way to bypass all the magical formations set up around the kingdom. After all, they made it through the gate that led to the Royal Capital without triggering any reaction.


    After entering the Royal Capital, they stopped momentarily and sensed the surroundings briefly before picking a direction and rushing toward it at an astonishing speed. They were several times faster than the speed of sound, but they didn¡¯t make any noise as they moved, which was very surprising, considering their rming speed.


    Very soon, they stood in front of a grand mansion that was secluded and away from the Royal Castle building. This grand mansion looked extremely majestic, and it could be inferred that whoever lived in this grand mansion was one with high status or prestige that could even rival that of the Royal Family, if not higher.


    Which begs the question, what was the identity of the one who lived in such a grand mansion, and what was their rtionship with the Royal Family?


    At this moment, a glint of light shed through the hooded figure¡¯s eyes as they stood in front of this grand mansion.


    Sensing around for a bit, they muttered in confirmation: ¡°As I thought, there was indeed a terrifying monster in this ce. This aura.... I wonder what wickedness they¡¯remitting inside that mansion for it to emit such a miasmic force residue. Are humans attempting to research some sort of negative energy?¡±


    ¡°Should I take a look inside and see for myself?¡±


    The hooded figure pondered for a moment before shaking their head: ¡°No. Being able toe here has already exhausted most of the stored powers in this body. Anything beyond this might deplete all my powers, and I might trigger some hidden trap or mechanism as a result.¡±


    She had already confirmed her main suspicion on this journey, so she could now move on to the next matter.


    ¡°I should leave this ce, confirm the next problem, and then leave silently without alerting anyone. With the gathered information, I could make the appropriate preparations to deal with them when the timees, no matter who they are.¡±


    ¡°To deal with whom?¡±


    A cold and indifferent voice suddenly resounded behind the hooded figure at this time.


    However, the hooded figure wasn¡¯t startled despite hearing the voice of this new arrival, and instead said calmly: ¡°To deal with you, of course! I take it that you¡¯re the owner of this mansion? If so, then that¡¯d make things much easier. I will take this chance to clean you up before leaving!¡±


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    A burst of coldughter reverberated throughout the vicinity, causing the surrounding wind to pick up, as though a mini tornado had arrived at their location. Afterward, a figure slowly walked out of the void as they hovered in the sky, staring at the hooded figure below with an iprehensible smile and a chilly gaze.


    It was the middle-aged man, otherwise known as Great Lord Yonder.


    ¡°Amusing¡­ Truly amusing words. I haven¡¯t met a brazen creature like you in a long time, so I forgot the feeling of being looked down on. I suppose there are bound to be changes urring throughout the course of life, so I shouldn¡¯t be too conservative.¡±


    Great Lord Yonder said with a strange expression as his chilly gaze seemed to have pierced through the masked hooded figure below him.


    This caused the hooded figure to shudder slightly from an eerie difort in her body.


    ¡®Have I been seen through? Normally, I would say that is impossible, but considering the power fluctuations of this human, I would say that it¡¯s notpletely impossible.¡¯


    With that in mind, the hooded figure decided to unabashedly take off the cloak that concealed their presence, as it was pointless to continue hiding their identity. Furthermore, this was not their true form, so it didn¡¯t really matter.


    The next moment, their appearance was revealed.


    It was an ordinary and innocent-looking young woman with short brown hair, who seemed to be in her twenties.


    Contrary to her age and ordinary appearance, the power fluctuation from her body suggested that she was no ordinary person, as she carried a natural aura of regal dignity around their delicate body, just from her posture alone. Furthermore, her sharp eyes were filled with endless darkness, as though they harbored the abyss itself.


    Great Lord Yonder watched this scene with a cold expression, and then indifferently said with clear discontentment: ¡°Putting aside how you knew toe here aside, you dared to impersonate a human to break into my territory without my permission?¡±


    He then snorted and coldly dered: ¡°For being the first entity to achieve this feat, I will grant you a painless death by ripping your body to shreds as your reward! Your soul, on the other hand, would suffer endless torture under mymand for your audacious transgressions!¡±


    The innocent-looking young woman heard this deration, frowned with a disgusted expression, and disdainfully said: ¡°You¡¯re too arrogant for a mere human! Don¡¯t overestimate yourself! Did you think I¡¯d be afraid of you just because your power fluctuation had almost reached the boundary of this world¡¯s limit? You haven¡¯t witnessed the immensity of absolute power, yet you dare bark in front of me? I wouldn¡¯t even take apostles seriously, much less an exalted one like you.¡±


    She then scoffed and arrogantly dered: ¡°Today, I came here purposely to find out the identity of that mysterious human and also the mastermind behind the reason why the humans haven¡¯t lost the war yet. Now that I have met one of the people in question, I only have one decision to make right here, and that is to crush them with everything I¡¯ve got before they be a threat!¡±


    Boom!


    After her confident deration, a sudden explosion urred, shaking the earth underneath her feet. She was then shrouded in an unfathomably dense fog of darkness that surged continuously and condensed behind her.


    The dense fog of darkness gradually transformed into a hazy, giant maw, which looked like a voracious monster with jagged teeth. A mighty suction force exuded from this giant maw as if it would swallow everything in the world.

 Chapter 279 - 279 Escape, Hot Pursuit

    279 Escape, Hot Pursuit


    Great Lord Yonder¡¯s expression was condescending and indifferent, as though such a terrifying sight beheld by him did not faze him. He merely gave a casual nce at the innocent-looking young woman, then a faint ripple of indiscernible light across his eyes, and then disappeared.


    At the same time, the innocent-looking young woman, who was umting her power,pletely vanished from his line of sight, followed by his figure following suit.


    Both of them seemed to havepletely disappeared from the surface of the world. Not even a shadow or a trace of them remained. Meanwhile, the whole surrounding area instantly became silent as if their confrontation never happened and everything that transpired was merely an illusion.


    ¡­


    Elsewhere, the innocent-looking young woman silently appeared at a mysterious location.


    When she appeared she was still in the posture of umting her power, ready to strike her enemy, but she noticed that something was wrong. She couldn¡¯t see the human in front of her just a second ago. She also noticed that at some point the surrounding environment turned into a strange location as if she had been trapped in a power domain constructed by someone.


    ¡®Impossible! Only apostles possess such abilities! Is that human an apostle in disguise?!¡¯


    She was inwardly shocked and became slightly alert and cautious of her surroundings.


    However, on second thought, she shook her head and inwardly muttered: ¡®No, he doesn¡¯t appear to be one. I didn¡¯t sense any divine authority of the gods on him. From his aura, he was most definitely an exalted powerhouse without divine authority¡­ Yet he still possessed the means to use an absolute domain of power¡­ Is it a magic spell?¡¯


    .....


    The innocent young woman was full of doubt, and she was having inner turmoil, wondering what kind of being she was dealing with this time. But no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn¡¯te up with a logical conclusion with her current wisdom.


    At this time, she suddenly noticed something very odd about her behavior.


    ¡®What¡¯s going on?¡¯


    She just noticed that for some reason she couldn¡¯t speak with her mouth and could only form thoughts in her mind.


    She had been subconsciously using her thoughts to speak her mind. Although it was only natural to use the mind when thinking about some things, sometimes one would inadvertently say some things out loud to solidify or conclude one¡¯s thoughts.


    Just now, she clearly wanted to refute the possibility of the middle-aged man being an apostle of one of the gods with her mouth, but she had used her mind to utter these conclusive words instead.


    This startled her greatly, as it felt so natural, and if not for her keen senses, she wouldn¡¯t have noticed that anything was wrong with her actions.


    ¡®What kind of sorcery is this?¡¯


    She wondered with an uneasy feeling welling up within her, but she still maintained her aloof expression as she waited for the appearance of the human. She believed that he might be the one behind this strange phenomenon.


    At this exact moment, Great Lord Yonder silently appeared and hovered in what appeared to be a constructed gloomy sky, ncing below at the confused innocent-looking young woman with an amused expression. She couldn¡¯t hide her anxiety in front of him.


    Great Lord Yonder coldly spoke in a meaningful tone: ¡°What¡¯s wrong? You can¡¯t speak, can you? However, don¡¯t worry, this is just the beginning. Your act of brazenly walking into my territory shall not go unpunished. I would let you understand your wrongdoings by letting you experience many pleasures that the fleshly body of mortals could endure before inevitably sumbing to death.¡±


    Right after his promation, he nced at the innocent-looking young woman and opened his mouth many times at a quick pace, seemingly to say something or chant a spell, but each time he opened and closed his mouth, no sound came out. It looked as though he couldn¡¯t find the right words to use in the follow-up speech, and in the end, he could only hesitate to speak his mind.


    ¡°...¡±


    The innocent-looking young woman sensed that something was strange when she couldn¡¯t hear the middle-aged man¡¯s voice. With her extraordinary senses, there was no way she couldn¡¯t hear anything from the other party.


    Aside from that, she could tell that the human wasn¡¯t chanting a spell, as there wasn¡¯t any resonance with the surrounding mana. Her thoughts turned, and she recalled that she was already in the human¡¯s domain, so her conjecture might be void.


    With that in mind, she cautiously looked around trying to find where the attack woulde from. After looking around briefly, she failed to find anything unusual, but she still kept her vignce.


    At this point, she heard a series ofmanding voices resounding near and far in her ears.


    ¡°Don¡¯t move. You can¡¯t move. Don¡¯t walk. You can¡¯t walk. Don¡¯t resist. You can¡¯t resist. Suffer. You can only suffer endless pain without resistance.¡±


    These words sounded like they had been softly spoken by Great Lord Yonder, even though his mouth didn¡¯t move. The words sounded eerily mystifying, almost as if they had been the silent words spoken under the breath of Great Lord Yonder a few moments ago, and only now had they reverberated throughout the whole space.


    These words carried mystic and unfathomable power fluctuations that covered everything in his line of sight, including the innocent-looking young woman.


    Instantly, invisible ripples could be felt and the innocent-looking young woman could feel that she suddenly could not move her body. No matter how much power she circted, she couldn¡¯t move her body from her position.


    She had lostplete control of her body!


    She also felt that she had be susceptible to a mysterious power that made her feel the urge to give up struggling and surrender herself. This was an extremely terrifying and enigmaticmand-type power that was intended to corrode her consciousness and control her entire being.


    Sensing these changes in her, she immediately reacted and mobilized her unyielding mental power that contained her will to resist this mysterious power, barely keeping her sanity intact.


    ¡®You disgusting bastard! What the hell did you do to me?!¡¯


    She btedly realized the gravity of her situation and resentfully roared with madness, her face fiercely twisted with fury and exasperation. However, she couldn¡¯t transmit her voice out, no matter how much she screamed inwardly, which irritated her further.


    At this rate, she would have no choice but to give up her current body to forcefully break through this strange domain set up by that hateful human with her unique power.


    With that in mind, she acted right away and suddenly her body released a powerful force, and then a huge explosion urred within a split-second with her at the center.


    BOOM!


    Great Lord Yonder¡¯s eyes twitched slightly when he noticed what had happened. Even though he could sense that she was umting power within her body, he didn¡¯t bother to react to her. Since it was impossible to escape this location without his authorization.


    With that being the case, he leisurely waved his hands to subdue the explosion before continuing. He silently decided to increase the discipline and punishment for her futile escape attempt.


    However, once the explosion was cleared, he saw a shocking scene in front of him. He discovered that the audacious woman, whom he had totally restrained, had somehow managed to escape his domain, and in her wake was an oval-shaped rift that was left in his domain¡¯s boundary and the residue of her blood that sttered on the ground.


    ¡°How is that possible?! There is someone who can escape my Mystic Domain in this world?!¡±


    For the first time since he arrived in this world, he was shocked by something. His perception of this world, which was only shallow from his point of view, had been shattered by that woman.


    Although his Mystic Domain wasn¡¯tplete with just his current power umtion, as it wasn¡¯t even one-thousandth of the original domain, it still had enough power to trap any mortal. Yet, this unknown apparition with barely qualifying power managed to find a way to break through his Mystic Domain.


    What kind of trick did it use? What if it retaliates against him in the future? It was not his style to let the enemye and go as they please! Not to mention that this enemy could somehow bypass his magic formation and escape his senses!


    Thinking of this possibility, he immensely regretted his rash and careless decision moments ago due to his anger. If he knew beforehand that she had such an ability to escape domains alongside her ability to mask her presence, he would have immediately killed her. He wouldn¡¯t have bothered to consider torturing her.


    The current oue was a blunder on his part, which also stemmed from his shallow understanding of this seemingly low-level world.


    ¡°Damn it! You obnoxious evil creature! Don¡¯t think you can escape so easily once you¡¯re in my territory!¡±


    Great Lord Yonder shouted in exasperation for the first time in a long time. He immediately undid the domain. Then, he mobilized his overwhelming senses to find and trace the location of the innocent-looking young woman.


    Shortly after, he found her traces. She was still in the vicinity of the kingdom, meaning he still had a chance to fix this fiasco.


    Thus, once he discovered the approximate location, he disappeared from his position without wasting any time. He teleported in hot pursuit of the innocent-looking young woman, who seemed to move furtively from one location to another to avoid his precise detection.

 Chapter 280 - 280 Complete Integration of Attributes, Contemplation About The Future

    280 Complete Integration of Attributes, Contemtion About The Future


    Meanwhile.


    Back at the Coliseum.


    After a tight battle against the coordinated offense and defense of Great Sword Dien and Fortress Defender Manock, respectively, Randy finally managed to get his perception and other attributes to fully integrate with his body. To be more precise, he had fully integrated all basic attributes into his body.


    Even though he had already defeated all of his opponents on stage, concluding the Giadiator match, he still failed to increase his intelligence and magic limit attributes.


    While he was pondering what was going on, the umpire took off his Power-Restraining Bracelets.


    Suddenly¡ª


    [Intelligence +70]


    [Magic Limit +70]


    This instantly left Randy dumbfounded. He didn¡¯t expect it to be this easy, or rather he didn¡¯t expect to get all of these attributes at the same time, and out of nowhere. After all, he had to integrate all the other attributes bit by bit throughout the match. Yet, he got these attributes in one go right after the match ended.


    .....


    ¡®Were they not increasing earlier because of the Power-Restraining Bracelets?¡¯


    Randy made a conjecture, which he found to be most likely the case. After all, he had been under the effect of power suppression due to the Power-Restraining Bracelets, so it madeplete sense that he couldn¡¯t obtain attributes rted to supernatural power.


    With that settled, he briefly nced at the twenty diators, including Great Sword Dien and Fortress Defender Manock, who were lying on the floor of the tform breathing heavily and groaning in pain before walking away through the door that led outside. He didn¡¯t jump up the tform to the seat he was sitting on earlier because he would have to jump over some people to reach that seat.


    Jumping down was easy, but jumping up might lead to some unintentional idents, so he decided to take the same path every diator took out of the tform.


    Eventually, he met up with Gutz outside, who was spurred on by his outstanding disy of fighting and proceeded to shower him with words of praise.


    Afterward, Gutz said passionately: ¡°Randy, I want to challenge some people here to integrate some of my attributes from my previous increase in level. I n on following in your footsteps by challenging multiple people at the same time. I want to experience my own limits!¡±


    Randy didn¡¯t particrly care what Gutz wanted to achieve by challenging multiple people like him, so he only nodded and watched him issue challenges to the other diators.


    A whileter, Gutz fought against two diators, and he barely managed to win against them, but he seemed to have run out of steam. He lookedpletely worn out and couldn¡¯t carry on with the subsequent match.


    Therefore, he had no choice but to quit the match and take some rest before issuing the next challenge to four diators at the same time. However, he couldn¡¯t evenst a minute before being defeated helplessly by three of the four diators¡¯ coordinated attacks.


    After losing this match, Gutz¡¯s admiration for Randy shot up many notches. He thought that Randy was amazing to fight against twenty people and stille out on top.


    Through his observation, he came to believe that Randy¡¯s fighting style andbat strength was way beyond normal human cognition.


    Furthermore, he also noticed that Randy didn¡¯t seem that tired nor was he sweating profusely as one would expect from his intense fight. On the contrary, his expression was rtively the same throughout the match.


    ¡­


    A few minutester.


    After watching Gutzpete in his second round of matches, Randy went up and informed Gutz, who was beaten to the point that he was resting in the infirmary with a swollen face, about heading out to walk around the city to get some fresh air.


    Hearing his request, Gutz was worried that he would get lost as he was still new to the Imperial City. However, Randy insisted confidently that he had already memorized the path to the Coliseum, so he shouldn¡¯t worry about him getting lost.


    Gutz was then reassured and told him to make sure toe back to the Coliseum in about an hour, as he would be waiting for him there. After all, they still needed to head to the Society building to report their presence.


    This was something that Gutz had promised Vairon before taking Randy to the diator¡¯s Coliseum. As such, he kept it in his mind all this time.


    Randy readily agreed with his decision and went out by himself. However, before leaving, Randy asked Gutz a few questions regarding the Dungeons in the Imperial City. After he got answers to his questions, he left with a pondering expression.


    ¡­


    On the streets of the Imperial City.


    Randy walked by himself as he thought about his ns moving forward. He had already achieved his goal ofing to the Imperial City with the conclusion of the diator¡¯s match.


    As for what he should do from now on for the remainder of his stay in the Imperial City, it was the same as beforeing to this world through the dimensional rift, which was to get stronger faster and learn the secrets his parents were hiding from him.


    Before leaving, he wanted to at least attain the highest level possible in this world, which was level 99¡ª the exalted level of power.


    With that in mind, he wanted to continue increasing his level using this world¡¯s system of strength acquisition.


    However, what troubled him presently was that after he asked Gutz where to find dungeons that met his current level in order to increase his level in the Imperial City easily, he told him that he would have to join the army as a reserve soldier as a prerequisite. Only then would he be able to gain ess to those higher-level dungeons.


    That prerequisite made him hesitate about his decision. He didn¡¯t want to get entangled in this world¡¯s affairs, not to mention a war that had a high chance of him losing his life.


    Although he was confident that, with his current strength, which could even overwhelm some of the strongest soldiers in the diator¡¯s Coliseum, as long as he was careful enough, he should be able to easily survive participating in the war without losing his life helplessly.


    Regardless, he didn¡¯t want to take that risk if he could help it. Therefore, he thought deeply about how he should handle the situation without depending on the Royal Family or joining the army.


    The first thought that came to mind was to clear low-level dungeons to slowly increase his level. However, he immediately shook this thought out of his head.


    There was no need for him to think about employing this method at all. As for the reason why he chose not to employ this method? That was very self-exnatory if one thought about it carefully.


    While clearing low-level dungeons would not put him under a restriction from the Royal Family, he knew very well that it would take him an exceedingly long time to increase each level. It could take him weeks, months, or even years to increase a few levels, much less reach level 99.


    Aside from that, he didn¡¯t have much time in this world. At most, he had a couple of months. So far, he had only spent about two weeks or so in Acruxia.


    He might not necessarily need to stay in Acruxia for the whole duration of the time he had left due to the time difference not being stable, ording to his system.


    Aside from that, there was even a chance that increasing his level using low-level dungeons may be ineffective at some point.


    With all those possibilities in mind, he decided against using this method for the time being.


    With that sorted out, Randy deliberated on his other choices as he wandered the streets of the Imperial City, and at some point, he bought some food from a random food stall. He had roasted bird meat with some spices that he had never seen before.


    Aside from the salt-like substance added, there were also some other condiments that were applied to the bird meat thatplemented it very well. The bird meat was cut into multiple pieces and poked into a thin stick like a kebab, looking quite tender and sulent.


    Though he had no idea what the sauces applied to the roasted bird meat were, he still enjoyed their taste very much. Thus, he bought a few more of those roasted meats with different vors before leaving the food stall.


    As he walked aimlessly while memorizing the paths he took, he suddenly found himself back in the alley they walked past as they made their way into the city. He saw some kids in rags as he walked through the alley, and after pondering for a bit, he gave out the extra roasted bird meat he bought to the kids.


    These kids were all children whose parents were killed in the war and left homeless as a result. One kid, in particr, was very wary of his kind gesture and hesitated to take the attractive meat as he looked at Randy full of doubts.


    This was a young boy who was about 8 to 10 years old. Eventually, he couldn¡¯t fight back against his natural urges. His hunger overwhelmed his skepticism, and he quickly took the kebab of bird meat from his hand.


    The kid said thanks to him momentarily before hurriedly running away as though he was afraid that he would take back the roasted meat from him with some excuse. At the same time, the other kids also left for their usual hideouts, which were all in different directions.

 Chapter 281 - 281 Deadly Encounter!

    281 Deadly Encounter!


    As he watched the kids scurry away in different directions, Randy was slightly dumbfounded. Then, he shook his head with a faint smile on his face before continuing to walk through the alley with his head down, as he thought of some things along the way.


    At some point, he noticed that there were two paths that led to his left and right and a path that led forward.


    As he reached the four-way intersection in the alley, he suddenly bumped into someoneing from the left side of the crossroads.


    ¡°Ah, sorry about tha¡ª¡±


    Randy turned to his left and raised his head to apologize, but the remaining words got stuck in his throat as he instinctively reacted and backed away from this unknown person.


    When the person he bumped into saw his odd reaction speed, their eyes widened with a mild surprised expression, and then they said in a teasing tone: ¡°What quick reaction speed! Not bad at all!¡±


    Afterward, they stopped to observe him closely, and to their surprise, they seemed to recognize him but didn¡¯t know why or where they met him.


    ¡°You¡­¡±


    This person pointed at Randy for a brief moment before they said in realization: ¡°Ah! Aren¡¯t you the human in the report? That mysterious human who fought those two useless idiots near the Meistic Forest? Just the person I was looking for. It would appear that my luck is surprisingly great today.¡±


    .....


    They then continued with a wicked smile: ¡°Not only did I find the mastermind, but I also came across the little mysterious human shortly after that encounter. Running into the people I was searching for one after another... Without a doubt, today is my lucky day.¡±


    On the other hand, Randy felt that something was strange about the person in front of him. He didn¡¯t know why, but he could instinctively tell that if he gave them a chance, he would surely be killed by them.


    Not only that, but this person¡¯s appearance was seemingly imperceptible, as it was covered in this misty and fog-like shroud of ck energy substance. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn¡¯t have noticed their presence, much less their appearance.


    If it were not for his high sense of perception along with the other factors of his body, which allowed him to perceive their appearance, he would have walked by them without even realizing it. Furthermore, if they had malicious intentions against him, he would have died without any retaliation.


    With those reasons in mind, he had already channeled his energy before anything else, and when he backed away, he activated one of his abilities to attack.


    Piu!


    At this moment, an intense ray of crimson condensed into a destructive and prative force that surged forth and quickly shot out from the tip of Randy¡¯s index finger. Its target was none other than the person in front of him. Furthermore, it was aimed precisely at the forehead of this person with the intent to kill.


    Blood Ray!


    The person saw the destructive crimson ray of light with widened eyes. They were shocked and dumbfounded by the sudden maneuverability disyed by Randy, coupled with his unhesitating deadly attack.


    ¡®Why so fierce out of nowhere?¡¯


    Although they were taken by surprise by the sudden attack, they casually waved their hand and a misty giant maw manifested behind them. The giant maw savagely bit down and devoured the ray of destructive light. However, that was not the end. The ray of destructive light was sent back to its source with a change in nature, speed, intensity, and color.


    Randy barely reacted and used his Palm of Double Reflection to absorb the power of the corroded Blood Ray that carried a dark, misty aura. He managed to seed forcefully with great difficulty due to its enhanced speed and power that was stronger than his own attack.


    Even then, he only managed to absorb two-thirds of the dark ray¡¯s power. Afterward, he used the effects of skill to double the absorbed dark ray¡¯s power and prepared to bounce it back at the enemy.


    At the same time, he was hit by the residual power impact of the remaining one-third that he couldn¡¯t absorb with his skill. He was sent flying a few meters away in a straight line. Before hended, he wanted to aim at that person, but that person had somehow evaded his sense of perception and was flying next to him with an amusing smile on their face.


    At this time, they no longer bothered to mask their presence and their presence was revealed to him. Their true appearance was that of a young woman, seemingly not much older than him with short brown hair. She wore a tight ck garment with a hood at the back.


    Once Randy noticed her appearance next to him, he was startled and his heart skipped a beat from the shocking scene. His thoughts quickly turned, and he fully activated his self-created technique without caring about his energy output.


    Blood Halt!


    With him at its center, a mighty coercion force and invisible power fluctuation surged in rippling waves from his body. Every living being within more than a 100 meters radius was frozen as though their time had stopped moving. Even the slum kids who were running away from him after taking the roasted meat had also been frozen stiff in their tracks and could only tumble over helplessly. This included other people who happened to be nearby. Fortunately, they did not hurt themselves.


    With such a powerful output of his technique, there was simply no way anyone could move under its powerful suppressive influence. Evidently, the mysterious young woman that was chasing him didn¡¯t expect to be hit by his sudden technique and was also frozen on the spot while in motion.


    Even though they were rendered immobile, they didn¡¯t fall helplessly to the ground. Instead, as though she had predicted the iing attack, she paused momentarily to guard against the unknown before being frozen.


    Therefore, she was frozen with her hands in front of herself. Randy noticed this too, but he couldn¡¯t care less about it. After all, with the current oue, he could focus on attacking the other party without worrying.


    With that in mind, Randy didn¡¯t hesitate at all. He quickly aimed at her chest, which was easier to aim at than her head, as he was still flying in the air. He manipted and bounced back the power he absorbed from the enemy, who was about 3 meters away from him.


    Although it was two-thirds of the original power¡¯s output, after he doubled it with his own mana supply, it was still one-third higher in power than the original power¡¯s output. As such, there was no way it wouldn¡¯t have an effect on that mysterious young woman.


    Randy watched as a dark ray the size of a ser ball manifested from his palm. It surged with a devouring aura before catapulting toward the frozen, mysterious young woman in the distance, who was rendered immobile by his blood technique.


    Crack!


    At the same time, there was a cracking sound. A surprised and baffled voice could be heard shortly afterward.


    ¡°Huh? Another restraining power?¡±

 Chapter 282 - 282 Defeated, Interrogation

    282 Defeated, Interrogation


    The unknown and mysterious young woman frowned in annoyance when she discovered that her body was restrained by some powerful force that restricted joint movement. Regardless, she forcefully moved her body despite the disturbingly crackling noises of bones grinding against each other.


    Before the attackunched by Randy could manage to hit her chest, a misty giant maw of darkness manifested and easily repelled the attack. Not only did it manage to repel the dark ray of light, which was the size of a ser ball, carrying a terrifying force, but the misty giant maw even devoured the dark raypletely.


    The terrifying part was that it seemed as though the giant maw of darkness was ready tounch an attack, as immediately after it absorbed the dark ray shot by Randy, it began expanding in size. Sure enough, a few secondster, the giant maw shot another dark ray of light out of its mouth. Once again, the attack power increased many folds, carrying a terrifying force as it was propelled toward its source, which was Randy.


    Randy had justnded from the air and from his quick analysis of the powering at him and his previous experience attempting to absorb the dark ray of light, he surmised that he couldn¡¯t rely on his [Palm of Double Return] to absorb it, much less double reflect. As such, he threw that thought out of his mind.


    Even if he somehow managed to absorb the iing dark ray, he wouldn¡¯t be able to absorb it all, and the residue power impact would send him flying again. He would be vulnerable to deadly attacks once airborne. Such a passive stance, he didn¡¯t want to fall back into it while he could still help it.


    Having no time to think ore up with any means to save himself, he quickly calmed down. At this point, he had no choice but to bet everything on his Shadow Beast Leather Armor to escape.


    The Shadow Beast Leather Armor was a Legendary-Rank equipment he received after clearing the Dungeon of Beasts. He relied on it before when he was facing off against those two demons. This time, he wanted to fully rely on it to salvage his situation. Life or death would be decided the moment that attack reached him in a second.


    A secondter, before the terrifying dark ray of light, which was as wide as 10 ser balls stacked together, could reach him, Randy decisively activated the Weapon Property of his Shadow Beast Armor.


    Shadow Swap!


    .....


    His entire body exuded a deep mass of shadow energy for a split second and then disappeared. His appearance and position didn¡¯t change. However, he had already surreptitiously slipped away from the battlefield and hidden himself in the void and the attack hit his substitute, a clone made out of shadow energy.


    Randy felt safe when he hid in the void and his shadow clone reced him.


    He heaved a sigh of relief and was about to rx his guard for a moment before his expression changed dramatically due to the unexpected turn of events.


    Boom!


    ...


    Moments ago.


    At the time of his recement, his shadow clone¡¯s aura exploded with a terrifying aura of darkness. This aura shrouded his body in a cocoon with only his eyes glowing in gray color within. To be more specific, the aura of darkness emitted by him was from his Shadow Beast Leather Armor¡¯s properties¡ª the active [Shadow Shroud] alongside the passive [Shadow Null].


    With the assistance of the passive defense of Shadow Null property, Randy was able to negate the elemental property of the unknown woman¡¯s attack. As such, he was able to passively alleviate some of the damage to him. Despite reducing the damage to himself, he was still propelled by the remaining forces in her attack.


    However, the [Shadow Shroud] property had to be activated by him for it to take effect. Furthermore, it was much stronger than [Shadow Null] in terms of defensive capabilities.


    With that being the case, Randy didn¡¯t hesitate tomand his shadow clone generated by the evasive Shadow Swap property to use the Shadow Shroud property of his cloned armor.


    The reliable effect of Shadow Swap was the fact that it could even emte his clothes and armor without exception, including their effects. Unfortunately, the downside was that the effects of any special cloth or armor could only be used once before they dissipate along with his shadow substitute.


    Despite his timely efforts, somethingpletely unexpected urred the moment after he decisively absconded into the void to avoid the attack of the mysterious young woman.


    Right after he swapped ces and surreptitiously escaped the battlefield to avoid the impending crisis of the mysterious young woman¡¯s attack, almost as though he was seen through, the trajectory of the attack abruptly shifted from its course. The terrifying and shocking part was that the attack was now aimed at him, who had his presence concealed as he hid in the void.


    Before he could react, the force behind the giant dark ray increased tremendously as if timed, phased through the camouge, and mmed at him squarely on his chest.


    BAM!


    Randy immediately felt a dull impact on his chest and involuntarily coughed up a mouthful of blood. Afterward, he grimaced in pain, then grimly stared at the woman with a deadly paleplexion, his eyes filled with unprecedented fear.


    Fortunately, he still had enough mana pool thanks to training with the [Nameless Meditation Technique] he learned from the ck tome and was able to nullify most of the attack damage by pouring all of it into his armor¡¯s two defensive properties¡ª [Shadow Null] and [Shadow Shroud]. However, the armor wasn¡¯t unscathed as it took damage from the force of the attack.


    But thanks to the self-repairing property [Shadow Restoration], it was slowly repairing itself by absorbing the surrounding energy as well as his own. He could speed up the process by injecting more of his mana into it, but he couldn¡¯t afford to be careless in front of that terrifying young woman.


    On the other hand, as she observed Randy¡¯s nearly unscathed body and the self-repairing ck leather armor he was wearing, the mysterious young woman¡¯s shock written on her otherwise indifferent face couldn¡¯t be disguisedpletely at this point. As she further studied the ck leather armor on him, she was inwardly startled by its powerful effects.


    ¡®That armor¡­? It can¡¯t be¡­¡¯


    She initially thought she was seeing things when she saw the strange armor on Randy. However, upon further observation, a glint of emotion shed through her eyes, making her gaze unsteady for a second. She was stunned at the sight of the self-repairing ck leather armor, which was unequivocally a legendary-rank armor.


    That armor was a highly sought-after piece of equipment that many experts around the world wished they could own. Even someone of her caliber was tempted to steal it for herself.


    ¡®Just who is this guy? For such a weakling to own legendary-rank equipment¡­¡¯


    Momentster, she suppressed her wild and turbulent emotion of shock, and instead questioned: ¡°That ability you used a few seconds ago¡­ If I am not mistaken, was that Bloody Light of Destruction?¡±

 Chapter 283 - 283 Suspicion, Threatened

    283 Suspicion, Threatened


    ¡®Bloody Light of Destruction?¡¯


    Randy didn¡¯t answer her question, because he had no idea what she was talking about, nor did he really have time to ponder her question. At this point, he was breathing heavily with blood dripping from the corners of his mouth.


    There was a tingling sensation of pulsating pain in his chest.


    He also didn¡¯t even feel the need to collect the blood spilled this time. Instead, he chose to maintain his vignce. He couldn¡¯t afford to take his eyes off that woman, just in case she somehow managed to escape his awareness and abruptly attack him while he was distracted.


    Actually, their entire battle onlysted for about 30 to 40 seconds at most despite how long it may have seemed. This was a battle between elites and not one between regr warriors or experts. Therefore, the oue was usually decided in mere seconds.


    This also proved how much stronger Randy had bepared to before he came to the Acruxia. Despite the changes he underwent, his full power exerted by both his physical and energy prowess, still couldn¡¯t manage to leave a scratch on that mysterious young woman who came out of nowhere.


    In the first ce, he was the initiator of the fight for reasons even he found ridiculous, but he believed that it was the right decision at the time. Regardless of his preemptive strike or his decisive and well-executed evasive maneuver, he still lost miserably.


    Not to mention that he nearly got himself killed in this confrontation. During his quick and short exchange with the mysterious young woman, had he not been wearing legendary-rank armor, or had its properties been a bitcking, he would have suffered life-threatening injuries or even died.


    Randy¡¯s gaze was filled with dread as he recalled the sequence of their exchange just moments ago. Even if he had used his assimted state, he still felt he would have suffered severe injuries. Throughout the confrontation, he had been deliberating on using them but didn¡¯t get the chance since it normally took a while for them to activate.


    .....


    As a result, he had to rely on his newly learned and quick yet destructive ability¡ª [Blood Ray] tounch his surprise attack, and the [Palm of Double Return] ability to defend when his preemptive surprise attack was reflected at him, though he was unable to cause the opponent any damage despite reflecting it back at them.


    In contrast, he suffered a crushing defeat with the subsequent move from his opponent.


    Furthermore, if he ignored the close call with the horned demon¡¯s corrosive ability, the present event was the second time he had truly felt cornered and so close to death since he awakened. After all, he was able to quickly find a solution to the horned demon problem before suffering any substantial damage.


    However, the first time he came close to death was when fighting the Chimera Monster. That incident caused him to feel his shorings and other weaknesses for the first time, and it was that incident alongside his parents¡¯ wish for him to be stronger that drove him to make a firm decision toe to his present world through the dimensional rift.


    On the contrary, this encounter with the mysterious young woman was even more horrifying and frighteningpared to the chimera incident. After all, he had gotten much strongerpared to then, and hisbat skills and environmental awareness had increased tremendously. It was to the point where not many could escape his sense of perception.


    Despite the obvious increase in power and strength, his senses were easily eluded duringbat. Even his seemingly wless and well-coordinated moves had been seen through by the mysterious young woman. He only met her not long ago, yet she seemed familiar with his every move. That was the scary part. In a random alley that he took, he just happened to run into her by chance. Furthermore, because of his exceptionally high perception, he managed to see through her seemingly wless disguise as well as her ability to conceal her presence.


    Who was she, and why was she masking her presence in the middle of the Imperial City as she walked through the alley? Was she an enemy of the humans of this world, or was she part of some secret organization undertaking some mission for the Royal Family?


    All these questions were pointless.


    Regardless of the identity of the mysterious woman, all he knew was that he immediately felt threatened the moment he saw her. She gave him a terrifyingly foreboding feeling of dread, uncannily simr to the one he felt from that middle-aged man, who was observing him alongside that beautifully well-dressed young woman in the booth inside the Coliseum.


    The events that transpired and led to the present oue were veryplicated to exin. Even he found it strange that he attacked a stranger on their first encounter as though they were a lifelong nemesis. Despite the fact that they wereplete strangers, the deadly foreboding feeling of terror he felt from her overtook him, and he immediately acted on his instinct to prevent the unknown deadly threat without hesitation.


    After all, with such an uncanny threat to his life, there was no way he wouldn¡¯t attack first before questioning the reason for itter. Perhaps, if he had hesitated when he met her, he would have long since lost his life instead due to carelessness.


    His carelessness would have stemmed from the fact that there was no possible way for him to run into an enemy in the middle of the bustling Imperial City. After all, he had only just arrived in the city not long ago, so how could he have enemies?


    His decision to attack was even more rational when he noticed that the other party was suspiciously shrouded in an eerie misty dark aura. It was as though they were hiding their presence from someone¡¯s perception.


    If that was indeed the case, then he would have been silenced to avoid their location being tracked. Since he had obviously spoken and even shown that he could see them right after he bumped into her.


    At some point, when the mysterious young woman waited and heard no response from Randy, her somewhat indifferent yet impatient voice was heard by him.


    ¡°So you¡¯re not willing to respond to my question?¡±


    The mysterious young woman stared at him with a suspicious gaze and spoke: ¡°Are you perhaps a traitorous demon in disguise who works for humans? No, your smell is very strange,pletely different from that of a demon. You smell neither human nor demon. Moreover, there are no traitors among us demons. Even so, for such a being like you to exist must only mean one thing, but that¡¯s impossible¡­¡±


    Her tone sounded as though she was neither demanding an answer nor was she demanding confirmation. Instead, her tone was full of doubt as she spoke, seemingly uncertain about it herself.


    After a few moments of contemtion, she didn¡¯t find any logical answers to her doubts.


    The mysterious young woman then walked toward Randy calmly yet menacingly as she asked: ¡°You¡­ Who are you exactly? No, what kind of creature are you? How could you use an innate skill of the demon race? Answer me this instant, and I¡¯ll give you a quick and painless death but leave you without your corpse! If I don¡¯t receive a pleasing response, I will slowly torture the answers out of your mouth. You won¡¯t like the oue of your body when I¡¯m done with you! I will give you three seconds to make your choice!¡±

 Chapter 284 - 284 Unexpected Event, Annoying Encounter

    284 Unexpected Event, Annoying Encounter


    Randy immediately scowled in displeasure when he heard her authoritative words of ultimatum.


    ¡®Which means, either way, I will still die? In that case, what choice is there to be made?¡¯


    Her so-called ultimatum was nothing but a death sentence with no way for him to survive. If that was the case, he might as well fight her to death. He could also escape rather than fight her. With that in mind, his mind quickly turned. He actively devised various strategic ways to escape without confronting her.


    While he was thinking of ways to escape his predicament, another unexpected event urred at this time.


    Suddenly, the mysterious young woman¡¯s expression changed drastically, and she became visibly exasperated and shouted: ¡°Persistent bastard! I¡¯ll make you pay next time for today¡¯s humiliation!¡±


    She then turned to face Randy, who was confusedly and vigntly staring at her with his hand over his painfully pulsating chest, and said: ¡°Abominable creature, you¡¯re very lucky today! I don¡¯t have time to deal with you, so I¡¯ll spare your life for now, but the next time we meet will be your doom!¡±


    Randy wasn¡¯t sure whether she was speaking to him or someone else as her voice was unusually loud when she spoke. Regardless, the next scene left him gasping in shock.


    Randy watched as the mysterious young woman¡¯s body got consumed by a mass of gray smog that manifested out of her body. Afterward, her body quickly disintegrated and abruptly crumbled into dust before being swept away by the blowing wind. In the dead silent alley, only a mass of gray smog remained floating. Afterward, the mass of gray smog shot up into the sky and disappeared without leaving any trace behind.


    At the ce where she once stood, not even her bones remained!


    .....


    Randy was not only shocked by her power, he was also bewildered by the scene he witnessed.


    ¡®What the hell just happened¡­?¡¯


    He wondered to himself as he recalled the scene before the young woman destroyed her own body. She suddenly looked angry and then eximed out of nowhere, seemingly shouting expletives at someone, but there was no one else there besides him.


    As he recalled the horrendous scene and the words of that mysterious young woman moments ago, he felt an indelible fear in his heart. Then, an unusual thought came to him.


    ¡®So that wasn¡¯t her real body?¡¯


    Trembling, he thought to himself afterward in trepidation.


    ¡®If that wasn¡¯t her real body, then how strong would her true body have to be for her body substitute to be this terrifying?¡±


    Randy¡¯s face turned visibly horrified as looming fear enveloped his entire being for the first time. He decided to change his ns right away. He couldn¡¯t afford to walk carelessly on the streets anymore. Otherwise, he would lose his life without even knowing why.


    He needed to be more prudent and realize that this was a different world and there were possibly many unountable things or creatures that could easily threaten his life.


    Earlier, he wascent about just defeating a few diators in the Coliseum. However, his encounter with that mysterious young woman made him realize that he was just in na?ve. He thought he had gotten strong enough to contend with this world¡¯s top powerhouses.


    This enemy was terrifyingly strong, and not in the physical sense, but in the power sense. From their exchange, whichsted for about a few seconds, not even reaching a minute, he could tell that the mysterious young woman was many times stronger than him.


    He wanted to use his assimted state duringbat many times but couldn¡¯t due to how fast the mysterious young woman moved. He knew that he would be seen through and risked getting killed before activating aplete assimted state.


    Momentster, Randy cleared his muddled thoughts and decided to vacate his current location. He couldn¡¯t afford to stay there any longer, lest someonee to inquire about the tremors and shockwaves caused by his exchange with that mysterious young woman.


    Just when he was about to furtively take his leave to avoid notice, from the right side of the crossroads, three figures slowly approached his direction. Randy had to stop once again at the intersection and observe the other parties to see if they were also dangerous people.


    He narrowed his eyes and at the same time brazenly used his Dimensional Sense skill to observe them. However, the three people reacted with unpleasant frowns on their faces.


    Although Randy noticed their unsightly reactions when they sensed his probing, he couldn¡¯t care less about their reactions.


    After observing them for a moment, he recognized one of them¡ª the one in front, and also in the middle of the group of three, who seemed to be protected by the other two. It was an elegantly dressed maiden, whose appearance was devastatingly breathtaking, and her every gesture showcased elegance and grace. She also exuded the aura of a high-born or someone from an aristocratic family.


    Very soon, they appeared in front of Randy who was waiting for them, as for some reason, he knew that they were there for him. There was also the strange smile disyed by the maiden the moment she saw him looking their way.


    Sure enough, as soon as they appeared in front of him, the maiden elegantly curtsied and spoke politely in a clear and soothing voice.


    ¡°Very pleased to make your acquaintance, sir diator. This Crown Princess would like to¡ª¡±


    Randy felt impatient the moment he heard the term ¡®Crown Princess¡¯ing out of her mouth.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care who you are. Please get out of my way if there¡¯s nothing important to discuss. I have something to do, so please don¡¯t waste my time.¡±


    To begin with, he did not want to get involved in this world. Even more so, he didn¡¯t want to get entangled with a princess of the human nation, regardless of her intentions.


    Right after he spoke, Randy noticed from his tone of voice that he was being too rude to her. No matter what, she was still a princess of a nation, and he was supposed to be amoner by the order of things. He had simply been on edge due to his near death. At the same time, he didn¡¯t want to bother with other misceneous things that would risk his barely salvaged life any further.


    No matter what his reasons were, his brazen and rash decision to dismiss a member of the Royal Family before they could finish their sentence was truly uncalled-for. Thus, he calmed down, took a deep breath, and then let out a regrettable sigh.


    Afterward, he apologetically corrected himself by saying: ¡°I¡¯m truly sorry about that. I don¡¯t mean to sound rude, but I just can¡¯t entertain anyone right now. I truly apologize if I offend your Highness with my crass words just now. But I meant what I said about having something important to attend to. So maybe next time, your esteemed Highness.¡±


    He didn¡¯t wait for her response, nor did he care. He already conveyed his thoughts with those eloquent words. As such, he turned around to leave without dy. He wanted to go back to the Coliseum to inform Gutz about his change of ns. However, before he could take one step forward, he was suddenly blocked by the two guards following the Crown Princess.


    ¡°You impudent peasant! How dare you ignore the Crown Princess¡¯s invitation! Not only did you rudely interrupt her Royal Highness, the Crown Princess, when she kindly spoke to amoner like you, but you also walked away wantonly without showing any due respect! Who do you think you are?! Do you have a death wish?!¡±


    One of the guards spoke coldly as he exuded an oppressive aura of dominance that covered Randy¡¯s whole body, intending to suppress and restrict his movement.

 Chapter 285 - 285 Overbearing and Scary Murderous Aura

    285 Overbearing and Scary Murderous Aura


    Feeling the overwhelming pressure on his body, Randy¡¯s body was as still as a mountain. His countenance was as calm as the lull on the surface of a calm river. However, even though he tried to remain calm, he couldn¡¯t repress the annoyed frown that appeared on his face shortly afterward.


    On the other hand, when the guard, who was expecting him to helplessly fall to his knees begging for mercy, saw his unfazed expression, he couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised inwardly.


    At the same time, the second guard noticed the frown on Randy¡¯s face, and then exasperatedly shouted: ¡°Ignorant fool! Why aren¡¯t you kneeling down yet? Do you think you¡¯re invincible just because you can defeat 20 diators in a harmless and stagedbat for training purposes? Let me tell you, you¡¯re nothing but a piece of trash in our eyes! Kneel down right now and apologize to her Royal Highness, and we might just spare your ignoble life!¡±


    ¡°Please get out of my way while I¡¯m being courteous.¡±


    Randy ignored their actions and calmly spoke to them, suppressing the anger in his heart.


    Bam!


    The second guard took a step forward, pushed Randy¡¯s shoulders with force, and then spoke in a mocking tone: ¡°Or what? What are you going to do to us, huh? Beat us? How ridiculous!¡±


    Then the first guard, who felt annoyed that he couldn¡¯t pressure Randy to kneel down in front of him with just his oppressive aura, also strongly grabbed Randy¡¯s other shoulder, attempting to force him to kneel down with brute strength as he coldly said: ¡°Don¡¯t overestimate yourself, kid!¡±


    ¡®What the hell? He¡¯s still not budging¡­¡¯


    .....


    The first guard discovered that Randy¡¯s body was unusually strong. He tried to force Randy to submit to his knees twice in a row with both his oppressive aura and raw strength, all of which ended in failure in both instances.


    Then a realization dawned on him as he thought: ¡®No wonder he could face so many people at once and stille out mostly unscathed. It was because of his high attributes of strength.¡¯


    ¡®Hah! That can easily be offset by enhancing my strength with mana! There¡¯s no need to use my aura to pressure him then. I doubt he could match my strength, even if he also uses his mana to enhance his strength.¡¯


    Moments ago, Randy noticed that this particr guard was attempting to do something to him, but failed to achieve his goal. However, when Randy saw this particr guard deploying their mana into their arms, he immediately scowled in annoyance.


    Displeased by their incessant hostility, he said: ¡°What is wrong with you people and your hostility? I already apologized, and you¡¯re still standing in my way? Although I said I came in peace and didn¡¯t want to get involved with this world, that did not mean that I wouldn¡¯t fight back if someone attempted to harm me ore after my life.¡±


    He then coldly looked at them with a terrifying killing intent shing in his eyes. At the same time, his whole aura began to transform into a pitch-dark and gloomy aura that gradually radiated a terrifying murderous aura. This particr murderous aura was something he had always concealed inside himself, as he didn¡¯t know its origin despite it stemming from his body.


    At this moment, all of that ominous and dark, murderous aura was on full disy. Billowing outward, it slowly enveloped everything in the vicinity of the alley, including the living beings that were nearby.


    Randy had not been in a good mood after his encounter with that mysterious young woman. To make matters worse, this group of people was trying to bother him for no apparent reason simply because they were royalty. Why would he care about their background when he wasn¡¯t originally from their world? Of course, he wouldn¡¯t care!


    He couldn¡¯t care less about their world or them if not because he wanted to adhere to their rules in order to avoid trouble. However, it seemed as though trouble woulde to him either way. Moments earlier, he came face to face with that mysterious young woman, who made him feel true fear and helplessly for the first time since he had awakened.


    It was hopeless to continue fighting her any further after a few exchanges between them. The only thing he could think of in thest exchange with her was to find a way to flee for his life.


    The despair he felt was genuine and unconquerable. It was almost as though there was an invisible barrier between them. This invisible barrier made it so that he could not cause her any harm, regardless of speed, strength, or power.


    Only his [Blood Authority] skill managed to stop her movements for a few moments during the battle. On the other hand, skills and abilities, such as his newly acquired [Blood Ray] skill, seemed very useless in front of her.


    Randy wondered why that was the case, but it didn¡¯t matter what the reason was, as he now knew what he had to do. He just needed to get stronger than his current self, to the point where he wouldn¡¯t be killed, even if he wanted to die.


    With that in mind, he thought of another method that he could use besides increasing his level through the power system of Acruxia.


    Nameless Meditation Technique!


    This technique was the mana training method of that Arch Sorcerer. He obtained it from the ck Tome not long ago. The specialty of this technique was that it could drastically increase the quality of the mana inside the body, and its purity and capacity were even higher than people of simr levels of power. Not to mention the bonus effect of increasing his affinity for mana as he trains his mana by following the procedure devised in the technique.


    That was why he wanted to leave this ce and get right to it without wasting any time. As for the first method of relying on the leveling system of Acruxia, he didn¡¯t have to care about it if he couldn¡¯t employ it without restrictions.


    In reality, Randy wasn¡¯t really furious at the Crown Princess and her entourage for getting in his way just now. Rather, he was angry at himself for thinking he had enough strength or for taking things for granted just because things were going smoothly.


    He had obstinately wanted to rely on the system of the present world to get stronger. That was because it was much quicker and more practical than sitting in ce to meditate for an unknown amount of time. However, in his attempt to shirk from using the slow method and seek the faster method, he failed to realize the importance of such a profound training technique.


    Furthermore, hepletely forgot that there was another method to get strong besides begging people to allow him entry to their Dungeons. However, rather than stating that he forgot, it was more appropriate to state that he didn¡¯t want to think about the second method. After all, hunting in Dungeons to gain levels was easier and more efficient for his current goal.


    Regardless, as he thought of his current weak self, he couldn¡¯t wait to hole himself up in the Safe Room and then resume his mana training. He wanted to pick up where he left off thest time and dedicated himself to practicing the training method, yet he was being dyed by others.


    He felt enraged and impatient, but he didn¡¯t want the situation to escte any further. Therefore, he thought of a crude solution to the problem at hand.


    As he knew he couldn¡¯t afford to pacify them slowly with any cating words he coulde up with, he decided to release all the suppressed murderous aura in his body in an instant to get them to leave him alone.


    The resulting oue was the Crown Princess and her entourage being rendered immobile and powerless. Only their hands and feet were shivering. The way they shivered incessantly, it was almost as if a horrifying and huge monster was ring at them, intimidating them with its formidable appearance and suffocating murderous intention.


    ¡®W-What a scary and horrendous murderous atmosphere! Not even that person¡¯s murderous aura was this terrifying!¡¯


    Only these thoughts coursed through the minds of the three of them as they broke out into cold sweats on their backs. At the same time, all the hairs on their skin stood on their end. They wanted to move but were restricted by the pressureing from Randy¡¯s overbearing aura.


    The two guards took out their weapons and then managed to stand in front of the Crown Princess with much difficulty in order to shield her from harm. However, their two legs and arms were shaking with the long sword in their grasp, looking very unsteady and moving about without a proper target.


    Meanwhile, Randy deliberated whether he should increase the pressure of his aura. His reason was that it would make it so that they wouldn¡¯t have any thoughts of retaliating in some kind of way against him in the future. At the same time, he walked toward the Crown Princess who had a shocked and frightened expression on her pale face.


    Randy had purposely lessened the pressure on her, as he wanted to try talking to her before anything else for that matter. He wanted her to tell her bodyguards to stop harassing him, or he would have no choice but to retaliate against them, including her, regardless of their backgrounds.


    However, seeing him menacingly walking over to her, the Crown Princess thought he was trying to assault her out of revenge, and she angrily admonished: ¡°S-S-Stand down! D-Don¡¯te any closer! I said don¡¯te any closer! Are you daring enough toy your filthy hand on this princess?!¡±

 Chapter 286 - 286 Unexpected Intervention, Three Days Appointment

    286 Unexpected Intervention, Three Days Appointment


    ¡°And what if I dare toy my hand on you? In the first ce, weren¡¯t you guys the ones that tried to stop me from leaving, and then assaulted me? Additionally, weren¡¯t you enjoying the show on the side with a proud smile on your face as though it was a normal urrence until now? You, a prominent princess, relied on your status to allow your men to pick on me, amoner. Are you not ashamed of yourself as the Crown Princess of the nation? Even if I was in the wrong, shouldn¡¯t you be leading by example? Why choose aggression to get what you want?¡±


    Randy stood in front of the Crown Princess and lectured her mercilessly. Although he felt that he was partly at fault for all the present mess, he still wanted to vent out a little bit on the proud princess in front of him before getting to the main reason for approaching her.


    His current unruly behavior was caused by his past with influential people abusing their authority to mess with him. Unlike how those from influential families assisted and took care of their children, his parents were theplete opposite. They didn¡¯t do the same for him by allowing him to rely on their prominent status for everything he needed or wanted.


    ¡°You impertinent cur! I dare you to touch me! The Royal Family would not let you off the hook, no matter how talented you are!¡±


    The Crown Princess decided not to put on a pretense any longer. She looked fiercely at Randy in front of her with a look of disdain, and she coldly spoke with a tone full of pride and arrogance in her voice.


    ¡°Heh... Do you really think I don¡¯t dare to, little girl?¡±


    Randy found her words very amusing and wanted to mess with her a little bit. As such, he yfully reached out his hand to grab her hand right after he spoke. The Crown Princess took a step back from fright, but she couldn¡¯t avoid Randy¡¯s grasp as she still remained rooted on the spot by his remaining pressure on her.


    ¡°You¡ª¡±


    At this point, a very cautious voice suddenly broke the suspense building up in the alley.


    .....


    ¡°Ahem! Dear friend, isn¡¯t that enough as a lesson?¡±


    Randy wasn¡¯t surprised when he saw a person approaching from the corner of his eyes, and instead questioned them without looking at them.


    ¡°Are you with them?¡±


    ¡°...Not really. Anyway, why don¡¯t you stop right there, dear friend? She may be hotheaded at times, but I hope you will forgive her for my sake.¡±


    The person said in a friendly tone, seemingly trying to pacify Randy. Soon, he stood next to the Crown Princess, and his appearance was revealed to be a young man, who appeared to be in his twenties with handsome features. He wore exquisite attire with symbolic designs befitting someone of high status embroidered carefully on them.


    His attire was simr to the one worn by the Crown Princess, as it made him appear quite dignified and regal. He was clearly not amoner. However, despite his status, his expression was truly friendly as he looked at Randy. Randy still had his hand gripping the Crown Princess¡¯s slender hand, but the friendly handsome man didn¡¯t seem to be bothered by it.


    ¡°Who might you be? And why are you interfering in this matter?¡±


    Randy could guess the background of this friendly young man, judging from his speech, but he still doubtfully asked for confirmation.


    The friendly young man answered: ¡°I am her older brother.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡®Her older brother? There are only two royal children, ording to Gutz. In other words, he is the Crown Prince of this world¡¯s human nation?¡¯


    Randy concluded and then asked in a calm voice: ¡°So what do you want exactly by onlying out now? Why were you snooping around watching this entire time? You even watched it unfold to this stage before deciding to interfere?¡±


    The Crown Prince was startled inwardly when he heard these meaningful words, which clearly hinted at his previous questionable actions. Earlier, he hid himself a considerable distance away and then used an artifact to observe what was happening down in the alley.


    ¡®He noticed my presence at that time, huh? He even seemed to have found out about my exact location. Is he really talking about when I observed his fight with the malicious-looking woman or his current altercation with my little sister? Perhaps both instances? As expected, he is not a shallow person.¡¯


    The Crown Prince cleared his throat in embarrassment and calmly spoke: ¡°Actually, I was merely nning on meeting you as well. Unfortunately, I realized that I was a step toote when I noticed that you were preupied with someone at the time. As a result, I decided to wait until a suitable time to show myself. However, I had no choice but to show myself now when I saw what was happening here.¡±


    Realizing the current state of things, he reassured confidently: ¡°Oh, you don¡¯t have to worry about what happened here. I saw that my little sister and her bodyguards were at fault for imposing their authority over you. I hope you don¡¯te to hate my little sister or the Royal Family over this.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Randy was left speechless by his first statement, which hinted that he had somehow managed to watch his battle against the mysterious young woman. Then, he was surprised when he heard his next two statements. He thought for sure that the Crown Prince was scheming something by showing up at this opportune moment, but it turned out he was simply thinking too much.


    It seemed that he merely wanted to make peace with him instead of holding him ountable for his actions.


    Regardless of the Crown Prince¡¯s reason, he saved him from dealing with a hassle that would have been quite annoying if his actions against his sibling were questioned by him. Though it was strange for him to be exempted just like that, it didn¡¯t matter to him about the underlying reason.


    ¡°Is that so? Well, I originally nned on leaving and handling some matters since it was urgent, but as you could tell, I was stopped by your sister¡¯s bodyguards.¡±


    Randy immediately released his grip on the Crown Princess¡¯s hand.


    He then retracted the baleful murderous aura and its overbearing pressure that had permeated every corner of the alley, and then continued: ¡°If you don¡¯t n on charging me for any crime, then I will be on my way, your Highness.¡±


    The Crown Prince wiped the cold sweat off his forehead, and then let out a long breath of relief as if he had just escaped a cmity. However, when he noticed Randy walking away, he suddenly came to his senses and shouted from behind.


    ¡°W-Wait! Please wait a minute!¡±


    Randy scowled, turned around, and spoke in a slightly cold tone: ¡°What is it this time?¡±


    ¡®Is this guy changing his mind already? Isn¡¯t that too quick?¡¯


    He thought with his gaze fixed on the Crown Prince.


    The Crown Prince noticed the suspicious look on his face and rified: ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not taking back my words. I just wanted to invite you to the Royal Castle if you¡¯re not busy three days from now. The Royal Family is hosting an official ball¡ª a dance party held in three days. However, it is a disguised announcement, as it was actually meant for army recruits to gather, meet, socialize, and then discuss several issues regarding the state of the front lines. This includes providing Dungeons for army recruits in order for them to train themselves enough to survive the uing climax in the war with the demons.¡±


    He paused for a moment, and then continued: ¡°Though you are not yet a member of the recruited soldiers, I can still use my authority to invite you to attend this important meeting. What do you say? Are you interested in Dungeons in the Royal Capital and the Imperial City? This is a very great opportunity to learn about them. Of course, you could simply go to the Society for Dungeon Hunters, such as yourself, to get some relevant information. However, ultimately, the quota would be decided by the Royal Family.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Randy rxed his expression, pondered briefly, and then replied: ¡°I¡¯m not sure, but I will let you know if I¡¯m not upied in three days by some means. Either that or we would have to make an appointment to meet here three dayster, and I wille if I¡¯m not busy. Otherwise¡­ I don¡¯t want to make someone of your caliber to wait for me, after all. I might not return here if I¡¯m truly busy so¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s all right with me. I don¡¯t mind waiting for you¡­¡±


    The Crown Prince pondered for a moment and then suggested: ¡°Let¡¯s do it this way. I will let one of my attendants wait for you at this exact location, and then pick you up if you¡¯re here three dayster. The time would be around the same as right now in the afternoon. Is that okay with you?¡±


    Randy nodded in acknowledgment and replied: ¡°Yes, I don¡¯t mind.¡±


    With that settled, Randy turned around and walked away without waiting for the Crown Prince, who seemed to want to say something else to him.


    Behind him, the Crown Prince¡¯s voice resounded in a slightly excited tone.


    ¡°Then I will wait in anticipation of good news about you three dayster, dear friend!¡±

 Chapter 287 - 287 Tragic Siblings

    287 Tragic Siblings


    Momentster.


    After Randy hurriedly left the scene, only four people remained standing there. At this time, the two guards stood aside as the two Royal siblings engaged with each other.


    ¡°As a Crown Prince, what were you doing interfering with my business? Moreover, why do you lower yourself in front of that peasant?¡±


    ¡°Helenia, do you have any idea who you¡¯re messing with? What were you thinking, confronting that person with aggression?¡±


    ¡°So what if I was? We are royalty, and he¡¯s nothing but amoner, regardless of how talented he is. Why should I bow to someone like him? Shouldn¡¯t he be bowing in front of me?¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know who you¡¯re messing with, do you? Did you not see how he effortlessly defeated those diators in the Coliseum barehanded? Did you think you could defeat him now that he had all his restrictions removed?¡±


    ¡°...No matter how powerful he is physically, he is only a single person. There¡¯s no doubt he is an amazing prospect with just that talent alone. Whenbined with his skills, he could probably deal with most people out there. Even so, what if he could defeat 20 people without using his skills? As far as utilizing the skills of warriors is concerned, aren¡¯t the Royal Guards trained to be superior to normal citizens in every aspect? Do you truly believe that they would lose to a random kid from nowhere? As a Crown Prince, are you doubting the strict training regime of the Royal Family¡¯s Royal Guards?¡±


    ¡°And how useful were your most capable guards when they confronted that person just moments ago, huh? Weren¡¯t they stopped by his mere aura?¡±


    ¡°That¡­¡±


    .....


    ¡°Helenia, I won¡¯t bother arguing with you on this matter. Just listen to me for once! Do not mess with that guy again, or you won¡¯t be the only one who suffers the consequences when you do. You might even implicate the entire Royal Family at that time.¡±


    ¡°Tsk! How pathetic, Crown Prince! It seems you were scared senselessly by that guy¡¯s strange abilities. No doubt his murderous aura was terrifying, but that said nothing about hisbat power. Also, don¡¯t call me by my name in public. Just refer to me as Crown Princess when you see me next time.¡±


    ¡°...You not only stopped calling me Royal Brother Lukkas, but you also want me to start calling you ¡®Crown Princess¡¯ instead of your name. What happened to my sweet little sister? Is this the fate of us siblings in line for session to the throne?¡±


    The Crown Prince had a painful expression on his face as he spoke these words, but the Crown Princess responded coldly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t talk nonsense in front of me. We both know that we are bound to be enemies in the future.¡±


    ¡°...That aside, it doesn¡¯t matter if you don¡¯t want to listen to my words, but you should¡¯ve felt his uncanny murderous aura yourself. I don¡¯t even know how many people he had killed to amass such a dense murderous aura. He also used an iprehensible power a while ago, before you arrived. Despite my best efforts, I was powerless and helpless to stop that power, and in the end, I was affected by it. I couldn¡¯t move for a while because of that. That was the case despite standing a considerable and safe distance away. That is all I have to say to you¡­ Take care of yourself, Helenia.¡±


    Having spoken his mind, he reluctantly left his little sister alone after observing her unchanged expression, which was still full of disdain for him. Whether she heeded his warning or not was up to her. He deeply cared about his little sister, but she seemed to think less and less of him as she grew up.


    Most of this was due to the Royal Throne Sessionpetition. As for the other reason? Due to the influence and unanimous opinion of some members of the aristocratic circle, she had been selected as a favorable candidate in line for the throne. Even though ording to tradition, the previous sessors were all men, they still chose his little sister topete for the throne.


    This was partly due to him not wanting anything to do with being a king or a ruler. He wanted to pursue other things, such as fighting on the front lines as a soldier and promoting peace with other races without relying on his political background. He hoped to one day convince other races by using his identity as a regr human that carried no burdensome authority, such as a sovereign of humans.


    He firmly believed those things were more meaningful than being a political figure and ordering people to do his bidding for him. As such, he was viewed with contempt by the majority of the aristocratic factions for not acting like a proper Crown Prince of the nation.


    He was seen as a failure and a disgrace to the Royal Family. Even so, he refused to give up on his goals.


    Even if his once lovely little sister hated him, or if the entire world disliked his approach, he would still see it through to the end. Because the current world, which was full of many tragedies brought about by the unending war, was not safe for anyone to live in peacefully. Only when true peace was achieved would he think about anything rted to the throne or his identity as Crown Prince.


    ¡­


    After he left, the Crown Princess¡¯s expression finally changed into a deep frown. She thought back to the strange phenomenon she and her entourage experienced on their way to meet Randy. They had been tailing him in the distance since he departed the Coliseum by himself.


    ¡°Don¡¯t tell me that guy was the one responsible for that phenomenon that halted our movement briefly by freezing our joints and blood cirction?¡±


    The Crown Princess muttered her thoughts out loud with a pondering expression. Then, upon further thinking, she thought that it was not a coincidence that Randy was nearby but not in their line of sight at the time when it happened.


    Though she thought that it could also be the machination of someone attempting to harm her, she believed that was impossible as she was still alive. After all, if someone truly wanted to do something to her, they would have already done it then.


    However, nothing happened to them despite the sudden attack on them. It was as though they were not the target of the attack. Instead, they just happened to be caught up in the attack as they were close by.


    Then, who was the target of the attack? Was it her brother? No, it should be someone else!


    Judging from the conversation her brother had with Randy, she could deduce that the two of them hadn¡¯t fought each other. Instead, it seemed as though they had only just met. Randy was also the only one they saw when they finally caught up and arrived at the intersection of the alley. There was no trace of her brother or anyone at that point.


    ¡®If what my brother said was true, then that guy was fighting someone and the residue attack was what we had been caught up in. In that case, did he kill whoever he was fighting without leaving behind any trace of their corpse? What kind of power could do such a thing?¡¯


    The more the Crown Princess thought about it, the more frightened and fearful she became of the possibility that Randy might be someone scary than she thought. She believed that he had a terrifying power that was unheard of in people of his level of strength.


    At the same time, her entourage wore a look of shock on their faces. They, too, thought that it was possible for Randy to be the cause of that phenomenon, especially after experiencing his murderous aura up close.


    ¡®What a terrifying person! I shouldn¡¯t get involved with him anymore!¡¯


    The entourage thought to themselves in reflection of their previous careless actions. While they reflected, for once, the Crown Princess also decided to heed her brother¡¯s warning.

 Chapter 288 - 288 Refusing to Give Up, Outer Monsters

    288 Refusing to Give Up, Outer Monsters


    Despite how much she disliked him, she knew very well that her older brother wasn¡¯t someone who would allow harm toe to her. But even more so, she refused to let Randy join her older brother¡¯s side, no matter what, as it would only be detrimental to her position if that were to happen.


    With that decision, she made up her mind not to use force next time to poach Randy to her side. Because as she had witnessed personally, it would only backfire on her. Having decided on a course of action, she waved her hand elegantly, and then calmly walked away with a determined look on her delicate face.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡±


    Shemanded, and her entourage followed closely behind her without dy.


    They saw an ordinary-looking carriage that was parked nearby in the distance shortly aftering out of the alleyway.


    Under the instruction of the Crown Princess, the coach disguised their luxurious and mboyant carriage in order to not draw any unwanted attention.


    Thus, the coach silently and inconspicuously followed behind them in the distance as the Crown Princess who had disguised herself and her entourage tailed Randy the entire time. However, the coach couldn¡¯t enter the alley when he arrived. Therefore, he had no choice but to park at the corner of a building and proceeded to wait for them.


    As he waited patiently, he was shocked to see the Crown Prince enter the alleyway by himself, and thene out shortly after. Though he found it very odd, it wasn¡¯t his ce to question what was going on with the two Royal siblings. As such, he continued to wait until he saw some figuresing out of the alley shortly after the Crown Prince had vacated the scene.


    ¡°Your Royal Highness!¡±


    .....


    When the coach saw the Crown Princess and her two bodyguards approaching in the distance, he bowed solemnly and greeted them respectfully.


    The Crown Princess nodded perfunctorily in response. By the time she got close to the carriage, the coach had already stood up and opened the door, and released the stairs into the carriage. Meanwhile, he stood at the side with his head bowed down.


    After the Crown Princess had gotten inside the carriage, her two guards sat outside on the left and right sides of the coach. Momentster, the coach grabbed the reinforced and enchanted reins, and under his skillful control, the magical beasts started moving. They departed and headed for the Royal Capital without dy.


    ¡°HYAH!¡±


    ¡­


    A while ago.


    In the sky above the clouds, a figure had carefully concealed their presence. They hid behind a smog of clouds as they silently and keenly observed the scene below unfold with interest. Unequivocally, the scene they were observing below was the battle between Randy and the mysterious young woman.


    The hidden figure emerged from the concealment and hovered in the sky shortly after the battle was over. It was none other than Great Lord Yonder. He had been in hot pursuit of the mysterious young woman who had managed to escape his clutches earlier.


    However, when he found her, he saw an interesting scene unfolding and decided to watch it instead of pursuing and killing her. The end result was worth it, as he got to closely observe both the newbie and that obnoxious woman exchange deadly moves one after another. Their fight could serve as a battle reference for when he meets or faces either of them in the future.


    What surprised him throughout his observation was Randy¡¯s legendary-rank armor and his strange abilities that did not seem to conform to the rules of the humans of Acruxia. His abilities seemed to be neither spells nor regr skills. Instead, they were oddly simr to the innate skills of the demons of this world. There was also that inscrutable power fluctuation he sensed briefly when he fought the mysterious young woman.


    Furthermore, he could tell that Randy still had more abilities he had yet to use during his battle. ording to his deduction, Randy appeared to be restricted in the deployment or execution of his other abilities. His opponent was far too strong for him to handle. They didn¡¯t give him much room for breathing, much less utilize his abilities.


    Aside from all that, what surprised him the most was the boundless surging murderous aura he released during his encounter with the Crown Princess. He noticed that his dense murderous aura was full of negative auras of resentment and many other baleful and enigmatic auras that were interwoven seamlessly together.


    That mysterious aura was what piqued his interest when he first saw him through his irvoyant spell. However, it was much more enigmatic up close than what he initially thought of it at that time when he observed it from afar.


    This discovery further proved to him that he was right in thinking about using the newbie as a specimen for his next experiment on negative energy. He would, without a doubt, serve as an irreceable specimen who would contribute far more than he initially anticipated. It was even possible that his contribution would allow him to understand the power of those ¡®Outer Monsters¡¯ he faced back then.


    He couldn¡¯t wait for the right opportunity to capture him. Before that, he still needed to make sure he wasn¡¯t entangled with some powerful backings he couldn¡¯t offend if he were to solely rely on his current and iplete achievement in power.


    Regarding the audacious young woman, he, unexpectedly, discovered a shocking connection between her and those ¡®Outer Monsters¡¯ whose source power he had been researching with little to no results. Earlier, he had failed to notice the source of that mysterious young woman¡¯s power as he was furious about his Mystic Domain being broken through by her.


    However, during her battle with Randy, he slowly analyzed her powers and noticed that she had the same source as those ¡®Outer Monsters¡¯. It was full of pure negativity, nihility, and destruction. The dark mana in Acruxia world didn¡¯t have such properties.


    Despite being considered evil energy, dark mana in Acruxia was mainlyposed of darkness and shadow source energy. Though there was a destructive and corrosive source in the dark mana of Acruxia, it wasn¡¯t potent enough to cause total destruction by itself. Furthermore, such properties could easily be neutralized by light mana.


    When he discovered the shocking truth, he was no longer surprised or infuriated that the mysterious young woman was able to break through his Mystic Domain. Not to mention that his Mystic Domain only had one thousandth of its original power. Instead, he became alert to a possible threat to his life.


    He chose to tread lightly and find an opportunity to find traces of those ¡®Outer Monsters¡¯ before engaging that mysterious young woman. Otherwise, he risked getting killed by those ¡®Outer Monsters¡¯ if they were somehow involved in this world. Though he had a backup n to save his life, he would rather not risk it.


    With that decision made, his figure instantly disappeared from the sky, leaving behind ripples in the atmosphere that scattered the smog of clouds. He made his way back to his mansion. He did not bother to chase after the mysterious young woman for now.


    Even though she had destroyed her body and scattered her essence to prevent his tracking spell, he could still locate her before she could return to her true source. However, he decided against doing that out of caution and fear of the unknown, especially when those ¡®Outer Monsters¡¯ might be involved.

 Chapter 289 - 289 Firm and Resolute Decision

    289 Firm and Resolute Decision


    Meanwhile.


    At the Coliseum.


    Randy stood before Gutz, resolved in his decision as he ryed it to him with a profound expression. Gutz stared into Randy¡¯s eyes with a solemn expression as he silently observed him.


    ¡°Are you certain of this decision, Randy?¡± Gutz queried with a hint of doubtfulness.


    ¡°Yes, Gutz. Although it¡¯s a bit sudden, I am quite certain about my decision.¡± Randy affirmed with conviction.


    ¡°Is that so?¡±


    Gutz was unconvinced and asked: ¡°Are you really not willing to change your mind, no matter what, even if I said you should stay for a while before departing?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right. My mind is made up.¡± Randy replied firmly.


    ¡®He seemed more talkative today than his past self. It seems his situation is much more urgent than I thought. Just what happened to him out there? He only set out to sightsee around the city for about an hour, and then he suddenly wanted to leave?¡¯ Gutz mused to himself in bewilderment.


    .....


    ¡°What made you have the sudden desire to leave the Imperial City right after arriving, anyway? Don¡¯t you know that you won¡¯t be able to level up faster elsewhere if you leave this city? Not to mention the possibility of you being put on a long waiting list when you return to the Imperial City next time by yourself. This possibility would be very high because as we speak many people are applying at this time.¡±


    Gutz didn¡¯t want Randy to miss out on an opportunity critical for his future growth and suggested in good faith: ¡°You should really stay a while and apply for the position of an army recruit as well as the dungeon quota acquisition. What do you think about that?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Never mind. I won¡¯t pry any further into your affairs, nor will I try to change your mind either. Just ensure to check in at the Society upon your eventual arrival. Anyway, I¡¯ll have to inform Vairon and the others of your situation as well.¡±


    As Gutz was feeling slightly disappointed about his sudden departure, Randy thought of something and said: ¡°Actually, I¡¯ll likely return to the Imperial City within a period of three days.¡±


    ¡°Oh, then I¡¯ll be waiting for you here!¡±


    Gutz was pleasantly surprised and said: ¡°I have to integrate my attributes as soon as possible. However, it seems I will have to fight diators for a few more days for that to happen. It should take two to three days at my current pace. Five days at most, based on my estimation. By that time, you should¡¯ve already finished with your affairs and arrived in the Imperial City, am I right? After all, you still don¡¯t know where the main branch of the Society building is located, right?¡±


    He thought that Randy, his self-proimed rival after witnessing his prowess inbat, was leaving for good, but it didn¡¯t seem to be the case after hearing his surprising words. With that being the case, he decided to wait for him to arrive.


    He initially wanted to challenge Randy to a friendly diator¡¯s match once he had fully integrated with his attributes. This was because he wasn¡¯t confident of being able to defeat him in his present state. However, he was confident that he would be able to tie against him if he fully integrated his attributes.


    In the meantime, he would also handle his own business in the Coliseum before his eventual arrival in three days. Once Randy returned to the Imperial City, he would issue a challenge to him right away before anything else.


    With that in mind, he made up his mind toplete his attribute integration as soon as possible. Afterward, he would use thebat analysis he visualized alongside his memorized fighting style to prepare for their match, as that would boost his chances against him.


    ¡°Alright then. I¡¯ll see you when Ie back!¡± Randy turned around and took a few steps away from Gutz before stopping.


    Gutz wanted to convey his thoughts to Randy in order to not surprise him when he eventually returns.


    ¡°In that case, when¡ª¡±


    Whoosh!


    Before Gutz could finish his sentence, Randy instantly vanished from the scene, leaving behind spatial ripples in his wake. This phenomenon shocked Gutz, who recognized the implications of Randy¡¯s instant teleportation.


    He felt numb in his brain as he stared at the ce Randy had vanished from. Momentster, he instantly concluded that Randy was indeed not an ordinary person to have received a personal Safe Zone to train. That was something that only some famous Dungeon Hunters thatter on became Apostles had the privilege of acquiring after they supposedly cleared a Dungeon all by themselves.


    ¡®That guy is too monstrous. I can¡¯tpare myself with him at all.¡¯


    Gutz couldn¡¯t believe the sight before his eyes despite what he had directly witnessed.


    He received two heavy blows as a wake-up call in just today¡¯s event alone. The first blow was when he attempted topete with Randy by fighting multiple diators at the same time, which he failed to aplish. Randy had made it look so easy that he thought he could also aplish such a feat, but sadly he failed in the end.


    The second blow he received was what happened just now. He just found out that Randy could already solo clear dungeons, something that he couldn¡¯t do simply because he would run out of stamina as he was a close-quartersbatant.


    Unlike magicians, he didn¡¯t have any shy spells to instantly eradicate the small fries in the Dungeons he visited. As such, he had to brute force his way out of almost everything.


    Though he had many skills to assist inbat, they still required physical exertion to disy their full potential inbat. Therefore, he would inevitably get tired quickly if he didn¡¯t have potions to recover his stamina.


    However, things such as potions were an expensivemodity, even for Dungeon hunters, who made a lot of money clearing Dungeons. After all, it wasn¡¯t worth it to squander their money on potions when they could upgrade their gauntlets and armor instead.


    Gutz, particrly, preferred to use his money to buy new gauntlets or repair existing ones.


    Regardless of whether Randy was a monstrous genius or a talentedbatant, he refused to yield to his brilliance. He would give it his all and strive to catch up with him as soon as possible.


    ¡®Randy¡­ Just you wait, Randy! When ites to purebat, I am very confident that I won¡¯t lose to anybody. Not even those pretentious Royal Guards couldpete with me on that front. Your existence is the only wake-up call I need to strive for greatness.¡¯


    Gutz silently dered his heart¡¯s desire with a resolute expression. Afterward, he further hardened his resolve as he got up from his bed and undid the bandages on his body, revealing the sculpted muscles underneath the bandages that appeared to tense up with his boiling determination.


    Momentster, Gutz came out of the medical room and headed outside to continue his challenge. This time, he nned to only take on one diator at a time. However, he would be challenging those with a higher level than him.


    ording to his previous experience, fighting stronger opponents yielded more chances of integrating with his attributes. Earlier, he was only taking on those with the same level as him to imitate Randy¡¯s feat. However, now that he knew his limits, he decided to return to employing his previous method of challenge.

 Chapter 290 - 290 Training in the Safe Room, The Synergy Ability Stone

    290 Training in the Safe Room, The Synergy Ability Stone


    In a spacious white room, filled with nothing in in sight all around, space rippled for a moment before a figure abruptly appeared in the room.


    It was Randy.


    Within seconds, he had seeded in instantly transporting himself from the Imperial City to inside his personal Safe Room. While he assumed that it was possible for him to use the feature of the Challenger¡¯s system to directly transmit himself into the Safe Room from anywhere in Acruxia, he never tested the possibility until now.


    He was initially skeptical about whether he would seed or if something terrible would happen to him in doing so. Therefore, before teleporting himself, he asked the Challenger¡¯s system for assurance.


    After receiving affirmation that it was indeed possible to return to the Safe Room from any part of the world, he proceeded to carry out his n. That was before he visited Gutz.


    Speaking of Gutz, he was still in his bed when Randy visited him to inform him of his sudden departure. When Randy asked him why he was still in the medical area of the Coliseum, Gutz looked totally embarrassed. He said he was beaten and bruised up by the group of diators he faced during the time that he was away.


    This left Randy puzzled, as he wondered why Gutz even attempted to do the same thing as he did. After all, he had trained in basic martial arts since he was young and had a full grasp of body coordinationpared to most.


    However, Gutz and everyone else on Acruxia relied mainly on their skills inbat. As witnessed during the diators¡¯ matches, they did not have solid foundations in either their movement or fighting style.


    Randy eventually shook his head to clear his thoughts, and then he surveyed the white Safe Room for a bit.


    .....


    ¡®Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Still, this ce is quite strange and ufortable, to say the least.¡¯


    Randy always felt odd when inside the Safe Room, as he could feel pairs of unfathomable eyes staring at him from the unknown. That was also the case when he was practicing the Incarnation Technique by himself before. It was one of the reasons he left right away after he acquired the secret knowledge from the ck tome.


    Regardless of the unsettledness he felt, the Safe Room was his best bet if he wanted to get stronger faster. After all, there seemed to be a time dtion spell or mechanism that allowed time to pass by slower in the Dungeons than in the real world.


    Although the Safe Room was unsettling, he could also feel that it was the safest location to stay in. No one could do anything to him as long as he was inside the Safe Room.


    This was one of the reasons why he chose to return to the Safe Room when he decided to pursue the slow method of power acquisition. With the current time dtion feature of the Safe Room, he could spend months training his mana, but only a few hours or days would go by outside.


    The time dtion feature of the Safe Room, which functioned just like Dungeons, seemed to be a perfect haven that was made for him to exploit without limits. Perhaps, the next time he visited the outside world, he would have already been unrivaled in all aspects.


    However, he knew that such wishful thinking was too naive and unrealistic for his growth. Not to mention that he didn¡¯t want to hide from the world simply because there are dangers lurking everywhere. If he shirked or absconded from every trouble or enemy, how would he grow himself in every aspect in the future?


    With that thought in mind, he proceeded to take a seat next to the wall of the Safe Room. Then, he took out a pouch from his spatial ring. The storage pouch seemed like it would be a bit heavy. However, it was unexpectedly light as a feather when he pulled it out and held it in his hand.


    He stared at the storage pouch for a moment, and then he injected a bit of his mana into it. The storage pouch opened by itself, only to reveal a few shining rocks lying inside shortly after.


    These were the elemental essence crystals that Randy received from the Society Leader before departing from Alpheotus City. Now was a good time for him to employ the use of these elemental essence crystals to create a genuine and functional incarnation.


    At this point, he suddenly remembered something that he had been ignoring for a while now. He immediately halted the movement of his hand that was about to take out the elemental essence crystals. He hurriedly closed the storage pouch full of shimmering crystals of different colors and then urged his system to take something out of its storage.


    A momentter, a few crystalline objects, one shapeless due to being deformed, and the others, different shapes and colors, but they were in uniform states without deformities. These crystalline objects were encased in a mysterious light as they hovered in front of Randy¡¯s eyes.


    These crystalline objects were the crystallization of abilities, otherwise known as Crystallized Ability Stones, or Ability Stones for short.


    There were three of these Ability Stones. Two of them were from the Sunsses man and that invisible man Randy dealt with when he faced off against their group. Thest one was the iplete Ability Stone that he received from the Chimera Monster he faced beforeing to Acruxia.


    He recalled that the sunsses man had the ability to alter the intensity of his weight known as Weight Change. It was a terrifying ability that could make the strength of one¡¯s body heavy or lighten exponentially through maic field maniption. The apparent effects were super speed and super strength.


    As for the Sunsses man¡¯s subordinate that he dealt with first during their encounter, he seemed to have some unique mental ability to obscure his form or see through obscured objects or humans. This ability was used to locate him at that time. He remembered that, despite using the Stealthy Python¡¯s assimted state¡¯s [Stealthy Scales] skill to hide from in sight, he still couldn¡¯t escape the detection prowess of that person¡¯s unique ability.


    Of course, the sunsses man had more than two subordinates at the time. However, after killing all of them, he only got three ability stones from three of them, including the sunsses man himself.


    He fused with the Energy Manifestation Ability Stone he got from the subordinate that initially coordinated with the other subordinate that gave away his location. That subordinate was deadly as he nearly broke his spine at the time. He saved both his and the sunsses man¡¯s ability stone for future use.


    The Ability Stone of the Chimera Monster, on the other hand, was iplete. However, it had properties that interested Randy when he first acquired it. The name of the Chimera Monster¡¯s Ability Stone was ¡®Synergy¡¯.


    Just from the meaning of the name alone, it could imply that the Chimera Monster had the ability to synergize with others to get stronger. Either that or something rted tobining simr orpatible things. However, Randy had personally witnessed with his Infrared Vision what it could actually do on the day he fought the Chimera Monster.

 Chapter 291 - 291 The Role of the Synergy Ability Stone

    291 The Role of the Synergy Ability Stone


    His Infrared Vision was triggered when he entered the Stealthy Python¡¯s assimted state, which activated the passive Python Eyes trait, and then he manually activated the ability known as [Thermal Detection] skill.


    Through the Infrared Vision state that disyed many spectral colors of heat signals inside the Chimera Monster¡¯s body, he witnessed some of the energy inside its body spiral out of control many times but miraculously returned to a nominal state as though nothing had happened. If that were to happen to a normal person, they would have had all their meridians, including blood veins, ruptured by the chaotic flow of energy inside their body.


    That showed that the Chimera Monster had the ability to control his body which had been tampered with and had amassed different types of energies inside his body. With that line of thought, Randy surmised that the ability stone hovering before him, although iplete, might be that miraculous ability of the Chimera Monster.


    One would wonder why he was interested in this measly ability. After all, he already had two powerful andplete ability stones to select besides the iplete Synergy Ability Stone. Wasn¡¯t that contradictory to his self-discipline to be more powerful than anyone else, and his goal to get stronger faster?


    To understand his paradoxical temptation toward the iplete ability stone, one would have to think for a brief moment about what kind of existence Randy was dered to be. And what state he found himself in on the day of his awakening.


    The day he awakened his innate ability, he was told by his system that there was a chaotic energy detected in his body and that there was a necessity for the creation of energy vessels to contain that chaotic energy that seemed toprise many different energies.


    ¡­


    On the day of awakening, this was what the system disyed in front of him.


    ?[Reminder: Due to the chaotic energy detected in your body, there was a necessity for the creation of energy vessels to hold the energies as soon as possible. To prevent your existence from falling into a chaotic state, the system took the liberty to create energy vessels for all the current energies in your body¡­]?


    .....


    ¡­


    ording to his understanding of the situation at the time, due to the nature of his physique, Myriad Energy Devouring, his body had the natural tendency to absorb the surrounding energy with or without hismand. As for why he didn¡¯t explode when he awakened with such chaotic energy inside his body, or rather why he didn¡¯t awaken his innate ability despite practically possessing a natural affinity for most energies, he didn¡¯t understand it either.


    Despitecking the knowledge to solve those mysteries, he was still able to deduce that the reason why he didn¡¯t explode at the time was due to only having acquired a copious amount of mana. This made it so that he had absolute control over that mana over all other forms of energy in his body.


    At the same time, he was able to suppress the other forms of energy that were in disarray inside his body. Due to their insignificance in terms of quantity, such a feat was easy to achieve viscerally.


    Naturally, the creation of energy vessels also contributed and made it possible for him to control his body¡¯s mana. However, what would happen if the quantity of his other forms of energy affinity increased in the future?


    Whether intentionally or unintentionally increased due to his natural-born physique, wouldn¡¯t he potentially lose control of those energies? Even if the energy vessels were created for them, the possibility that he might not be able to control them all wasn¡¯t something that he could readily discard from his mind.


    Furthermore, he wanted to personally explore the use of those energies inside his body if it was inevitable that they would umte by themselves. As such, the prospects the iplete Synergy Ability Stone could bring him were far greater than simply gaining one or more abilities in his arsenal of abilities.


    With that in mind, he put away the Ability Stones that belonged to the sunsses man and his subordinate. Perhaps those two Ability Stones might be used by him in the future, but now was not the time.


    The only Ability Stone hovering before him was the iplete synergy ability stone. Without any reluctance, hemanded his system: ¡°System, I¡¯d like to fuse with this iplete ability stone.¡±


    [[Acknowledged. However, the probability of not fully getting theplete effects of the ability contained inside the crystallized ability stone is extremely high. Would you still fuse with this ability stone despite knowing this?]]


    The system prompts.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    [[Would you like to spend 2,000 divine points to attempt toprehend and grasp the essence of the ability within the Crystallized Ability Stone at the same time? Or would you rather absorb it without bothering toprehend its essence?]]


    ¡°Ah! Then, I want to try to grasp it at the same time!¡±


    Randy was resolute in his decision to say otherwise. Even if there was a chance of totally losing the ability from the fusion due to the ipleteness of the Ability Stone, he would still choose to give it a try. Furthermore, there was the part about grasping the ability by spending divine points in order to ensure that he could evolve it in the future. That was something that he hadpletely forgotten about. Not only would spending divine points increase his chance during the fusion process, but he could also obtain an opportunity to grasp the essence of the ability.


    Last time, he didn¡¯t have the [Divine Points Function] of the system when he fused with the Energy Manifestation Ability Stone. Therefore, he could only forcefully absorb the [Energy Manifestation] Ability Stone alongside its fixed mastery level of [70/100]. However, this time, as long as he grasped the ability beforehand, he could potentially acquire the path to evolve it in the future. This would be possible because of hisprehensiveness toward the ability to be acquired.


    Furthermore, in the current case, the possibility of acquiring the full ability was not stated as impossible. As such, there was still hope for him to get theplete ability, even though the crystallized ability stone was iplete.


    As soon as he gave his response, the ability stone instantly vanished from his line of sight. It appeared that he didn¡¯t need to grasp it with his hand like before.


    Next, Randy felt a warm sensation coursing through his body. This sensation, as before, felt as though his entire being had been enveloped in a warm and soothing light.


    Randy could feel the Ability Stone fuse with ¡®something¡¯ within him. That ¡®something¡¯ was, without a doubt, his soul. Although he hadn¡¯t seen a human soul before, nor had he seen his own soul, he could still tell that the crystallized ability stone from this instance and before had fused with his soul.


    As a result of the fusion of the ability stones and his soul, he was able to use those abilities as though they were his own. It was as if he had been born with them. Therefore, it felt very natural to activate them.


    At the same time, streams of inexplicable and unintelligible pieces of information surfaced in his mind one after another. This process carried on until a certain point before these streams of iprehensible pieces of information stopped appearing. Randy tried toprehend these unintelligible pieces of information when they appeared in his mind, but he discovered that he couldn¡¯t read or understand them no matter what.


    Despite such peculiarities, he somehow managed to apprehend what they conveyed. The kind of understanding he gained was not that of wisdom acquisition, but instead, it was that of a visceral or instinctual realization that was seemingly innate by nature.

 Chapter 292 - 292 Grasping the Synergy Skill, Discovery

    292 Grasping the Synergy Skill, Discovery


    Randy had his eyes closed the entire time the fusion sequence was urring in his soul. At the same time, his entire body lit up with brilliant light that briefly illuminated the already well-lit white Safe Room, superseding the light in the white Safe Room. The blinding illumination persisted in the Safe Room before it slowly retracted back inside Randy¡¯s body a few momentster. This situation would have caused quite amotion had he been in a public ce or in an environment where there were a lot of people.


    At some point, Randy opened his eyes with a profound expression, and at the same time, lines of text scrolled through his line of sight. He proceeded to read those texts without dy.


    [[Congrattion! You have sessfully grasped the skill, ¡®Synergy¡¯ from the Crystallized Ability Stone]]


    [[Due to your sessfulprehension and grasp of the ¡®Synergy¡¯ skill, your fusion with its Crystallized Ability Stone yielded a more favorable result than anticipated]]


    ?[[Synergy]]?


    ?[[Mastery: 50/100]]?


    ?[[Type: Auxiliary Ability/Skill]]?


    ?[[Description: Through the application of psionic energy, various elements or powers could bebined to achieve or create a more powerful effect than the varied individual elements or powers. To evolve this ability, you need to practice it until a threshold of experience is reached or gain enlightenment]]?


    ?[[Effects: You canbine twopatible elements or powers to create or disy powerful results. The higher the mastery points, the more elements or powers could bebined]]?


    .....


    Randy was pleasantly surprised by the results despite already having a grasp of the situation. He never thought that he would really acquire the Synergy ability.


    Although the mastery points indicated by the system disyed [50/100], it was still a weed sesspared to the [Energy Manifestation] skill. That was because, unlike the [Energy Manifestation] skill that had virtually no hope of upgrading in the future, the [Synergy] skill could evolve simply through gradual practice.


    Randy tried to use the Synergy ability to verify its usage. He attempted to mobilize his psionic energy. Psionic energy was the sublime state of his generated mental energy, which was unlike normal mental energy that was akin to scattered particles.


    A momentter, a notification with a line of text appeared before him.


    [[The ¡®Mental Seed¡¯ energy vessel formation is still in progress. As such, you cannot mobilize your psionic energy at this time]]


    Reading these two lines of text, Randy suddenly recalled that he was still forming an energy vessel for his mental energy. He felt regretful that he couldn¡¯t test the effects of the [Synergy] skill of the Synergy ability right away.


    Speaking of the [Synergy] skill, Randy remembered that he hadn¡¯t entered the assimted state of the Chimera Monster. The main reason for that was that he was inwardly afraid of what he might turn into after the transition. The other reason was simply that he found no particr yearning for it, as it was an iplete, assimted state caused by that corrosive dark energy.


    Regardless of what he thought of the Chimera Monster¡¯s assimted state, he still wanted to test it out. He also wanted to confirm the Chimera Monster¡¯s other assimted abilities that hadn¡¯t been crystallized into an Ability Stone. With that in mind, he shifted his thought process and thenmanded internally to activate the Chimera Monster¡¯s assimted state.


    Almost instantly, his entire body exuded a mysterious aura, and he could feel changes urring inside his body. Despite the changes urring within his body, his facial appearance didn¡¯t change much. Only his hair and eye color turned ck and brown, respectively.


    [[You have entered an Assimted State]]


    Other than the slight changes in his outward appearance, he also had a profound feeling that he had temporarily acquired a few new abilities.


    Sure enough, the next system notification confirmed his feelings.


    [[You have acquired the following abilities in the form of skills: Paralyzing Spittle (100%) and Synergy (Iplete, Partially Corroded) (50%)]


    Randy read through the list of abilities and realized that some of them were missing. However, he also recalled that many of the Chimera Monster¡¯s abilities were corroded by that ¡®dark energy¡¯ that it used to attack him. While he could feel the subtle insight that there were originally more abilities in the Chimera Monster¡¯s blood, he was unable to use them.


    Putting that matter to the side, he looked at the remaining list, which was also the only usable abilities from the Chimera Monster. A momentter, Randy found himself staring at the [Synergy] skill. He then turned to look at the skill column on his system.


    ?Skills?


    [Werewolf King of Wind]


    [Stealthy Python]


    [Ancestral Regression (100/100)]


    [Palm of Double Return (100/100)]


    [Blood Ray (100/100)]


    [Synergy (50/100)]


    [Chimera Monster]


    <[Synergy (50 100)]>


    <[Paralyzing Spittle (100 100)]>


    ¡­


    Randy proceeded to dumbly stare between the [Synergy] skill on his main skill column and the <[Synergy] > skill on his sub-skill column, which was under the Chimera Monster¡¯s assimted abilities. Momentster, Randy suddenly snapped out of his reverie and eximed.


    Randy came back to his senses. He realized that he did have two [Synergy] skills indicated on his system¡¯s panel. Furthermore, they all had a mastery score of 50 points out of 100 points. Then, he wondered what would happen if both Synergy Skills were activated at the same time.


    Naturally, he could activate two skills at the same time. He tried this theory by activating two of his assimted states simultaneously in order to defeat the sunsses man. After all, he had proven to be a tough opponent for him at the time. With that being said, he had never attempted to trigger two skills at the same time to be certain about his assumption.


    However, as he had already experienced the two assimted states, he knew that it was possible for skills to be activated at the same time. Not to mention that one was a main skill and the other was viscerally activated through his assimted state.


    Another thing to note was that he could now enter assimted states without the aid of the system. After he fully adjusted to the increase in his [Blood Energy] caused by his evolutionst time, he didn¡¯t need to overly depend on the system anymore. As evident during the transition into the Chimera Monster¡¯s state, he didn¡¯t need the system to initiate the activation sequence in order for him to enter its assimted mode.


    Randy didn¡¯t hesitate to give it a try. He proceeded to take a deep breath to calm his excitement and expectations. Afterward, he activated the two [Synergy] skills at the same time.


    Randy made sure to utilize the activation sequence of the system for a safe activation of the assimted state¡¯s [Synergy] skill rather than depend on himself for both activations. While that was happening, he activated the main [Synergy] skill concurrently without dy.


    At that moment, something mysterious happened within his body and he found himself in a daze.


    A few lines of text scrolled before his eyes, but Randy couldn¡¯t see them. In reality, he wasn¡¯t aware of what was happening outside, as he was distracted by what was happening within his body. His consciousness seemed to have entered his body. The phenomenon was simr to when his consciousness identally entered his [Blood Space].

 Chapter 293 - 293 Fusion of Abilities, Completion

    293 Fusion of Abilities, Completion


    A vast expanse of a dark void.


    An imaginary space filled with endless darkness as far as the naked eye could peer through. That was the current location of Randy¡¯s consciousness. This imaginary space was located somewhere inside his body. His personified spirit body, generated by his consciousness, wandered aimlessly in the darkness of this eerie imaginary space until he saw two dots of light glowing in the distance.


    Then, with just a single thought ofmand, Randy traversed between his position and the vast distance ahead of him. He stopped a safe distance away, and then he attentively observed the two glowing lights with interest.


    Momentster, he discovered a surprising fact. Inside the unknown imaginary space in his body, the two glowing lights ahead of him were undoubtedly the manifestations of his two Synergy abilities.


    Although Randy was momentarily mystified by the odd imaginary space and the phenomena urring within it, he still decided to carefully and keenly observe the changes urring between the manifestations of the two Synergy abilities.


    As Randy beheld closely what was truly happening, he noticed that the two abilities were superimposed on each other and gradually began to fuse with each other. He could infer from the changes that, due to thepatibility of the two abilities, some unknown fusion sequence was triggered. This was most likely why he was pulled into the unknown dark void of space.


    After all, the two abilities were essentially the same, with the only difference being the source of acquisition. As a result, thebination of these two simr abilities would, without a doubt, bring about a qualitative change on a fundamental level. And also, a powerful effect iparable to their independent mastery level would likely be the final result.


    One thing to note was that the nature of the Synergy ability was to attractpatible elements or powers andbine them to create a powerful effect. Based on the scene unfolding before Randy, it would appear that such a trait was also applicable to the two Synergy abilities themselves.


    That was possible because by activating both of them at the same time, a force field simr to pr maic fields was generated. This force field caused the essence of the two abilities to begin to attract each other.


    .....


    As a result, when the two abilities got closer, they then began to fuse and Randy¡¯s consciousness was drawn into it because the ability relied on his psionic energy. However, his ¡®Mental Seed¡¯ has not yet taken form. Consequently, he wasn¡¯t able to deploy any psionic energy to support the two activated skills.


    With that being the case, Randy¡¯s consciousness was drawn into his body to supplement thecking energy. It was at this moment that he realized that he had already messed up during the testing phase of his experiment.


    Randy initially thought that, by simply activating the two skills without deploying their effects, it would not require any psionic energy, nor would it cause him any harm. After all, he only needed to activate the skill with his divine points or mana points.


    However, the operation of the skill required him to spend psionic energy. Fortunately for Randy, right as his consciousness was about to be sucked into the fusion of the two abilities, his system appeared in his vision with a notification.


    [[Due to the deadly stress on your consciousness, your brain¡¯s mental energy generation rate had sped up and increased astronomically. As a result, the formation of the energy vessel, ¡®Mental Seed¡¯ has beenpleted sessfully ahead of time]]


    [[Mental Seed: An energy vessel that naturally transforms generated mental energy into a sublime and higher quality energy known as ¡®Psionic Energy.¡¯ A Mental Seed increases the rate at which your brain generates and replenishes mental energy]]


    [[Notice: Once your mental energy reaches a certain level of achievement, it will no longer generate mental energy. Only psionic energy would be generated. At that time, the Mental Seed Vessel would transform into a Psionic Seed Vessel]]


    [[Warning: Your consciousness is waning due to the suction force caused by the fusion of the twopatible ability essence runes. Deploy your psionic energy quickly if you don¡¯t want your consciousness to be fused alongside the abilities and altered in the process.]]


    The moment Randy saw the warning and suggestion given by his system, he immediately deployed all his newly formed psionic energy into the fusion field of the two Synergy abilities, causing the fusion field to temporarily stop pulling on his spirit body that contained his consciousness. Taking advantage of that, he beckoned his consciousness to fly away from the fusion field as fast as he couldmand.


    After reaching a considerable distance away, Randy stopped, turned around, and continued to observe the changes transpiring after he injected his psionic energy. Though the concept of distance was not applicable to the imaginary space in his body, he could still distance himself from the fusion field with only his will.


    Shortly after, the two abilities collided fiercely. Translucent runes manifested out of the collision and paired with each other one by one. From a scientific point of view, the scene would appear reminiscent of the sequence of gic pairings that create the sophisticated DNA structure within humans. This sequence ofpatible pairingssted for a long time.


    At some point, the pairing sequence ended, and thepletely paired runes turned into a spherical marble-like manifestation before instantly disappearing altogether without leaving behind a single trace. It was almost as though the entire scene of glowing lights in the dark void of space had never urred.


    Randy felt a sudden pull on his intangible, personified spirit body. His consciousness was being forcefully ejected from the dark imaginary space without resistance. When he opened his eyes, he found that he was still sitting with his legs crossed inside the white Safe Room.


    ¡®I¡¯m finally out of that strange ce. Just what was that about? Never mind. Let me check what¡ª]


    At this moment, Randy could feel changes urring within his body causing him to stop his thought process. The changes were simr to when he fused with the Synergy Ability Stone a while ago.


    However, unlike before, he felt no soothing warmth coursing through his body. He only felt that some indiscernible changes were urring deep within his soul.


    Randy paused briefly and decided to read the lines of text, only to find more lines of text than he expected lined up on the notification screen before him.


    [[Warning: As your ¡®Mental Seed¡¯ energy vessel formation is still in progress, you cannot deploy any psionic or mental energy at this time. Thus, your consciousness, which was nurtured by mental energy, is being forcefully summoned to supply energy for the fusion of the two abilities]]


    [[Due to the fusion of the two abilities, the Crystallized Ability Stone that was initially iplete had sessfully been developed topletion. At the same time, the mastery level of the newly gained ability had reached its peak state. As a result, the newly developed ability had reached its maximum potential. You can now gain the full effects of the ¡®Synergy¡¯ skill]


    ?[[Synergy]]?


    ?[[Mastery: 100/100]]?


    ?[[Type: Auxiliary Ability/Skill]]?


    ?[[Description: Through the application of psionic energy, various elements or powers could bebined to achieve or create a more powerful effect than the varied individual elements or powers. To evolve this ability any further, a certain condition is needed to gain enlightenment]]?


    ?[[Effects: You canbinepatible elements or powers to create or disy powerful results]]?

 Chapter 294 - 294 Uniqueness of Nameless Meditation Technique

    294 Uniqueness of Nameless Meditation Technique


    Randy was satisfied with the changes brought about by the fusion of the two Synergy abilities. He briefly activated the newly fused Synergy ability, which had been implemented as part of the main [Synergy] skill.


    Randy used the skill on his body, and he could feel the differences right away. He could easily feel that all the energies within his body were under his control, including his vitality. However, this time, he had the energy to increase the operating power of the activated [Synergy] skill, so he wasn¡¯t worried about his previous mistake.


    The only downside was that, in order to maintain control of all his various energies, the depletion of his psionic energy became faster aspared to controlling two energies at the same time. So far, the only energies he relied on the most were life energy and magical energy.


    Magical energy was a minor or converted state of the sublime, supernatural energy called mana. Although the mana absorbed by most mages eventually gets converted into magical energy through different training methods in order for them to cast their spells and use their skills, that was only a derivative method used by mages or spell casters to bypass the ipatibility between mana and the human body.


    Every living organism in a mana-filled world had a bit of mana within their bodies. While it was only a bit of mana, humans, in particr, due to ipatibility, couldn¡¯t mobilize these minuscule amounts of mana in the same way they would naturally operate the vitality within their bodies. With that being the case, mana was useless for humans during the ancient eras. Only physical training was widely popr.


    However, over time, various methods were devised in one way or another by extraordinary humans in order to train and mobilize their internal mana to attract their surrounding mana. Those training methods also allowed humans to convert their internal mana into magical energy, an energy simr in nature to the vitality of humans. This change allowed humans to gain ess to an extra source of energy.


    They were able to mobilize their magical energy to achieve many feats. At the same time, whenever their magical energy was low or depleted, they could supplement their magical energy vessel with the surrounding mana. They could also cast spells or conduct magic simply by borrowing the surrounding mana with only a little bit of magical energy.


    That was the knowledge Randy acquired from the ck Tome about the history of the energy vessel of mana.


    However, the method described in the ck Tome no longer applies to Randy who practices the Nameless Meditation Technique. A profound training method that allowed him to umte pure mana in his body to nurture every single cell within his body. Normally, such a feat would have been impossible because of ipatibility. However, the method described in the Nameless Meditation Technique was so profound that it could even make such an impossible feat feasible through its unique mana training method.


    .....


    Not to mention that all of it was achieved simply by meditation and breathing in a certain rhyme and sequence. The only downside was that it was challenging for one to persist with such a method without losing patience at some point. Despite that being a drawback, the training results were rewarding enough to keep one motivated to continue practicing if they are dedicated to their path to seek greater strength.


    After training with the Nameless Meditation Technique, the mana particles that fused with Randy¡¯s skin, flesh, and bones allowed him to naturally gain an affinity for pure mana. This would serve as a foundation and the source of all kinds of magical energies. As a result, he could now absorb mana without filtering or converting it into magical energy. Alternatively, he could convert it into a type of magical energy, such as fire, water, wind, earth, and so on.


    That would allow him to amass copious mana in its sublime state without wasting time converting them into magical energies in case he didn¡¯t have an elemental affinity. Having an elemental affinity would make it easier to attract said affinity when training mana.


    The ability to amass pure mana was just one of the perks attained by training with the Nameless Meditation Technique.


    The mana training method section of the Nameless Meditation Technique allows one to create a [Mana Seed]. Fortunately, this was already created for Randy by his system, saving him some time as a result. The [Mana Seed] would gradually germinate and eventually sprout like a seed of a nt once the mana saturation reaches certain levels during practice.


    As for the difference between employing converted magical energy, and employing pure and sublime mana, that was something that would be more apparent in the future. At that time, when the total mana capacity increases to an unprecedented level, beyond that of normal mages or spell casters, the power of a casual spell or any form of utility would be enhanced to great proportions.


    The newly condensed psionic energy was simr in the aspect of being more sublime in quality than the disseminated and disorganized mental energy originally generated by the cells in the brain. The reason was that the psionic energy coalesced from the many particles of mental energy that gradually got absorbed by the [Mental Seed] energy vessel.


    As for soul energy and spiritual energy, Randy had yet to cultivate or train any of those forms of energy. Soul energy cultivation was unknown to anyone on earth, unlike spiritual energy cultivation, which was prevalent on earth. Therefore, he has a chance to cultivate his spiritual energy in the future.


    However, ording to theter sections of the Nameless Meditation Technique, although obscure, there was a method to cultivate the soul. However, that was only possible after he reached the exalted level of power that a human could achieve. Therefore, Randy couldn¡¯t train his soul with his current level of power.


    Randy cleared his wandering thoughts and took a deep breath to rx and calm his mind. He deactivated the [Synergy] skill, and then he proceeded to take out the storage pouch once again. Naturally, he hadn¡¯t forgotten his previous intentions.


    Although he was enthralled by the wondrous feeling of the [Synergy] skill, which allowed smooth regtion of the energies within his body, which also allowed him to gain momentary rity in his mind due to the active regtion of his psionic energy in his [Mental Seed] within his brain, he didn¡¯t want to waste any more time than necessary. After all, he had pressing matters to deal with at the moment.


    ¡­


    Momentster.


    In front of Randy, many glittering and shimmering rocks of varying colors were strewn on the floor of the Safe Room. He thought for a moment, and then he took out his first incarnation.


    The incarnation¡¯s consciousness was semi-destroyed after its fight with the Red-Scaled Demon. Therefore, he needed to create another consciousness for it. That part was very easy, as he only needed to duplicate his consciousness using his mental energy, or rather the new psionic energy.


    Randy wondered how different it would feel to create his consciousness using his newly generated and abundant psionic energy rather than regr mental energy. He didn¡¯t think too much about this matter. He immediately put it to the test.

 Chapter 295 - 295 Repairing Incarnation, A Change in Behavior

    295 Repairing Incarnation, A Change in Behavior


    A brief momentter.


    Randy was pleasantly astounded by the effect brought about by simply having a [Mental Seed]. The noticeable difference was that the psionic energy it generated was versatile and easy to move or influencepared to erratic and disseminated mental energy.


    Amazingly, the psionic energy was also nearly ten times faster at splitting and duplicating his consciousness aspared to when he used his mental energy. His consciousness even had a physical manifestation, looking just like a tiny version of himself.


    The physical manifestation of Randy¡¯s duplicated consciousness also reminded him of his personified spirit body. He manifested once inside the dark void of imaginary space and once inside the [Blood Space] in his bloodstream.


    Before, when Randy duplicated his consciousness, it looked like a mass of ripples, and it wasn¡¯t uniform in its shape. As such, it was like scattered particles. He had to maintain his hand on the head of the incarnation in order to prevent it from aimlessly scattering away and ceasing to exist shortly after.


    However, the fact that his consciousness had be tangible in this instance through the manifestation performed using psionic energy wasn¡¯t necessarily a safe oue. After all, it could be implied that if something were to happen to his physical consciousness, he would be prone to receiving feedback shocks to his main consciousness whenever his incarnation¡¯s consciousness receives trauma or damage.


    That was because he could also tell that this newly constructed physical consciousness, or spirit body as he would call it, was somehow connected to his main consciousness on a fundamental level aspared to before.


    At this moment, a surge of knowledge resurfaced in his mind. It was knowledge from the ck Tome. Despite the abundant wisdom he obtained from the ck Tome, he wasn¡¯t able to process it in its entirety mainly because there was too much information to sort through. However, whenever he wanted to recall something or saw something that triggered specific knowledge among the various knowledge he received, that specific knowledge would resurface in his mind.


    ording to the knowledge he recalled in his mind this time, incarnations were theoretically supposed to be connected to the main body. They could share sights, even if there was a vast distance between the main body and the incarnation. However, it was only limited to the same realm or world.


    .....


    Randy acknowledged this theory to be real, as he had already connected his consciousness to the incarnation a few times when he fought the two demons near Meistic Forest. The only difference was that he didn¡¯t feel any pain or difort when the incarnation was hurt at that time.


    Randy only felt its suffering when he investigated what had happened to it by transferring his consciousness inside the unconscious incarnation that still had a trace of its consciousness left.


    Putting that to the side, Randy held his duplicate consciousness in one hand. Then, he crouched in front of the incarnation on the floor, ced his other hand above it, and injected his divine points into its body. Afterward, he directed the currents of soothing energy generated through his will or psionic energy coercion.


    At the same time, he activated his [Synergy] skill to see if he could use it to finely control and further guide the currents of soothing energy. He wanted to convert soothing energy so that it could promote healing and recovery in the incarnation¡¯s body just like he did with the Dungeon Hunters that were attacked by the ck-cloaked vampire man.


    Sure enough, he seeded in converting the divine points into healing power and was able to quickly heal the incarnation¡¯s body of any physical and hidden wounds it incurred during its fight with the Red-Scaled Demon. Afterward, he ced his hand that was holding the duplicated consciousness on the forehead of the Incarnation, transferring the consciousness inside its head.


    Momentster, the incarnation¡¯s eyes fluttered open with mild confusion on its face, and then it proceeded to stare nkly into Randy¡¯s eyes in silence. The two of them then proceeded to stare at each other without turning their heads.


    A strange scene of a young man wearing a ck coat and kneeling on a white marble floor beside another young man with an identical face but in tattered clothes unfolded silently without any verbal exchange. Visually, Randy could see himself gazing at himself while also gazing at his incarnation in an endless loop.


    Randy could not help but frown after the brief visual exchange. The unusual and disorienting perception made him feel slightly muddled-headed and ufortable. Although he wasn¡¯t affected mentally, he didn¡¯t like the experience at all. Perhaps he would have to get used to it someday, but for now, he could do just fine without it.


    With that in mind, he closed his eyes and manually disconnected the connection between the incarnation and himself. He then synchronized his consciousness with the incarnation¡¯s consciousness and instructed. He didn¡¯t bother to verbally ry the instructions to the incarnation.


    Randy didn¡¯t want to talk to himself. Therefore, alongside his memories, he chose to transfer and share his opinions and intentions with the incarnation.


    A few momentster, Randy pulled his consciousness out of his incarnation, and then he took off his ck coat and handed it to him. This was his Shadow Beast Leather Armor. To be safe from the likely feedback on his consciousness, Randy decided to give his armor to his incarnation. He also didn¡¯t want his incarnation to die pointlessly out there, as that was no different from him dying due to recklessness.


    With a nk expression on its face, the incarnation took the Shadow Beast Leather Armor and proceeded to wear it over its clothes. This was because it was still processing and assimting the information transferred to it by Randy.


    Shortly after, the incarnation of Randy regained the light in its eyes and then revealed an unusually excited smile, causing Randy to shudder for some reason. He stared closely at the incarnation and was then baffled by the next action of the incarnation.


    ¡°Challenger¡¯s System? Are you still here?¡± Incarnation Randy queried with a smile.


    [...]


    [Yes, Challenger Randy. In light of the recent event regarding the Challenger¡¯s unique ability, the system had made preparations in advance in case you needed this feature in the future. As a result, proxies for the main system had been created. The system has already sessfully transferred one proxy over to this body, so you don¡¯t have to worry]


    ¡°Very well.¡±


    Incarnation Randy nodded approvingly. He then began confirming other relevant things one by one. Most of the queries were rted to the features of the proxy system and the essibility associated with it.


    ...


    A few momentster.


    After Incarnation Randy hadpleted his queries and was satisfied with the answers he received, he then decisively issued his final instructions for the Challenger¡¯s System to carry out.


    While looking at the incarnation on the side, Randy noticed that something was very wrong with its behavior. He recalled from the incarnation¡¯s memory that it was acting strange when he fought against the Red-Scaled Demon. However, its current actions and gestures werepletely differentpared to then, almost as though it was the ideal incarnation with defects.


    Before Randy could talk to him to verify his doubts, the incarnation of him had already received confirmation from the Challenger¡¯s System. Then, without hesitation, it requested the Challenger¡¯s system to teleport him back to Randy¡¯sst position.


    ¡°Transmit!¡±


    ¡°Wait!¡±


    Whoosh!


    Randy btedly reacted and shouted. However, it was already toote. To confirm the doubts in his mind, he wished to stop the incarnation for questions despite not wanting to talk to it before. However, he missed his chance to do so. As a result, he could only stand there in a daze for a brief moment with his hand gesturing in the empty air.

 Chapter 296 - 296 Familiar Faces

    296 Familiar Faces


    After standing there for a few moments, Randy finally snapped out of his daze. Then, he silently contemted why he had behaved in such a manner, trying to stop his incarnation before it departed.


    ¡®What am I worried about, anyway? No matter the change in behavior, isn¡¯t the incarnation still me in essence?¡¯


    Randy believed that regardless of the state of his incarnation, it was still his incarnation, so nothing detrimental should happen to him due to it. He didn¡¯t need to worry that it wouldn¡¯t be able to handle the tasks he assigned, or worry that it would mess around without thinking about the consequences.


    Reassuring himself with such thoughts, Randy devoted himself to creating a new incarnation that had no faults, unlike the incarnation on his first attempt. The reason why the faulty incarnation was sent away was to meet Gutz and tell him that he had returned earlier than expected.


    Randy didn¡¯t want to make him wait for him. From his impression of Gutz, he seemed like the kind of person who would wait for days on end, even if he didn¡¯t return. He would feel somewhat guilty if that were to happen. Therefore, he wanted his incarnation to handle the simple task of meeting with Gutz ahead of time in his ce.


    Afterward, through his incarnation, he would check in with the Society and get more acquainted with the Imperial City and its people. Meanwhile, the true him would focus on training without caring about the outside world. He also didn¡¯t need to worry about safety since it wasn¡¯t his true body.


    But for some reason, Randy had an odd feeling in his heart when he saw the incarnation¡¯s mysterious smile right before he left. To confirm whether his incarnation hadpleted the task he assigned properly or not, he nned to routinely check on the incarnation once he was done creating the second incarnation.


    In the meantime, he would concentrate on creating the magical circle for the spell invocation of the Incarnation Technique. As he didn¡¯t want any sort of defective aspects or imperfections in the final result likest time, he made sure to read through the sequence of the procedure a few times to consolidate his profound understanding of the Incarnation Technique.


    Afterward, he cut his index finger and used the dripping blood to carefully draw the highly detailed magical circle on the spotless floor of the Safe Room.


    .....


    ¡­


    While Randy was doing that, his incarnation had just appeared in the room Gutz was staying in to recuperate. However, he found out that Gutz was no longer in the room. Fortunately, no one had upied the room after Gutz left. Otherwise, they would have been shocked by his sudden appearance.


    The incarnation took that chance to surreptitiously and stealthily sneaked out of the room. He walked up to the front desk and confirmed that only a few minutes had passed since he left.


    With that confirmed, he decided to continue touring the city without meeting with Gutz just yet. Randy may have postponed the tour, but that was not the same for his incarnation, who seemed more unbridled in his decisions whenpared to how cautious he had been.


    Incarnation Randy carelessly walked into the crowd of people in the Imperial City and joined their conversation with a bright smile on his face. He looked as if he had no care in the world. It was almost as though it was his first time socializing with other people. He even yed with some kids he met along the way without a care for his identity or behavior.


    ¡­


    A few hourster.


    At some point, Incarnation Randy found himself at a ce that most of the people in the Imperial City referred to as Church Street. The ce where the various branches of the churches in the Royal Capital established themselves.


    Incarnation Randy was curious about the churches and decided to visit them one by one. With that in mind, he set his sights on the most popr church after consulting with the people he met on the street.


    While he was visiting the most popr church in the city, which happens to be the Church of Light, Incarnation Randy ran into two familiar faces, and he immediately halted his steps and unconsciously hid himself. The two familiar faces were two armored men, who looked mentally disturbed as they stared ahead in a certain direction with hesitation written on their faces.


    The direction they were watching in the distance happened to visually align with the building of the Church of Light, where Incarnation Randy was headed. However, they didn¡¯t head to the church right away. They stood a few meters away from the Church of Light, uncertain of their choice.


    At some point, they reluctantly trudged toward the direction of the Sacred building of the Church of Light. That building was where sermons were held by the Pope intermittently in that branch of the church.


    The two armored men showed downcast expressions on their faces as they slowly walked forward. It was almost as though their entire world was about to fall apart, and there was nothing they could do to change the oue, no matter what solution they thought of. Therefore, they decided to face whatever came their way instead.


    As he observed the two armored men, Incarnation Randy, who initially acted carelessly with his previous actions, suddenly became serious with his next decision. His entire demeanor changed along with his mood. After deliberation, he decided that it was wise to observe the two armored men further to see what they were up to, even if he didn¡¯t care about them.


    After a brief moment of observation, he gradually recognized the two individuals who were dressed in shining armor from his unstable memories. The two armored men turned out to be the two men who apanied the Holy Knight Captain whom his main body killed in order to save that little girl called ra when he first arrived in Acruxia.


    Incarnation Randy recalled that they were the ones that issued the search mission to the Alpheotus City¡¯s Society that the Society Leader wanted his main body to take on. It appeared that they had just returned after their failed expedition to the Meistic Forest in search of their captain.


    While Incarnation Randy thought about these facts, his gaze was still fixed on the two armored men. He silently watched as the two armored men struggled to enter the sacred building of the Church of Light. It was as if they were carrying heavy weights on their shoulders, causing their footsteps as they walked through the opened gate to appear unsteady.


    Earlier, due to their reluctance, the two armored men stopped at the front gate and deliberated for a while before deciding to open it. As a result of Incarnation Randy¡¯s keen observation, he easily noticed the odd behavior of the armored men. Their odd behavior prompted him to wonder what they were afraid of, but he couldn¡¯t care less about that when he thought about it.


    A short whileter, they came out of the sacred building with paleplexions, as though they had just barely escaped with their lives.

 Chapter 297 - 297 The Prominent Grant Family

    297 The Prominent Grant Family


    A few moments ago.


    After the two armored men entered the sacred building and gave their report, an infuriated voice suddenly echoed outwardly. However, the voice was contained within a sound nullification barrier. This meant that Incarnation Randy could not hear what was being said to the two armored men in order for theirplexions to be that pale.


    ¡°Bunch of useless fools that only know how to bring shame to our Holy Church of Light! Find that useless Knight Captain and tell him to see me in three days! I don¡¯t care how you do it! If he is truly dead like you said, then bring me his corpse instead!¡±


    ¡°Do you ungrateful fools really expect me to inform the Supreme Pontiff of such a disgraceful failure, much less the Royal Family?¡±


    ¡°If you do not find him, then don¡¯t even think about returning to the Church of Light, you failures of the Holy Knights! Until you find that arrogant brat of the Grant Family, I will consider you all dead men!¡±


    ¡°If you dared to return without your captain, I will have no choice but to denounce you and your Knight Captain¡¯s sphemous acts. Then, I will have you graciously appease our god by sacrificing yourselves in a ritual!¡±


    The two armored men were immediately shocked when they heard thest words, and both of them spoke out at once: ¡°B-But Cardinal Juke, we have nevermitted any act of crime as sworn protectors of the masses. How could we bebeled sphemous just because we failed our mission¡­?¡±


    ¡°Nonsense!¡±


    Cardinal Juke rebuked upromisingly: ¡°What is the difference between watching a crime unfold without lending a helping hand andmitting it yourself? Do you still refer to yourselves as ¡®protectors¡¯, then? Get out of my sight this instant!¡±


    .....


    ¡­


    Back to the present.


    At this time, the two armored men walked away from the sacred building with frustrated expressions. One of them was particrly furious about their situation and began shouting expletives.


    ¡°It¡¯s all that bastard¡¯s fault! I knew sooner orter he would get us all into trouble with his acts!¡±


    The armored man, who carried a shield and a broad sword, expressed his immediate frustration.


    ¡°Shush! Keep your voice down. Do you want to get us into trouble?¡±


    The other armored man, who wasnky with sharp eyes, tried to stop the shield-wielding armored man from making a ruckus in the vicinity of Church Street.


    The shield-wielding armored man retorted: ¡°So what? Do you think we¡¯re not in trouble right now? If not for his background, why would I condone his actions up to this point? As a proud holy knight of the Church of Light, our noble duty was to protect civilians from the wrath of the demons.¡±


    Then, he frowned with a guilty expression and continued: ¡°However, what did he do as captain of the renowned Holy Knights, huh? That disgusting bastard abused his authority. As Cardinal Juke said, I¡¯m also guilty as I didn¡¯t do anything to stop him as he took advantage of his status as a noble to molest and vite any helpless and innocent girl or woman he fancied behind the scenes all this time.


    The shield-wielding armored man looked at his partner and said: ¡°All those acts were deemed proper by him simply because they weremoners and he was a nobleman. And you¡¯re still thinking about taking his side even now?¡±


    The sharp-eyed armored man shook his head and said: ¡°I¡¯m not taking his side, but I¡¯m just saying that you shouldn¡¯t¡­


    ¡°But what? Forget what you¡¯re about to say!¡±


    The shield-wielding armored man cut him off and said: ¡°If we don¡¯t find him in three days, which we¡¯ve already tried before and failed, we might as wellmit suicide right where we stand at that time. I don¡¯t know about you, but I don¡¯t n on dying just yet.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t either, but we can¡¯t afford to offend either Cardinal Juke or the Grant Family right now. We have to somehow locate the captain¡¯s corpse if he¡¯s already dead or we¡¯ll be doomed one way or another.


    The sharp-eyed armored man then exined: ¡°If Cardinal Juke doesn¡¯t kill us, the Grant Family would likely suspect that we had a hand in the captain¡¯s death. They may demand us to be tortured at that time and Cardinal Juke would most definitely agree with that request, assuming they find out about the captain¡¯s death. However, Cardinal Juke doesn¡¯t want the Grant Family to find out. Which was why he sent us away and told us not toe until we locate the captain¡¯s corpse.¡±


    ¡°Damn it! This is really pissing me off!¡±


    The shield-wielding armored man gritted his teeth and said: ¡°How did that bastard of a captain get assaulted, anyway? Wasn¡¯t he level 67, nearing level 70, which was considered the elite level of power in this world? Isn¡¯t that strange?¡±


    The sharp-eyed armored man pondered for a moment and nodded in agreement: ¡°You¡¯re right. I heard that when one gets close to level 70, they gradually undergo qualitative changes in their overall strength.¡±


    ¡°And yet the captain seemed to have lost miserably to some magical beast without being able to escape with his life at the very least? Even if he was distracted, doesn¡¯t it seem absurd that he would be defeated so easily by some magical beast? Was the level he stated to us real, or was it just a fake level he barked to feel a sense of superiority in front of us?¡±


    The shield-wielding armored man expressed his doubts.


    The sharp-eyed armored man pondered for a moment and muttered: ¡°...Perhaps.¡±


    He then stated: ¡°People from that renowned Grant Family always refused to be appraised by the Society and the Church. One could only trust their verbal derations. So far, no one bothered to stand against their arrangements due to their deep influence on historical events, and also their immense contribution to this country over the years. Not to mention that at theirmand was an overwhelmingbat force that they carefully nurtured in the name of protecting their family heritage.¡±


    The two armored men always felt that it was mystifying how their captain suddenly disappeared without leaving behind any trace other than the blood they found at the site of the assault. But now that they thought about it some more, the situation wasn¡¯t simply him getting outdone by some magical beast, assuming his level was genuine. If that was the case, then something else was at y there.


    Other than this spection, neither of them had anything else to start off on as a lead or clue to find the location of their missing captain. They also didn¡¯t have any ns as to how they would handle their predicament anytime soon. They would have to search randomly just as they did beforeing to the Imperial City.


    Feeling frustrated about theirplicated situation, they decided to visit the nearest drinking pub to get some booze to get their minds off theplicated things before departing the Imperial City. They wanted toe up with a solid n before they headed for Alpheotus City the following day.


    No matter how frustrated they may feel about their predicament, they would still have to go and stay in Alpheotus City to once again search the Meistic Forest until they find something rted to their captain. If they fail to produce any results in their endeavor, they might have to stay there forever as possible fugitives.

 Chapter 298 - 298 Machination of Incarnation Randy(I)

    298 Machination of Incarnation Randy(I)


    While they walked down the street with varying thoughts and expressions, and even asionally shouting out their frustrations, Incarnation Randy hid his presence and breath with the [Traceless Form] Technique and covertly followed them as he spied on them. At the same time, through his [Body Strengthen] skill, he managed to enhance his five senses, more specifically his hearing. Then, he paid close attention to the verbal exchange between the two armored men.


    At this point, the sun was already setting, so it was much easier for him to conceal and hide his presence from them.


    As a result, Incarnation Randy had heard everything the two armored men were saying throughout their walk to their destination. Afterward, he thought it wise to inform his main body about it just in case since he couldn¡¯t be bothered to deal with them.


    Although the incarnation Randy appeared to be theplete opposite of the main Randy in terms of temperament, he still carefully assessed the situation. He also decided to ry it back to Randy through their connection. However, his attempt was unsessful despite trying a few times. There seemed to be a wall blocking his connection to Randy who was inside the Safe Room.


    After thinking about it for a brief moment, Incarnation Randy decided to ignore the situation altogether since whether his main body knew the situation or not wouldn¡¯t change anything. After all, those two didn¡¯t know the culprit behind the disappearance of their captain.


    With that decision, Incarnation Randy was about to leave the two armored men to their own devices before he suddenly thought of something. He didn¡¯t know much about the two of them enough to let them go just like that. Even though he heard them speak their minds a while ago, that only made him realize that he didn¡¯t fully understand anything the two armored men discussed. Furthermore, he didn¡¯t know anything about their current situation, which made them appear gloomy and pale. He could only assume it had something to do with the death of their captain.


    From what he knew from observation and through their words, the two armored men were Holy Knights of the Church of Light who were apparently sent on some mission and failed. Furthermore, they seemed to be talking about something really relevant. Especially, the one regarding the true identity and background of the Holy Knight Captain whom his main body had killed to save ra.


    Incarnation Randy wanted to avoid troubleing his way as much as possible since he was now taking his main body¡¯s ce in the Imperial City. And as he had nothing to do in the meantime, he decided to follow them into the pub in order to learn more about them.


    ¡­


    .....


    A few minutester.


    Inside a famous pub in the Imperial City, there were many people happily engaging in discussions. At this moment, two men covered in full-body Knight armor entered the pub. Their shining Holy Knight armor instantly attracted the attention of the people in the pub, causing them to gasp in disbelief as a result.


    ¡°Sir Holy Knights, how may we serve you today?¡± The bartender skillfully maneuvered through the arranged tables and appeared in front of them to receive them with a happy smile on his face.


    ¡°Just give me your strongest liquor and some roasted meat! The finest you got!¡± The shield-wielding armored man said to him.


    The bartender scribbled the order down on a piece of paper. Afterward, he looked at the other armored man with his pen on the paper, ready to take his order.


    The sharp-eyed armored man also stated his order: ¡°I want the same, but I prefer roasted nuts to go with the liquor.¡±


    ¡°As you wish, honorable Holy Knights! May I ask Sir Holy Knights to please follow me upstairs for your arrangement?¡±


    The bartender finished scribbling down the orders quickly and then gestured for the two armored men to follow him upstairs to have their seats on the second floor. The second floor of the establishment was where VIPs usually sit when they visit.


    The second floor was usually reserved for VIPs that always had some extra orders besides the regr liquor and snacks. Furthermore, they would have had to reserve the seat ahead of time, but there were always some exceptions to this rule.


    ¡­


    Another few minutester.


    Incarnation Randy had also arrived at the entrance of the pub, but he had aplicated expression as he stood in front of the entrance. He wondered if he had to drink alcohol now that he was in a ce where that was all they served.


    However, he didn¡¯t hesitate for long before calmly entering the establishment with his ck coat fluttering behind him, making him seem quite mysterious from an onlooker¡¯s perspective.


    As soon as he entered the pub, he found that many of the people were looking at him with strange gazes, but he wasn¡¯t bothered by it. Instead, he proceeded to stand there as he patiently waited. He heard that these ces usually had waitresses or someone to receive you upon arrival. This was done in order to prevent any chaos, as most people in there were intoxicated to be considerate of others.


    Sure enough, moments after his arrival, a waitress, or rather a female bartender passing by, noticed his presence. She approached him and graciously weed him with a smile on her face.


    ¡°Hello. How can I help you, sir?¡±


    ¡°Did you see the two people that came in just now? They¡¯re my friends and I would like to meet them. They should be on the second floor. I came a long way to finally meet them, but I couldn¡¯t find them. I heard they came here not long ago, so I decided to seek them out here. Can you help me arrange it?¡±


    The female bartender shook her head and politely said: ¡°I¡¯m sorry sir, but we don¡¯t allow strangers to meet our valued customers. If you want to meet them, you¡¯ll have to wait until they leave their room.¡±


    He insisted with a solemn expression: ¡°Please, I really need to see them as soon as possible. It¡¯s rted to something I cannot divulge because it is ssified.¡±


    The female bartender pondered his words for a moment and demanded: ¡°Do you have your ID with you, so I can check your credentials?¡±


    ¡°No problem. Here you go.¡±


    Incarnation Randy immediately gave her his Dungeon Hunter Card that he had prepared beforehand.


    The female bartender took his ID card to read his information, and she was shocked to see his rank: ¡°Dungeon Hunter, Rank B!¡±


    ¡°Please forgive my rudeness just now, sir. I will help you arrange it right away!¡±


    The female bartender bowed with an apologetic expression as she handed his ID card back to him.


    ¡°Thank you so much for your help!¡±


    Incarnation Randy smiled as he took his ID card from her.


    ¡°N-No need for that. Please follow me. Sir Holy Knights are currently being served in the second floor¡¯s VIP room.¡±


    The female bartender led Incarnation Randy to the second floor, then to the room where the two armored men were being served. Soon, Incarnation Randy and the female bartender stood in front of the door. The female bartender knocked on the door to the room.


    A few momentster, two charming girls came to open the door with surprised looks on their delicate faces.


    One of them frowned, turned to the female bartender, and doubtfully questioned: ¡°What is it, Big sis Xily? We¡¯re serving two honorable guests right now, so what did youe here for? Did Krein not tell you that this room was already booked?¡±

 Chapter 299 - 299 Machination of Incarnation Randy(II)

    299 Machination of Incarnation Randy(II)


    ¡°I was already aware of that beforeing here. More importantly¡­¡±


    The female bartender said, and then pointed at Incarnation Randy standing next to her before exining the situation: ¡°This esteemed gentleman here is a friend of Sir Holy Knights, and he came here specifically to meet them. Can you help me inform them of his arrival? His name is¡ª¡±


    ¡°Why would we do something like¡ª¡±


    The two charming girls cut her off and attempted to refute her request. That was because one of their policies explicitly stated that they shouldn¡¯t allow random strangers to meet with their customers under any circumstances. This was a policy created in order to prevent idents and crimes from urring in their establishment. Therefore, she immediately doubted her co-worker¡¯s words.


    However¡ª


    ¡°Actually¡­¡±


    Incarnation Randy immediately interjected, and then gently stated: ¡°They are not aware that I¡¯m here to visit them. As I said before, I found out that they were here by chance. Because of that, I think it¡¯d be better for us if I told them myself, wouldn¡¯t you agree?¡±


    The other girl looked at Incarnation Randy and asked: ¡°And who are you again? You don¡¯t look like a knight, so why do you want to meet the Holy Knights of the Church of Light?¡±


    Incarnation Randy snickered and nodded in confirmation: ¡°Sorry to disappoint you, but like you said, I¡¯m actually not a knight. However, with your line of work, you don¡¯t really need to know who I am, do you?¡±


    .....


    ¡°Why you¡ª¡±


    The two girls were immediately furious when they heard the mockery in his words, and they wanted to say something to him.


    However¡ª


    ¡°Now then¡­¡±


    Once again, Incarnation Randy immediately cut them off and continued: ¡°Would you kindly step aside for me? I don¡¯t have any business with youdies. By the way, I am not asking for apromise, but demanding that you move while I¡¯m asking politely.¡±


    The two girls were further enraged by his arrogant words and immediately shouted: ¡°Who do you think you are to¡ª¡±


    ¡°Tsk! So annoying. I still have ces to visit, so please don¡¯t waste my time here.¡±


    Incarnation Randy indifferently and coldly spoke as a glint of cold light shed through his eyes. The next moment, an imposingly wild and savage aura, resembling an untamed beast wreaking havoc, was unleashed from his body without mana as driving support due to his inability to use it as a result of his imperfection during his creation.


    Despite that, the air around his body made him appear as if he was some predator eyeing his prey before pouncing on them. His fierce and domineering look frightened the two young women, causing them to take an apprehensive jump backward.


    The young woman holding the door unconsciously let go of the doorknob. Then, as she took a step backward, she bumped into the other young woman, and she fell on her butt along with the other young woman behind her. The moment they fell on the floor, Incarnation Randy immediately undid his imposing aura, causing them to breathe out in relief, but then they looked at Incarnation Randy with fear visible in their eyes.


    As the two young women fell to the floor, Incarnation Randy turned to the female bartender next to him and apologized with a warm smile.


    ¡°I apologize for my behavior, Miss. Once again, thank you for your help. I will take it from here.¡±


    ¡°O-Okay.¡±


    The female bartender stuttered as she nkly replied to him with a dumbfounded expression. She still hasn¡¯t recovered from the influence of his domineering aura despite him already undoing it.


    Meanwhile, with a calm demeanor, Incarnation Randy turned to briefly look at the two cowering girls who had tactfully vacated the room. Afterward, he looked away from them. A momentter, he casually pushed the door open and stepped inside the room under the shocked gaze of the female bartender and the two young women, who sat on the floor outside the room.


    After he left the scene, the whole entrance became silent. No one bothered to say anything to each other other than wondering about the identity of the terrifying young man that just left.


    Despite knowing that the terrifying young man was Dungeon Hunter, the female bartender wondered if she had unintentionally allowed a criminal inside their establishment. However, she was also afraid that if she did anything careless by reporting him, she may suffer terrible consequences.


    Thinking of that possibility, she continued to stand there without attempting to stop Incarnation Randy despite how suspicious he seemed. Seeing the way he confronted the two service girls at their establishment strengthened her decision.


    Having made her choice, she silently watched the back of Incarnation Randy enter the room with fear hidden in her eyes, especially after feeling the terrifying aura he emitted. ording to her experience, his aura felt more like that of a fierce magical beast than a strong human.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile.


    The two armored men just noticed something was abnormal when the two service girls didn¡¯te back after they left to greet someone at the door. They were behind a curtain, a specially enchanted blind that prevented others from peering inside or outside, so they couldn¡¯t see what was happening at the entrance.


    By utilizing mana-filled magic crystals, the enchanted blind could even block people from entering the room behind it as long as the guest demanded it. Naturally, the guest would have to pay for the energy supply for that feature to be active. And there was also a time limit.


    That aside, the two of them deliberated whether to check out what was happening at the entrance or not. At this time, the blind was slowly pushed aside and Incarnation Randy¡¯s figure was revealed before them. The moment he took a step into the service room behind it, the two armored men saw him and realized that something had happened.


    Fortunately for Incarnation Randy, the two girls had already left the enchanted blind open as they thought they would be returning to the room. Unfortunately, that did not happen, and so he managed to avoid having to break the barrier to enter the room forcefully.


    Of course, it was more unfortunate for the two Holy Knights who resided in the room behind the blind as they didn¡¯t know what was about to transpire.


    ¡°Who are you?! What are you doing here?! No, how did you get in here without being blocked?!¡±


    ¡°What are those bartenders doing out there?! And where did the service girls go?!¡±


    The two armored men pulled out their weapons trepidatiously when they saw the stranger walk into their reserved room with no qualms whatsoever. It was as though they were taking a casual stroll in a park.


    ¡°Please calm down, honorable Holy Knights. I bear no ill will. I came here to discuss an exchange. Do you care to listen to me for a minute? I guarantee it will be worth your while.¡±


    Incarnation Randy slowed his step as he spoke to quell their anger. In the meantime, he also wanted to cajole the two armored men with his words and actions. After all, they appeared to be extremely agitated upon seeing an unfamiliar face in their supposedly private service room.


    With the current situation, they would be justified to retaliate by attacking him in self-defense for breaking and entering.


    On the other hand, even though Incarnation Randy wanted to quell their anger, his body was still moving forward as he sauntered toward the two armored men.


    Bang!


    ¡°Do you think we¡¯re some pushovers?! We¡¯re Holy Knights, for god¡¯s sake! Since when did we engage in exchanges with civilians?! To hell with your exchange! We don¡¯t need it, so scram before I cut you down where you stand for rudely barging in here!¡±


    The shield-wielding armored man mmed the table and barked with a flushed expression. Apparently, he was drunk from having a few drinks.


    The sharp-eyed armored man, on the other hand, appeared to be sober.


    He calmly observed the suspicious young man leisurely approaching them and said apprehensively: ¡°Stop right there! Even if you have something to exchange, do you think it will entice us, Holy Knights of the Church of Light?¡±


    Incarnation Randy didn¡¯t seem perturbed by the turmoil caused by her presence, as the current turn of events aligned with his ns. He had purposely decided to wait for the two armored men to get themselves drunk before choosing to appear in the pub for a reason.


    The first reason was that they would be prone to violence when stimted by unexpected events, making them careless or clumsy, effectively losing most of theirbat prowess. This would allow him to easily take them down without breaking a sweat.


    The second reason was that, as a result of their intoxicated state, most of the biological and mental restraints ced on themselves would be loosened. As a result, they would be prone to reveal everything they know without thinking too deeply, especially when asked questions that irritate or stir up their emotions.


    Every detail of the present situation with the two armored men, including their reactions, has been meticulously organized by Incarnation Randy. He even inquired about how the pub worked, such as their services and any manners to follow while inside.


    Only after gathering ample information did he decide to enter the establishment to meet the two armored men.


    Unlike how goofy and absentminded the Incarnation Randy acted when he was first created, he seemed to have be calm and shrewd in his ways of handling things.

 Chapter 300 - 300 Machination of Incarnation Randy(III)

    300 Machination of Incarnation Randy(III)


    The reason behind Incarnation Randy¡¯s dramatic change in behavior whenpared to his prior inception¡¯s behavior was the result of his recovery from near death, and that was thanks to his main body healing him. Before, when he was created, as a result of his imperfections, he felt like a humanoid weapon devoid of most human emotions and behavior. Even breathing itself was unnecessary for the most part.


    Even in his present state, he could still go by without breathing and he would still be okay. That was because if he so wishes the pores on his skin could viscerally carry out respiratory functions in ce of his mouth and nose.


    However, unbeknownst to Randy, when he used his Divine Points alongside the support of the [Synergy] skill to heal and resuscitate Incarnation Randypletely, he had also somehow managed to repair some of the damaged parts of his brain, which initially made itck situational awareness, but it was only healed partly.


    Currently, Incarnation Randy stillcks some relevant emotional aspects, making him behave unlike a normal human. In addition to that, hecks the logical and rational aspects of decision-making. As a result, when confronted withplex challenges or situations, he appears more pragmatic in the way he deals with them.


    As evident from the way he decided to handle the situation regarding the two armored men, where he decided to use force to get the information he needed. He chose the forceful method over an alternative method involving a peaceful approach because that was less time-consuming and more rational.


    Considering his ns, he decided that he couldn¡¯t afford to waste his time following the two armored men and hoping to hear some useful pieces of information from their lips by chance. Assuming he could even get close to them to hear those pieces of information without being discovered by them, that would no doubt be a reasonable approach.


    However, what if they somehow discover his presence and find something strange about his behavior as he tags along as they deal with their things?


    Even if he was confident that he could elude their perception and suspicion, it would still take a long time ording to his estimates. Furthermore, there was no guarantee that he could get the pieces of information that he wanted.


    With all that consideration, he decided the forceful approach was better, as long as he didn¡¯t cause too muchmotion that might potentially attract the attention of some powerhouses.


    .....


    The sharp-eyed armored man noticed that Incarnation Randy didn¡¯t heed his warning and continued to swagger toward them. He immediately became enraged and his figure disappeared from his position. The following moment, he appeared next to Incarnation Randy andunched a decisive sword attack.


    However, Incarnation Randy nced at him from the corner of his eyes, smirked, and then stood his ground without any intention to dodge, immediately shocking the sharp-eyed armored man, who noticed his bizarre reaction despite how fast he moved. Regardless, the sharp-eyed armored man carried through with his attack as he believed that he could still take him down at such a close range, no matter how fast his reaction speed was.


    Ding!


    A nging sound of metals hitting one another resounded a secondter.


    The sharp-eyed armored man was shocked to see his sword being held in ce as it struck Incarnation Randy¡¯s left shoulder. He immediately backed away without hesitation as he observed the left shoulder of Incarnation Randy, which had shadowy strings moving about as if they were alive.


    As the sharp-eyed armored man observed the shadowy strings for a few moments, he discovered that the shadowy strings quicklybined with each other seamlessly. Then, the damaged shoulder of the ck coat, which was made out of some ck leather was repaired. There was no trace of the sword mark from his attack. Right away, he knew he had to reevaluate the carefree young man in front of him.


    Meanwhile, Incarnation Randy nced at the barely visible sword mark on the left shoulder of his ck coat that was slowly disappearing and muttered in reflection: ¡°That was really dangerous just now. Luckily, I managed to activate this armor¡¯s protection in time. Unlike my main body, I don¡¯t have mana points, so it took a while for me to activate the defensive property with divine points. Then again, I could still handle this kind of attack with my [Body Strengthen] skill if I spent enough divine points.¡±


    ¡°What are you talking about?¡±


    The sharp-eyed armored man heard his strange words and apprehensively questioned him.


    Incarnation Randy shook his head and merely said: ¡°Nothing. So do you want to listen to my proposal now? As you can see, if I wanted to fight the two of you, it would be quite easy for me to defeat all of you.¡±


    The sharp-eyed armored man was offended by his words and said: ¡°How arrogant!¡±


    ¡°But it is the truth.¡±


    Incarnation Randy bluntly stated, and then continued: ¡°So what do you say?¡±


    At this point, the shield-wielding armored man, who was stunned by the Incarnation Randy¡¯s unfazed demeanor despite receiving an attack from his partner, suddenly sobered up and snapped out of his daze.


    He turned to the sharp-eyed armored man and said: ¡°Don¡¯t listen to him. He might be a spy for the Church of Darkness. Look at that dark armor he is wearing.¡±


    The sharp-eyed armored man also noticed this fact when he first saw the armor, but he shook his head and said: ¡°I don¡¯t think he is from the Church of Darkness.¡±


    ¡°What makes you think so?¡±


    The shield-wielding armored man doubted his words as it was clear that the opponent they were facing was from the Church of Darkness, their nemesis in terms of faith.


    The sharp-eyed armored man sighed and exined: ¡°The Church of Darkness barely had followers anymore after they lost connection with their God. So you tell me, where would he get his hands on such exquisite armor in a rundown church without a God to bestow it? Didn¡¯t you hear that the bestowed artifacts such as weapons and pieces of armor disappeared when they lost their connection with their God?¡±


    The shield-wielding armored man pondered and then agreed with his statement: ¡°You¡¯re right.¡±


    However, he still insisted: ¡°But even so, this guy can¡¯t be trusted.¡±


    The sharp-eyed armored man shook his head in disagreement: ¡°Whether he could be trusted or not is not the point here. Based on my observation, taking his armor into ount, if we fight him, the chances of us winning are slim. However, the chances of him winning or escaping with his life are high.¡±


    He then looked up at Incarnation Randy in front, who was smiling at them, and continued with a frown on his face: ¡°Moreover, ording to his words, he didn¡¯te here to fight us. Instead, he came here to make an exchange with us. Therefore, we should at least listen to him.¡±


    ¡°But¡­¡±


    ¡°There are no buts¡­ Unless you want to risk your life here instead of prioritizing what matters.¡±


    ¡°Tsk! Fine!¡±


    The shield-wielding armored man begrudgingly put away his shield and broad sword. The sharp-eyed armored man also sheathed his long sword.


    The two of them had reached a consensus.


    Afterward, the sharp-eyed armored man narrowed his eyes at Incarnation Randy and said: ¡°Isn¡¯t this what you wanted? What are you waiting for? What do you want to exchange with us?¡±


    Incarnation Randy¡¯s face brightened. He revealed a charming and innocent smile as he observed the two armored men who had suspicion etched into their faces. Although they were pretending to be calm, especially the sharp-eyed armored man, Incarnation Randy could tell that that wasn¡¯t the case and that they were still being cautious of him. Their hands were still firmly gripped on their weapons, ready to strike in case he did something suspicious.


    ¡°Please let¡¯s sit down first.¡±


    Despite knowing their thoughts, Incarnation Randy still gave a friendly smile and gestured for them to sit down.


    He then said: ¡°We can¡¯t have a proper conversation while standing, can we?¡±


    Upon hearing his suggestion, the two armored men reluctantly went and sat behind the table they were using before. Incarnation Randy walked closer to them but he saw that they were paying close attention to him.


    As Incarnation Randy approached the table, his gait was slow and confident, his expression was calm and collected. The two armored men, on the other hand, looked up at him, their expressions guarded as Incarnation Randy walked closer to them. He saw that they were paying close attention to his every movement, making him feel quite strange.


    After noticing their reaction toward him, he decided to politely ask: ¡°May I sit next to you? Or would you prefer I stay a distance away from you?¡±


    The two armored men exchanged nces, then the sharp-eyed armored man gestured to the empty seat at their table, indicating that Incarnation Randy was wee to sit with them. They were still skeptical, but at this point, the sharp-eyed man knew that they shouldn¡¯t make things any moreplicated than the present oue. With that in mind, he decided to offer Incarnation Randy a sit rather than refuse.


    Incarnation Randy nodded. Then, without reservation, he went and sat downfortably in the empty chair next to their table.


    A brief moment of silenceter, Incarnation Randy began to speak: ¡°Why don¡¯t we begin by introducing ourselves first? My name is¡­ Solomon. What about you two? What are your names?¡±


    ¡°¡±What?!¡±¡±


    The two armored men were dumbfounded and shocked by this statement from Incarnation Randy, as they thought that he already knew their identity before approaching them.

 Chapter 301 - 301 Gathering Information

    301 Gathering Information


    ¡°Huh?¡±


    Incarnation Randy was startled by their reaction and confusedly asked: ¡°What¡¯s so shocking about requesting your names?¡±


    ¡°¡±What do you mean by ¡®what¡¯s so shocking¡¯ about your request?!¡±¡±


    The two armored men felt that the young man in front of them was a lunatic for even asking them such an innocent question. They believed he was pretending he didn¡¯t know what was wrong with his demand to mess with them.


    Incarnation Randy stated: ¡°I mean, didn¡¯t I just introduce myself by saying my name to you? As a courtesy, aren¡¯t you supposed to reply in kind with your names as well?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s beside the point here!¡±


    The shield-wielding armored man was livid with a contorted expression, but he kept his cool and calmly asked: ¡°So¡­ Didn¡¯t you already know our names beforeing here?¡±


    ¡°Not really.¡±


    Incarnation Randy shook his head and replied: ¡°We only just met, so how could I know your names?¡±


    .....


    ¡°This bastard¡­¡±


    The shield-wielding armored man wanted to beat him up if he could, but he knew doing so would only create unwantedmotion, as he wasn¡¯t confident he could subdue him without going all out.


    The sharp-eyed man intervened and said: ¡°Forget it. If that is the case, then I will introduce myself first.¡±


    Then, he stared straight at Incarnation Randy for a brief moment before he introduced himself.


    ¡°My name is Zante. A Holy Knight.¡±


    Once the sharp-eyed armored man was done with his introduction, he turned to look at the shield-wielding armored man, who was hesitating to say his name.


    At this time, Incarnation Randy was also staring at the shield-wielding armored man in anticipation.


    ¡°...¡±


    Noticing the piercing gazes of the two of them, the shield-wielding armored man eventually gave in and crudely said: ¡°Fine! I¡¯m Barian. A member of the Church of Light¡¯s Holy Knights. We¡¯re in charge of protecting the masses from demons as well as solving demon-rted incidents. So who are you really? Although Zante said you¡¯re not from the Church of Darkness, your way of doing things suggests that you¡¯re from that ce.¡±


    ¡°Surely you jest!¡±


    Incarnation Randyughed as if he had heard a funny joke and said: ¡°How could I be a member of the Church of Darkness? What I have on right now is merely a piece of equipment that I got my hands on for protection, nothing more. It doesn¡¯t suggest my affiliation as you insinuate.¡±


    Then, he stared into the eyes of the two Holy Knights and continued: ¡°In fact, I have always admired the Holy Knights of the Church of Light ever since I was a child. I have always respected you, honorable knights, who uphold the justice of this city. That was even more so when I came across passionate knights like you who give your all to protect civilians from the dangers of the demons.¡±


    ¡°...I-Is that so.¡±


    ¡°Indeed. The white and golden color of your armor symbolizes the goodness of the Church of Light. However, as impressive as it looks symbolically, it is the ones who don the armor who are more impressive and fascinating to look at. After all, the moment you put them on, it means you are willing toy down your life to protect the masses.¡±


    The shield-wielding Holy Knight called Barian was pleased with his words and said: ¡°You¡¯re right. It¡¯s an honorable calling and not many could take on the mantle of a Holy Knight. It is not something to take lightly. There is much to give and much to sacrifice, after all.¡±


    ¡°Exactly!¡±


    Incarnation Randy agreed, feigning humility and saying: ¡°To be honest, I wanted to join the Holy Knight, but I just didn¡¯t feel like I was altruistic enough, so I gave up my dream to be a Dungeon Hunter instead.¡±


    The shield-wielding armored man was taken aback by his unexpected reply and didn¡¯t know what to say next.


    Even the sharp-eyed armored man, who was impatient after hearing them beat around the bush, began to soften his expression a bit after hearing Incarnation Randy¡¯s passionate responses, which were full of genuine praise. However, he still acted indifferently and merely listened without a change in his expression.


    Incarnation Randy engaged them further in a long conversation, talking about his experiences as a Dungeon Hunter. He talked about his first mission and how he spent many days inside the Dungeon, including how he almost starved himself to death. He also talked about his encounter with two demons during his first request and how he was almost killed by the two fierce demons that were snooping around his mission site.


    Naturally, all of the descriptions and timeframes he gave them were fabricated to make sense. Furthermore, he made sure to exaggerate the events by stating both his personal experience and his main body¡¯s experience dealing with the two demons.


    The two Holy Knights listened to his graphic descriptions of his fighting scenes, including his struggles with attentiveness. They both forgot that the young man sitting with them was the same person who came to cause them trouble.


    The main reason for their attention being drawn so easily was because of the identities of the demons that Incarnation Randy described, which were undoubtedly genuine demons. From his vivid descriptions, they could tell that the demons he met were most likely very strong demons with ranks of at least a lieutenant. They too had faced off against some demons in the past, but those demons were mere foot soldiers.


    Foot soldiers were weakerpared to lieutenant-rank demons. After all, foot soldiers had levels that were within the range of 30 to 50. Level 50 to level 60 were elite foot soldiers. Meanwhile, level 60 to level 70 were lieutenant-rank demons.


    With that information in mind, the more they listened to Incarnation Randy, the more awed they became by his achievements. At the same time, they realized that he wasn¡¯t bluffing when he said he could defeat the two of them all by himself.


    At some point, Incarnation Randy finished telling his adventurous narrative as a Dungeon Hunter. Then, he took the opportunity of them still being immersed in his tale to bring up the main reason for meeting with them.


    ¡°Gentlemen. I don¡¯t know if this question of mine would offend you, but if it does, please forgive me for asking.¡±


    The two Holy Knights were silent for a moment before they gestured for him to continue: ¡°G-Go ahead.¡±


    Incarnation Randy nodded but still spoke carefully: ¡°I heard some rumors about the greatness of the Church of Light, but I wasn¡¯t sure if they were true. Therefore, I was curious about it and decided to see you gentlemen to confirm the truth of the matter.¡±


    And then he finally asked: ¡°The thing is, I¡¯ve heard some stories about some secret ceremonies and also some forbidden knowledge withheld by the Church of Light. Is there any truth to these stories?¡±


    At this point, Incarnation Randy was simply throwing a random and baseless question around in order to check the waters for any waves before asking about the main question.


    However, when Zante and Barian heard his casual question, they immediately scowled with foul expressions on their faces without saying anything.


    Incarnation Randy noticed the change in their expressions, and then carefully added: ¡°Of course, you don¡¯t have to answer me if you don¡¯t want to. I was personally curious about it. That had nothing to do with what I nned on exchanging with you in the first ce.¡±


    The two Holy Knights exchanged nces, and then nodded with rxed expressions after hearing his words.


    Zante then answered: ¡°Well, there are some things that are kept hidden from the public. But it¡¯s all for the greater good of everyone. Furthermore, we must protect the purity of the Church of Light at all costs. The same holds true for the other churches as well.¡±


    Incarnation Randy nodded in understanding, and then as if interested, he asked: ¡°I understand, but I can¡¯t help being curious about it. What kind of secrets are we talking about here? The secret of the demon¡¯s rituals or the reason behind their steady increase in strength?¡±


    Incarnation Randy was merely throwing out possible facts based on what his main body had learned from Acruxia. He hoped to learn more about demons while he had the opportunity.


    Although Zante and Barian hesitated to speak when they heard him, considering that he only cared about demon rted topics, they thought that it wouldn¡¯t hurt to tell him. Furthermore, they believed that as a result of his encounter with the two demons, which had most likely traumatized him, he would want to know more about how to face them in the future.


    Hence, they began to talk more freely. They told Incarnation Randy about some pieces of information that they learned from the ancient tomes kept in the Church of Light. Those ancient tomes appeared to contain theories about the sudden influx of powerful demons that defied the world¡¯sws.


    They even told him that they performed some rituals to purify themselves before facing off against the demons in battle. They did so in order to avoid being corroded by the enigmatic evil force they exude when they transform.


    Incarnation Randy listened carefully, trying to remember every detail of the information. After cross-referencing the information with his main body¡¯s experiences, he realized that the information he was receiving was quite useful despite it being randomly asked.


    Thus, Incarnation Randy was able to learn some key information regarding the demons as well as the types of demons and their ranks. Although the information he was receiving wasn¡¯t what he was most interested in at the moment, he still made sure tomit every detail to memory.


    Even though he personally didn¡¯t care about what they said, he thought that there was a chance that the pieces of information he was gathering mighte in handy for his main body.

 Chapter 302 - 302 Exchange, End of Information Gathering

    302 Exchange, End of Information Gathering


    As the two Holy Knights talked, Incarnation Randy asionally would nod and even guide some of their responses by asking some prompts in between to get more information. At some point in the two Holy Knights¡¯ narration, Incarnation Randy took a chance and naturally poured them a ss full of liquor.


    As he did so, he grabbed an empty unused ss on the table and also poured himself some of the liquor he had poured for them. He did so in order to avoid any suspicions. However, despite pouring himself a ss of liquor, he merely took a few sips throughout the entire exchange. Furthermore, his ss was only a quarter full.


    As he was still eighteen years old and considered a minor, this was his first time drinking alcohol. As a result, he didn¡¯t know his alcohol tolerance level. He also didn¡¯t want to risk getting intoxicated himself while purposely urging the two Holy Knights to drink their liquor in order to get them intoxicated. Therefore, he limited his alcohol intake.


    Although it was arguable whether Incarnation Randy was considered the same person as Randy, or if it really mattered what Incarnation Randy did. After all, he was technically not Randy, as he was only rted to Randy through their connection. However, it was an undeniable fact that Incarnation Randy still acted based on Randy¡¯s knowledge and experience.


    As an Incarnation with slight imperfections, he operated viscerally by using Randy¡¯smon sense, even though he couldn¡¯t fullyprehend the knowledge and experience obtained from Randy.


    As the night wore on, the two Holy Knights grew more rxed, their words slurring slightly as they drank more and more. They began to babble even more, even revealing some secrets they probably shouldn¡¯t have due to their sensitivity.


    Incarnation Randy took advantage of this, pushing them to reveal more and more pieces of relevant information. As a result, they began to talk freely about the inner workings of the Church of Light, its politics, and its other insignificant secrets.


    At some point in their narration, Incarnation Randy asked them about their training routine and missions, and he also included topics about their beliefs. By asking these questions, it made him seem like he was interested in their religion.


    Barian and Zante felt more inclined to speak when they heard him mention their training routine. They started to talk about their strict training sessions that were unknown to the public. They also talked about their dedication when it came to training.


    .....


    But at this point, both Barian and Zante were so intoxicated, so much so that they became more passionate and more open as they spoke their minds.


    Even Zante, who was initially sober, had also let his guard down and gotten himself inebriated. Then, he and Barian began to openly share their current frustrations and hardships they faced in their church.


    The Holy Knight duo talked about their recent failed mission that was caused by their captain who had gone missing in action. They were admonished by the church and then tasked with finding their captain¡¯s whereabouts. If they failed, then they would be held ountable for their captain¡¯s death as they uncharacteristically imed they weren¡¯t there with their captain before he disappeared.


    They said that they would be happy to even find his corpse at this point, as that would absolve them of the possible crime of killing their own captain. As they were certain they were innocent, even if they found the corpse, they could clear their names, depending on the state of their captain.


    Incarnation Randy sympathetically nodded, pretending to empathize with the injustice they were currently facing. However, in the middle of his performance, he suddenly realized that the present conditions were appropriate for delivering his exchange in response to the information he had received from them.


    Initially, he didn¡¯t have anything to exchange with the two Holy Knights. He only nned on exploiting them and leaving them drunk, and then he would disappear like a ghost. However, as he listened to their ¡®unfortunate and sad¡¯ story about their missing captain, he was able to confirm some relevant details regarding their situation. Afterward, he decided on a course of action. He nned on informing them of something that they might want to hear as an exchange.


    With that in mind, he suddenly interjected in the middle of their sad narration: ¡°Gentlemen. I¡¯m so sorry to hear that you lost your captain. I didn¡¯t expect the Church of Light to put you all through hardship because of that. As I sympathize with your situation very much, how about this¡­ I have a unique skill that could help me track down other people, including the dead.¡±


    ¡°What?! Really?!¡±


    Barian and Zante jumped off their chairs and looked at Incarnation Randy with eyes full of anticipation.


    Then, Zante tentatively asked: ¡°Is this what you wanted to exchange with us?¡±


    ¡°Something like that.¡±


    Incarnation Randy replied with a mysterious smile, and then he continued: ¡°However, there is a catch. I need something that belongs to the person I intend to search for. So, do you have anything that belonged to your captain? Something that used to belong to them would do as well.¡±


    ¡°Of course, we do!¡±


    Both Barian and Zante took out their storage pouches and grabbed something from them and then handed it to Incarnation Randy.


    Incarnation Randy looked down at the few shimmering golden cards that were worth a few thousand gold coins and his eyes glittered imperceptibly.


    He then pretended to be confused and doubtfully spoke: ¡°This is¡­?¡±


    Barian happily rified: ¡°These are the golden cards given to us by the captain to keep our mouths¡­¡±


    ¡°Ahem!¡±


    Zante interrupted and said: ¡°These were given to us by our captain after running some errands for him.¡±


    ¡°R-Right¡­ Hahahaha!¡±


    Barian just realized that he almost revealed the horrible actions of their captain to Incarnation Randy whom he recognized as a genuinely kind person. Thinking about Incarnation Randy¡¯s words and character, Barian believed that he might criticize them if he found out about the sphemous crimesmitted by their captain and also their neutral stance throughout those crimes. He also believed that Incarnation Randy might refuse to help them find their captain as a result.


    ¡°Is that so?¡±


    Incarnation Randy looked at the awkward smile on their faces and said: ¡°Anyway, isn¡¯t it too much?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We don¡¯t need those golden cards. As long as you can help us find our captain, it would be worth sacrificing them.¡±


    ¡°Well, if you say so.¡±


    Incarnation Randy nodded and stowed the golden cards away.


    He then told them: ¡°Give me 2 to 3 days. I will find the location of your captain. We can meet here in three days¡¯ time. I will have the information you need by then.¡±


    The Holy Knight duo appeared skeptical as they weren¡¯t sure if they should trust him. Although the young man before them seemed like a genuinely honest person, they had only just met.


    Incarnation Randy noticed their disturbed expressions and reassured them: ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I will definitely find the location of your captain in three days at most. If I fail to do so, you can put a bounty on me or whatever. I won¡¯tin about it.¡±


    Barian and Zante remained silent for a brief moment before nodding their heads in agreement. They were well aware that those with shadow-like powers had tracking skills.


    From their observation, the young man in front of them was most likely a shadow skill user. As such, they believed that Incarnation Randy wasn¡¯t lying about his capabilities at least.


    Therefore, they decided to trust him. Even if he lied to them, they could only me themselves for trusting the wrong person and move on with their original intentions.


    After a while, the three of them once again sat behind the table. A few pleasantries were exchanged between them. While they did that, they drank a few bottles of liquor in celebration of a possible solution to their problem.


    Eventually Barian passed out from having drunk too much. Shortly after chatting some more with Incarnation Randy about the appearance of their captain, Zante, who had more tolerance for alcohol, couldn¡¯t resist it anymore. He also followed suit and fell asleep.


    Meanwhile, after observing their sleeping bodies, Incarnation Randy, who had been feigning drunkenness, quietly slipped away. As soon as he walked out of the room, he met the two girls, who were still standing behind the door with worried expressions.


    The two girls saw the creepy grin on his face and shuddered, as they wondered if something had happened to the two Holy Knights. As much as they wanted to check on them, they felt hesitant to do so.


    At this time, Incarnation Randy turned to them and indifferently said: ¡°The two honorable knights had too much to drink so they¡¯re sleeping in their room. When they wake up, tell them I will see them in three days.¡±


    After saying this, Incarnation Randy turned around and left. He already knew how to leave the establishment as he had memorized the path he took when he followed the female bartender.


    Very soon, he walked out of the pub, only to be weed by the wonderful sight of glittering stars, exuding starlights as they shone through the dark night. Just as the moon lights up the night sky on earth in his world, these stars illuminate the night sky in Acruxia.


    Incarnation Randy observed the stars in the sky in wonder for a few moments before walking away from the establishment to look for an inn to stay in.

 Chapter 303 - 303 Dumbfounded

    303 Dumbfounded


    The main reason why he chose the aggressive method to collect information was that he knew that if his main self eventually made a connection with him, he would undoubtedly find out about his actions. At that time, he might be able to find a way to exploit the information he retained to better their circumstances.


    Regardless of whether his main self would end up exploiting the information or not, it did not matter to him. He just believed that it was better to know a usible enemy rather than remain in the dark regarding their backgrounds. Incarnation Randy believed this wholeheartedly for some reason.


    For that reason, he chose the most efficient course of action in order to quickly expand his overall knowledge and understanding of Acruxia.


    Most importantly, he wanted to save himself some time to continue his tour around the city, hence the aggressive approach. Although he still spent some time getting the information he needed, he felt that it was still better than him blindly following the two Holy Knights.


    After all, if he never had a feasible n to acquire the information he needed, he would have spent days just obtaining a fraction of the information he had acquired.


    ¡­


    As soon as Incarnation Randy left the pub, he made his way out of Church Street in search of an Inn, where he would stay for the night. This was because Randy hadn¡¯t settled down in the city before departing. As a result, he, Incarnation Randy, needed to find a ce to stay now that he was alone and out of touch with Gutz. Furthermore, Gutz was unaware that he had returned.


    As he strode away from the pub, he made sure to browse through the clusters of information he had gathered from the two Holy Knights, with the aim of organizing them. However, shortly after, his mind began buzzing as he tried to sort through them.


    He immediately gave up when he realized he didn¡¯t like the feeling of his thoughts being overwhelmed with unnecessary information. As a solution, he shifted all the information he gathered to the back of his head.


    .....


    Personally, while he didn¡¯t desire the collection of information he gathered, he still felt deep down that he needed them. To be more urate, rather than him needing the information, it was more appropriate to say that his main self might benefit from them. Therefore, he gathered them.


    As for whether the information he gathered would prove to be useful or not, he didn¡¯t care about it. Instead, he cared about having fun in the Imperial City now that he had gotten the current issue out of the way. He felt regretful that he had to waste his time apanying those Holy Knights, as he now had less time to tour the city.


    Naturally, he didn¡¯t forget the reason why he came out. Even though he thought he had wasted his time on pointless information gathering, he didn¡¯t mind it anymore as there was still some time left before it became midnight.


    With that realization, he immediately elerated his walking steps.


    Incarnation Randy steadily walked away, his lonely figure and shadow quickly disappearing into the shrouds of the night.


    ¡­


    A few minutester.


    Incarnation Randy found himself standing at the entrance of an alley. He suddenly recalled the intense and close-call battle with that mysterious woman. Afterward, Incarnation Randy appeared slightly mesmerized.


    He stood at the entrance of the alley with a dazed expression and with various thoughts coursing through his mind. After a few moments, he came back to his senses and smiled in a mysterious, iprehensible way.


    Momentster, he turned away from the alley. Then, he leisurely continued his stroll through the city, experiencing many things and ces that his main body might have ignored due to his cautious character.


    Incarnation Randy decided that, although his main self might have chosen to remain cautious, he, the subsidiary self, would do theplete opposite. He would bravely venture into the city. In ce of his main body, he would view the various parts of the Imperial City with his own eyes. With that in mind, he postponed his intention to find an inn forter.


    With many thoughts coursing through his mind, Incarnation Randy picked a random direction at an intersection and strode away once again.


    Before he visited Church Street, he visited Market Street, Residential Street, and other relevant locations along the way.


    At some point, he arrived at a gambling section located in the center of Entertainment Street. Incarnation Randy wanted to experience new adventures in ce of his main self, who was more concerned about safety above all else. Therefore, he chose to visit the casino.


    Threading lightly out of caution was just not his style of doing things. Thus, he decided to do the things that ¡®they¡¯ subconsciously thought of but repressed.


    With that thought in mind, Incarnation Randy did not hesitate and boldly walked into an establishment that was dedicated to gambling. Although there are many risks when visiting establishments such as gambling houses, he was not worried about those possible risks. Instead, he was excited. Furthermore, he was confident in his own strength to defend and protect himself.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile.


    Inside a dimension.


    The Safe Room.


    Randy had sessfully created his second incarnation without any unnatural interference with the five elements, as well as no mistakes during the construction process of the incarnated body. Exhrated by his wless creation, after covering the naked body of the incarnation, he immediately mobilized his psionic energy inside his [Mental Seed] to replicate his consciousness.


    He then transferred the replicated consciousness that embodied his existence into the incarnated body. Although he transferred the replicated consciousness sessfully without any problem, the assimtion process of consciousness and body would still take a few moments.


    At this point, he saw a system notification shing across his vision. This was a notification from his personal system. Randy briefly read the contents and was surprised to find out that his incarnation had attempted to contact him, but failed to reach him.


    Randy asked his system the reason, only to be told that he was currently blocked from outside interference. The reason was the Safe Room¡¯s istion feature, as it was in a different dimension. However, he was told by the system that he could send information to the outside world with its help.


    Rest assured, Randy decided to check on his Incarnation to find out the reason why his incarnation attempted to contact him. At the same time, he could check the progress of his Incarnation¡¯s assigned mission.


    He sessfully managed to link his consciousness with his incarnation through the telepathic link developed between them when he injected his consciousness into his incarnation.


    A few secondster, Randy was dumbfounded by the stream of memories and emotions he received from his incarnation.


    ¡®What the hell did he do¡­?¡¯


    Randy scowled as he scanned through the memories one by one without missing out on any relevant details. The more he learned about what his incarnation had done, the more dumbfounded and shocked he became.


    Randy immediately began to regret his decision to let his incarnation go back to Imperial City. Perhaps he should have waited to create a wless incarnation and then sent that incarnation back to the city. However, it was already toote to regret his hasty decision.


    As he further scanned through the memories with an appalled expression, he was suddenly surprised by certain actionsmitted by his incarnation. Surprisingly, his incarnation was notpletely unbridled. It still retained part of his personality, even if it was subtle.


    ¡­


    Elsewhere.


    Inside a casino.


    At this point, two people, an old man and a young man, were sitting behind a table. ying cards were strewn on the table in front of them. The atmosphere and tension surrounding the table was intense with no one uttering a single word.


    At this moment, the young man, who was actually Incarnation Randy, ced the cards in his hand on the table and then said with a smile: ¡°It¡¯s my win. You lost once again.¡±


    The old man disagreed with the oue: ¡°Little brat! You cheated!¡±


    ¡°Howe I cheated again?¡±


    Incarnation Randy frown with displeasure and said: ¡°Don¡¯t be unreasonable, old man! This is the third time you have said that I cheated after the game. I even had these girls over here reshuffle the cards a few times for us to get rid of your doubts, and yet you¡¯re still saying the same thing?!¡±


    ¡°So what?!¡±


    The old man insisted: ¡°I said you cheated, so you cheated! You must¡¯ve bribed those girls beforehand to scam and steal my money! I¡¯ve never lost a game to anyone since this particr game was introduced in the Imperial City!¡±


    ¡°What nonsense!¡±


    Incarnation Randy was annoyed and scornfully said: ¡°Are you kidding me right now? Just because you¡¯ve never lost to anyone yet doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re invincible! You just never met a decent opponent!¡±


    The old man then said: ¡°If you say you didn¡¯t cheat, then why are they clinging to you like that? Aren¡¯t you in cahoots with them?!¡±


    ¡°What? Who? This¡­ Right.¡±


    Incarnation Randy looked to his left and right, and then he suddenly realized the crux of the problem.


    ¡°Please take your hands off me!¡±


    He immediately pushed away the two casino girls that had been clinging to him all this time.


    After having consecutively won a few different gambling games since entering the establishment, he was suddenly approached by these two casino girls.


    The two unsuspecting casino girls fell helplessly to the floor from his strong push. When they realized what had happened, their faces were filled with disbelief.


    The two casino girls looked about his age and had been following him the whole time. Despite his stern warnings, as though they were unafraid of him, they kept following him, asionally touching him all over.

 Chapter 304 - 304 Instinctive Planning

    304 Instinctive nning


    Incarnation Randy may have no idea what the two casino girls wanted to achieve by clinging to him, but he didn¡¯t like it when people got in the way of his fun.


    Incarnation Randy observed their unsightly appearance and coldly said: ¡°How many times did I tell you not to touch me?! Don¡¯t me me for being rude, then!¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re so mean, esteemed guest! We¡¯re only trying to keep youpany!¡±


    The two girls pouted with seductive expressions as they skillfully and gracefully got up from the floor. The two stood there naturally, acting as if they had never fallen in the first ce. The other yers in the building also pretended that they didn¡¯t see anything.


    Incarnation Randy stared at the two casino girls and coldly retorted: ¡°And didn¡¯t I already say that I didn¡¯t need yourpany?! Please find someone else to mess with and leave me alone! You¡¯re only disrupting my game here!¡±


    The two casino girls were left speechless by Incarnation Randy¡¯s reply. Meanwhile, after bluntly speaking his mind, Incarnation Randy no longer paid them any attention and turned to face the old man.


    ¡°Now then, what were you saying again?¡±


    ¡°Fine! Seeing how ruthless you were toward those two beautiful girls, I will trust that you didn¡¯t cheat¡­ for now. However, let¡¯s y one more game. If you win again, I will officially acknowledge you.¡±


    ¡°Not that I need your acknowledgment, but whatever. Let¡¯s y onest game. This time, I will be going all in, so prepare yourself.¡±


    .....


    ¡°Hahaha! That¡¯s more like it!¡±


    ¡­


    The top floor of the casino.


    Inside an office.


    The two casino girls from earlier stood in front of a stout middle-aged man, sitting behind his desk and smoking a cigar, reporting to him. Based on his demeanor, he seemed to be the owner of the casino.


    The stout middle-aged man took a long drag and then let out a puff of smoke and said: ¡°So you mean to tell me you failed to hook that brat who had been stealing my money nonstop since he stepped foot into my casino? And also, you im you couldn¡¯t find any storage pouch or ring on him even after searching him? How is that possible? Then, where is he keeping all the money he won?¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t know either.¡±


    The two casino girls shook their heads, and the one who was the oldest among them said: ¡°He only had on a ck coat and a bangle on his wrist. Maybe the bangle is his storage equipment?¡±


    ¡°A bangle?¡±


    The stout middle-aged man pondered and said: ¡°No one had such a design for a storage artifact. However, it¡¯s not impossible for one to get it as a reward from a dungeon. That means he is either a Dungeon Hunter or he stole it from someone else. After all, I haven¡¯t heard of a Dungeon Hunter like him in this city. He must be a newbie, Dungeon Hunter.¡±


    The two casino girls nodded in agreement: ¡°We think so as well.¡±


    ¡°Hmm¡­¡±


    The stout middle-aged man took another drag of his cigar and then let out a puff of smoke that shaped itself into a human skull before scattering into a mist.


    He then instructed: ¡°If that is the case, then I will leave the rest to your discretion. Find him after he leaves and try the peaceful approach to get him to hand over the money he won. In the event that he refuses, eliminate him and bring me his bangle... Don¡¯t forget to bring his ck coat with you. From my experience, I think that the ck coat would fetch quite a sum of money due to its unique design.¡±


    ¡°Understood, sir!¡±


    The two casino girls bowed their heads and replied solemnly. Then, suddenly, the corners of their lips curled up, revealing the devilish and wicked smiles on their twisted faces.


    Earlier, when they searched and couldn¡¯t find any money or an artifact holding the money on Incarnation Randy¡¯s body, they became disappointed. They had no choice but to employ their impable charming skills to keep himpany. Then, they nned to find an opportunity to prompt him to show them where he was keeping his money.


    Incarnation Randy, however, had treated them as if they were nothing but nuisances in front of his eyes. This caused the two of them to be furious, as his actions hurt their pride as the favorite casino girls of every man that visited their establishment.


    They nned on exacting their revenge on him, now that they had discovered that he might just be a rookie Dungeon Hunter. In their opinion, he might have been lucky and got his hands on some money to mess around with in the casino. They wanted to torture him like they did most of the arrogant men that wanted to take away all the money they earned. Those men refused to abide by the hidden rules of gambling in their establishment. Therefore, they were dealt with ordingly.


    Although their establishment did not require identification in order for their guests to remain anonymous, most of the people who had visited their establishment in the past were poor people in search of ways to make quick money. Even if they were Dungeon Hunters, their ranks were not too troublesome to deal with. With that being the case, the two casino girls were confident in being able to handle the case with Incarnation Randy.


    ¡­


    At the same time.


    Inside the casino room downstairs.


    Incarnation Randy was on a winning streak as he beat a few more casino games. He had earned himself a few million gold coins, which had been turned into golden cards for him to carry. For some reason, some of the casino games of Earth, such as poker, were avable in Acruxia.


    Furthermore, as Randy was someone who used to y games with Jiang Chen, Emilia, and his little brother, Rex, when he was young, he had built up ample knowledge and experience, enough to be able to beat the inexperienced yers of Acruxia.


    Naturally, Incarnation Randy, who was Randy¡¯s incarnation, certainly had the same extensive knowledge and experience. As a result, he was able to beat everyone he came across in the casino who imed to be champions in their field.


    Although Incarnation Randy should be puzzled by the fact that there were Earth games in Acruxia, that was not his concern as he only cared about making money. After all, he was making millions simply by spending a few thousand gold coins from the money he received from Barian and Zante, the two Holy Knights. That money served as both payment and a catalyst to aid in searching for their captain.


    Of course, he never nned on finding their captain since everything he said to them was an borate lie he devised on the spot in order to win their trust before he left them for good. As for looking for their captain? He didn¡¯t need to do anything as he already knew where he was and what had happened to him.


    As for the repercussions of his actions, he would leave that for his main self to handle since that was the only method he could think of to avoid any unnecessarymotion. With that conclusion, he decided to clear his thoughts and let loose in the casino,pletely unaware that he was being monitored by the owner of the establishment.


    ¡­


    Midnight.


    Outside the casino.


    Incarnation Randy leisurely stepped out of the casino building with a wide smile on his face. He had amassed a total wealth of 100,000,000 gold coins, which were converted into 100 gold cards, each containing 1,000,000 gold coins.


    With the amount of money he had on him, he could get a luxurious inn to stay at. In addition, he could use the remaining money to buy himself a custom gauntlet. He didn¡¯t want to keep using his bare fists to fight his enemies in the future.


    ¡­


    At the same time.


    Inside the Safe Room.


    Randy who had synchronized his mind with his Incarnation had witnessed everything he did up until he left the casino and then he fell into deep thought.


    Even though it appeared that his incarnation was messing around by visiting the many established streets in the Imperial City, he noticed that his incarnation was not just messing around and that he had his own ns.


    The reason why he believed that to be the case was due to how he schemed his way to get the pieces of relevant information from the two Holy Knights, the subordinates of the Holy Knight Captain that he killed. Although he initially hated the incarnation¡¯s idea of approaching them carelessly, he soon realized after seeing the results that his incarnation¡¯s methods were efficient.


    Despite the risk that came with the methods employed by his Incarnation, the results were far more rewarding in his opinion.


    Furthermore, the borate lie that his incarnation came up with wasn¡¯t apletely baseless or random lie. As for why? It was because he, Randy still had the corpse of the Holy Knight Captain in his spatial ring.


    Before handing the storage bracelet to his incarnation, Randy transferred the corpse into his spatial ring. As soon as he took the corpse out, he also triggered the sea of knowledge in his mind. This allowed specific knowledge to resurface and be clear in his mind. He acquired the base application of that knowledge. This knowledge came from the Ancient ck Tome, so it was quite useful.


    That knowledge also coincidentally required that the caster possess a [Mental Seed] with ¡®Mental Force¡¯ in order for it to be useful. Randy assumed [Mental Force] to be another term for [Psionic Energy] based on the description stated about mental force¡¯s nature.


    Taking into ount the application of the acquired knowledge, Randy could determine that somehow his incarnation might have also received that knowledge and acted based on that knowledge. If that was not the case, then his incarnation was somehow instinctively nning his next steps for him without his consent.


    In other words, whatever careless action, no matter how brazen or crazy his incarnation might have seemed, it would always benefit him in some way.

 Chapter 305 - 305 Brawl

    305 Brawl


    Randy didn¡¯t know what could allow his incarnation to aplish such a feat since he was originally a defective creation. Furthermore, he did not recall having any precognitive ability, so he didn¡¯t know how his incarnation could have such an ability to n instinctively.


    Another thing he noticed was his fearless behavior when confronting others and his mysterious aura that was unlike the boundless murderous aura he exuded. That aura his incarnation exuded was more fierce, imposing, andmanding. On the other hand, the murderous aura he possessed seemed to contain an aura of death, capable of inducing apprehension, hallucination, and terror into any living being.


    Randy decided to dismiss the actions of his Incarnation after realizing that it was actually helping him knowingly or unknowingly by nning ahead. Although he didn¡¯t understand the mechanism behind it, he acknowledged the potential of such an ability.


    To be able to predict and n his course of action based on his knowledge and situation, was an essential ability that he could exploit. Now that he was away from the real world, he might need to depend on his incarnations to gather information for when he extricates himself from the safe room.


    As evident with the way his incarnation gathered those collections of information from the Holy Knights when it seemingly had no interest in the first ce, he could see this bing an invaluable ability.


    If all his incarnations had the same ability for whatever reason, he would be able to gather information from multiple sources.


    Furthermore, based on the indifferent attitude his incarnation disyed when he saw the two familiar Holy Knights, he could tell that this was an ability that his incarnation had no control over and it automatically activated at that time.


    From Randy¡¯s perspective, his incarnation acted quite childish when not triggered by certain events. He believed that his incarnation self had somehow inherited and incorporated more of his childhood memories and behavior.


    As a result of that, he was more inclined to y around than to take things seriously. Randy wasn¡¯t sure if his incarnation¡¯s behavior was desirable or undesirable. The current him had learned the harsh reality of not taking things seriously when the time of his awakening came. Because of that experience, he refused to turn back to being that silly child who only knew to mess around and not worry about his future.


    .....


    With that being said, as long as his incarnation did notmit crimes, he would wee its current behavior over some other kind of behavior. After all, the past him and the present him are two separate entities. Therefore, he shouldn¡¯t cared too much about trivial things rted to his past.


    After concluding the matter, he took out the corpse of the Holy Knight Captain that he had in his spatial ring. He nned on making use of his incarnation¡¯s arrangement to set some things into motion.


    ¡­


    In the outside world.


    A few minutes after Incarnation Randy left the casino establishment, he noticed some silhouettes following him in the shadows. On his way, they had been constantly watching his every movement in the shadows. With his keen sense of perception, Incarnation Randy managed to identify their overall location and numbers.


    Furthermore, he recognized their familiar presence. Although their presence appeared slightly different from before, he could still discern that it was those two casino girls who had been bothering him during his time in their establishment.


    At some point, Incarnation Randy stopped near the entrance to an alley.


    He then calmly stared into the dark alley before him and spoke: ¡°Come out! I know you¡¯ve been following me!¡±


    In the dark alleyway, two female silhouettes were crouching in the darkness, their faces obscured by the hoods of their cloaks. However, the glow of their eyes could not be hidden as they fiercely red at their target. One had long blonde hair and the other had jet-ck hair. Both were armed with sharp daggers, ready to strike at any moment.


    A cold voice was heard as it reverberated through the alleyway: ¡°I guess you¡¯re not half bad for someone who¡¯spletely clueless about his situation. So what if you noticed our presence? You will still die at our hands.¡±


    Incarnation Randy sternly questioned: ¡°Is that what your boss instructed you to do?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll take that silence as a no, then. In other words, you simply wanted to take revenge on me because I pushed you two away, huh? How petty and meaningless.¡±


    Incarnation Randy sounded scornful and disappointed.


    ¡°Even if what you¡¯re saying is the truth, the fact that you¡¯ve offended our casino wouldn¡¯t change. So you¡¯re still going to die, no matter what excuses you make. Also, you¡¯re out of your league this time. We¡¯re trained professional killers.¡±


    A voice sounding annoyed resounded shortly after.


    ¡°Hahaha!¡±


    Incarnation Randy burst intoughter. Then, he cracked his knuckles and smirked: ¡°Looks like youdies could use a challenge. I¡¯m not one to back down from a fight. And I think you¡¯re the ones who are out of your league by deciding toe after me when I¡¯m in a mood to test my current prowess after my resurrection.¡±


    There was a moment of silence.


    The illuminating stars in the sky shone down upon the dimly lit alleyway, casting long shadows that danced on the walls. The two casino girls stood at one end of the alley, daggers glinting in their hands. At the other end, Incarnation Randy stood there. He had a well-built body, his muscles rippling beneath his long-sleeved ck coat, and his fists clenched and ready for action.


    The two casino girls were offended by Incarnation Randy¡¯s arrogant and condescending tone. Without a word, they lunged at him. They attacked him simultaneously, their gleaming daggers shing through the darkness.


    The blonde casino girl lunged forward with her dagger, while the ck-haired one circled around to attack from behind.


    Incarnation Randy was quick to react, dodging the blonde casino girl¡¯s dagger with a swift movement to the left, then grabbing the ck-haired casino girl¡¯s wrist as she tried to stab him from behind.


    ¡°You two really need to work on your teamwork.¡±


    He taunted, twisting the ck-haired casino girl¡¯s wrist until she dropped her dagger.


    The blonde casino girl tried to take advantage of the Incarnation Randy¡¯s distraction, but he was too nimble for her to reach him with her dagger. He grabbed her wrist and twisted it until she dropped her dagger as well.


    ¡°You two are no match for me. Just give up.¡±


    He boasted, a confident grin spreading across his face.


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    The blonde casino girl heard this and coldly sneered: ¡°Is that so?¡±


    Whoosh!


    After she spoke, she threw a hidden weapon at Incarnation Randy at point nk, aiming for his left eye without hesitation.


    Although they were told by their boss to coax him first, they refused to do so, as Incarnation Randy had repeatedly pissed them off. Therefore, they decided to kill him and take everything he had from him. Using this method would save them some time since they get to avoid cajoling him since they didn¡¯t like him.


    However, contrary to the blonde casino girl¡¯s expectations, Incarnation Randy didn¡¯t even flinch, nor did he bother to dodge the iing deadly attack. Instead, before the hidden weapon reached his left eye, his eyes glowed with purple light, halting the hidden weapon in its tracks as it hovered before him. He then caught the object before him with his bare hand.


    Incarnation Randy observed the dart in his hand and said: ¡°To think you resorted to using the very darts your guest used in their challenge in the casino to harm them right after they leave. How tactless of you. Do you not have any other weapons besides your shining daggers and this dart?¡±


    ¡°Hmph! I can¡¯t believe you managed to survive my surprise attack.¡±


    The blonde casino girl took advantage of her attack to undo Incarnation Randy¡¯s grip on her hand, and then made some distance between them. The ck-haired casino girl had also taken advantage of the ruse to create some distance between her and Incarnation Randy.


    At this time, both the blonde casino girl and the ck-haired casino girl were in front and back of Incarnation Randy, respectively.


    ¡°What¡¯s it going to be? Do you want to fight me with your fists now that the two of you have lost your daggers? Don¡¯t tell me you can¡¯t do anything without your precious daggers?¡±


    Incarnation Randy mocked them, riling them with his words. The two casino girls were angry and felt humiliated that they had lost their weapons as professional assassins.


    Suddenly, their bodies disappeared and then reappeared in different positions next to Incarnation Randy. Furthermore, their hand was encased in mana that radiated a sharp aura.


    The blonde casino girl shed at him fiercely. With astonishing speed, the blonde casino girl directly aimed her incredibly sharp de hand at Incarnation Randy¡¯s side. Despite her astonishing speed, Incarnation Randy was unfazed by her sneak attack.


    He easily sidestepped around her, then swung a flurry of fist attacks at her face, chest, and stomach. She barely had time to react before she was sent flying backward, her body soon crashing into the wall behind her.


    [Void Wave Punch]


    The ck-haired casino girl coordinated her attack with the blonde casino girl. She hissed when she saw the merciless attacks suffered by her partner and shouted: ¡°Damn you! Take this!¡±


    Taking advantage of Incarnation Randy¡¯s movement, her de hand was able to target his head at the right time.


    Meanwhile, Incarnation Randy grinned, ducking under her de hand and mming his fist into her gut. She felt breathless, as she gasped for breath. Incarnation Randy wasn¡¯t done with her yet. He followed up with a roundhouse kick that sent her spinning in the air beforending on the ground.


    Incarnation Randy didn¡¯t want to go easy on her. After all, she aimed her attack at his head, which was too deadly for him to be lenient with her. However, surprisingly, the two girls were quite resilient and persistent, as they stood up shortly after being thrashed by Incarnation Randy.

 Chapter 306 - 306 Transfiguration

    306 Transfiguration


    Shortly after the two casino girls stood up from the ground, they coordinated and charged forward as one. But Incarnation Randy was ready for them. His fists blurred as he dodged and weaved around theirbination attacks, delivering blows that sent them flying.


    ¡°You think you can take us both on by yourself? Keep dreaming!¡±


    The blonde casino girl sneered as her aura skyrocketed, empowering her de hand. Peering into the distance, she was poised to strike him with her now oversized, sharp de hand. At the same time, her body glowed in highly toxic light that permeated and contaminated the surrounding air.


    Incarnation Randy witnessed her change, grinned, and then dered: ¡°I already have! ytime is over!¡±


    With an rmingly swift movement, he faded away from the line of attack and then he appeared in front of the blonde casino girl. Before she could sense his presence, he waved his hand that carried a tremendous force, which scattered the toxic aura around her body. He then delivered a powerful uppercut with his fist that sent her flying a few meters into the air before crashing to the ground.


    [Void Rippling Punch]


    The blow was so powerful that she was knocked out cold before crashing to the ground. Incarnation Randy stood over her unconscious body briefly observing her.


    ¡°I told you that you were out of your league, but you refused to believe me.¡±


    Incarnation Randy turned away from her, and then looked at the ck-haired casino girl, who was still conscious and standing in the distance with a devilish smile on his face.


    .....


    The ck-haired casino girl, who appeared to be younger than the blonde casino girl backed away, fear visible in her eyes. When Incarnation Randy attacked the blonde casino girl, she couldn¡¯t see his movement. Furthermore, his appearance and presence had changed drasticallypared to before, making him more terrifying to look at.


    ¡°Please¡­ spare me.¡±


    She quivered as she mumbled inaudibly, but Incarnation Randy still heard her plea a distance away from her.


    However, he slowly approached her in long strides as he shook his head, and said: ¡°You chose the wrong profession. You should¡¯ve picked something you¡¯re decent at instead of killing innocent people for a living.¡±


    Once he stood in front of her trembling body, he chided: ¡°One more thing. You girls should learn some manners regarding fighting.¡±


    Having said that, he delivered the final blow to the defenseless ck-haired casino girl in her stomach, sending her body toppling to the ground, unconscious.


    Incarnation Randy looked down at the scattered debris all around him and the unconscious bodies of the two casino girls with a contemtive look.


    At this moment, his curry blonde hair was adorned with vibrant purple hair at the end of every strand of his hair, and his current grayish-purple eyes glowed brilliantly in the dark alley, looking quite unfathomably terrifying and eerie from an onlooker¡¯s perspective.


    ¡°I suggest you both get back to your boss and tell him to send someone stronger next time. Not that you can hear me, anyway. You¡¯re lucky that we¡¯re in the middle of the city. That being the case, I won¡¯t kill you two. In case someone is watching my actions right now, I don¡¯t want to give them an edge by having your blood on my hands.¡±


    He said with a smirk, before turning and hurriedly walking away from the scene in case they had reinforcement stationed somewhere. He had already learned enough about histest body¡¯sbat prowess from today¡¯s battle.


    Additionally, there was an unexpected power and effect that he didn¡¯t know existed before. When the blonde casino girl aimed at his eyes, he viscerally gained ess to that power. Afterward, he tried to transition into a distinct state using that power and he was surprised by how powerful its effect was on his overallbat effectiveness.


    The effects were quite simr to entering an assimted state, but they were also different. If anything, he could say that it was akin to activating his [Ancestral Bloodline], and yet there was something different about its activation.


    Unlike his crimson-haired and amber golden-eyed [Ancestral Form], he didn¡¯t need the activation of the [Ancestral Regression] skill to enter the newly discovered state. That was because it felt more natural as if it was part of his body¡¯s natural functions.


    That discovery left him puzzled, and at the same time, it piqued his interest as it may be a positive aftereffect caused by being defective. This aftereffect might also be a beneficial one rather than a harmful side effect. Therefore, he wished to study it further before engaging in another fight with someone in the future.


    As he walked away, his appearance returned to normal. His ck coat fluttered in the wind as his figure slowly disappeared.


    ¡­


    A few minutester.


    Three figures in ck appeared in the dark alley. When they arrived, the first thing they did was carefully inspect the bodies of the two unconscious casino girls lying on the ground and covered in bruises all over.


    After discovering that the two girls were still breathing and alive, two of the figures in ck picked up the unconscious bodies of the girls, and then they quickly disappeared from the scene.


    The remaining one, which appeared to be an obscured man, stood there as hemitted to memory the aftermath of the battle, and then muttered: ¡°Just who was that young man? I thought the boss said he was a newbie, Dungeon Hunter. Clearly, he was mistaken. Contrary to our expectations, the fight ended quickly before we could even intervene. Also, by the looks of it, it was a one-sided battle. Had that young man intended to kill them, he would¡¯ve been able to do so easily. However, strangely, he spared their lives. What was the intention behind sparing them?¡±


    After viewing the battle scene briefly with a pondering expression, he also left the dark alley swiftly, his figure disappearing into the shrouds of the night. Themotion caused by the battle between Incarnation Randy and the two casino girls might have attracted the attention of the city patrol squad. In the event that they find him on the site where the battle took ce, they would undoubtedly arrest him for vandalism and for causing chaos in the middle of the city.


    If he were lucky he would only receive a fine for damaged properties and a light sentence in Imperial Prison. On the other hand, if he were unlucky, they could make an example of him by putting him through arduousbor for decades.


    In some cases, thesebors may involve serving on the front lines of the army, which has been regarded as extremely risky and demanding. It would be a miracle to die peacefully. Because if you get caught by demons, they will feast on your body.


    No one would deliberately allow themselves to go through any harsh condition that might be worse than death.


    ¡­


    Inside a luxurious Inn.


    Incarnation Randy was currently taking a warm andfortable bath inside his room. While he did that, he recollected the changes he underwent as he fought the two casino girls.


    The experience was overwhelming and empowering. However, he also noticed that he felt fatigued shortly after undoing his transformation. He decided to call the distinct state he acquired after transformation [Transfiguration].


    That was because he felt like his whole body and soul had undergone a baptism and awakened their true potential for a short period of time. He tried to activate the [Transfiguration] state when he rented an inn and had some privacy.


    However, he couldn¡¯t enter that state again. His only conclusion was that perhaps he was too tired to enter that state again. He pondered what the criteria were for activation other than a near-death or close-call experience.


    He couldn¡¯t think of anything at the moment. As such, he decided to focus on increasing his mastery level with the [Body Strengthen] skill. Since, at the time, his body was under the effect of the skill before he gained ess to the [Transfiguration] state.


    ¡­


    Three dayster.


    Incarnation Randy woke up from hisfortable bed and began his daily morning routine as usual. For the past three days, he had been staying at a luxurious inn on Residential Street called [The Raven¡¯s Nest].


    During the course of the three days, he had continued to attempt to initiate his innate talent, [Transfiguration], but he had failed in all of his attempts to initiate it. However, all of his attempts weren¡¯t for nothing. He also made various discoveries that confirmed that the transformation process was indeed simr to an [Ancestral Form] acquisition.


    Having repeatedly failed to initiate the innate talent, [Transfiguration], to achieve his previous body transformation, he decided to practice initiating it through the [Ancestral Regression] skill. This was in order to select an [Ancestral Bloodline]. The [Ancestral Regression] skill was one of the skills that had been carried over to his incarnate body.


    Apart from the Ancestral Regression skill, his [Blood Space], which seemed to be synchronized with his main body, retained any blood assimted state his main body had prior to his inception. In other words, aside from the [Ancestral Regression] skill, he also had the [Werewolf King of Wind] state, [Stealthy Python] state, [Chimera Monster] state, and the unregistered human blood of the Holy Knight Captain, which for some reason wasn¡¯t listed on his system. The same thing applies to his main body¡¯s version of the system.


    Essentially, he had everything Randy had before he created him. The only problem was that they all required divine points to activate them, as he had no mana vessel to harness the power of magical energy.


    Incarnation Randy concluded that he would have to create a mana vessel himself. However, ording to his examination of his body during the past few days, it was impossible for him to do so. His meridians have been arranged improperly as a result of his imperfect inception.


    With that being the case, even if he could create a mana vessel using the knowledge from the Ancient ck Tome, he wouldn¡¯t be able to circte it throughout his body. Furthermore, it appeared that his incarnated body didn¡¯t have the same physique as his main body.


    Therefore, as far as his findings could be interpreted, he could only use divine points without any drawbacks. The reason was that it didn¡¯t require him to have a meridian or pathways avable to living beings. He only needed to spend divine points and he could activate skills inside or outside of his body.

 Chapter 307 - 307 Mental Scour

    307 Mental Scour


    As he was partly inhuman and at the same time a being of flesh and blood, Incarnation Randy was essentially an anomaly that shouldn¡¯t have existed. After Randy failed to create him with 99.99% uracy, his fundamental constructs should have copsed and he should have disappeared into nothingness as a result.


    Despite that, Incarnation Randy somehow managed to survive. In addition to surviving his first inception, after his second inception, he only retained a few defects. The turn of events was very enigmatic and mystifying, to put it mildly.


    Before his resuscitation, he only maintained a trace of his consciousness and could be considered on the verge of death. However, the main reason why he still did not die was that he wasn¡¯t aplete human in the first ce. By that logic, it was highly possible that Incarnation Randy would someday be aplete incarnation.


    Considering his track record of surviving certain death as well as his ability to not only survive but surpass his previous state, that was not an unimaginable possibility. At least that was what Incarnation Randy himself thought of his strange body after examining it for a while.


    That aside, the thing he discovered when he activated the [Ancestral Regression] skill was that, although the form of the innate talent, [Transfiguration] was rted to his ancestral bloodlines, it wasn¡¯t possible for him to use the [Ancestral Regression] skill to initiate the [Transfigured Form] as he did with the Crimson-haired [Ancestral Form].


    Incarnation Randy decided to experiment moreter on to find out why that was the case. But for now, he decided to put it to the side and deal with pressing matters. Although perhaps as a result of his personality w, he tended to like ying around or having fun, that did not mean that he would neglect his duties simply because of that yearning.


    After all, he could just find a way to satisfy his interests while carrying out his duty. His policy was to work and then have fun. Working all the time without any chance to rx in between could cause dullness, a trait that seemed to be present in his main self.


    After Incarnation Randy was done with his morning routine, he proceeded to change his clothes, except for the ck coat, which was his armor. He then walked downstairs and took a few minutes to have breakfast, which was provided by the inn. After he finished with his breakfast, he left the inn right away to check on Gutz¡¯s progress in the Coliseum.


    Throughout all three days spent in the inn, Incarnation Randy was cooped up in his room. He refused to leave his room until he learned more about the newfound power that he coined [Transfiguration].


    .....


    As a result of his decision, he wasn¡¯t able to go out to continue his postponed tour, which was iplete because he had to spend an extended period of time gathering information from Barian and Zante, the two Holy Knights.


    Despite having to stay in his room all these three days, he didn¡¯t regret his decision to study his discovered innate talent. Furthermore, he had pretty much seen everything there was to see three days ago.


    So far, he has visited Market Street, Residential Street, Church Street, and Entertainment Street. The remaining sections of Imperial City that he hadn¡¯t visited were probably Aristocratic Street, Society Street, and Mercenary Street.


    There was no need to visit Aristocratic Street and Mercenary Street.


    He was initially interested in Mercenary Street for various reasons, but he decided to postpone his interest untilter on. As for Society Street? Later, he would visit it with Gutz in order to check in with the Society for Dungeon Hunters.


    Besides these reasons for staying in his room, if he ventured out frequently these three days, the casino, which he had offended, and had most likely put a target on his back, would undoubtedly make an attempt on his life in the event that he found himself alone out there.


    Although he wasn¡¯t afraid of challenges, he still wanted to be in top shape before fighting once more. That way, he would be able to make full use of every skill or ability in his arsenal to fight his enemies.


    That was extremely crucial preparation. Because it would enable him to have more cohesive control of his body and power.


    ¡­


    A few weeks ago.


    In an isted dimension.


    Inside the Safe Room.


    Randy had taken out the corpse of the Holy Knight Captain of the Church of Light and carefully ced it on the floor of the Safe Room. He then proceeded to examine the state of the corpse.


    The Holy Knight Captain was wearing full-body golden armor with white as a decorative design on the surface. He had blonde hair and pale blue eyes. His face, on the other hand, began to pale the moment he took his corpse out of the spatial ring, which had a portable locked space devoid of the concept of time.


    In other words, everything ced inside the spatial ring would be in stasis, but after they are taken out, they begin to be affected by time as evident in the Holy Knight Captain¡¯s corpse.


    After Randy finished examining the corpse, he closed his eyes and recollected the instructions given by the knowledge he acquired from his sea of knowledge.


    With the instructions still fresh in his mind, Randy acted right away. He mobilized and projected his Psionic energy through his hand. Then, he pressed his hand on the forehead of the corpse, sending his Psionic energy deep inside its brain.


    A few momentster, Randy carefully guided and allowed his psionic energy to permeate every fiber of the brain tissues. He then cast a spell with only two beckoning words ofmand.


    [Memory Scour]


    The moment hemanded his psionic energy with these two beckoning words, it surged violently inside the brain of the Holy Knight Captain¡¯s head nonstop. It was as if the psionic energy was intended to devour the brain of the corpse, but that wasn¡¯t the case.


    A short whileter, Randy removed his right hand away from the corpse¡¯s head. At the same time, he retracted the psionic energy he sent inside the corpse¡¯s brain earlier into his mind through his brain.


    Following this sequence of actions, a stream of scenes started appearing and ying inside Randy¡¯s head. These scenes are the memories of the Holy Knight Captain, observed from a first-person perspective.


    Randy was aware of the effects of the [Memory Scour] spell. He knew that having another person¡¯s memory invade his own memory would have an adverse effect on his personality and identity.


    Therefore, as per instruction, he used his psionic energy to form a protectiveyer inside his Mind Space through thought visualization. This separated the two memories away from each other until he fully grasped them as an experience separate from his true memories.


    A whileter, Randy had roughly observed most of the life experiences of the Holy Knight Captain. His name was Kt Grant. A direct heir to the Grant Family, a highly prominent aristocratic family famous in Acruxia.


    The Grant Family were so prominent that even the Royal Family had to show them respect. Their respect was even greater when faced with their mysterious ancestor. Randy had decided to skim through most of the memories, as they were either useless or unpleasant to look at.


    ording to his most recent memory, Kt Grant was assigned a mission to find the possible hideout of a usible Vampire Queen. The Vampire Queen¡¯s traces were found in the Meistic Forest. In the middle of the mission in the Meistic Forest, they met ra, who was gathering herbs for their vige.


    As for the remaining events, that was already history. After all, that was when Randy arrived and killed him to rescue ra from his clutches.


    Having observed Zt¡¯s memory, Randy witnessed scenes simr to what was happening to ra ying out on multiple asions. Most of his victims weremoners. Very few were aristocratic. Furthermore, those aristocraticdies had insignificant backgroundspared to him.


    The disgusting part was that some of thedies he had his way with were wives ofmon men. In other words, he cuckolded the men of those women and threatened them with the destruction of their families if they reported his deed.


    As for the people heid his hands on, they were the lost, innocent young girls whom he ran into by chance during his ¡®sacred¡¯ missions.


    Whether it was considered Zt¡¯s retribution for his conduct as a Holy Knight or not, the Cardinal of the Church of Light, who was his titr superior, at least in the church, had somehow learned about his sphemous deeds. He then threatened to use it against him.


    Hence, Zt was instructed by the Cardinal to find the location of the possible Vampire Queen under the guise of dealing with the disappearances of the outskirt vigers.


    The Cardinal wanted him to submit his results to him in exchange for him not letting the public and the Royal Family be aware of his sphemous act caused by being possessed by a demon. Naturally, he wanted to take credit for discovering the location of the Vampire Queen, but he didn¡¯t wish to risk his life in doing so. Thus, he ended up using Zt.


    Randy had a scowl on his face the entire time. He was extremely repulsed by Zt¡¯s actions, but even more so by the action of the Cardinal, who condoned his behavior in exchange for some credit.


    After Randy finished browsing through the memories, he decided to seal those memories and find a way to get rid of themter.

 Chapter 308 - 308 Holy Knight Randy

    308 Holy Knight Randy


    With the memory issue settled, Randy turned to his newly created incarnation whose eyes were fluttering open after assimting with his consciousness and memory.


    Momentster, his Incarnation finally opened its eyes and looked around in slight confusion as it still had the memory of Randy before he duplicated his consciousness. Only after seeing Randy, who was silently watching it from the corner, was it able to understand the general situation of what had happened.


    At that moment, the Incarnation¡¯s face became full of life, realizing its existence as a person as well as what his existence represented.


    The Incarnation looked down and briefly examined his body.


    He smiled strangely, then said: ¡°Well, this is a very awkward experience.¡±


    And then he tentatively spoke in a clear voice: ¡°So, I am the incarnation, huh?¡±


    Randy: ¡°...¡±


    The Incarnation noticed that there was no response despite intentionally speaking out loud.


    He raised his head and looked at the corner of the Safe Room where Randy silently squatted, observing the situation. For some time, there was no sound or movement between the two of them. They merely stared at each other as if that was all they could do.


    .....


    The Incarnation suddenly broke the silence and said: ¡°Are you going to talk to me or do you intend to continue staring at me?¡±


    Randy: ¡°¡­¡±


    The incarnation: ¡°¡­¡±


    The Incarnation: ¡°You still won¡¯t talk to me?¡±


    Randy: ¡°¡­¡±


    The Incarnation: ¡°This is getting nowhere. Forget it!¡±


    The incarnation relented but still said: ¡°Just so you know, I know what you¡¯re thinking right now because we¡¯re the same person. I am you. As such, I have the same personality as you. We share the same thoughts and ideas, the same interests and passions, and the same mannerisms as well as the same mindset. Right now, you¡¯re merely curious about whether I have a defective personality like in the first incarnation. Therefore, I don¡¯t mind it if you don¡¯t want to talk to me. It¡¯s just weird seeing you act like that in front of me.¡±


    Randy: ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Still no response? Whatever. Anyway, since I¡¯m an incarnation, my task should be to return to the Imperial City and meet up with the Crown Prince. What a pain. I shouldn¡¯t have made that promise, but I need to show that I¡¯m not some hostile individual they need to keep their eyes on. Why did I act so rashly at that time?¡±


    The incarnation decided to ignore Randy and focus on the things he nned to do as an incarnation.


    Randy: ¡°...¡±


    Randy, on the other hand, carefully observed the actions of his incarnation as he didn¡¯t know how to react. It was extremely bizarre for him to watch someone, who looked exactly like him, act and talk like him. At least his first incarnation was a bit different in the way that he acted and behaved.


    The original version of the first incarnation could be described as simply absent-minded and crude, but the post-resuscitation version could only be described as cunning and mischievous like a teenager. However, the newly created incarnation had his exact personality and his exact manner of speech. The incarnation even assumed his actions were ones that he, the incarnation, hadmitted and was reproaching himself for his actions. This was not something that he could get used to in a short time.


    Regardless, he would need to get over that fact and deal with the current agenda as soon as possible. Thus, after struggling with the strangeness and awkwardness for a few seconds, Randy eventually decided to get himself together and speak to his incarnation.


    ¡°So¡­ Uhm¡­ I need to give you something.¡±


    Randy¡¯s whispering words interrupted the incarnation¡¯s thoughts, and he looked up and doubtfully asked: ¡°What was that?¡±


    Randy cleared his throat and spoke in a clear tone of voice.


    ¡°I have a [Memory Seed] with me here.¡±


    After saying that, he telekically hovered over a transparent object toward his incarnation.


    ¡°A [Memory Seed]?¡±


    Observing the floating object, the Incarnation doubtfully asked, trying to recall where he heard the term. As he was still processing the memories in his head, he had yet toprehend the meaning behind some of the memories, especially ones that carry profound meanings.


    Randy realized that the incarnation hadn¡¯tpletely assimted the memories, as memory scour was mentioned in one of the overview exnations from the Ancient ck Tome. Furthermore, knowledge about the [Memory Seed] was acquired after he duplicated his consciousness. Therefore, his incarnation would have no idea how it worked, even if he had remembered the overview.


    With that in mind, he decided to rify.


    He pointed at the Holy Knight, and then exined: ¡°That was part of the knowledge acquired from the Ancient ck Tome. The [Memory Seed] carries the memory of that person lying over there.¡±


    ¡°The Holy Knight?¡±


    The incarnation frowned and said: ¡°Do you want me to act like him or something?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s not it.¡±


    Randy shook his head but then realized: ¡°No, that¡¯s right. But don¡¯t worry, I have taken precautionary measures to remove all unnecessary memories from it. As a result, it won¡¯t affect your personality. But before that, I need to share my recent memories with you to make it easier to understand the situation.¡±


    After he finished speaking, under the influence of his Psionic energy and the telepathic connection developed between him and his incarnation, he shared his recent memories with the incarnation.


    A few momentster, the incarnation, whose eyes had been closed in order to better absorb the memories, fluttered his eyes open.


    ¡°Oh? That¡¯s what happened.¡±


    The incarnation had a look of astonishment, and then he muttered in enlightenment: ¡°The Ancient ck Tome¡¯s sea of knowledge had been triggered once again. Cryptic spell? So [Memory Scour] was a cryptic spell? A spell for searching for memories of the dead using Mental Force? I assumed the system might have tranted the Mental Force in the Tome as Psionic Energy when I gained ess to the knowledge in the Tome.¡±


    Recognizing something, the incarnation asked: ¡°So, that Holy Knight¡¯s name is Zt?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right.¡±


    Randy nodded in confirmation and then said: ¡°Now that you understand the situation, take this [Memory Seed]. I solidified my psionic energy to the extreme, then replicated the Zt¡¯s memory and stored it inside the [Memory Seed]. This was the only way I could share it with you as it wasn¡¯t originally my memory.¡±


    ¡°All right.¡±


    The incarnation nodded before manipting his Psionic energy to generate a hand that grabbed the ethereal, crystal-like orb that hovered toward him using telekinesis. Afterward, he allowed the ethereal orb to enter his mind through his be.


    A short whileter, the incarnation slowly opened. He hadpletely taken in Zt¡¯s memory, and at the same time isted it from his own memories just like Randy had done.


    ¡°Zt Grant, a direct descendant of the Grant Family, an influential aristocratic family with many contributions to the Human Kingdom throughout the history of Acruxia. So that¡¯s that bastard¡¯s background. No wonder he could do such things despite being a Holy Knight. Did you get rid of the memories rted to ra?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Among others.¡±


    ¡°I guess they had the same content. Anyway, so I need to disguise myself as Zt Grant and infiltrate the Church of Light. So this was because of the first Incarnation¡¯s schemes? Still, I didn¡¯t think that a defective incarnation would suddenly develop such strange abilities. What is the cause of it? Maybe I should check on him and see what he is doing when I return.¡±


    ¡°You should do that, then. I will stay here to train my mana for a while. I don¡¯t know when I¡¯ll be leaving here. Therefore, in the meantime, I will leave you to handle things in the Imperial City. The connection between us is much strongerpared with the one between the first incarnation and me. Moreover, with the help of the system, you should be able to establish a temporary connection with me in case anything happens.¡±


    Randy gave out his instructions to the incarnation and the incarnation only nodded in understanding without the need for further rification. After all, he could understand the subtle meanings that needed to be understood. That included some suspicion that ¡®they¡¯ had on their minds and wanted to confirm after infiltrating the Church of Light.


    The incarnation suddenly said: ¡°But don¡¯t you think we need to have different names or something to differentiate ourselves by? Maybe I should call myself Holy Knight Randy? Or Holy Knight Drany?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. You can decide that on your own.¡±


    ¡°Very well. Then, for now, I will be called Holy Knight Randy until I find a suitable name to change it to.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    ¡°¡­ That¡¯s it? No suggestions? Seriously? Never mind. I will be on my way, then¡±


    Holy Knight Randy shook his head helplessly as he smiled bitterly, recalling the multiple reactions of Randy, who had been avoiding eye contact with him throughout their conversation. He found it amusing. At the same time, he was confused about why Randy was acting strangely in the first ce. Why would he act like that toward him, even though they were technically the same person?

 Chapter 309 - 309 Espionage Mission Commencement

    309 Espionage Mission Commencement


    Holy Knight Randy turned away from Randy shortly after. He walked toward the corpse of Zt Grant, the Holy Knight Captain. After stripping the corpse of pieces of Holy Knight¡¯s armor and a long sword, he put the armor on without hesitation.


    Holy Knight Randy deliberated whether or not to transform into Zt Grant, but he decided against transforming into him for the moment. He chose to transform into himter when he returned to Imperial City.


    With that settled, he looked into the empty void of space in front of him before he tentatively spoke: ¡°System, are you here? Challenger¡¯s system?¡±


    Instantly, two shes of holographic screens with different hues were disyed before his line of sight, hovering side to side.


    [[I¡¯m here]]


    [Yes]


    Both Randy¡¯s original system and the Challenger¡¯s system responded one after another.


    Seeing the two screens, Holy Knight Randy unconsciously smiled and then instructed: ¡°Challenger¡¯s system, send me back to my main body¡¯s previous location.¡±


    [Understood. The transmission will begin in:]


    .....


    [3]


    [2]


    [1]


    Fwhoosh!


    A blinding beam of light instantly enveloped Holy Knight Randy before disappearing. At the same time, Holy Knight Randy¡¯s figure vanished from the scene, leaving Randy staring into the space where he stood.


    There was a brief moment of absolute silence.


    Suddenly, Randy heaved out a sigh of relief.


    ¡®Finally, he left! Too strange! Too strange! This is too strange! How could anyone get used to this? Even twins don¡¯t behave the same way despite looking so much alike. And yet, my second incarnation mostly acts and behaves exactly like me, except for his demeanor. He kept smiling the entire time, which was like me being carefree. My recent experience, however, should make me cautious or tense. So, why are all my incarnations¡¯ moods different from mine?¡¯


    Randy shook his distracting thoughts. He decided not to dwell on it too much. With that resolved, he resumed his training. He would create another incarnation with thest portion of elemental essence crystals.


    Before that, he needed to recover his depleted mana and retain his lost blood. To create this time¡¯s incarnation, he sacrificed more of his blood without any reservations. After all, he wanted an incarnation that was wless in every aspect.


    Additionally, the consumption of mana points and divine points weakened his body, causing him to feel slight fatigue. Before he could resume the creation of the third incarnation, he had to recover from such a fatigued state.


    ¡­


    The Outside World.


    Holy Knight had sessfully been transported to the medical room used by Gutz before Randy departed. However, he was stunned when he appeared in the room. He proceeded to awkwardly stand in the medical room without moving for quite a moment.


    As for why he was acting like that? That was because, at this time, there was someone upying the room. As they seemed to be resting in the room, they didn¡¯t notice him when he appeared in the room. However, they were immediately awakened by the sound he made when he took one step due to the disorientation caused by being transported by spatial transmission.


    The moment the person opened their eyes and saw him standing in the room, they jumped from their bed and shouted in an apprehensive tone: ¡°W-Who the hell are you?! How did you appear out of nowhere like that?! I could¡¯ve sworn that I locked my door before sleeping!¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    Randy was at a loss for words as to what to do at this point. After pondering for a moment, he decided to knock him out first. With that in mind, he slowly approached the upant of the room, who was actually a diator, with a warm smile on his face.


    ¡°W-What do you want to do?!¡±


    The diator could discern that something was amiss with the young man that unexpectedly appeared in his resting room. As such, he didn¡¯t dare approach the other party carelessly. Therefore, he instinctively decided to back away. However, despite his actions, he was still a warrior, so he decided to fight back if the other party wanted to fight.


    With that decided, he fiercely looked at Holy Knight Randy and dered: ¡°I don¡¯t know who you are, but if youe any closer, I will retaliate!¡±


    Holy Knight Randy didn¡¯t bother to listen to him and continued to walk at the same pace. Then, suddenly his figure disappeared and reappeared behind the diator. Before the diator could react, he felt a sharp pain at the back of his neck, followed by an overwhelming sense of drowsiness.


    However, he overcame the drowsiness he felt very quickly. Holy Knight Randy was mildly surprised, but then he recalled the first time he fought Zt Grant in the Meistic Forest. With that as a reference, he increased the strength of his attack by activating his [Body Strengthen] skill and focusing it on his arm. Only then was he able to sessfully knock out the diator.


    Afterward, he mobilized his Psionic energy and allowed it to infiltrate the mind of the unconscious diator to manipte his memories. Indeed, this was also part of the memory-searching spell known as [Mental Scour]. Apparently, even though it was designed to scour the minds of the dead, it was originally devised to search through the memories of the living. But this was only possible if they were unconscious.


    Furthermore, when used on the living, one could easily manipte or erase their memories. It was essentially a forbidden spell as it could even destroy the ego or personality of the one it was being used on.


    Despite being aware of the possible danger using this spell might bring, Holy Knight Randy had no choice but to employ this method to cover his tracks. Not to mention that for some reason, he realized that his control over Psionic energy had improved.


    Holy Knight Randy wasn¡¯t sure if it was because of the incarnated body or simply because he inherited the [Synergy] skill. If it was the [Synergy] skill, he hadn¡¯t activated it yet. Despite this, he could still feel that his control over Psionic energy had undergone a change, which was intriguing and baffling at the same time.


    Regardless, Holy Knight Randy still activated his [Synergy] skill to ensure sess in manipting the diator¡¯s memories by making him forget seeing him in his resting room.


    Momentster, Holy Knight Randy retracted his hand from the forehead of the diator. He had seeded in erasing the diator¡¯s memory of him.


    With that issue addressed, he took off the golden and white pieces of armor and a long sword on his side that looked like a decorative weapon. Then, he carefully put them on the floor of the medical room to avoid making any noise.


    Fortunately, the diator was still unconscious. Therefore, he could take his time to handle the current matter with peace of mind.


    Holy Knight Randy looked around to search for something to carry the pieces of Holy Knight¡¯s armor and long sword, as he didn¡¯t want to wear such mboyant armor out of the room. After all, that was the Holy Knight¡¯s armor specifically worn by the Captain of the Holy Knights of the Church of Light.


    The moment he steps out of the room, his identity and whereabouts will be revealed. Even if he disguised himself as Zt Grant, it wouldn¡¯t change the detrimental effects revealing himself in the Coliseum would bring him, as it would still foil his ns to infiltrate the Church of Light. As such, he needed to hide the Holy Knight¡¯s armor and long sword until he left the Coliseum.


    A few momentster, Holy Knight Randy found the sleeping diator¡¯s storage pouch, which was more spacious than the one Randy gave him that included the spatial items used by Zt Grant.


    After checking and discovering that there weren¡¯t any mechanisms attached to the storage pouch, Holy Knight Randy forcefully opened the storage pouch. He took out the things inside, and then ced them inside his own storage pouch that he emptied beforehand.


    Afterward, he ced the items he took out of his storage pouch, including the Holy Knight¡¯s armor and long sword, into the diator¡¯s storage pouch. Of course, his pouch had now be his.


    Fortunately for the diator, there was enough space in the storage pouch Holy Knight Randy reced his pouch with. Therefore, his things wouldn¡¯t be misced as a result of Holy Knight Randy¡¯s actions.


    As both Randy and Holy Knight Randy weren¡¯t sure whether or not they could open Zt Grant¡¯s spatial items without triggering a mechanism set up by their ancestor, they left it as it was. As a result, Holy Knight Randy couldn¡¯t use any of Zt¡¯s storage items to store the pieces of Holy Knight¡¯s armor.


    When the pressing matter was dealt with, Holy Knight Randy adjusted his posture, put on a smile, concealed his presence using [Absolute Stealth], and covertly walked out of the room.


    Even though he had the [Absolute Stealth] skill, including the [Traceless Form] Technique, he still wasn¡¯t confident it would be effective against some powerhouses. Therefore, to be on the safe side, he decided to walk out as ¡®Randy¡¯ whose identity was only stated as a newbie diator.


    Even if they found out about his concealment, he would simplye up with an excuse that he just didn¡¯t want to stand out. However, if he was discovered as Zt Grant, no amount of excuse would exin why he was in the Coliseum when he should be on his Holy Knight duties.


    Momentster, Holy Knight Randy came outside after avoiding the perception of the diators he met on the way, including the receptionist in the Coliseum¡¯s lounge. Without dy, and while still under the effect of his concealing skill, he marched in the direction of the city gate.


    But before that, he nned to stop on the way to find an empty alley to change into the Holy Knight¡¯s armor. Then, he would transform into Zt Grant, officially assuming his identity as Captain of the Holy Knights of the Church of Light.

 Chapter 310 - 310 Moment of Truth

    310 Moment of Truth


    By using thebination of the [Ancestral Regression] skill and the Blood Assimtion ability, he would be able to transform into the Holy Knight Captain Zt Grant.


    Holy Knight Randy forgot to take a material sample from Zt Grant¡¯s corpse before he left. As such, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use the [Myriad Species Transformation] skill he gained in Acruxia to transform into him.


    That was why he decided to rely on the [Ancestral Regression] skill that he used to transform into Zt Grant once in the Safe Room.


    After assuming his identity, he would sneak out of the city and pretend that he had just arrived in order to establish the credibility of his identity. However, in order to achieve all of that, he needed to know the current time. It was necessary to know how much time had psed since Randy left for training, as that would allow him to determine when to show his face in Imperial City.


    ¡­


    Present time.


    Incarnation Randy had just arrived in the vicinity of the Coliseum. Then, he saw a person standing near the entrance of the Coliseum with a slight frown on his face.


    That was without a doubt Gutz whom he came to meet up with.


    Gutz seemed to have kept his promise to wait for Randy to return. Thus, afterpleting his attribute integration a few hours ago, he decided to wait near the entrance to the Coliseum. After all, he didn¡¯t want to risk missing him at the city gate if he had decided to watch out for him over there.


    .....


    When Incarnation Randy saw Gutz, he smiled and called out to him while waving his hands.


    ¡°Gutz!¡±


    Gutz heard the familiar voice and immediately turned his head. Then he saw a familiar yet unfamiliar person striding toward him. This person looked exactly the same as Randy who he hadn¡¯t seen for three days, and at the same time, he looked like aplete stranger.


    The reason for his reaction was that Randy had never smiled at him or anyone ever since he met him. As a result of that, he had evene to assume that he was simply an impassive individual who couldn¡¯t show emotions. And yet, that very same person was now smiling and even waving at him? What was going on?


    Despite his thoughts, he still reciprocated the gesture by smiling back at him and waving at him as he approached him.


    ¡°Randy! You¡¯re back! That¡¯s good! That¡¯s good! I thought that you were nevering back after waiting for you for so long!¡±


    The two of them started approaching each other in long strides with smiles on their faces. Once Incarnation Randy reached Gutz, he immediately proceeded to give him a big, strong hug, taking Gutz by surprise.


    ¡°Randy?¡±


    Gutz tentatively spoke, feeling the strong hands of Randy around his back. Just when he was about to say something else, Incarnation Randy spoke first.


    ¡°Gutz, it¡¯s nice to see you again! Oh, right! Gutz, you¡¯re a fistfighter, right? Do you know where I can get my hands on some durable gauntlets? Money is not a problem.¡±


    Gutz looked at Incarnation Randy whose expressions were more animated than usual as if he was looking at a mysterious animal whose background was unknown.


    In his opinion, the current Randy was too strange. Not only was he acting quite friendly, but he was also even asking him where he could get his hands on gauntlets the moment they saw each other again? Wasn¡¯t he a sword user? Although he had solid fist-fighting skills, Randy had told him that he was a sword user. Therefore, he assumed that he was a sword user and not a close-quartersbatant.


    While close-quartersbat was not mandatory, some people learned it to increase their survival chances when they run into unexpected situations during dungeon hunting or magical beast hunting. As such, he concluded that Randy was one of those people who learned the basics of hand-to-handbat but didn¡¯t have any skill rted to it as their main upation wasn¡¯t rted to their fists like him.


    Despite his bewilderment, he still decided to ask: ¡°Why do you need a gauntlet? Aren¡¯t you a sword user?¡±


    ¡°Huh? Oh, right.¡±


    Incarnation Randy was puzzled by his question before recalling that Randy did use sword skills thanks to his assimtion of the Holy Knight Captain¡¯s blood.


    With that recollection, he pondered briefly and then said: ¡°You¡¯re right. I do know how to use a sword but I also know some fist techniques, so I need the gauntlet just in case.¡±


    ¡°Is that so?¡±


    Gutz felt like something was not right with what he was saying, considering how long it took him to answer his simple question. Not to mention the way he reacted at first.


    Regardless, he didn¡¯t want toe across as either noisy or nosy, so he decided to trust his words instead of doubting him. However, while he trusted him and wanted to help him in purchasing a decent gauntlet, he also felt that he had waited all this time for him for nothing.


    After all, the reason why he waited for him near the Coliseum was partly that he wanted to challenge him once before they left for the Society in order for him to check-in. As ¡®Randy¡¯ expressed such enthusiasm for purchasing a gauntlet, he couldn¡¯t bring up the topic of his challenge.


    He felt disappointed but he didn¡¯t want to let ¡®Randy¡¯ down just because of his selfish motives.


    With that in mind, he let out a sigh and said: ¡°Alright. Then, I will take you to the finest equipment shop in Imperial City where I purchase my custom gauntlets. You won¡¯t be disappointed.¡±


    Incarnation Randy nodded and said with a smile: ¡°I hope that is the case.¡±


    With that decided, the two marched in the direction of Market Street where various shops were located.


    ¡­


    At the same time.


    On the road away from Entertainment Street.


    Two men d in golden and white armor were hurriedly walking in the direction of the city gate. They looked furtively to their left and right, as they engaged in a heated discussion with furious expressions. As they spoke, the reaction of one of them, in particr, was contorted with veins bulging in and out of existence every time he spoke.


    ¡°Damn it! I told you not to trust that bastard, but you refused to listen. Now, look what has happened! He lied to us about finding the whereabouts of the Captain and made us wait for nothing in the pub!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t me it all on me. You also trusted him at the time and spilled the answers to the questions he asked us, remember? So, why are you making it sound like I am the one who made you believe in him when you trusted him on your own ord?¡±


    Naturally, the identities of the two men d in golden and white armor were the two Holy Knights known as Barian and Zante.


    Because of their blind trust in Incarnation Randy, they waited until the afternoon at the pub where they met to contact him. Having no way of knowing when he woulde or a way to contact him, they continued to patiently wait by rekindling their trust in the genuinely kind young man they met over the course of the day instead of leaving for Alpheotus City one day prior to search for their captain themselves.


    However, they soon regretted their ill-founded decision based on misguided trust when the appointed time decided by the Cardinal was upon them. As they still hadn¡¯t found the location of their captain, they became restless.


    Only then did they conclude that they were most likely yed by the young man they met the other day. Having been left with no other choice, they decided to abscond from Imperial City right away. They wanted to leave in haste before being discovered by the Cardinal and getting charged for a crime they didn¡¯tmit.


    At some point, they reached the city gate. Usually, when they pass by guards stationed at the city gate, they exchange casual pleasantries with them. However, this time, Barian and Zante couldn¡¯t afford to chit-chat with them. As such, they nned on ignoring them and walking away as fast as they could.


    However, when they reached the vicinity of the city gate, they heard amotioning from outside the city gate. It appeared that the guards were apparently arguing with someone at the front of the city gate.


    Thismotion outside immediately captured the attention of both Barian and Zante. They thought that the sly Cardinal Juke was aware of their stay in Imperial City the entire time. As a result, he anticipated their escape when they couldn¡¯t deliver what he requested and sent people to arrest them on their way out of the city.


    The two of them became anxious about the possibility, as they exchanged meaningful nces. However, they needed to confirm their doubts. If it was as they were thinking, then they wouldn¡¯t be able to escape anymore, even if they wanted to. That would also mean that their escape was futile from the beginning and that they were merely dancing in the palm of Cardinal Juke.


    At this point, Barian and Zante wouldn¡¯t doubt it if the appearance of that mysterious young man had something to do with the Cardinal trying to mess with them. Regardless of their apprehensive thoughts, the moment of truth would only be reached after they had witnessed themotion outside of the city.

 Chapter 311 - 311 Espionage Mission Successful

    311 Espionage Mission Sessful


    Taking a few deep breaths to calm their nerves, Barian and Zante opened the city gate themselves. Afterward, they looked around and saw the guards at the entrance of the gate speaking to someone in front of them in a respectful tone. Curious about who could possibly make those guards act in such a way, they turned to look at the person in question.


    The person in their view was a serious-looking man who appeared to be in his twenties. He had well-trimmed short blonde hair and pale blue eyes that were slightly narrowed.


    However, when Barian and Zante saw the stern look and demeanor of the person in their line of sight, their hearts nearly skipped a beat as a result of the sheer joy they felt at this moment.


    ¡°Captain! You¡¯re alive!¡±


    Both Barian and Zante shouted simultaneously as though they had just escaped the illusory clutches of the Death God that had gripped their throats, beckoning them to give up their lives for the greater good all this time.


    ¡°Hm?¡±


    The blonde-haired, blue-eyed man d in well-designed golden and white armor turned his head to look at the two silly men who suddenly knelt on the ground with tears pouring out of their eyes involuntarily out of joy.


    ¡­


    A few hours ago.


    .....


    Holy Knight Randy who had made adjustments to his ns a few days ago, made his way toward the entrance of the city gate that led inside Imperial City.


    When he arrived at Imperial City, he found out that it was still the first day of the promised three-day period. With that discovery, under the effect of his [Absolute Stealth] skill and [Traceless Form] Technique, he managed to get out of the city and spent two days outdoors.


    It was not a problem for him. He took the chance to camp outdoors with the various provisions he had bought from Market Street before departing.


    Currently, the three-day period was about toe to an end and he needed to visit that pub Incarnation Randy had visited with the two Holy Knights. He wanted to meet them in order to officially announce his return to the city and at the same time prove the abilities of Incarnation Randy.


    When he meets Barian and Zante, he would state that he was alerted through a mysterious means by someone toe to the Imperial City to meet up with his subordinates who were looking for him. And that it was due to that he was able toe to the Imperial City to search for them.


    With that n in mind, he approached the two guards at the gate, but he was stopped by the guards who immediately demanded his identification.


    ¡°Stop right there!¡±


    ¡°What do you want?¡±


    Holy Knight Randy tentatively asked in the cold voice of Zt Grant.


    ¡°Please prove your identity by showing us your identification card!¡±


    One of the guards tightly gripped his sword as he mentioned this to him.


    ¡°Even if I am a Holy Knight of the Church of Light?¡±


    Holy Knight Randy tentatively asked them as he didn¡¯t remember Zt Grant ever showing these guards his identity whenever he came through the city gate.


    ¡°I¡¯m afraid there are no exceptions to this rule!¡±


    The second guard chimed as he also gripped his sword. He was ready to strike in case Holy Knight Randy did not want toply with their demands, which would suggest that he was an enemy in disguise.


    Listening to their words and actions, Holy Knight Randy wondered if the two guards were newly stationed and as a result didn¡¯t recognize his identity as Zt Grant.


    Regardless, Holy Knight Randy was caught in a bind as he technically didn¡¯t have Zt Grant¡¯s identification card on him. All of Zt Grant¡¯s things, including his identification card, were ced in one of his storage items.


    Having no choice, he decided to brute force his way through using Zt Grant¡¯s status and reputation.


    ¡°Do the city guards no longer recognize me just because I¡¯ve been away for some time? How dare you stand in front of the Captain of the Holy Knights? Do you have a death wish?!¡±


    Holy Knight Randy shouted with a convincingly furious expression, and at the same time, he took the helmet that covered half of his face, revealing his handsome appearance to the ignorant guards in hopes that they would recognize him.


    Sure enough, one of them recognized his unique features from the rumors that he had heard and gasped in shock for a moment. Then, he smacked the other guard who still didn¡¯t recognize the person before them, and informed him of the identity of Holy Knight Randy.


    The other guard shuddered in fear after listening to his partner, and then both of them bowed and said: ¡°Your honor, we¡¯re sorry for not recognizing you! We were only recently stationed to guard the city gate, so we have yet to meet you in person! On that ount, may you find it in your heart to forgive us for our ignorance. Please allow us to open the gate for you.¡±


    ¡°Hmph! Then, you should have done your research before assuming your newly appointed position. Now, peel off your useless eyes and recognize who I am. If you dare talk to me in such a disrespectful way like you did today the next time we meet, I won¡¯t easily let you off the hook.¡±


    ¡°¡­Understood. Please allow us to open the gate for you, your honor.¡±


    ¡°You should¡¯ve done that from the start instead of wasting my time like this.¡±


    Holy Knight Randy scoffed and chided as he waited for them to open the door for him.


    The two guards quickly turned around to open the gate, only to see an oddity. At this moment, they discovered that the city gate had been opened halfway through by itself from the inside. They wondered what had happened.


    Then, the next moment, under their puzzled and watchful eyes, through the partially opened gate, two pairs of eyes were seen surreptitiously looking out. When the guards took a closer look, they were stunned by the identities of the two people behind the city gate.


    Shockingly, it was two Holy Knights who peeked through the gate. They observed them briefly before turning their gazes toward the Captain of the Holy Knights behind them.


    The two guards immediately thought they were in trouble for their earlier actions, hence the appearance of the two Holy Knights. However, what happened nextpletely left them dumbfounded.


    The two Holy Knights walked through the city gate and then shouted: ¡°Captain! You¡¯re alive! Thank the goodness of the Light God!¡±


    Barian and Zante were overjoyed and they knelt on the ground with tears streaming down their cheeks.


    Holy Knight Randy was startled inwardly by the sudden appearance of the two armored people. However, upon closer observation of the armored people in front of him, he instantly recognized them as the two armored men, or to be more specific, the two Holy Knights, Barian and Zante whom Incarnation Randy had deceived to gather information.


    At this point, Holy Knight Randy calmed down. He focused his mind and immediately devised a n regardless of the situation unfolding before him. After all, the present conditions could only suggest that the espionage mission appeared to be sessful.


    A momentter, Holy Knight Randy stared at Barian and Zante and sternly questioned: ¡°Barian and Zante, do you care to exin? What are the two of you doing here in Imperial City? Aren¡¯t you supposed to be in Alpheotus City? Did the two of you useless foolse to Imperial City thinking that I was dead after I ventured out to search for that vampire¡¯s hideout?¡±


    ¡°But Captain, weren¡¯t you¡­ you know¡­¡±


    ¡°Weren¡¯t I what? Instead of searching for my whereabouts or patiently waiting for my return, you ran to Imperial City? Are you really my trusted subordinates?¡±


    Barian and Zante embarrassingly dropped their heads and spoke apologetically: ¡°W-We¡¯re sorry, Captain. We honestly thought you were dead when we found your blood¡­ you know, at the scene.¡±


    ¡°Enough nonsense! Lead the way. While you¡¯re at it, tell me what happened during my absence.¡±


    ¡°Will do, Captain!¡±


    The guards at the entrance observed their conversation and slowly realized that it wasn¡¯t about them and they gradually became rxed.


    With that realization, they stood aside and let Holy Knight Randy nonchntly walk past them. Holy Knight Randy gave the two guards a cold re momentarily before turning away and walking behind the two Holy Knights into the city.


    The two guards stood there rigidly in fear when they felt his gaze. They watched as his figure disappeared before heaving out a sigh of relief.


    ¡°¡±We lived!¡±¡±


    ¡°Damn. That Holy Knight Captain¡­ Wasn¡¯t he that vengeful and spiteful Zt Grant from the rumors whom I heard came from the tycoon family of the Royal Capital, the Grant Family¡­ I hope he doesn¡¯t hold a grudge against us and make things difficult for us in the future because of what happened just now.¡±


    ¡°Did you not see the way he red at us before walking away? I doubt he would let us go for crossing him. There¡¯s just no way for someone like him to let us go without any payback. Curse my luck!¡±


    The two guards felt that it was better to join the army to fight in the war than to remain in their current position and be exploited by Zt Grant. However, they only got their city gate guard position recently, so it was too early to receive a transfer to a different position.

 Chapter 312: Coincidental Encounter

    While the three of them walked in the direction of Church Street, Barian and Zante recollected and informed their ''captain'' of the events that transpired during his absence. Holy Knight Randy listened to them with an impassive expression as he walked in the middle of the two Holy Knights.


    At some point, Barian and Zante finished their narration. However, when Holy Knight Randy heard about what the Cardinal of the Church of Light had done, he feigned displeasure and suddenly halted his movement.


    Then, he angrily voiced his discontentment: "That old degenerate! I haven''t settled my score with him after he dared to threaten me! Now he even dared to be so cheap enough to abuse his authority and status as a Cardinal to attempt to denounce my subordinates! Does he think I''m some pushover just because I agree with his demands? Let''s see who will have thest say!"


    ''Authority and status? Like you''re one to talk about such things when you abuse yours all the time.''


    When Barian and Zante heard his outburst of anger, they readily and openly agreed with him, frantically nodding their heads. However, deep down, they held the words of their ''captain'' in contempt. As such, they couldn''t help but mock their Captain.


    Despite the contempt they held for their Captain''s actions, there was only one thing they couldn''t deny about him. And that was that Zt Grant, despite being a prideful person, had made it a habit to shelter people he considered trusted subordinates. As such, Barian and Zante benefited a lot from him as he looked out for them as their leader.


    Hence, they were always conflicted between his outstanding leadership as a captain and his distasteful misconduct as a person of noble status. Essentially, he was someone they liked as a captain but did not approve of his actions behind the scenes.


    After expressing his frustration through his furious words, Holy Knight Randy''s gait became hurried as he continued walking, leaving behind Barian and Zante, who followed him closely. As they tried to keep up with the pace of their ''Captain'', they realized that his gait was bing faster and more menacing as though he was hurrying to murder someone out of spite.


    At this moment, Barian and Zante confirmed that their ''captain'' was infuriated by the Cardinal''s actions. They, too, were angry as they would have either lost their lives or beenbeled murderers because of Cardinal Juke, who wanted to use someone as a scapegoat for his unsupervised mission assignment.


    After all, the mission given to them wasn''t part of the official missions handled by the Holy Knights. Normally, the Pope had to approve all missions before anything else. The selection criteria for missions were usually based on the urgency of the specific mission. In addition, they were based on how probable it was for the Holy Knights toplete it without sustaining any unnecessary casualties.


    As the main duty of the Holy Knights was to protect the civilians in the Imperial City, they weren''t allowed to frequently leave the vicinity of the city. Only when there were sightings of strong demons causing havoc on the outskirts of human territory would the Holy Knights sortie together with Dungeon Hunters avable to confront the demons.


    The other reason why the Church of Light was picky with its mission selection was due to the possibility of loss caused by being rash in their judgments or decisions. Their church was more pivotal in fighting against the demons, as members of the Church of Light had the light attribute skills, which was the natural nemesis of the dark attribute of the demons.


    Thus, if more people with light attributes were lost as a result of their carelessness, humanity would inevitably lose the war against the demons. For that reason, official missions were always screened carefully before being issued.


    Despite knowing this truth, Cardinal Juke deliberately issued an unofficial mission without telling the Pope. Then, he even nned on iming credit for the mission aplishment by saying that he used his divination skills to predict the whereabouts of the Vampire Queen.


    However, now that their captain had gone missing during the unofficial mission he assigned them, Cardinal Juke needed someone to take the me for his unsupervised and unofficial directive.


    With that being the case, he would have very likely orchestrated the death of Barian and Zante. He would have done this by allowing the Grant Family to be aware of the death of their sessor, Zt Grant. Without a doubt, the death of the Grant Family''s sessor would have a great impact on the prestige of the family.


    The Grant Family would have used every means at their disposal to find the culprit. Furthermore, if they were told that Barian and Zante were possible suspects, they would have tortured them for answers.


    Even though Barian and Zante were Holy Knights and light attribute mana users, they wouldn''t be an exception to the wrath of the Grant Family. That was just how terrifying and influential the Grant Family was. The only oue for them would have been their inevitable death.


    Thinking about what would have happened had their captain not returned, Barian and Zante gritted their teeth in exasperation as they shuffled behind Holy Knight Randy, who led the way toward Church Street, where the Church of Light''s sacred building was situated.


    After walking through the path on the outskirts of Entertainment Street, Holy Knight Randy marched forward, and at some point, he arrived at the outskirts of Market Street, where small-time sellers set up their stalls to sell items.


    While walking with a stern expression on his face, he suddenly heard a series of surprised reactions behind him. He turned and nced around wondering what had happened.


    Then, he heard Barian speak as he pointed in a certain direction. At the same time, he felt a tingling sensation in his mind that instantly caused him to be aware of what was going on.


    "Zante, that guy over there is the bastard that scammed us, right?"


    "You''re right, I noticed him too. But why is he walking with that musclehead?"


    "Forget about that! That son of a b*tch! I''ll go and kill him for messing with us!"


    "Wait! What do you think you''re doing right now?"


    "Don''t stop me, Zante! That motherf*cker lied to us!"


    "Have you forgotten that the Captain is here with us?"


    "So what? You proceed ahead and follow the Captain back to the church. I''ll catch up with you guyster!"


    "Seriously, are you out of your mind right now? So what if that person had lied to us? Haven''t we already found the Captain? Can''t you see what matters most? Moreover, do you think you can beat him in a fight? Or have you already forgotten what happenedst time?"


    While Barian and Zante were in a heated argument, Holy Knight Randy silently walked past them without alerting the duo.


    A few secondster, Barian and Zante were abruptly startled when they noticed that, at some point, their captain was heading in the direction of that young man who had scammed them.


    Barian suddenly muttered in puzzlement: "Wait¡­ Why is the Captain walking toward that bastard?"


    Zante replied: "Who knows? Perhaps the Captain wanted to talk to Gutz? Although I don''t remember the two of them getting along in the past. Anyway, let''s follow him and see what''s going on."


    ¡­


    A few hours ago.


    As Gutz and Incarnation Randy were about to head further into Market Street to visit a Weapon Shop rmended by Gutz, they were suddenly sidetracked from their initial course. That was because Incarnation Randy became interested in some items along the way. As a result, they spent the next few hours checking different stalls selling different items.


    Incarnation Randy purchased some misceneous items from those stalls. Afterward, he followed Gutz, who led the way toward the center of Market Street, where all the expensive and high-quality items were sold.


    However, before they could walk more than two meters on the path they chose, Incarnation Randy suddenly halted his gait as he noticed that someone was following them. Before he could turn around, he suddenly heard a familiar voice.


    "We finally met¡­ Uhm¡­ Brawler Randy?"


    "Who?"


    "Your name, of course! I just decided that on the spot!"


    "Do I know you?"


    "Of course, why don''t you look again?"


    Holy Knight Randy: ''Hey, y along with me. I need to deceive the two Holy Knights following me.''


    Brawler Randy: ''So those two idiots are also here? This must have been nned by the main body. Then, I''ll just y long. Moreover, I don''t want those two idiots chasing me for revenge.''


    "Oh? You''re that Holy Knight Captain? Have you found your subordinates?"


    "That''s right. Thanks to you. I can''t express my gratitude enough with words, so how about I invite you to my family sometime?"


    "That wouldn''t be necessary. I only did what I promised your subordinates.


    "Oh? So my subordinates were the ones who sought you out for help?"


    "That''s right. As passionate as they were about finding their Captain, I couldn''t resist helping them to the best of my ability. Anyway, I have some business to attend to with my friend here, so please excuse us."


    "Alright. Then let us meet someday to discuss your rewards."


    "As I said, there''s really no need for rewards or gratitude."


    Brawler Randy: ''What the hell are you doing saying these things? Can''t you see that I''m busy right now?''


    Holy Knight Randy: ''The act needs to be realistic enough for them to believe. Otherwise, it''d be pointless.''


    Brawler Randy: ''Whatever! I''m leaving, so let''s end this exchange right here.''


    "If you refuse the reward, then why don''t we be friends? What do you say to that?"


    "..."


    Brawler Randy: ''Why are you so annoying?''


    Holy Knight Randy: ''Just answer the question and this will be over sooner.''


    "Okay, we can be friends. Then, see youter."


    Brawler Randy abruptly turned to Gutz and said: "Gutz, let''s go."

 Chapter 313: Meeting with the Cardinal

    Gutz, who had been dumbfounded by their friendly exchange, stuttered as he nkly replied: "O-Okay."


    Then, he was dragged away by Brawler Randy who had lost his impatience with talking to Holy Knight Randy.


    On the other hand, from behind, Holy Knight Randy shouted: "Then, I will most likely see you tonight!"


    Brawler Randy didn''t bother responding to him and merely held Gutz by the wrist and dragged him away as he marched in the wrong direction. Instead of Gutz leading the way, Brawler Randy was now the one leading the way, even though he had no idea where he was headed.


    After making some distance between himself and Holy Knight Randy, Brawler Randy undid his strong grip on Gutz''s wrist. Gutz felt the slight paining from his wrist and wanted toin to Brawler Randy before noticing a deep scowl on his face. He also noticed that Brawler Randy was lost in thought, as he looked in the direction they came from.


    ''That incarnation bastard was reading my memory the whole time without my permission, even though he wasn''t the main body. That whole y along with my act thing was just to buy some time for him to read all my memories through our telepathic connection. He even dared to order me around just because he was the ideal and perfected incarnation without ws.


    On the other hand, I couldn''t read his memory at all. It was as if his memories were shrouded in smog. Luckily, I had blocked some of the memories in order to prevent them from being essed by the main body before leaving my inn. Therefore, that incarnation most likely didn''t see my transfiguration state.''


    Afterining and brooding for a few moments, Brawler Randy turned to face Gutz''s curious eyes. Brawler Randy pretended not to notice his curiosity and initiated a random conversation with him. The two of them eventually resumed their trip after a brief exchange between them that felt like they were mumbling gibberish to each other.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile.


    On the other side.


    With a smile on his face, Holy Knight Randy stared in the direction where Brawler Randy vamoosed with Gutz. Then, the next moment, the smile on his face abruptly disappeared, reced by an indifferent countenance.


    ''That incarnation¡­ He was definitely hiding something from me, but why would he do something like that, though? Was he wary of me? Why? ording to what I got from his memories, he seems to rely on his fists when inbat. After consulting with Gutz, he nned on buying a gauntlet. Unfortunately, I couldn''t read all of his memories because he left the range of our telepathic connection.


    Besides that, he also appeared to have offended some people at a casino on Entertainment Street. As long as he could deal with them by himself, it didn''t matter. However, he had the appearance of our main body when he was there, which could be a problem. Whatever, I should focus on my end of things before worrying about that incarnation''s problems.


    Sooner orter, our main body will discover his actions.''


    After deeply analyzing and collecting his thoughts, Holy Knight Randy indifferently turned to face the questioning gazes of his subordinate briefly before walking away without paying them any mind.


    Meanwhile, Barian and Zante, who were curious about what had transpired made their own guesses as to what it entailed.


    Barian whispered: "Do you think the Captain knew that scammer?"


    "I don''t know for sure."


    Zante shook his head and replied in a low voice: "But from their exchange, the Captain must''ve been helped by him."


    Barian impatiently asked: "Then, is it possible that he didn''t lie to us, that Solomon, was it?"


    "Maybe."


    Zante slowly nodded and replied with uncertainty: "It does seem like it. We''ll have to find a chance to ask the Captain about itter."


    Barian slowly nodded in agreement as he thought about his actions earlier. In the event that the young man had not lied to them, then he would have used him of something he didn''t do. While the method he promised was different, they still managed to locate their Captain before their doomed fate was sealed.


    While lost in their thoughts, Holy Knight Randy relied on Zt Grant''s memories to return to the Church of Light''s sacred building.


    ¡­


    Thirty minutester.


    They had arrived.


    At this moment, Holy Knight Randy and the two Holy Knights, Barian and Zante stood in front of a magnificent building of worship. Without further dy, Holy Knight Randy took a step forward, pushed open the huge door, and walked inside the Grand Hall. Barian and Zante hesitated for a moment before following him without saying a word.


    ¡­


    On the second floor of the sacred building, where members of the Church of Light asionally took residence, the Cardinal in charge of the Imperial City branch of the Church of Light, sat on his chair with a peaceful expression in his praying room with his eyes closed. He was wearing a clerical, long robe reminiscent of a cassock, except the design was slightly different.


    The color of the clerical, long robe was white with golden designs on the hems, making him appear noble and dignified.


    At this moment, his eyes abruptly fluttered open. He used a irvoyant tool and noticed that someone had entered the first floor of the sacred building. Immediately, he initiated a magic formation under him, activating a spell. Following the spell activation, his figure became enveloped by a pir of golden light before disappearing.


    The next moment, he reappeared once again. However, this time, he was standing on the altar on the first floor of the sacred building with his hands behind his back. His demeanor, at this moment, seemed holy due to the faint holy aura he emitted from his body.


    As soon as the Cardinal appeared in the room, Holy Knight Randy recognized his presence. He wasn''t surprised or shaken by the imposing holy aura that made one feel the need to kneel before him. Instead, he ignored the pressure on his body and casually strode forward.


    By contrast, the two Holy Knights, Barian and Zante, could not resist the pressure and tacitly stood behind, no longer proceeding forward.


    The brazenness disyed by Holy Knight Randy surprised Cardinal Juke. He wasn''t expecting Zt Grant to still be unruly before him, especially considering that he had managed to obtain the ''y'' that could ''mold'' the rise and fall of his exceptional reputation in Imperial City.


    Once Holy Knight Randy stood a reasonable distance away from the Cardinal Juke, he calmly looked up as he observed him. Cardinal Juke was a middle-aged man. With a slightly stout physique, he stood there confidently. With a stern expression, he eyed Holy Knight Randy with a look of contempt.


    The moment their gazes met, Cardinal Juke impatiently demanded: "Sir Grant. Where have you been all this time? Also, have you found it?"


    Holy Knight Randy replied: "I am sorry, Your Eminence. What might you be referring to?"


    "Stop ying dumb, Sir Grant."


    Cardinal Juke frowned, restraining his irritation, and said: "You know damn well what I mean. Have you, or have you not found the hideout of the Vampire Queen? Answer me!"


    "I am sorry, Your Eminence."


    Holy Knight Randy disyed a look of realization and replied: "I have searched the forest thoroughly but I couldn''t find the hideout of the Vampire Queen you spoke of. Were you mistaken, Your Eminence? Perhaps it was never there, to begin with."


    "Do not insult my intelligence, Sir Grant!"


    Cardinal Juke shouted in exasperation and then said: "I know for certain that the hideout exists because I have already used my divination to search for it beforehand¡­ You are merely lying to me to protect your own interests, aren''t you? I can see it in your eyes, Sir Grant."


    "..."


    Holy Knight Randy was slightly shaken by his words.


    A momentter, he opened his mouth and spoke: "I assure you, Your Eminence, that I have not found the hideout of the Vampire Queen you spoke of."


    "Then why were you missing for days during your mission? What were you doing during the time that you left your subordinates all by themselves? Don''t tell me you were colluding with that vampire, Sir Grant."


    Cardinal Juke suspiciously red at Holy Knight Randy as he spoke these baseless words of usation out of frustration that he couldn''t get what he wanted, even after talking with him for this long.


    ''So that''s how he ns on ying. You can''t get what you want, so you might as well make up something to get my attention, huh? What a corrupted individual!''


    Holy Knight Randy was appalled by the actions of the Cardinal of the Church of Light. He wondered why he even wanted to go to such an extent to get the location of a Vampire Queen from him.


    With that in mind, he decided to scour through Zt Grant''s memory and search for the reason. However, the next moment, his expression changed abruptly before returning to normal as if nothing had happened.


    Cardinal Juke noticed the change on his face and assumed that he was angry about his provoking words, which he said intentionally. He nned on using the statement to thought-provoke him into considering the power he had in his hands as a Cardinal of the holy and sacred Church of Light.


    Contrary to his expectations, Holy Knight Randy calmly responded to him: "Your Eminence, surely you''re jesting. I would never betray the church, much less lie to you about something relevant to promoting the Church''s reputation."


    Cardinal Juke gritted his teeth in frustration after hearing his calm response and retorted: "Your loyalty to the Church is not in question, Sir Grant. But your loyalty to me is. In case you have forgotten, I have in my possession a piece of information and evidence that could ruin your reputation and your career as an honorable Holy Knight. And I am not afraid to use it if you do not do as I say."


    Holy Knight Randy scowled in displeasure but still asked: "What is it that you want me to do then? I can''t divulge something I don''t know about, Your Eminence."

 Chapter 314: Reprisal

    "Regardless of whether you have found it or not, I want you to think about it for yourself before deciding what to do."


    Cardinal Juke was unconvinced and borated: "First, you can tell me right now and your reputation and career would be kept as it is. Second, I want you to go back to the Meistic Forest and find that hideout of the Vampire Queen no matter the cost. I want you to inform me about it within a week. And this time, I wouldn''t just take your word for it, so do not bother to lie about your findings."


    Upon hearing the deration of Cardinal Juke, Holy Knight Randy scowled deeply and bluntly asked: "And what if I still couldn''t find it?"


    Cardinal Juke merely replied with a cruel expression: "Then I will have no choice but to expose your secret to the Church and to the public. You will be stripped of your title as an honorable Holy Knight and emunicated from the Church of Light. Your prominent Grant Family will be shamed, and your legacy will be forever tarnished."


    "..."


    ''Such a savage beast of a human is the Cardinal of the Church of Light?!''


    Holy Knight Randy thought silently to himself in disbelief.


    Then, he put on a stressful expression and reluctantly responded: "¡­I understand, Your Eminence. I will do my best to find the hideout as soon as possible and ry it back to you."


    With that statement, Holy Knight Randy turned around and left the Grand Hall of the Church. Meanwhile, he thought of a reprisal n to employ against Cardinal Juke, an unreasonable man with unquestionable authority in the Church of Light.


    Furthermore, if he were to allow him to remain in his position during his stay, he would undoubtedly disrupt his infiltration. He had to find a way to protect his identity, including his reputation. The easiest method was to get rid of Cardinal Juke while he still had the chance.


    Although Zt Grant deserved every bit of Cardinal Juke''s maniption, he was not Zt Grant. Zt Grant died at Randy''s hands a long time ago. Therefore, there was no need for him to suffer the consequences.


    After making a considerable distance away from the Church, Holy Knight Randy turned to his subordinates and instructed: "The two of you. I have an important task for you."


    "What are your orders, Captain?"


    Barian and Zante unconsciously perked up their ears and listened attentively.


    Holy Knight Randy paused for a bit and then continued: "I want the two of you to go back to the Grant Household where I live, inform the steward about the ckmail against me by Cardinal Juke, but remember to be discreet. Do not include unnecessary details or else I will kill the two of you myself. Did I make myself clear?"


    "Yes, Captain!"


    The two of them solemnly nodded in understanding of the implication of Holy Knight Randy''s words.


    "Very good."


    Holy Knight Randy nodded approvingly and said: "After you find the steward, tell him to contact the Pope through my family in the Royal Capital. Tell him to notify the Pope that I have something of great importance to ry to him urgently. Moreover, he should include a hint that suggests that the Cardinal couldn''t be trusted with the information I have on hand, do you understand?"


    "Understood, Captain!"


    "If you understand, then get to work. I will mislead the Cardinal by trying to leave Imperial City. In the meantime, the two of you will handle the task I assigned. After you''re done, meet up with me outside Imperial City. As for the rest, we will discuss thatter."


    The duo of Holy Knights felt curious and tentatively asked: "Captain, did you perhaps find the hideout of the Vampire Queen?"


    "I did."


    Holy Knight Randy admitted nonchntly, shocking Barian and Zante. They curiously wanted to know why he didn''t just inform Cardinal Juke about it, even though he had the chance.


    Holy Knight Randy frowned when he noticed that they remained rooted in the same spot and had shocked expressions on their faces.


    With an angry expression, Holy Knight Randy chided: "What''s wrong with the two of you? Why are you still standing there? Did you not hear the urgency in my voice? If you don''t get out of my sight right now toplete your task I''d..."


    "S-Sorry, Captain. We''ll get to it right away!"


    Barian and Zante noticed that their Captain''s aura was umting and immediately scurried away at their top speed.


    Meanwhile, on their way, they all had the exact same thought.


    ''Something is different about the captain, but what is it? He''s still the same arrogant and irreconcble captain we know, but¡­ Since when did the Captain be shrewd to scheme against that old schemer, Cardinal Juke?''


    After pondering about the change in their Captain''s behavior for a while, they eventually decided not to dwell on it. They increased their pace as they headed in the direction of Aristocratic Street, where all the rich and branches of aristocratic families resided in Imperial City.


    After they left, Holy Knight Randy turned around and walked away. As he walked, he recollected his exchange with Brawler Randy and felt reassured about the matter with the Crown Prince. Thus, he headed toward the city gate, preparing to leave Imperial City as promised.


    ¡­


    At the same time.


    Brawler Randy and Gutz just came out of the weapon shop after purchasing an expensive gauntlet crafted to handle his level of strength, which was equivalent to a Level 65 strength on average, even though he was only Level 55 by the standard of Acruxia''s system. The reason for the discrepancy had to do with the Challenger''s system not factoring in his foundational strength before leveling.


    Standing on the side, while leaning against the wall of the weapon shop, Gutz observed the excited look on Brawler Randy''s face as he inspected the gauntlets they had purchased with a pondering expression.


    Previously, he had wanted to inquire about Brawler Randy''s rtionship with the notorious Grant Family''s heir, Zt Grant. However, Brawler Randy did not appear to want to talk about it. Therefore, he had held back his curiosity until now.


    From his experience and untold ounts about Zt Grant, he was a self-centered, self-entitled, and self-indulgent man who believed that he was deserving of all his fortunes and that the god of light had chosen him to be the next apostle.


    Gutz had never liked Zt''s pompous behavior whenever he interacted with Dungeon Hunters such as him. As for the various rumors he heard about him, which might or might not be credible, they only contributed to proving his dislike for him wasn''t misguided.


    Zt had always viewed Dungeon Hunters, who remained as Hunters for reputation, as uncivilized dogs. He stated that Dungeon Hunters were people who couldn''t afford to uphold any responsibility or properly serve their country wholeheartedly.


    Instead, he believed Dungeon Hunters only sought riches and fame through hunting in Dungeons. As a result of his reasoning, he viewed Dungeon Hunters with disdain whenever he met them. Likewise, Dungeon Hunters hated him to the core for looking down on their dedication to their career path.


    Gutz didn''t want to believe that the same person who held contempt for Dungeon Hunters would suddenly approach Brawler Randy, who was also a Dungeon Hunter, with a smile on his face, as though they were close friends.


    Thus, he wanted to ask Brawler Randy whether or not he was caught up in some shady entanglement with Zt.


    If it turned out that wasn''t the case, then he would just be overthinking their rtionship. Regardless, he needed to confirm his concerns first.


    At this time, Brawler Randy who felt Gutz''s undisguised gaze on him, smiled helplessly and said: "You know, I can tell you''re staring intently at me, right? What are you curious about? About that knight we met before?"


    "¡­"


    Gutz did not respond and only continued to stare at Brawler Randy for a few moments before nodding his head.


    "Alright."


    Brawler Randy nodded and exined: "If you really want to know so badly, I can tell you. But I don''t want to go into the details. I can only tell you that I did that knight a big favor by helping him reunite with his subordinates whom he had been separated from. That was all that happened."


    "Is that so?"


    Gutz felt that Brawler Randy was still hiding something, but he still let out a sigh of relief and said: "I understand. But you know, I''ve been meaning to ask you this since your return, but what happened to you?"


    "What do you mean?"


    Brawler Randy raised his eyebrows in surprise at his strange question.


    Gutz gathered his thoughts, emphasized, and doubtfully said: "What I meant to say was that¡­ I mean, it''s not like I hate your current energetic demeanor, but it just feels strange when a few days ago, you barely said a word to me when I spoke to you, you know."


    "Ah, so that''s what you meant."


    Brawler Randy realized the reason for his doubtful question and could only shake his head before muttering: "I guess that was how ''he'' came across to you guys, huh?"


    Gutz couldn''t understand his words and asked: "What did you say?"


    "Nothing. Don''t worry about it."


    Brawler Randy waved his hand and said: "To be honest with you¡­ The reason why I acted the way I did was because I wasn''t familiar with you guys yet."


    "Is that really the case?"


    Gutz was still skeptical and wanted confirmation.


    Brawler Randy firmly nodded in confirmation: "Yes."


    "..."


    Gutz remained silent for a brief moment before relenting, saying: "I will take your word for it if you say so."


    With that settled, Brawler Randy suddenly remembered something and said to Gutz: "You know, I think we might have to postpone my check-in to tomorrow instead of today. I have a troublesome meeting that I have to attend today, after all."

 Chapter 315: Meeting the Attendant

    "What? Trouble? What kind of meeting? If it''s as troublesome as you say, I can tag along just to be safe."


    From the way Brawler Randy spoke, Gutz assumed that Brawler Randy was in trouble with someone and needed his assistance, so he offered generously.


    "I don''t know if you can tag along."


    Randy spoke uncertainly: "They never said I could bring anyone along, but who knows? Anyway, it doesn''t matter since this was forced on me. You cane along."


    "Alright then."


    Gutz suddenly asked: "So, where are we going again?"


    Brawler Randy replied: "I think the meeting spot is not far from the Coliseum."


    Gutz asked further: "Then who are you meeting over there?"


    Brawler Randy stated: "I think it is some guy from the Royal Family, no, it was supposed to be an attendant from the Crown Prince."


    "What?! The Crown Prince?! You mean our Crown Prince?"


    Gutz was instantly shocked by Brawler Randy''s casual revtion that sounded as if he was just talking about some irrelevant person.


    "Yes. Let''s go. I think I amte for the appointment."


    Meanwhile, Brawler Randy carried a frown on his face as he led the way in the direction of Entertainment Street with Gutz following behind him with a dazed expression. He wondered what was going on with ''Randy.''


    ¡­


    At the same time.


    In the slum on Entertainment Street.


    A dignified old man, donning a butler''s attire, stood by himself at the entrance of a dark alley. He had been standing there since the morning in hopes of meeting the esteemed guest rmended by Crown Prince Lukkas, his master.


    Out of respect for whoever could gain the trust of his master, he came ahead of time, to the meeting spot, to wait for them. However, even though the promised time had arrived, there was still no sight of the person whom the Crown Prince had rmended he pick up.


    This discovery infuriated the old Royal Attendant. He had served the Crown Prince since he was born, and he understood his character very well, far more than anyone else. Not even the King, his father, knew him as well as he did. As such, he knew what kind of people he liked to hang out with and those that he kept out of his circle of friends.


    However, based on the current course of events, the person the Crown Prince rmended he pick up this time was definitely not someone whom he would normally take a fancy to. After all, not only were theyte for an appointment, but this turn of events also showed no respect for his master, Crown Prince Lukkas.


    At this point, he wanted to leave and inform the Crown Prince that the person he said to pick up had reneged on their promise. However, at this very moment, he saw two silhouettes approaching in his direction in a leisurely manner.


    The old Royal Attendant frowned deeply as he squinted his eyes. He saw two young men approaching his direction in casual steps as though they were only taking a stroll in the streets. One of them had a carefree expression and the other had a frantic expression, seemingly advising the carefree young man out of something to no avail.


    Once they got close enough to him, about 50 meters away, the old Royal Attendant perked up his ears and managed to hear their conversation in the distance.


    "Randy, why are you not listening to me when I''m telling you we should hurry to the meeting spot? The so-called ball you spoke of should start in a few hours and you said you were already runningte."


    Gutz revealed this fact to Brawler Randy as they walked toward their destination.


    "While that may be the case¡­"


    Brawler Randy turned to Gutz and asked out of curiosity: "Why do you know when the ball will start?"


    "Of course, I know when it will start! Because I was also invited!"


    Gutz proudly admitted and then said: "Although I was also invited, I turned it down at thest minute because I was waiting for you at the time and wasn''t sure if I could make it. Besides, I''ve been to these balls many times before so it''s no big deal to miss it this one time. Moreover, Vairon and the others would inform me of anything that I would miss this time around, anyway.


    But that aside, I can''t believe that a newbie like you would also be invited to join the ball. And by the Crown Prince, no less."


    "Oh."


    Brawler Randy only replied with this sound, seemingly uninterested.


    "What do you mean by ''Oh''? Is that really your response? Do you not understand the significance and implication of you being invited by the Crown Prince to the ball?"


    "What do you mean by¡­"


    Brawler was about to inquire about what he meant before he stopped himself and then suddenly said: "Never mind that for now. I think we''ve arrived at our destination. Let''s continue our conversationter."


    "What?"


    Gutz btedly reacted by turning his head to look up in the distance. Only then did he realize that someone was standing in the distance, seemingly waiting for them up ahead. He also recognized the appearance of the person ahead and muttered in surprise: "Oh. Is that Gasper? The Crown Prince''s personal attendant?"


    As soon as Brawler Randy and Gutz were within viewing range, the old Royal Attendant cast a brief look at them, recognizing one of them, but he still curiously questioned: "Which one of you is Sir Randy?"


    "I am."


    Brawler Randy casually replied, but he could sense that the person in front of him was displeased by his response. Their demeanor as they stood there suggested that they had been waiting for quite some time.


    Sure enough, the old Royal Attendant gave him a stern look and rebuked: "You''rete, Sir Randy. What could possibly be more important than fulfilling the promise to the Crown Prince? Do you not recognize that your casual attitude after being tardy is disrespectful?"


    Brawler Randy was also taken aback by the old Royal Attendant''s attitude and exined: "I know. I had some urgent matters to attend to, and that''s why I couldn''t make it on time."


    The old Royal Attendant was not pleased with the excuse he gave and sternly said: "I was aware that you and the Crown Prince had chosen a specific meeting time ahead of time. You should have nned your affairs ordingly. Your tardiness is not only disrespectful to the Crown Prince''s consideration but also to the other warriors who may have to wait on you if you werete to the asion."


    The old Royal Attendant disliked people like him the most. The appointed day had arrived, and he had been anxiously awaiting his arrival. However, minutes turned into hours, and there was no sign of him showing up. He began to wonder what had happened. Did the person rmended by his master forget about the promise? Or was he simplyte?


    Since he couldn''t even contact them, he had no choice but to wait for them until now, which was extremely frustrating for him.


    Brawler, who was annoyed by the old Royal Attendant''s ignorant words, argued back: "I understand your frustration, but I had urgent matters to attend to. I''m sorry for beingte, but it was not intentional. Also, I never promised with certainty that I''d attend the ball, so you can''t me me for being a bit tardy."


    Gutz, who had been silently watching the exchange, intervened: "Gentlemen, let''s not take things too far. We are all civilized individuals, and we are all on the same side here. Let''s not spoil the night with petty arguments. And Randy¡­"


    Gutz grabbed and pulled Brawler Randy to the side and whispered: "You shouldn''t cause any trouble with this person. Although he looks a little old right now, he used to be a renowned warrior back in his heyday. A very strong one at that. Furthermore, you are the one who showed upte, remember? So why are you making a big deal out of this?


    You didn''t listen to me when I said we should hurry since it was the invitation of the Crown Prince. As things have already progressed to this stage, it''s better to reconcile and forget about this matter. You don''t want to be on the bad side of a member of the Royal Family, do you?"


    Brawler Randy pondered his words and noted that even though he wasn''t the one who arranged this meeting, and he was just forced to attend at thest minute by Holy Knight Randy, his belligerent actions might perhaps bring him someplications with the Royal Family, which would ruin his ns for an unbridled lifestyle.


    After realizing that Gutz was right, Brawler Randy decided to put his feelings aside and reconcile with the old Royal attendant.


    He hesitantly bowed and said sincerely: "I am sorry for my rude words just now. I truly didn''t intend on arrivingte on such an important day, nor did I mean to dishonor or disrespect the Crown Prince''s status with my actions. But as I said, things just happened the way they did and it waspletely out of my control.


    Furthermore, I had no way of rying the change in my schedule to the Crown Prince ahead of time, hence the mimunication and my tardiness."


    The old Royal Attendant, seeing the sincerity in Brawler Randy''s apology, forgave him and said: "I understand that you had important matters to attend to. However, your casual actions earlier made it seem as though you didn''t care at all that you were tardy. It is important to pay attention to your actions next time, as it might cause people to misjudge you on that alone. Now then, let us go.


    The ball was scheduled to start in a few hours and we need to arrive in the Royal Capital by then."

 Chapter 316: Arriving at the Royal Dance Hall

    After the old Royal Attendant finished speaking, he led the way out of the alley and arrived at a hidden location. There, a carriage was parked and waiting for them. Shortly after, they entered the carriage and made their way to the Royal Capital where the gathering would be held.


    During the ride, the old Royal Attendant exined the program for the ball and the various protocols that they needed to observe. Brawler Randy listened carefully, not making a fuss, even though he was mostly uninterested.


    Meanwhile, Gutz sat outside the carriage with the acting coach, who turned out to be an acquaintance he had met once before. He conversed with them since he was told he could apany Brawler Randy.


    As a familiar person to both the old Royal Attendant and the coach, he was allowed to tag along without a problem. Furthermore, he was originally invited, so it wasn''t a concern for him to tag along in the first ce.


    As they bared the emblem of the Royal Family, they didn''t have to be stopped by the guards stationed near the entrance to the Royal Capital. As such, they passed through the gate and continued their journey to the Royal Capital without hindrance.


    Once they reached a spire-looking structure after traveling a few miles away from Imperial City, they proceeded to use the teleportation station, which was supervised by the Royal Family to expedite their trip. As a result, the entire journeysted only three hours before they arrived at the entrance to the Dance Hall of the Royal Castle.


    Brawler Randy and the old Royal Attendant alighted from the carriage. Then, they met with Gutz who was already standing outside the huge building in admiration. Despite seeing it every year, he was always mesmerized by the sheer size of the Royal Dance Hall building.


    Momentster, they entered the Dance Hall. Immediately, several intense gazes from some of the people in the room were cast on them, causing Gutz to stop in his tracks for a moment.


    ''What''s going on?''


    He silently wondered as he noticed that the atmosphere in the Dance Hall wasn''t quite right.


    Meanwhile, Brawler Randy stood on the side with a calm expression on his face, unperturbed by the intense gazes on him. He had no particr purpose for being there except to meet the Crown Prince. As such, now that he was there, he could only search for him and meet him as soon as possible.


    With that intention in mind, Brawler Randy nced around the enormous hall filled with men and women dressed in formal dresses and attire in search of the Crown Prince.


    However, after scanning through the room with his [Dimensional Sense] skill, facing the displeased gazes of the men in the room in the process, he still couldn''t find the Crown Prince''s location. This discovery caused Brawler Randy to frown in confusion.


    ''Where is he? I wanted to ask him why he invited the main body to this ce, but he''s nowhere to be seen. Should I leave? No, I just arrived here. It would be considered rude if I left immediately after arriving. Maybe I should stay for a bit.


    If the Crown Prince still doesn''t show up by then, I will leave.''


    As Brawler Randy made up his mind and was about to inform Gutz that he would like to find a seat somewhere to sit until the festivities were over, he was suddenly approached by a group of men with intimidating auras around their bodies.


    ¡­


    At the same time.


    In one of the rooms in the Dance Hall, Crown Prince Lukkas held a conference with Vairon''s group and other notable parties of Dungeon Hunters, such as Fortress Defender Manock and Great Sword Dien. At this moment, his expression changed abruptly. Then, the next moment, he smiled as he looked up at Vairon, who sat behind a long table.


    Crown Prince Lukkas suddenly revealed: "I just heard from Gasper that Gutz had arrived alongside the guest I invited to today''s asion."


    "Oh."


    Vairon was pleasantly surprised and said: "That Gutz. To think that he turned down today''s invitation to hang out with Randy. He''s really hopeless. On that note, it was a surprise when I heard you invited a newbie diator who was with Gutz three days ago.


    I knew it had to be Randy since he was the only one with Gutz after we separated, but at the same time, I couldn''t believe Randy would arouse your attention on his first day in Imperial City."


    "Well¡­"


    The Crown Prince had a helpless look on his face when he recalled the fight between Randy and the mysterious woman that day. At first, he was only curious about his prospect, but that battle he witnessed opened his eyes and it was the determining factor that made him want to get Randy on their side, no matter the cost.


    He believed that if Randy became an enemy of the Royal Family or humans as a whole, it would be quite devastating to handle. After all, the skills andbat techniques Randy employed at the Coliseum weren''t taught anywhere. Instead, it seemed to be his exclusive fighting style.


    Not to mention that his level, ording to the umpire in the Coliseum, was merely Level 55. Despite such a low power level, he still disyedbat prowess beyond Level 60. He believed there was a possibility that he could even fight against Level 70 and above, which was not a small feat.


    Level 70 was considered high-levelbatants among humans. The same applies to other races as well. Above Level 70 was considered an extraordinary level of power. Only powerhouses, such asmanders and generals of armies had such levels.


    That fact spoke volumes about Randy''s potential as a warrior without going further into details. Hence, he wanted to have a friendly rtionship with him, and if possible, I''d like to recruit him into the army for the uing decisive battle.


    Putting those thoughts aside, Crown Prince Lukkas stood up from his seat and announced: "All right! Now that everyone has arrived, I suppose it is time to begin the main event of today''s ball. Everyone should proceed downstairs to find your partners, rx and fully enjoy yourselves for the night."


    After pausing for a bit to look at everyone present, he continued: "At midnight, we would adjourn the asion andmence the gathering of warriors in this room while everyone else who is not a warrior would have to take a break downstairs. Our agenda for today, as usual, is to share and discuss current events.


    The information we gather from various outputs will help us formte a counterattack n for the foreseeable future. That is all I have to say for now. You may now leave."


    With that deration, the soldiers and warriors inside the room stood up and vacated the conference room. Only Vairon and his party remained in the room.


    Vairon suddenly asked out of curiosity: "So what do you n to do by inviting Randy here to the party?"


    "Nothing much."


    Crown Prince Lukkas smiled and replied: "I only wanted to talk to him and establish a cordial rtionship with him. Then, hopefully, I could recruit him and let him join the army. From what you know of him, do you think I stand a chance of convincing him?"


    "I''m not too sure about it myself."


    Vairon shook his head in uncertainty and said: "I only know him for a few days at most. And from my impression of him, he seemed pretty aloof and unfriendly. He barely says anything when you speak to him. Whenever you ask him questions, he only gives curt replies with stoic expressions, and sometimes with an asional forced smile. Well, that''s just my opinion.


    Don''t let it dissuade you from approaching him."


    Then he jokingly continued: "You can try to convince him at your own discretion. Who knows? Maybe he might bend to your will because of your status as Crown Prince of this nation."


    "If only it was that easy¡­"


    Crown Prince Lukkas smiled wryly as he shook his head, and then said: "However, I don''t n on relying on my status to persuade him. Anyway, I will take your word for it and meet him downstairs right now. I''m sure he is looking for me as we speak since I was the one who invited him to this asion."


    As soon as he finished speaking, Crown Prince Lukkas walked toward the door. However, noticing no one was following him, he turned around and curiously asked: "Are you noting? If you n on skipping the event, I advise against it. You guys should also join the others and enjoy yourselves before the conference.


    Don''t let people misunderstand and misjudge my hospitality and think that I forced you guys to stay cooped up in here all by yourself."


    "Hahaha!"


    Vaironughed boisterously and said: "Don''t worry, my dear Crown Prince. We won''t let that happen. We would have a small meeting between us. After that, we''d head down together, so the Crown Prince should head down without us."


    "If that is the case, I understand. However, don''t stay too long or the festivities will be over by the time you arrive."


    With that casual statement, Crown Prince Lukkas left the room, leaving behind Vairon and his group. He headed downstairs where everyone was gathered and awaiting his arrival as the host of the event.


    ¡­


    After Crown Prince Lukkas left the scene, Vairon whose expression was full of smiles immediately became solemn.


    Then, he turned to Eliana and asked: "Eliana, what''s wrong? What were you trying to tell us just now?"

 Chapter 317: Suspicion on True Identity, Disapproval of Soldiers

    At this time, as soon as Vairon spoke, Eliana, the magician, took out a bottle containing a glistening and shimmering fluid. The bottled fluid was red in color, and at this moment, it squirmed as if it was alive, seemingly trying to escape its captivity.


    However, Eliana appeared to have ced sealing spells on the bottle to prevent the erratic fluid from breaking the bottle and escaping from it.


    As a result of her previous experience with the red fluid breaking out of a few bottles it was stored in, she made sure to cast all her strongest sealing spells on the bottle before putting the red fluid in it.


    After taking out the bottle, Eliana exined the origin of the red fluid in the bottle, shocking Vairon, who couldn''t believe his ears.


    "Are you telling me that this red fluid is Randy''s blood¡­?"


    Eliana nodded her tiny head gently in confirmation without saying anything.


    Vairon frowned and was skeptical about her absurd im and asked: "When did you guys get this blood sample? I don''t recall him bleeding or getting hurt when we met him."


    Tiana, the healer, interjected at this moment, and answered: "Do you remember when we investigated the battle site after the two demons were defeated? That was when we collected this blood sample, which was mixed with a ck substance. After the ck substance was separated, it turned into this fluid¡ª blood."


    "But what makes you think this is Randy''s blood? It could belong to anyone. Perhaps it is the blood of one of the defeated demons? I find it unbelievable that it is human blood."


    Vairon finally expressed his doubts as no human blood would squirm like what he was witnessing in front of him.


    Eliana pondered for a moment and rified: "At the time, we weren''t sure it belonged to him. However, after hearing that he was truly the one who defeated the two demons, it became apparent that it belonged to him. A few days ago, I was curious and decided to examine the blood, but it resisted most of my spells."


    She narrowed her eyes at the bottle on the table in front of her before saying: "Furthermore, moments ago, as soon as I sensed his presence in the Dance Hall, the blood in the bottle also began to squirm wildly in the bottle. As you can see, the direction it is squirming toward is downstairs. This is not a coincidental urrence, in my opinion."


    Vairon felt that it was still unbelievable, but he still doubtfully asked: "So, what are you trying to say? That Randy isn''t human?"


    "Perhaps."


    Eliana, who rarely shows many expressions on her face, at this moment, disyed a confused expression before saying: "But I am not absolutely certain about it myself. I am only informing you all about it so that you could keep it in mind when you hang out with him in the future.


    He might potentially be dangerous, depending on his background or motives, even if he is not part of any of the other races. Also, there is something different about his current presence. Compared to the first time we met him, his presence now is somehow different."


    "What do you mean by that? Are you saying he has grown stronger or something?"


    Tiana''s curiosity was piqued by thest two statements, which she thought sounded strange to her for some reason.


    "Nothing like that. On the contrary, he seemed to have be weaker. Maybe I am over-analyzing things, but the current him had no fluctuation of mana or any form of energy."


    "..."


    Her strange statement left Vairon and Tiana even more puzzled and bewildered. The two of them became dead silent as they try to wrap their head around the implications of her words.


    As they sat there pondering without saying anything, Eliana observed them for a brief moment. Then, she decided to put away the sealed blood in her storage bag. Earlier, she sensed movement inside her storage and took it out. Otherwise, nobody would have noticed anything.


    After she put the sealed blood away, she said: "Anyway, that is all I have to say. However, I advise you all not to act strangely in front of him, lest he bes alerted. If that were to happen, depending on his true identity, he might retaliate and we don''t know what the consequences may be."


    "..."


    Vairon continued to remain silent for a brief moment as he carefully contemted her words, especially after noticing the change in her expression as she spoke earlier.


    A few momentster, he abruptly stood up from his seat and solemnly dered: "Alright. As weck enough information to determine his true identity, I think keeping your words in mind for future encounters is logical. Eliana, I trust you, and I believe you wouldn''t lie to us regarding something this sensitive."


    Vairon turned to Tiana and said: "Tiana. When we head downstairster, pulled Gutz to the side and discreetly inform him of our discoveries. Make sure no one overhears you. As for the Crown Prince, I''m still thinking about whether or not I should inform him about this issue.


    However, until we find out what is going on, I think we shouldn''t spread this matter and escte beyond the scope of what we could handle. In the meantime, we will have to find a way to assign someone to keep an eye on him."


    Tiana, recognizing the gravity of the situation, solemnly replied: "Understood!"


    ¡­


    A few moments ago.


    The Royal Dance Hall.


    Upon arriving at the Royal Dance Hall building, when Brawler Randy and Gutz entered the room, they immediately noticed the disapproving gazes of the soldiers in the room.


    While Brawler Randy and Gutz looked around, they suddenly felt the cold res of a group of soldiers led by two soldiers with dominating auras emanating from their bodies. It was as if they were fierce beasts.


    The group of soldiers led by the two soldiers approached Brawler Randy and Gutz with displeased expressions.


    "Look who decided to show upte! As a newbie invited by the Crown Prince, you think you''re too good to show up on time, huh?"


    One of the leading soldiers, who appeared to be a middle-aged,nky man with war scars on his face ridiculed loudly, causing everyone in the Royal Dance Hall to look in his direction.


    Brawler Randy noticed that the other party was looking at him as he spoke and doubtfully asked: "What''s the problem? Why are you confronting us like this?"


    "Hahaha!"


    Thenky, middle-aged manughed and said: "Look at him. He doesn''t even seem apologetic for making us wait for him. What did I tell you guys? This newbie invited by the Crown Prince apparently thinks too highly of himself to apologize to us veterans. Do you think we should teach him a lesson to show him his ce?"


    The moment he spoke these goading statements, everyone in the Royal Dance Hall frowned in discontentment as they looked at Brawler Randy.


    "Who does he think he is? As a newbie, even if he was personally invited by the Crown Prince, he should still arrive before anyone else in this room. Yet, he dared show upte with no remorse on his face whatsoever."


    "This is what I''ve been saying. We, veterans, risk our lives every day to protect people like him while they act self-righteous and show us no respect when they meet us."


    "I couldn''t agree more. Just look at his indifferent look. He clearly has no respect for the Crown Prince''s invitation or for us fellow soldiers."


    ¡­


    Hearing the jeering of the crowd, Gutz, who knew that the soldiers in the room were merely expressing their frustrations as usual, turned to Brawler Randy to console him by saying: "Randy, don''t let them get to you. They''re not worth your time and energy. They are just¡ª"


    Gutz was about to say something else, but he was stopped by Brawler Randy, who realized the intention of the group of soldiers that approached them.


    Brawler Randy took a deep breath to calm himself down.


    Afterward, he faced the disapproving gazes of the soldiers before him, bowed, and spoke sincerely: " I apologize for beingte. I had an unforeseen circumstance.


    Then, he continued with a frown: "However that doesn''t give you the right to arbitrarily judge me with false insinuations."


    "Unforeseen circumstances?"


    Thenky, middle-aged man spoke with derision: "Do you think that''s a good enough excuse to keep us waiting? You may be invited by the Crown Prince, but that doesn''t give you the right to keep us waiting. And what unforeseen circumstances were you talking about? Were you out all night having fun with some girls and then forgot the time to arrive at the ball or something?"


    The moment thenky middle-aged man finished speaking, the group of soldiers behind him immediately burst out into peals of mockingughter. Even the other soldiers, who were not in their group, could barely suppress theirughter at his hrious statement.


    Afterward, the second leading soldier with a square face and huge body noticed the displeased expression of Brawler Randy and added: "You don''t understand, kid. We are veterans, and you are just a newbie warrior introduced by the Crown Prince. We have fought for this nation long before you became a warrior. You need to show us some respect by showing up on time.


    Who cares about your unforeseen circumstances? You should have foreseen this oue before doing anything reckless out there."


    Brawler Randy could tell that they had somehow misunderstood his words and interpreted them however they wanted. Hence, he became aughingstock in everyone in the Royal Dance Hall''s eyes.


    Despite knowing that, he still didn''t care about their opinions. However, seeing how arrogant and condescending they were as they talked to him, he couldn''t help but be incensed.

 Chapter 318: Conflict, Timely Intervention

    Perhaps due to the influence of Randy''s past memories or perhaps due to his own way of life, he refused to be looked down on by anyone, regardless of their status or position. Thus, he confronted the group of soldiers, who acted arrogantly in front of him.


    "Are you done talking? If you''re done, can you get out of my way? I don''t need to show respect to anyone who doesn''t show me respect. And you, seniors, should know better than to act like bullies in front of your juniors."


    Brawler Randy''s cold and impassive voice resonated throughout the enclosed room and everyone heard it clearly. At the same time, they were left speechless by his words. They couldn''t believe that a newbie like him would be so brazen to make such rude remarks.


    Meanwhile, the two leading soldiers were taken aback by his disrespectful words and gritted their teeth in exasperation. They had been soldiers for nearly a decade and had umted enough experience and reputation. As a result, no one has ever looked down on them to such an extent.


    The square-faced, middle-aged man''s muscles bulged, his expression turning red from embarrassment.


    His aura skyrocketed, then he took a step forward and shouted angrily: "Arrogant brat! Let me teach you how to behave in front of your superiors!"


    The dominating aura exuded by the square-faced, middle-aged man attempted to suppress Brawler Randy through intimidation.


    In response to such a confrontation, with his own body aura, Brawler Randy calmly repressed the iing aura and indifferently retorted: "I don''t need any lessons from you."


    At this moment, Gutz realized that things were about to escte and tried to mediate the situation by saying: "I think we should alle down. There''s no need for hostility. We''re all here to attend the ball and enjoy ourselves, not start a conflict. Let''s not spoil the day with these petty arguments and just let it go."


    Thenky, middle-aged man red at Gutz, confronted him and said: "You stay out of this, Gutz! This is between us and the newbie!"


    "You keep referring to me as a newbie, but I am not your newbie."


    Brawler Randy suddenly stated: "I only came here by invitation. Also, what''s the big deal with being a veteran soldier and battling demons? Do you think you''re so remarkable just because you fought some battles and survived to tell the tale? I have also fought my fair share of battles, including dealing with demons."


    The square-faced, middle-aged man was annoyed by his audacious statement and said: "You may have fought some misceneous battles in the past, but it appears youck respect for veteran soldiers like us who risk our lives on the battlefield with demons just because of that. You should learn to show some humility in front of your seniors, kid."


    "Stop calling me kid. I am not your kid."


    Brawler Randy shook his head and sighed in defeat, saying: "I have already apologized for beingte, but it was you people who still wouldn''t let the matter go. Do you think I''m afraid to confront all of you at the same time?"


    Then, he firmly dered: "If it''s a fight that you want, then I''ll give you one. I''m not one to back down from a fight just because an opponent has a higher position than me. So bring it on and let''s end this pointless feud between us!"


    "..."


    Everyone in the Royal Dance Hall was dumbstruck by his deration.


    The tension between the two parties was rising, and it seemed like a fight was about to break out. Just then, the Crown Prince arrived and intervened before it escted.


    "What is going on here? Why are you all gathered around and causing amotion?"


    Upon hearing Crown Prince Lukkas''s questioning voice, thenky, middle-aged man reported righteously: "Your Highness, this newbie waste and showed no respect towards us. We were just reprimanding him."


    Crown Prince Lukkas frowned when he saw Brawler Randy and sternly spoke: "That is no way to treat my guest. Sir Randy was personally invited by me, and I expected you all to wee him with open arms. So, what is the meaning of your act of aggression toward him?"


    "But Your Highness, how could we¡ª"


    "That''s enough! This is a gathering of warriors, not a battlefield. Why do you want to ruin such an asion with meaningless infighting?"


    Thenky, middle-aged man wanted to say something but Crown Prince Lukkas immediately interrupted him with an austere tone of voice.


    "..."


    Thenky, middle-aged man was left speechless, as he didn''t expect Crown Prince Lukkas to take the side of a mere newbie, much less reprimand his rightful action against the newbie''s rude behavior.


    However, despite hearing Crown Prince Lukkas''s stern reaction and disapproval of their actions, the square-faced, middle-aged man still refused to relent and said: "But Your Highness, this newbie has no respect for veterans like us! If we just sit back and don''t teach him a lesson for his disrespect, how could we proudly call ourselves veteran soldiers of the nation?!"


    Crown Prince Lukkas observed the square-faced, middle-aged man, who was still defiant, in displeasure before calmly replying: "And I said that was enough! While I understand your frustration, that''s no excuse for starting a fight with a guest that I personally invited to join us on this asion. If you are all proud soldiers of this nation, you should act like it."


    Then, he nced between the square-faced, middle-aged man and thenky, middle-aged man with a disappointed expression before continuing: "Ephren and Edzar, I expected better attitudes from the two of you. You represent not only me, but also the nation when you attend today''s event. This is a ball to rx and enjoy yourselves, not a battlefield.


    So, what do you think of your current behavior in such a setting? In case you didn''t realize it yet, your aggressive actions just now only serve to embarrass me in front of my guest, not redeem your pride as veteran soldiers."


    The square-faced, middle-aged man was still confrontational and wanted to say something, but he was gestured to stop by thenky, middle-aged man, who stood beside him at this moment.


    Thenky, middle-aged man thoughtfully bowed and spoke apologetically: "You''re right, Your Highness. It was out of character for us to behave in such a manner. We truly apologize for our unsightly behavior on this asion."


    "Good."


    Crown Prince Lukkas observed his action and stated: "Now, let''s put this behind us and enjoy the ball."


    Then, he turned to look at Brawler Randy apologetically and said: "On behalf of these soldiers, I apologize. They are on edge from being on the front lines all this time. I hope you understand."


    Brawler Randy looked at Crown Prince Lukkas and replied: "I understand, Your Highness. Also, I apologize for beingte and causing this trouble."


    "No need to apologize."


    Crown Prince Lukkas smiled as he walked down the stairs, saying: "You must have been busy. Furthermore, our arrangement didn''t guarantee your presence in the first ce."


    As soon as he reached the first floor, he stated: "Anyway, I wille to you in order to discuss some matterster after I finish having a word with those two just now."


    After stating this, Crown Prince Lukkas approached thenky, middle-aged man and the square-faced, middle-aged man known as Ephren and Edzar, respectively.


    Meanwhile, Brawler Randy was still feeling annoyed by the two soldier''s behavior toward him. However, he decided to ignore them and took a seat at the corner of the Royal Dance Hall. He sat down, away from the center, where all the soldiers were gathered.


    Gutz also followed him and sat beside him. He observed the frown on Brawler Randy''s face and said in constion: "Don''t think too seriously about their actions. Those guys just wanted to vent out their frustration on someone and you just happen to be avable."


    "I know."


    Brawler Randy paused for a moment before saying: "I just don''t like being talked down to."


    Gutz patted him on the shoulder as he could rte to his words, saying: "I understand where you''reing from, but sometimes it''s better to let things go. It''s not worth it to start a meaningless fight in the Royal Castle."


    As the night progressed, the Brawler Randy and Gutz, who found out they didn''t like dancing, talked some more as they waited for the Crown Prince. However, Crown Prince Lukkas was unable toe right away because he was put in the spotlight by a noble youngdy, who wanted to dance with him.


    As a Crown Prince and a host of the event, he couldn''t outright reject her. Therefore, he decided to dance with her for a while. However, he underestimated the persistence of the nobledies who attended the event. Instead of dancing with one person, he had to juggle between a few nobledies.


    Furthermore, their families were of notable significance, hence he had no choice but to dance with them. Before he could return, the event had already reached the point where they would have an indefinite recess and resumedter or bring the ball to an end.


    At this time, Brawler Randy and Gutz were invited by Crown Prince Lukkas, who had managed to extricate himself away from the nobledies, to attend a conference that was held upstairs between all the soldiers in attendance. Brawler Randy heard the gist of the matter from Gutz and realized that he was also invited to participate, even though he wasn''t a soldier of the nation.


    Meanwhile, the others who were not invited mingled with each other as they drank their drinks. Most of the people left behind were nobledies. The remaining people were some famous Dungeon Hunters who were still under scrutiny until further notice.


    In addition to these people, Royal Court Magicians, who had time to spare, and other political figures associated with the Royal Family were also present at the event. They were present to both enjoy and supervise the ball. Earlier, they had been hidden within the audience and were ready to intervene in the event that a fight broke out.


    That was why Gutz told Brawler Randy that it wasn''t worth it to fight in the Royal Castle since such acts would easily garner the attention of the Royal Family through the Royal Court Magicians. In this case, it would only paint a bad image if that were to happen.

 Chapter 319: Secret Meeting with the Supreme Pontiff

    A whileter.


    The conference between the soldiers and Crown Prince Lukkas was concluded and everyone left the room. Only Brawler Randy and Crown Prince Lukkas remained in the room. They had some discussions and through that discussion Brawler Randy made some discoveries.


    Even though the topic of the discussion was regarding his recruitment into the army, Brawler Randy was still able to obtain pieces of relevant information from Crown Prince Lukkas through their discussion.


    However, despite Crown Prince Lukkas''s best efforts to convince Brawler Randy, he refused to join the army. Despite his rejection, Brawler Randypromised with Crown Prince Lukkas and promised to aid the army in the event that he had no choice or when they are desperate for soldiers. He simply didn''t want to be restrained by following the regime of the soldiers.


    Likewise, Brawler Randy believed that the soldiers wouldn''t like him, especially after confronting them in their first encounter. As a result, he decided to only be a close friend of the Crown Prince for the moment.


    As the night came to a close, Brawler Randy, escorted by Crown Prince Lukkas, left the Royal Dance Hall on a high note. He had a fruitful harvest despite the initial conflict with the group of soldiers. For some reason, when he came out of the conference room, he didn''t see Gutz or his party members.


    However, Brawler Randy didn''t think too much about it and entered a carriage arranged by the Crown Prince for him. His destination was also arranged by the Crown Prince. He was assigned a residence a few miles away from the Royal Dance Hall.


    Despite the distance, it was still within the jurisdiction of the Royal Family. Brawler Randy nned on staying there for the night and departing for Imperial City the following day.


    ¡­


    The next day.


    After handling some things in the Royal Capital, he was escorted out of the Royal Capital and returned to Imperial City.


    The entire journey back to Imperial City was carried out in a carriage without having to teleport at any of the teleportation stations on the way. As such, by the time he arrived in Imperial City, it was already getting dark outside.


    After alighting and bidding farewell to the coachman, Brawler Randy went back to the Inn he had booked for a few days on Residential Street to rest.


    ¡­


    Elsewhere.


    Nighttime.


    Imperial City.


    Aristocratic Street.


    As the sun set behind him, Holy Knight Randy, dressed in his shining golden and white armor, walked down the secret path in Imperial City. Sounds of the bustling city slowly receding in the background could be heard.


    After Barian and Zantepleted their task, they met with him as nned. Afterward, he sent them away and headed toward Aristocratic Street by himself.


    At some point, Holy Knight Randy arrived at the entrance to a grand structure. As he nced up at the stunning architectural design of the building, he was awed by its magnificence.


    Holy Knight Randy''s foreign memories aligned with the visual image of the building in front of him, and he immediately recognized it as the Grant Family Estate. At the same time, he was able to conclude that the buildings on Aristocratic Street were more mboyant and structurally well-designedpared to Residential Street buildings.


    ¡­


    Almost at the same time.


    Royal Capital.


    The main branch of the Church of Light.


    The Chamber of the Supreme Pontiff.


    The Pope of the Church of Light sat on his throne, wearing the exquisite white and golden robe of the Supreme Pontiff, looking deeply pensive. He had just received the news from the Grant Family''s intelligence department that their sessor, Zt Grant, wished to have an audience with him concerning an urgent matter.


    He wondered what could be so urgent that it would require Zt to personally seek an audience with him instead of informing him through any of the Cardinals.


    As he deeply pondered this matter, suddenly, a guard stationed behind his room announced: "Your Holiness, the summoning ritual has been triggered and is awaiting your confirmation."


    "Thank you, my son."


    The Pope dismissed his thoughts and immediately walked out of his private room into the audience room next to his chambers.


    ¡­


    A few moments ago.


    Imperial City, Aristocratic Street.


    Grant Family Estate, inside a certain secluded room.


    After entering the Grant Family estate, Holy Knight Randy located a structure and went into a secluded room in that structure. This was a room established to send messages to the main Grant Family in the Royal Capital. However, this time, he wasn''t nning on using it to reach out to the Grant Family in the Royal Capital.


    Instead, he intends to employ the magic circle in the secluded room to reach out to the Pope in the Royal Capital. Afterward, he would be able to have a secret meeting with him.


    Holy Knight Randy firmly closed the door behind him and activated a sound nullification magic formation in the room using Zt''s memories. Afterward, he searched and found a few magic crystals stashed somewhere in the secluded room. He nned to use the magic crystals, containing abundant mana, to activate the transmission magic circle drawn inside the secluded room.


    Momentster, he ced the magic crystals in their corresponding slots. Then, to expedite the process of absorption and activation, he poured his own mana inside the magic circle on the floor.


    After pouring his mana alongside the magic crystals, Holy Knight Randy watched as the magic circle lit up the whole room. It then projected a figure in front of him. Holy Knight Randy immediately kneeled in front of the figure, whose form was shrouded in brilliant holy light.


    Soon, the figure''s true identity was revealed to be the Pope of the Church of Light. He was still shrouded in awe-striking, brilliant holy light. The Pope''s projected figure could be seen sitting on a throne as he deeply gazed at Holy Knight Randy who knelt before him.


    "You may stand, Sir Grant."


    The Pope''s deep and gentle voice echoed in the secluded room despite not being physically present in the room.


    Holy Knight Randy stood up and faced the Pope with a respectful posture.


    "Why did you want an audience with me, Sir Grant?"


    The Pope didn''t waste any time and directly asked, as that was what he was most curious about before their meeting.


    Holy Knight Randy took a deep breath and spoke while releasing his breath.


    "Your Holiness, Ie to you with an urgent and potentially grave matter that may affect the sanctity of the Church."


    Holy Knight Randy''s expression was solemn as he articted this sentence to the Pope, causing him to disy a trace of concern.


    The Pope doubtfully asked: "What has happened, Sir Grant?"


    Holy Knight Randy replied: "Your Holiness, I have been wrongfully ckmailed by one of the Cardinals of the Church. This particr Cardinal ordered me to search for the hidden location of a Vampire Queen under a fake sacred mission assignment."


    "Vampire Queen?"


    The Pope raised his eyebrows when he heard his words.


    "Indeed."


    Holy Knight Randy confirmed and said: "The Cardinal told me he had already confirmed the existence of the Vampire Queen and wanted me to search for the exact location, which I did with all my might. I spent days searching, but I could not find it. As a result, I had no choice but to employ other methods. When I returned to the Church, the Cardinal threatened me."


    The Pope asked: "What kind of threat?"


    "That Cardinal threatened to have me emunicated from the Church, and then he would spread lies about me to tarnish my reputation as a Holy Knight. Not only that, but he also threatened to use me of heresy and have me executed as a result."


    Holy Knight Randy answered with a serious expression.


    Meanwhile, upon hearing his response, the Pope''s eyes widened in shock and he questioned in return: "This is a grave usation, Sir Grant. Who is this Cardinal that has done this to you?"


    Although the Pope could guess who Holy Knight Randy was talking about, as only one person could order Zt Grant around in the Church of Light in Imperial City, he still wanted to hear it from the user''s mouth.


    In response to the Pope''s doubtful question, Holy Knight Randy was unfazed and firmly stated: "Your Holiness, it is Cardinal Juke."


    The Pope scowled and looked visibly disappointed, but he skeptically spoke: "I am disappointed to hear of these sphemous acts in the Church. But do you have any evidence to support your ims?"


    "I do, Your Holiness."


    Holy Knight Randy took something from his armor''s chest and said: "I have a letter from Cardinal Juke that details his orders to me."


    After stating this, he opened and handed over the letter to the Pope. The Pope grabbed it using his projection and proceeded to read it carefully from the other side.


    ording to tradition, when a mission was given by the Church, a letter detailing the mission would be given to the one taking on the mission. Back then when Cardinal Juke assigned Zt Grant his mission, he attached the true mission to the fake mission in front of the other members of the Church, validating its authenticity.


    For some reason, Zt Grant stashed the letter inside his armor''s chest. Therefore, he didn''t need to worry about his inability to get his hands on it. After all, Zt Grant had ced most of his belongings inside his sealed storage items.


    After reading the letter, the Pope handed it back to him aftermitting the contents to memory.


    Then, with a disconcerted expression, he said: "This is a grave matter indeed. I will have to investigate further to determine the extent of Cardinal Juke''s interference with the Church''s sacred missions."

 Chapter 320: Test from the Supreme Pontiff

    At this point in their conversation, the Pope wondered if he should reshuffle the Cardinals or rece some of them.


    At this moment, Holy Knight Randy suddenly spoke up again: "Your Holiness, there is one more thing that I have yet to reveal."


    Before the Pope could even finish contemting how to deal with the problem presented to him, he suddenly heard Holy Knight Randy''s words, which sounded like there were more troublesome things to deal with. As a result, his expression slowly became irritated despite his control over his temperament.


    The Pope wants to summon Cardinal Juke and deal with him for bringing shame to the Church of Light and also undermining his authority as Supreme Pontiff. Cardinal Juke''s bold actions could only be interpreted as he did not hold him, the Pope, in high regard or reverence. After all, he arbitrarily handed out fake sacred missions without going through him as per protocol.


    Despite the turbulence in his emotions, the Pope still calmly asked: "What is it?"


    Holy Knight Randy observed him, inwardlymended him for his ability to control his emotions for a moment, and then responded: "The location of the Vampire Queen. Cardinal Juke does not know that I have found the hidden location of the Vampire Queen. I purposely kept it a secret from Cardinal Juke, but I am willing to reveal it to you, Your Holiness."


    The Pope leaned forward, his interest piqued, and asked: "Why did you keep it a secret from him? Wouldn''t revealing the hidden location to him protect your reputation as a Holy Knight? Why waste this opportunity?"


    "Your Holiness is right."


    Holy Knight Randy shook his head and righteously said: "However, Cardinal Juke has been using his power for his personal gain, and I could no longer stand idly by. Even if I risked getting humiliated or my reputation tarnished, I would still choose not to let Cardinal Juke have his way.


    Furthermore, I wholeheartedly believe Cardinal Juke''s interests did not align with the teachings of the Church of Light, hence my determination."


    "Your selflessness ismendable, Sir Grant."


    The Popeplimented him and said: "It takes great courage to speak out against those in power. Even more so, you have shown exemry courage ining forward with this information. You have my gratitude, and I assure you that your actions will not go unnoticed."


    Holy Knight Randy smiled and bowed his head, feigning feeling a sense of impassioned exuberance.


    Then, he solemnly said: "Thank you, Your Holiness."


    The Pope nodded with a pleased expression and asked: "Sir Grant, do you mind telling me the hidden location of the so-called Vampire Queen?"


    "Certainly, Your Holiness!"


    Holy Knight Randy straightened his back and solemnly said: "The hidden location of the Vampire Queen is most likely in the obscured, dark region within the Meistic Forest. I found the dark region by ident when my subordinates and I undertook the mission assigned by Cardinal Juke, and I was separated from my subordinates due to a magical beast attack."


    Randy had wondered what the dark region he had discovered in the Meistic Forest was all this time. Not even the old man in the nameless vige could confirm or identify what it was when he inquired about it back then.


    However, upon meeting that mysterious woman the other day, Randy started to believe that she might be the Vampire Queen whom the Holy Church of Light had been searching for. At the same time, he concluded that she was most likely the same person residing in the dark region within the Meistic Forest.


    The reason for his conclusion was that the mysterious woman appeared to be aware of his existence through her one-sided exchange with him when they met. However, Randy racked his brain and realized that he had truly never met her before their encounter in the alley.


    The only person who could possibly be aware of his existence and his abilities would be the Vampire Queen whom he believed had been spying on him since his arrival in Acruxia. Assuming that the Vampire man he met outside and inside the Meistic Forest was sent by the Vampire Queen, his conjecture that the mysterious woman, who seemingly knew about him, was unequivocally the Vampire Queen.


    Therefore, if that were the case, it wasn''tpletely unfounded that she would want to kill him during their encounter, and her alerting him was not strange either. After all, Randy had killed her subordinatest time, hence why she wanted to get rid of him when she recognized it was him. At the same time, Randy was also instinctively alerted to her presence, warranting his attack on her.


    Despite knowing the usible identity of the other party, Holy Knight Randy still wanted to get revenge on the mysterious woman in ce of Randy, and the Church of Light would be the tool that would help him in getting rid of a possible threat to their lives.


    Even if his conjecture turned out to be wrong, the dark region in the Meistic Forest was still too suspicious to be left alone. With this consideration in mind, Holy Knight Randy was willing to reveal the dark region, which seemed more likely to be their of the Vampire Queen or the mysterious woman to the Pope.


    "The Meistic Forest?"


    The Pope mused about his response for a brief moment and then muttered: "If what you stated is the truth, I will have to summon the Cardinals to devise an urgent sacred mission to investigate and purge the potential threat as soon as possible."


    The Pope stood up and paced back and forth as he processed the information.


    Holy Knight Randy watches him, hoping he has made the right decision to tell the Pope this information. He also hoped the Pope would believe his baseless words. At the same time, he wished for his conjecture to be true, as it would eliminate a future threat to both him and the humans of Acruxia.


    After deliberating for a few moments, the Pope looked up and stared intently at Holy Knight Randy before questioning: "Sir Grant, are you certain about this information? Can you navigate your way back to this dark region in the Meistic Forest?"


    "Indeed, Your Holiness."


    Holy Knight Randy firmly replied and the Pope nodded in understanding as he made up his mind.


    He then approached Holy Knight Randy and ced his hand on his shoulder and gently spoke: "I hold you in high regard for your actions, Sir Grant. Today, you have proven yourself to be a true Holy Knight through your actions, and the Church is fortunate to have someone of your caliber as one of its protectors."


    Holy Knight Randy immediately bowed and said: "Your Holiness. It is an honor to serve the Church. Furthermore, as the Captain of the Holy Knight Crusaders, it is only right that I lead by example."


    "You have done more than just serve, Sir Grant. You have upheld the principles of righteousness and justice, and for that, you will always have our gratitude."


    The Pope gently smiled with appreciation and turned around to sit on his throne.


    Then, after pondering for a moment, he casually asked Holy Knight Randy.


    "Sir Grant, do you mind if I treat you as my titr son?"


    "What might you mean by that, Your Holiness?"


    Holy Knight Randy did not foresee this oue in his ns. Being the titr son of the Pope meant he would get the opportunity to develop a close rtionship with the Pope or receive his attention.


    Not to mention the benefits thate with receiving such treatment from the Pope, who was an exalted existence in the Holy Church of Light, being a titr son would establish and expedite his assimtion into the Holy Church of Light.


    However, why would the Pope want to make ''Zt Grant'' his titr son, especially when he knew Zt Grant already had a prominent background? After all, most of the people the Pope considered his titr son or titr children were orphans who joined the Holy Church of Light at a young age and were raised by him.


    The Pope noticed his confusion, and as though he could read his thoughts, he said: "Although I vowed never to have my own children in order to better serve Our Lord, I can still adopt others'' children as my sons and daughters. Don''t think too much about it as I am well aware of your family''s status and heritage, including your position in your family.


    However, I still wish to treat you as my son while serving in the Church. What do you think about that, Sir Grant?"


    Holy Knight Randy pretended to ponder deeply about the Pope''s suggestion before bowing and replying fervently: "As long as Your Holiness is willing to take in this humble one, it can only be counted as my blessing. Therefore, I have no reason to refuse. Instead, it would be my honor to be your titr son, Your Holiness."


    "Very well said."


    The Pope was pleased with his response and asked: "Then, as my son, what do you think would be the appropriate way to handle the Head of Cardinals, whomitted sphemous acts in the Holy Church of Light?"


    Holy Knight Randy was about to give an immediate reply when he noticed a subtlety in the Pope''s words that ostensibly suggested that he might be trying to test him.


    With that realization, Holy Knight Randy withheld his original reply to ponder the Pope''s question. Afterward, he suddenly realized the crux of the question asked by the Pope.


    Although Holy Knight Randy initially wanted to get rid of Cardinal Juke as he was a threat to his assimtion into the Holy Church of Light, that was no longer necessary with the current turn of events. As a titr son of the Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Church of Light, his reputation within the Church would only soar in the future.

 Chapter 321: Gaining the Approval of the Pope

    Alternatively, if Holy Knight Randy were to respond by advocating for Cardinal Juke''s emunication or execution, he would be perceived as vindictive and petty, solely driven by a desire for revenge against a fellow Church member, rather than genuinely caring about the Church''s reputation.


    With that consideration in mind, Holy Knight Randy swiftly devised a n that would not only highlight hismitment as a Holy Knight of the Holy Church of Light but also serve his long-term objectives.


    After taking a moment to contemte and finalize his decision, Holy Knight Randy adjusted his posture and looked up at the Pope, who gazed down at him from his throne, scrutinizing him intensely.


    Feigning a momentary sense of intimidation by the Pope''s gaze, Holy Knight Randy responded: "Your Holiness, in light of preserving the Church''s reputation, I believe it would be prudent to avoid emunicating Cardinal Juke, even if he hasmitted sphemy by disregarding the Church''s principles. Instead, it would greatly benefit the Church''s standing to offer him an opportunity for redemption.


    I propose temporarily demoting him from his position as Head of Cardinals to the rank of the lowest Cardinal. In the meantime, Cardinal Zaul, the second-ranking Cardinal, could assume the role of Head of Cardinals."


    "¡­"


    The Pope was pleasantly surprised by Holy Knight Randy''s astute response, devoid of any ill-intent or personal grudge toward Cardinal Juke, who had ckmailed him and attempted to tarnish his reputation as an honorable Holy Knight.


    Naturally, as Holy Knight Randy was not Zt Grant, he harbored no grudge or enmity toward Cardinal Juke, who had orchestrated Zt Grant''s emunication from the Holy Church of Light, as well as besmirch his reputation irreparably.


    However, the Pope remained unaware of this fact and could only interpret Holy Knight Randy''s solemn words as those of apassionate and selfless individual, willing to set aside personal grievances to uphold the principles of the Holy Church of Light.


    After a brief moment of silence, the Pope finally spoke, wearing an amicable smile.


    "As expected of the one I chose as my son. Your words are well spoken. To willingly forgo an opportunity for revenge against Cardinal Juke for the greater good of the Church is precisely what I would expect from my son and the Captain of the Holy Knight Crusaders."


    Satisfied with Holy Knight Randy''s stance, the Pope exined further: "Prematurely eliminating the Head of Cardinals from the Holy Church of Light at this juncture would not only draw the attention of the masses but also prompt intervention from the Royal Family, who typically do not involve themselves in Church affairs.


    After all, the Holy Church of Light is the sole institution in the Kingdom capable of countering the enigmatic powers of the demons in their transformed state. Consequently, losing such a distinguished member of the Holy Church of Light at this crucial time would only prove detrimental to future conflicts against the demons."


    "Indeed, Your Holiness."


    Holy Knight Randy readily agreed with the Pope. The casual and friendly manner in which the Pope spoke to him made Holy Knight Randy realize that he had already passed the Pope''s test. Now, all that remained was to conclude their meeting with a few pleasantries.


    Upon hearing Holy Knight Randy''s words of agreement, the Pope was further pleased with his demeanor and his attitude as a knight of the Church. Previously, he had heard rumors about Zt Grant''s questionable reputation among the masses.


    However, after speaking with him today, the Pope realized that most of these rumors were either fabricated or that the current Zt Grant had indeed changed for the better.


    If that were the case, it would be advantageous for the Church, and the Pope was willing to invest in Zt Grant''s potential for the future. He believed that the current performance of Zt Grant was more befitting of his position as Captain of the Holy Knight Crusaders, unlike his questionable tenure as a Holy Knight Captain in the past.


    During Zt Grant''s previous tenure as a Holy Knight Captain, the disturbing rumors surrounding him had caused the Pope to doubt the judgment of the Cardinals who had selected him as the new Captain of the Holy Knight Crusaders following the ascension of the previous Captain.


    ''After this meeting, I should devise a way to further test his mettle as a warrior and evaluate hismitment as a Holy Knight. If he sessfully passes all of my tests, then I can rmend him to the Royal Family as a potential candidate for the Trial of Challengers with confidence.'' The Pope contemted.


    At this critical juncture in the centuries-long war, the Pope believed that they needed a warrior who possessed not only apassionate heart but also the potential to be a selfless hero in the face of adversity, in order to bring an end to the conflict before humanity faced extinction in Acruxia.


    Although Zt Grant had been gued by a tarnished reputation in the past, the current version of him disyed a noble heart filled withpassion. As for his selflessness, the Pope believed that he had demonstrated enough of it during their meeting.


    ''However, that alone is not sufficient. To partake in the Trial of Challengers, he needs extraordinary strength to surpass those of equal power, as well as unwavering determination in the face of formidable enemies. Otherwise, he would perish in the trial, aplishing nothing.'' The Pope mused.


    In the past, many exceptional warriors hailed as geniuses had perished in their attempts to challenge the tightly supervised and secretive Trial of Challengers, overseen by the Royal Family.


    Despite warnings from others who barely managed to survive the trial with only their lives, these geniuses, confident in their overpowering strengthpared to their peers, recklessly believed they could easily pass the trial with minimal effort.


    Due to their recklessness and arrogance, fueled by their sess in clearing a few dungeons on their own, these self-proimed geniuses ventured into the Trial of Challengers without adequate preparation. The oue was tragic, with most of them perishing and those who survived left with severe injuries that traumatized or disabled them.


    As a consequence of these incidents, prior to their ascension, apostle candidates no longer had any interest in challenging the Trial of Challengers, despite receiving the esteemed "Challenger" title. Why risk their lives for a mere trial when they could easily ascend through their talents alone?


    Moreover, the nature of the trial and reward for passing the trial remained unknown. What if the reward did not outweigh the inherent danger? Would they not have risked their lives in vain?


    After all, different survivals stated different ounts regarding the events and challenges in the trial. In other words, the trial was not fixed. Instead, it was random and unpredictable. With these considerations in mind, the apostles abandoned the trials. As a result, only those warriors identified as having potential throughpulsory selection were approached to volunteer for the trial.


    At some point, the Pope snapped out of his wandering thoughts and realized that he had drifted away from the present situation, neglecting Holy Knight Randy who patiently awaited his attention. Despite his prolonged contemtion, only a few moments had psed in his mind, so little time had passed in reality.


    When the Pope redirected his gaze downwards, he observed Holy Knight Randy still standing resolute before him. It was at this critical juncture in their discussion that the Pope resolved to be frank and open with Holy Knight Randy.


    "My son, I deeply apologize for the unjust treatment you have endured at the hands of Cardinal Juke. Your unwavering faith and loyalty to the Church are trulymendable. There was no need for me to test you." The Pope abruptly stated.


    He continued: "Your stance on how to handle Cardinal Juke''s sphemous acts has earned my trust and my sympathy. A warrior of faith like yourself should not be subjected to such injustice. Therefore, I wouldpletely understand if you decided to seek your own form of retribution for the wrongful ckmail."


    "Your Holiness, as a warrior and a Holy Knight, revenge is not in my nature. I do not wish to stoop to the level of Cardinal Juke."


    Holy Knight Randy responded solemnly. He sensed that the Pope was trying to ascertain the authenticity of his previous response. Therefore, he chose to remain consistent with his stance.


    As expected, the Pope smiled approvingly and remarked: "Yourpassion is truly admirable, my son. Your actions embody the true teachings of the Church. You are a shining exemr of righteousness."


    Holy Knight Randy bowed his head gratefully and replied: "Thank you, Your Holiness. Your words hold great significance to me."


    Once again, the Pope rose from his seat and approached Holy Knight Randy, cing a projected hand of light on his shoulder. With a solemn voice, he dered: "From this moment onward, I shall treat you as my own son and as a loyal andpassionate knight of the Holy Church of Light. If you ever need anything in the future, do not hesitate toe to me."

 Chapter 322: Devising a Secret Plan, Anxious Cardinal Juke

    Without waiting for Holy Knight Randy to reply, the Pope changed the topic and said: "Now, let us discuss a n to deal with Cardinal Juke. It is clear that he is unfit to hold his position in the Church any longer. As you suggested, the only way to maintain the honor of the Church would be to demote him from his position as Head of Cardinals."


    The Pope turned around, slowly walked back, and sat on his throne with an impassive expression. His demeanor was no longer amicable; he now wore a stern expression on his face.


    Holy Knight Randy nodded in agreement and carefully suggested: "I have thought of a n, Your Holiness."


    "Oh?"


    The Pope became interested and gestured for him to continue, saying: "Do enlighten me, my son."


    Holy Knight Randy responded: "I suggest we gather evidence of Cardinal Juke''s wrongdoings, including his ckmail of me, and present it to the Council of Cardinals."


    "That could be a viable approach."


    The Pope agreed after a short deliberation. He added: "We need to ensure that the truthes to light and that justice is served ordingly."


    "Yes, Your Holiness." Holy Knight Randy replied.


    With an impassioned demeanor, Holy Knight Randy dered: "With your guidance, I will do everything in my power to expose Cardinal Juke''s actions and bring him to ountability."


    The Pope nodded in appreciation and said: "I haveplete faith in you, my son. You have already proven yourself to be a true warrior of the faith. Therefore, I shall leave this matter in your hands."


    Holy Knight Randy bowed gratefully once again, determined and resolute. He said: "Thank you, Your Holiness. I shall not disappoint your trust."


    The Pope smiled warmly, and the two of them continued to discuss the details of their secret n, engrossed in conversation.


    ¡­


    A dayter.


    In the Imperial City, at the Holy Church of Light''s Sacred Building.


    Cardinal Juke received a message from the Supreme Pontiff of their Church. As he read the contents of the message, he became anxious, wondering what the Pope wanted from him. The short notice informed him that the Pope wouldeter to inspect the Church in the Imperial City.


    However, the Pope did not specify the day or time of his arrival, leaving Cardinal Juke with no choice but to stay in the Sacred Building all day, even though he had other matters to attend to outside of the building.


    Originally, Cardinal Juke had nned to meet the Pope and share his findings about the Vampire Queen. However, he wanted to gather more information, such as the urate location of the Vampire Queen''s hideout, before doing so. Despite secretly deploying the Holy Knights to the Meistic Forest, he had not been able to obtain the location of the Vampire Queen.


    "Zt Grant... That useless piece of shit!" Cardinal Juke muttered in frustration.


    "He spent all that time in the Meistic Forest, and now he''s iming he found nothing? Who does he think he''s fooling? If he didn''t find anything, he should have just died there. But now, I need him alive since he failed to discover the Vampire Queen''s hideout. Moreover, there''s a chance he''s plotting something behind my back.


    Damn it, at this rate, I''ll need to find an alternate method to increase my status in the Church. With a higher status, I can avoid participating in the uing war and live a life of luxury without worries."


    With an expression that constantly changed between anger, frustration, and jealousy, Cardinal Juke paced back and forth, deep in thought about his encounter with Zt Grant a few days ago. He sensed something fundamentally different about him, but he couldn''t quite put his finger on it.


    Lost in his thoughts, Cardinal Juke murmured in envy: "The Pope sure has it easy. The title of Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Church of Light is not just for show. He only needs to give orders and sit back, using the excuse that he''s protecting the Church while we risk our lives in the war. If I could be his right-hand man, I wouldn''t have to put my life on the line in future battles."


    As Cardinal Juke was lost in his musings, Holy Knight Randy, who had returned, entered the Sacred Building, immediately triggering the magical formation of the building. In a sh of light, Cardinal Juke disappeared from his room on the second floor.


    ¡­


    Inside a dimly lit nave, adorned with religious artifacts and symbols, Holy Knight Randy stood below the chancel, his expression weary. Removing his helmet, he held it by his side as he took a deep breath, looking as though he had just returned from an arduous journey.


    At that moment, Cardinal Juke suddenly appeared on the elevated chancel. Upon seeing the arrival of ''Zt Grant'', his face contorted in anger and he shouted: "You''ve returned so soon, Sir Grant?! Did you even leave the Imperial City?!"


    Holy Knight Randy stood confidently before Cardinal Juke, who wore a stern expression. Sincerely, he replied: "I assure you, Your Eminence. I have made the journey and conducted my investigations diligently before returning."


    Cardinal Juke clenched his fists, clearly not convinced by Holy Knight Randy''s response.


    "Don''t y games with me! I know you''re lying! It''s hard to believe you could have aplished the task I assigned you in such a short time!" He shouted.


    With a calm demeanor, Holy Knight Randy began to respond, saying: "I understand your doubts, Cardinal. But I¡ª"


    "Enough!" Cardinal Juke interrupted.


    Watching the calm expression on Holy Knight Randy''s face as he spoke only fueled Cardinal Juke''s frustration, causing his anger to bubble to the surface. He didn''t allow Holy Knight Randy to finish his response before angrily saying: "Don''t lie to me, Zt! You left just three days ago. It''s impossible for you to have traveled to the Meistic Forest andpleted your task within that time frame.


    There''s simply not enough time to search the entire forest, so why did you return so quickly?"


    He continued: "Even if you used the teleportation formations in the teleportation stations, it would still take at least a week to return. And factoring in the time it would take to search the forest''s periphery at the fastest pace, you''re still too early. In other words, you''re lying, as you have not fulfilled your assignment, Zt."


    Holy Knight Randy raised an eyebrow at Cardinal Juke''s usations, feigning innocence.


    In the next moment, he scowled, his face disying slight displeasure, before defiantly stating: "I understand your skepticism, but I speak the truth! I havepleted my mission as instructed. I only decided to return when I was certain that there was noir of a Vampire Queen, as you imed."


    As the tension in the room grew palpable, Cardinal Juke and Holy Knight Randy engaged in a heated exchange, with Holy Knight Randy maintaining an unwavering gaze, confident in his statement. Meanwhile, Cardinal Juke refused to believe his words.


    "Enough with your lies!"


    Cardinal Juke became increasingly exasperated, his voice rising as he pointed at Holy Knight Randy.


    "You dare mock me? And what''s with that look on your face?! I will not tolerate this insolence as a Cardinal of the Holy Church of Light!" He stated angrily.


    Hearing Cardinal Juke''s words, Holy Knight Randy rxed his expression and calmly responded: "My apologies, Your Eminence, but I have indeedpleted my journey to the Meistic Forest in the North. However, I found nothing of significance in that forest despite extensive searching with the aid of the Dungeon Hunters in Alpheotus City."


    Just as the tension in the room was about to reach its peak, the gate of the Sacred Building suddenly burst open, revealing multiple figures elegantly walking in, their long white robes fluttering behind them. It was the Pope, apanied by the Council of Cardinals of the Holy Church of Light. They entered the chamber of the Sacred Building, their expressions grave and stern.


    As soon as they entered the hall, the Pope''s piercing gaze fell upon Cardinal Juke, causing him to involuntarily tremble. Taking in the unfolding scene, the Pope frowned and sternly asked: "What is the meaning of thismotion, Cardinal Juke?"


    Feeling the weight of the piercing gaze, Cardinal Juke stammered, struggling to find the right words. He trembled and broke out in a cold sweat under the Pope''s prating gaze that seemed to see right through him.


    Cardinal Juke paled as he realized the gravity of the situation. After a few moments of hesitation, he nervously attempted to exin himself. After some thought, he managed to say: "Your Holiness, I... Holy Knight Captain Grant failed to fulfill his duty of protecting the vigers in a certain vige in the north. I was only reprimanding him for his negligence."


    The Pope''s frown deepened, his eyes still fixed on Cardinal Juke. With a hint of coldness, he uttered: "Is that so, Cardinal Juke? And what led you to believe that Holy Knight Captain Grant was negligent in his duty? I find it hard to believe that you would act in such a manner without proper justification. Therefore, enlighten me."


    Cardinal Juke''s face paled, sensing that something was not right, but he managed to maintain a minimum level ofposure to reply to the Pope''s queries. Stammering, he responded: "I... I received reports, Your Holiness. Reports that the vigers were left unprotected... It was a sacred mission¡ª"


    The Pope''s piercing gaze intensified, silencing Cardinal Juke, who still had much to say. The Pope looked at him suspiciously and questioned: "I don''t recall any sacred mission being assigned by me recently. If it was indeed a sacred mission, as you im, then why do I have no recollection of it? Isn''t that strange, Cardinal Juke?"


    "T-That was because this was an old mission that remained iplete¡ª"


    Before Cardinal Juke could continue his exnation, the Pope abruptly raised his hand, silencing him.

 Chapter 323: The Popes Verdict

    "Enough of this nonsense, Juke. An iplete old sacred mission? How absurd!" The Pope''s derisive tone filled the nave as he fixed his gaze on Cardinal Juke. His boundless holy aura radiated from his body, making the air stifling and hard to breathe.


    Compared to the Pope''s oceanic holy aura, Cardinal Juke''s holy aura felt like it was nothing more than a mere droplet. That was the difference between their power level.


    The Pope reined in his holy aura, restoring the air to be breathable again. He nced at Cardinal Juke with skepticism and added: "You use the captain of the Holy Knight Crusaders of our church without proper evidence? Baseless usations are perilous, Cardinal, and you should be well aware of that. Moreover, you dare to deceive me about thepletion of sacred missions."


    Cardinal Juke, realizing his blunder, hastily adjusted his demeanor. He attempted to muster a genuine smile but could only manage a feigned one. Then, he quickly said: "I apologize, Your Holiness. It was a misunderstanding on my part. Please forgive my hasty judgment."


    The Pope''s expression remained stern as he observed Cardinal Juke, his silence speaking volumes of his distrust in the apology or any remark he makes in attempt to justify his actions.


    Cardinal Juke noticed the Pope''s indifference to his attempts at reconciliation and assuaging his actions, but he still continued to exin.


    "As for the sacred mission, I suppose I¡ª"


    "You will address this matterter. For now, dismiss your guest. There is something more important to discuss."


    The Pope chose to disregard any further ramblings from Cardinal Juke. He proceeded to seat himself upon the throne positioned at the rear of the podium. He then cradled his tilted head in one hand, assuming a rxed posture, and wore a contemtive expression as he fixed his gaze upon the congregation within the sacred chamber.


    Cardinal Juke realized that the Pope was waiting for the meeting tomence. With this understanding, he swiftly turned to Holy Knight Randy and said, with an air of indifference: "Sir Grant, you may leave us now. I must attend to the Pope and the Council of Cardinals."


    With a dismissive wave of his hand, Cardinal Juke motioned in the direction of the gate, directing Holy Knight Randy away as if shooing away a stray animal.


    Holy Knight Randy did not react to Cardinal Juke''s treatment. Instead, he nodded respectfully and exited the chamber, leaving Cardinal Juke to face the consequences of his actions.


    Meanwhile, as the gate closed behind Holy Knight Randy, Cardinal Juke''s forced smile faded, reced by an expression of worry and apprehension. He feared that something terrible was imminent, which prompted him to dispatch ''Zt Grant'' before the Pope could extract more information from him.


    His current position was precarious, as it appeared that the Pope had begun to doubt his loyalty to their church.


    Contemting how his ns could be jeopardized due to a momentarypse in judgment while admonishing ''Zt Grant,'' Cardinal Juke was filled with indignation. He attributed his current predicament to ''Zt Grant,'' who had failed to follow his instructions and instead resorted to ying tricks.


    Once his impromptu meeting with the Pope concluded, he intended to confront ''Zt Grant'' and, if necessary, threaten to expose some of his secrets. He wondered how ''Zt Grant'' would react when confronted with the consequences of his actions.


    However, in the event that if the Pope decided to punish him because of the events that transpired on this day, ''Zt Grant'' would have to forget about holding onto his his esteemed position as a Holy Knight Captain of the Holy Church of Light. If he somehow lost his position as a Cardinal of the church, he would drag ''Zt Grant'' down with him without failure.


    With these thoughts in mind, Cardinal Juke approached the Pope, who had arrived unannounced. Upon seeing the Council of Cardinals nking the chancel, he initially disyed a bewildered expression but swiftly regained hisposure as he confronted them.


    "...Your Holiness."


    Cardinal Juke tentatively greeted the Pope in aposed manner. Internally, he grappled with confusion as he hadn''t anticipated the Pope''s sudden arrival on the same day he had dispatched his message. Nor had he expected the presence of the Council of Cardinals. He couldn''t help but wonder if a grave matter had arisen, necessitating the Council''s presence as well.


    What puzzled him even more was the Pope''s failure to mention his imminent arrival when he had sent the message earlier. Cardinal Juke, however, set aside these doubts and patiently awaited the Pope, who now sat on his throne, gazing down at him with an inscrutable expression.


    After surveying the entirety of the sacred chamber from his elevated seat, the Pope inquired in a meaningful tone: "Cardinal Juke, have there been any recent discoveries?"


    Cardinal Juke found himself taken aback by the Pope''s abrupt question, which gave the impression that the Pope possessed prior knowledge and was seeking confirmation from him with his current query. However, Cardinal Juke chalked it up to his anxiety, dismissing his own apprehensions without dwelling on them.


    With that conclusion, he offered a slight bow and solemnly replied: "Nothing of note has been discoveredtely, Your Holiness."


    "Is that truly the case?" The Pope sought confirmation, prompting Cardinal Juke to assert confidently: "Yes, Your Holiness."


    At this juncture, a fleeting trace of disappointment shed across the Pope''s countenance. Without dy, he gestured with his hand, sending forth a radiant light imbued with a wave of holy aura that swept through the room, targeting the two gates of the Sacred building.


    This sudden shift in events left Cardinal Juke with an unsettling feeling in his heart. As he sensed the holy light emanating from the Pope, he cautiously inquired: "Your Holiness, this is¡­?"


    Creak!


    Cardinal Juke''s attention shifted toward the gate, where he witnessed the recently departed Zt Grant approaching with an air of arrogance or confidence.


    Perplexed, Cardinal asked: "What is the meaning of this, Your Holiness?"


    As Cardinal Juke attempted toprehend this unfolding situation, the voice of the Pope resonated through the chamber.


    "I attempted to offer you an opportunity to rectify your actions, Cardinal Juke, but your performance has been profoundly disappointing."


    The Pope dered, his voice carrying authority. He continued: "Not only did you withhold information from me that could potentially pose an unknown threat, but you also resorted to scheming and exploiting a member of our esteemed and sacred church to im full credit without putting in the required effort."


    At this juncture, Holy Knight Randy ascended and took his position beneath the chancel, clutching a collection of documents pertaining to various missions, including sacred ones assigned by the church. These documents also detailed the numerous schemes concocted by Cardinal Juke over the years.


    The information contained in these documents, which epassed Cardinal Juke''s schemes, was knowledge Zt Grant possessed but had never before essed. Holy Knight Randy had utilized the Pope''s authority to obtain them and identify discrepancies among certain missions, including an unlisted recent mission assigned to Zt Grant.


    The Pope''s voice resonated once more, cutting through the tense atmosphere.


    "What do you have to say for yourself, Cardinal Juke? Are you prepared to confess to your scandalous activities as the Head of Cardinals?"


    Cardinal Juke could discern the nature of the documents held by Holy Knight Randy, and he was confident that there were no discrepancies. He had meticulously ensured that everything was properly documented to ensure that no one would be able to discern a w.


    Unbeknownst to him, Zt Grant had also kept his eye on his actions during his tenure as a Holy Knight Captain and chose to keep his mouth as he didn''t have ess to the documentation to use him.


    "I have nothing to confess, Your Holiness." Cardinal Juke responded with unwavering confidence.


    "I can assure you that I have conducted my duties with unwavering integrity and precision. I have no knowledge of what falsehoods that ingrate may have presented or spoken to you, but they are all baseless lies. He is merely attempting to besmirch my honorable name."


    Cardinal Juke''s piercing gazended on Holy Knight Randy with a palpable look of disdain.


    "I never insinuated that Knight Captain Grant used you of any wrongdoing, so why the defensiveness?" The Pope retorted while shaking his head.


    "I merely inquired whether you were willing to admit to your deceitful and sacrilegious actions. Your assumption that our Knight Captain ndered you already suggests evasion of my question."


    With that remark from the Pope, a domineering holy radiance emanated from the him, directed solely at Cardinal Juke. In a cold and demanding tone, the Pope repeated his questions.


    "I shall ask you once more, Cardinal Juke. Have you dishonored the Holy Church of Light to further your selfish ambitions during your tenure as the Head of Cardinals? Have you attempted to ckmail Holy Knight Captain Grant and manipte him to your advantage? Have you vited the principles of our faith? Have you lied to me, Cardinal Juke?


    Do you confess tomitting all of these transgressions, Cardinal Juke?"


    As the Pope spoke, Cardinal Juke felt an overwhelming pressure bearing down on his body,pelling him to involuntarily kneel as soon as the Pope concluded his statement. He attempted to raise his head to meet the gaze of the other cardinals, especially one particr Cardinal who held the second-highest rank and was akin to a friend.


    However, what met his eyes was the collective expression of disdain and disgust from all the cardinals present, including his supposed friend.


    Unwilling to ept the unfolding situation, Cardinal Juke persisted in his attempts at redemption. "I can exin, Your Holiness..."


    "Enough! Were it not for the impending war with the demons, which requires all capable personnel from our revered church skilled in holy magic, I would have had you executed immediately for dishonoring and disgracing the Holy Church of Light."


    The Pope dered coldly and sternly, his powerful voice resonated throughout the chamber.


    "Our Holy magic and divine ritual is the sole force capable of restraining the vile demons. Bringing you to justice today would only deplete our manpower in the face of this demonic threat. That is the sole reason you still draw breath!"

 Chapter 324: Holy Knight Randys Proposal, Cardinal Jukes Suspicion

    The Pope''s cold andmanding voice reverberated like shockwaves, enveloping everyone in the chamber, including Holy Knight Randy, with the force of its authority.


    After giving his decisive verdict, the Pope proceeded to issue a firm decree: "Henceforth, you are stripped of your position as Head of the Council of Cardinals and shall assume the role of East Cardinal. Cardinal Zaul shall be the North Cardinal and ascend to the position of Head of the Council of Cardinals. The South Cardinal position would be given to the East Cardinal.


    Are there any objections?"


    In the hierarchy of the Holy Church of Light, there were four Cardinals¡ª East, West, North, and South Cardinals. The East Cardinal oversaw the direction leading to the nation of the long-eared tribe.


    The West Cardinal was responsible for the direction leading to the territory of the werewolf tribe, while the North Cardinal was in charge of the region where the demons resided¡ª a pivotal role, as it made the North Cardinal the leader of the Cardinals.


    The demons resided on a separate continent in the north, and the North Cardinal held the pivotal role of overseeing their activities, effectively serving as the leader of the Cardinals in times of war.


    While the East and West Cardinals also yed their parts in therger strategy of humanity''s survival, their primary responsibilityy in encouraging other races to join the battle against the demons. This, however, had evolved with the recent decision of some leaders of the werewolf tribe choosing to align themselves with the demons.


    In contrast, the East Cardinal''s duties, overseeing the long-eared tribe, were rtively straightforward and less demanding. The peculiar long-eared tribe had opted out of participating in the war, instead choosing to safeguard their territories by relocating their small viges and employing illusion-based sealing to shroud their settlement.


    During times of war, the North Cardinal had to lead the Holy Church of Light''s army against the demons. This was precisely the role that Cardinal Juke had sought to avoid, having aspired to be a Supreme Cardinal, the next in line for the position of Supreme Pontiff, a selection that had yet to be made by the Pope for undisclosed reasons.


    Cardinal Juke had sought to consolidate his position and demonstrate his worthiness for selection, thereby shedding his title as Head of Cardinals and avoiding deployment to the front lines. A new cardinal would be appointed to lead the war effort in his ce if he had seeded in his endeavor.


    The role of the South Cardinal carried great significance as well, as they held oversight of the human territories¡ª a position second in importance only to the North Cardinal, as both were responsible for ensuring humanity''s survival.


    Over the years, Cardinal Juke had managed to conceal certain information from the Pope with the assistance of South Cardinal Zaul, who oversaw the human territories. This covert arrangement had been maintained in exchange for gaining first ess to specific Sacred Artifacts provided by the church, a privilege reserved for the Head of Cardinals before anyone else.


    However, as Cardinal Zaul exhibited a chilly disposition and an inscrutable expression during the Pope''s questioning, it became apparent to Cardinal Juke that his trusted friend had abandoned him when he needed support the most.


    Upon hearing the Pope''s words, the other Cardinals in the chamber exchanged meaningful nces, having already made their decisions among themselves before the current meeting with the Pope.


    Without hesitation, the Council of Cardinals responded unanimously, led by South Cardinal Zaul.


    "There are no objections, Your Holiness."


    "Very well." The Pope acknowledged with a nod. He then turned his attention to Holy Knight Randy.


    "In regards to the crusade in the Meistic Forest, how would you rmend we handle the matter concerning the discovered hidden hideout of the demon''s aplice, Sir Grant? We must take into consideration that there could be multiple Vampire Queens within their abode. Engaging them head-on would prematurely reveal our actions, and we would struggle to reach their location, let alone ovee them.


    Any rash or imprudent moves by our church would undoubtedly backfire on us."


    The Pope''s sudden inquiries and worries directed at Holy Knight Randy drew the somber gaze of all the Cardinals who had apanied the Pope. Various thoughts ran through their minds regarding this individual who had seemingly gained the trust of the typically detached Pope.


    Cardinal Juke, still reeling from the abrupt loss of his position, was the most astonished among them. He contemted whether to implicate ''Zt Grant,'' but ultimately decided against it. It appeared that the Pope had a particr trust in ''Zt Grant,'' and using him might be perceived as an attempt to evade responsibility for his transgressions.


    When the Pope''s words reached his ears, Cardinal Juke lifted his head and fixed a nk gaze on ''Zt Grant.'' However, his eyes betrayed a deep-seated resentment he had toward ''Zt Grant''. The Pope''s remarks had only allowed him to confirm that ''Zt Grant'' had indeed been deceiving him all along about the discovery of the Vampire Queen''sir.


    Although he had been convinced of the presence of a Vampire Queen in the Meistic Forest, given his divination ability, which he employed to verify threats surrounding his domain of influence, he felt deeply aggrieved that he had not received credit for it.


    Instead, ''Zt Grant,'' whom he had initially intended to exploit to confirm his findings, had independently located the hideout and reported it to the Pope without rying it to him.


    This act by ''Zt Grant'' had not only undermined his credibility but had also led to his demotion, the opposite of what he had initially hoped to achieve by iming credit for discovering the Vampire Queen''sir.


    Despite his internal thoughts and bitterness toward ''Zt Grant,'' Cardinal Juke remained silent, awaiting ''Zt Grant''s'' response to the Pope''s questions.


    Upon hearing the Pope''s deliberate inquiries and concerns, which were undoubtedly designed to draw attention to him, Holy Knight Randy straightened his posture, cing his right hand over his chest, and performed a deep bow before responding: "Your Holiness, if I may be so bold, I suggest we employ our sacred artifacts for covert infiltration of the enemy''sir and then swiftly eliminate their''s leader by utilizing one of the Divine Relics of our Holy Church of Light."


    He paused briefly and allowed everyone to process his words before he continued: "Given that we already possess knowledge of the enemy''s location, infiltrating their hideout should prove to be a straightforward endeavor. The enemy remains in the dark about our procurement of this piece of information and would be unguarded, making it easier to infiltrate theirir."


    "Oh, such ingenious thinking, Sir Grant. I had no inkling of your intellect. I must admit my previous misjudgment." The Pope praised. Although this idea had already been discussed with him beforehand, he put on a show for the Cardinals as if he were hearing Holy Knight Randy''s proposal for the first time.


    "Very well, we shall proceed with your suggestion, and if we achieve sess in subduing the enemy, I shall personally ensure you receive your reward." The Pope dered, his gaze resting on the bowing Holy Knight Randy with satisfaction.


    Holy Knight Randy''s eyes widened with gratitude as he was moved by the Pope''s words, and he promptly expressed hismitment: "Thank you, Your Holiness. I shall endeavor not to disappoint and shall strive to bring honor to our Holy Church of Light in the name of our God."


    The new head of the Council of Cardinals turned his attention to Holy Knight Randy after hearing his words and inquired with disbelief: "Were you truly the one who discovered the hideout of the enemy, Sir Grant? I don''t mean to doubt your capabilities, but how were you able to discover something that many who ventured into the Meistic Forest couldn''t?"


    He appeared skeptical that Holy Knight Randy had been the one to uncover one of the Vampire race''s hideouts, the same vampires who had officially aligned themselves with the demons to terrorize humanity.


    Holy Knight Randy met Cardinal Zaul''s gaze and responded solemnly: "Yes, Eminence. Using my newfound abilities, I was able to identify a peculiar dark region within the Meistic Forest. This anomalous region remains imperceptible to the ordinary observer, which was why none had reported about it."


    Recalling his earlier conversation with the old man from the initial vige he visited, Holy Knight Randy remembered that his main body had sought to confirm whether others could perceive the unusual dark region that had caught his attention upon his arrival in the world of Acruxia, but the result was that no one could perceive the dark region.


    His main body could only conclude that only he could perceive due to his high perception or something else.


    In response to his exnation, the Cardinals present in the chamber were left dumbfounded by the eloquence disyed by ''Zt Grant.'' It was distinctly different from the ''Zt Grant'' they were familiar with. Moreover, the ''Zt Grant'' they had known had never possessed any perceptive abilities.


    Observing and listening to the ostentatious words of Holy Knight Randy, Cardinal Juke''s eyes reddened as he witnessed this sanctimonious disy by ''Zt Grant.'' This was the same man he knew to be a debauched pleasure-seeker. He could hardly believe what he was seeing.


    Even worse, ''Zt Grant'' had previously lied to him about failing his mission, only to divulge everything to the Pope as though he was solely responsible for finding the location of the Vampire Queen''sir.


    Was Zt Grant always a schemer? Why had he dared to go against him, knowing full well the consequences? Cardinal Juke was confounded by the actions of his former subordinate. He wondered about the source of this newfound audacity and confidence. What encouraged him to believe he could sessfully turn the tables against him?


    Is it possible that Zt Grant had someone supporting his actions all along, and he simply had been unaware?

 Chapter 325: Unexpected Encounter

    As various thoughts raced through Cardinal Juke''s mind, he squinted his eyes and unconsciously turned to nce at Cardinal Zaul, the newly appointed head of the Council of Cardinals.


    ''This fellow was the sole person privy to my past dealings... For Zt to possess knowledge of my affairs and present them to the Pope... Could it be that he yed a role in this entire debacle...?''


    Suspicion nagged at Cardinal Juke as these thoughts crossed his mind. He suspected his long-time friend, Cardinal Zaul, as the potential catalyst for his downfall and believed the scheming ''Zt Grant'' was merely a pawn in his borate scheme. While Cardinal Juke wished to confront Cardinal Zaul to validate his suspicions, he was constrained by the presence of the Pope.


    When Cardinal Juke''s gaze shifted toward Cardinal Zaul, thetter also noticed the scrutiny from him. South Cardinal Zaul wore an expression of indifference as he silently locked eyes with Cardinal Juke. They stared at each other for a brief, tense moment before both averted their gaze.


    Cardinal Juke, perhaps in a gesture of partial confirmation, was the first to look away. He sensed an unmistakable air of disdain emanating from Cardinal Zaul''s demeanor during their brief eye contact, solidifying his suspicions that his long-time friend may no longer be the person he once knew.


    While Cardinal Juke was engrossed in his thoughts, Holy Knight Randy''s resonant voice continued in the background, articting his proposal.


    "To minimizeplications and avoid alerting the enemy, I rmend sending two separate teams to the Meistic Forest at staggered time intervals." Holy Knight Randy suggested.


    Curious about the sudden transformation in ''Zt Grant'' and seeking to fathom the depths of this change, the newly appointed head of the Council of Cardinals, Cardinal Zaul inquired, "Why do you propose this?"


    Holy Knight Randy met Cardinal Zaul''s gaze and replied candidly without reservation.


    "By sending two parties at different times into the Meistic Forest, we can divert the enemy''s attention. I assume they are attuned to their environment and well aware of most movements and activities within the forest, meaning they could detect any anomalies right away. They could easily retreat as soon as they detect a threat.


    Having two separate parties would confuse them, allowing us to approach theirir undetected."


    Turning back to address the Pope, Holy Knight Randy expanded on his n.


    "A smaller contingent of my subordinates and I will enter the Meistic Forest first to survey the terrain. We''ll navigate around the imperceptible dark region while awaiting the arrival of the next group, which would be the Cardinal disguised normal magicians, who will secretlymand the sacred artifacts and the Divine Relic to infiltrate the dark region and initiate the crusade."


    As Holy Knight Randy articted his well-thought-out n, Cardinal Zaul''s eyes narrowed with caution. He realized that the ''Zt Grant'' before him was no longer the haughty aristocrat he had once known, who unted his status whenever he went.


    He wasn''t the only one as even Cardinal Juke observed this newfound ''Zt Grant'' with a sense of trepidation. The pompous, self-righteous aristocrat they once knew had transformed into someone entirely different, demanding their attention.


    Both Cardinal Juke and Cardinal Zaul found themselvespelled to pay closer attention to this transformed ''Zt Grant'' in the future.


    Meanwhile, the Pope wore a contemtive expression, carefully considering Holy Knight Randy''s words before making a decision.


    The Pope, after considering Holy Knight Randy''s words, made a decisive statement, voicing out his judgment.


    "Sir Grant''s proposal appears to be the most viable option at the moment. However, if any of the Cardinals have a better suggestion, please speak up now."


    "¡­"


    Silence fell among the Cardinals, each lost in thought. Cardinal Zaul broke the quietness after a few moments.


    "I believe Sir Grant''s proposition is well-considered. Though there are still potential ws to address, it seems practical enough to implement, provided the location of the Vampire Queen''sir is urately determined and not merely based on intuition."


    As he uttered the final words, Cardinal Zaul turned his sharp gaze toward Holy Knight Randy, his expression revealing his lingering doubts about both the n and the means by which Holy Knight Randy imed to have located the enemy''sir.


    Hearing Cardinal Zaul''s skeptical tone, Holy Knight Randy shared a meaningful nce with him and calmly reassured him: "You can rest assured that I will urately pinpoint the enemy''sir."


    "Very well, then we shall have to depend on you, Sir Grant. I hope your confidence is proven when the timees." Cardinal Zaul nodded and spoke with a hint of distrust as he turned away from Holy Knight Randy.


    At this juncture, the Pope intervened, dering: "Very well, we shall proceed with Sir Grant''s proposal and begin preparations for the crusade, scheduled tomence in a week. Until the preparations areplete, today''s meeting will adjourn, to reconver."


    With the Pope''s resolute words, the meeting, which was convened to devise a strategy for subduing a potential Vampire Queen from an allied race of demons, came to a close. The Cardinals dispersed, returning to their respective roles and making individual preparations.


    They would regroupter to further discuss their ns for the crusade to the Meistic Forest, where the presumed location of the enemy''sir awaited.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, elsewhere...


    Brawler Randy, who had recently returned to the Imperial City after attending a meeting with the Crown Prince, decided to explore a location he had long been intrigued by in his wanderings through the city¡ª Mercenary Street.


    This bustling street served as a hub for mercenaries and various organizations that functioned simrly to the Dungeon Hunter Exploration Society, catering to adventurers who braved dangers for a source of ie.


    In contrast to Dungeon Hunters, who mostly braved dungeons, mercenaries didn''t regrly delve into dungeons. Instead, they focused on a variety of tasks rted to civilian safety, such as protecting against magical beasts, and bandits or hunting down criminals with bounties on their heads.


    Mercenary Street housed the Bounty Hunter Guild, the Assassin Guild, the Escort Guild, and numerous other organizations that offered their services to those in need as long as they got paid in return. Brawler Randy''s interest in this ce stemmed from the wealth of opportunities for him to engage in closebat through the diverse upations avable on this particr street.


    Due to his inability to use mana, he had chosen to sharpen his martial arts skills, honed since childhood. With his current, more robust, and powerful body, he nned to hone his closebat skills by partaking in missions or tasks rted tobat.


    He believed realistic battles with others were the key to achieving his goal of mastering his martial arts skills, and he had learned through asking around that Mercenary Street provided just the right environment to aid him.


    As he was unable to utilize the city''s dungeons at the moment due to the stringent rules imposed by the Royal Family, Brawler Randy sought alternative methods, eventually leading him to Mercenary Street and its vast array of diverse professions.


    While strolling along the path that led to Mercenary Street, Brawler Randy suddenly noticed a hooded figure walking ahead of him. This hooded figure emanated an odd sense of familiarity as he observed them, and he found his gaze unconsciously fixating on them as he continued to walk.


    "Hm?"


    While his gaze was fixated on them, he noticed the hooded figure suddenly make a sharp turn into a narrow, seemingly dark alley. Not long after, two rugged men who had initially been strolling in the opposite direction also briskly veered into the same alley at the intersection when they reached it, following the mysterious hooded figure.


    Brawler Randy observed this scene with a pensive expression. He paused in his tracks, contemting the implications of the unfolding scene before him.


    After a brief moment, his curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to discreetly trail the shady group of men into the dimly lit alley. Before he could even reach the alley, his ears caught the sounds of loud grunts and groans, tinged with suffering, drifting out of the narrow passageway. He quickened his pace, eager to investigate what had happened.


    The sight that met his eyes left him utterly bbergasted.


    Two out of the three burly meny on the ground, their faces swollen and bloodied, bearing the marks of a severe beating. Thest remaining man appeared to be at the mercy of a short figure, who appeared to be the hooded figure that entered the alley ahead of the group.


    Observing the short figure more closely, Brawler Randy realized that it was a girl. Her short ck hair was neatly tied in a ponytail. Her eyes were like an abyss, devoid of emotion, as she maintained a vise-like grip on the neck of the battered, muscr man, who was visibly taller andrger than her.


    At this moment, she cast a cautious gaze in the direction of the alley''s entrance, a frown visible on her cold face.


    "Who goes there? Are you their aplice?" Her voice was icy as she spoke while ring in the direction of the alley''s entrance.


    Without uttering a word, Brawler Randy stepped into the dark alley, boldly approaching her. Upon closer examination, he recognized the ck-haired girl from the memories he had absorbed from his main body.


    Disregarding the injured men sprawled on the alley floor with their limbs twisted in unnatural directions, Brawler Randy silently advanced toward the aggressor. The ck-haired girl narrowed her eyes, studying his approaching figure with wariness, readying her hidden dagger for a strike should he pose a threat.


    When Brawler Randy had moved within a few meters of her, she finally caught a clear view of his features, causing her to raise her eyebrows in astonishment. Observing the calm young man before her, she was reminded of the peculiar human who had effortlessly dispatched a vampire as though it were nothing in her presence.


    "It''s you!" She eximed, pointing at Brawler Randy, who approached her with aposed demeanor.

 Chapter 326: Another Eccentric Incarnation[I]

    Brawler Randy smiled and casually inquired: "Where were you trying to go by entering this dark alley by yourself? Isn''t it a dead-end? And who are these people?"


    The ck-haired girl snapped out of her reverie, maintaining her cold demeanor, and retorted: "It''s none of your business."


    She flung the struggling man in her grasp, sending him crashing into the wall, rendering him unconscious. As she prepared to leave the dark alley, she reflected on the capabilities disyed by this person before her, who had both surprised and intimidated her with the way he took care of that vampire back then.


    However, her diminishedbat condition at the time had contributed to that fear, having previously battled a horde of magical beasts with herrades beforehand, leaving them exhausted and nearly depleted of energy when they confronted the loathsome vampire man.


    If she had been in peak condition during their encounter with the vampire, she believed she might not have needed the assistance she received from Randy who had appeared that day.


    With these thoughts in mind, she decided to avoid any interaction with him, considering they were mere acquaintances who didn''t truly know each other. Yet, before she could take a single step forward, Brawler Randy grabbed one of her slender arms, which held her hood, and attempted to adjust it on her head.


    His action drew an expression of displeasure from her, but Brawler Randy ignored her reaction and continued speaking.


    "Are you perhaps heading to the Mercenary Street? Are you a mercenary?" He asked, still holding onto her arm.


    The ck-haired girl forcefully broke free from Brawler Randy''s grip, put her hood back on to conceal her face, and coldly replied: "And what if I am? Stop bothering me. I''m not in the mood to entertain anyone right now. If you keep getting in my way, you''ll end up like those three lying over there."


    She warned with annoyance and cast a menacing nce at the bloodied men she had beaten and incapacitated to give him a hint.


    Despite her threatening words, Brawler Randy remained unfazed and maintained an excited expression. He continued speaking as if he didn''t take her words too seriously.


    "So, you like to fight? That''s good. From your outfit and that hood, I''ll take a guess and assume you''re... an assassin, right?"


    Whoosh!


    Before Brawler Randy could utter another word, he witnessed the hooded girl vanish from his line of sight. Then, from behind, he felt a sudden, cold touch of a sharp de pressed against his neck. He turned his head slowly to meet the fierce gaze of the girl, who propped a sharp dagger against his neck.


    Her height, which was discernibly shorter before, was now elevated to match his height. Some kind of mystical power seemed to extend her shadow, allowing her to reach his height.


    A palpable, murderous aura radiated from her, enough to overwhelm those with weaker wills. Their eyes locked, and she spoke coldly: "Who are you, and why are you approaching me?"


    Despite the dagger pressed against his neck, Brawler Randy managed a wry smile and responded nonchntly: "Easy with the knife there."


    With surprising swiftness, he seized the de of the dagger with his bare hand and yanked it from her grip, his eyes shimmering with a peculiar grayish-purple light. He effortlessly levitated the dagger with imperceptible energy and turned to face the rmed ck-haired girl, who had retreated as soon as he disarmed her.


    "I mean no harm." Brawler Randy reassured her, and then he continued: "Since you seem to know the Mercenary Street, why don''t you show me where to findbat-rted missions?"


    "¡­"


    The ck-haired girl, still recovering from the shock of his actions, eyed him cautiously but remained silent.


    Undeterred by her silence, Brawler Randy twirled the dagger above his hand for a few rotations. He observed her briefly with a thoughtful expression and thenunched the dagger gently in her direction. The dagger hung in the air about a meter away from the hooded girl.


    "You can have your dagger back." He offered.


    Using her shadow maniption skill, she retrieved the weapon and concealed it. As she sensed the opening at the end of the dark alley behind her, she furtively nced in that direction. It seemed she was not far from escaping the confines of the dark alley.


    "Now, why don''t you show me around?" Brawler Randy requested, but he received an abrupt response from her.


    "I refuse! Find somebody else."


    Perplexed by her rejection, he asked: "Why?"


    Whoosh!


    In a sh, she vanished from his view once again, her form shrouded in shadows as she swiftly left the dark alley without bothering to respond to his words. Before he could even attempt to convince her, depending on her answer, she disappeared.


    She had run away.


    "¡­"


    Brawler Randy stood there, stunned by this turn of events.


    This was not the oue he had expected. He had hoped that returning her dagger might have smoothed things over, making his exploration of the city less challenging with her assistance.


    After a moment of bewilderment, Brawler chased after her as she ran out of the dark alley, though he wasn''t certain if he could catch up to her, especially since she seemed to be using her shadow maniption to increase her speed.


    ¡­


    In the Safe Room.


    Within the confines of the Safe Room, Randy had already established a connection with his incarnations, gaining insights into their activities. He paid particr attention to thetest developments concerning Brawler Randy, who had acquired vital information about the procurement of elemental essence crystals.


    The matters involving Holy Knight Randy were also of relevance. Randy found himself surprised as he pondered the implications of histest incarnation''s actions. Regardless, he understood that it was initially his responsibility to verify this information to eliminate any potential threats, and his incarnation''s current actions saved him from that trouble.


    One especially concerning aspect was the mysterious and terrifying woman who had recognized him and evenunched a deadly attack on him. He pondered whether she might be the elusive Vampire Queen sought by Zt Grant in the Meistic Forest under Cardinal Juke''s instruction.


    From the moment he arrived in Acruxia, Randy had sensed a persistent feeling of being watched, like he was under some sort of constant surveince. Yet, he couldn''t pinpoint the source. However, he felt this feeling less when he left the Meistic Forest.


    Ultimately, he deduced that it might be linked to the mysterious dark region within the Meistic Forest, a ce shrouded in secrecy, known to no one. Despite its existence being concealed from others, he could still perceive this dark region clearly when in the Meistic Forest.


    With the impending Holy Church of Light expedition, Randy anticipated the opportunity to unveil the identity of the figure residing in that enigmatic dark region. Encounters with the vampire man within the Meistic Forest led him to specte that the dark region might serve as the secretir of the vampire race, an allied race of the demon race.


    While Randy couldn''t be entirely certain of this assumption, he considered it a possibility that warranted further investigation. His conviction grew stronger when he delved into the memory of Zt Grant, who had undertaken an unofficial sacred mission under Cardinal Juke''s orders to search for a Vampire Queen''sir within the Meistic Forest.


    Setting aside these thoughts, Randy shifted his focus to the formation of another incarnation, the third since he acquired the Incarnation Technique. It would also be thest for the time being due to a shortage of elemental essence crystals.


    His strategy revolved around deploying multiple incarnations within the current world to gather valuable information about Acruxia, which he could utilize effectively once his seclusion ended.


    The primary objective behind this strategy was to avoid direct confrontations or conflicts with unknown individuals, such as the mysterious woman who had nearly taken his life before inexplicably vanishing. With just a little over two months remaining for his stay in Acruxia World, he intended to make the most of his time before returning to his home world.


    Naturally, he nned to return before the Military Base expedition and training session in his home world concluded to ensure he didn''t miss the opportunity to return home on time.


    Though unlikely, he wanted to avoid getting entangled in any potential issues resulting from the space-time fluctuations mentioned by his system, as he was concerned about causing worry among his already unstable family.


    To address the issue of the scarcity of elemental essence crystals, he devised a n involving histest incarnation visiting the location disclosed by Crown Prince Lukkas. Fortunately, he had also received the map from the Crown Prince, eliminating the need for further time-consuming searches.


    Upon retrieving theprehensive map from Brawler Randy''s memories, he would swiftly set his n into action.


    At this juncture, he redirected his attention to monitor the formation of the incarnation, which was nearingpletion.


    After a brief passage of time, a fully formed human, identical in appearance to himself, appeared and stood before him, disying a vacant expression. Gradually, the incarnation regained awareness and directed ackluster gaze toward him.


    "¡­"


    After a brief contemtive pause, it slowly opened its mouth and spoke in a dispassionate, masculine voice.


    "It appears I''m the chosen incarnation this time." The incarnation dered, its voice devoid of emotion.


    Randy raised an eyebrow, briefly pondering if this detached tone of his incarnation indicated a potential failure.


    However, he opted not to dwell on this and proceeded to confirm: "Yes, that''s correct. You''re aware of your mission, but let me reiterate it just to be certain. Your task is to follow the map within your memories and locate the Long-eared Tribe in the East.


    See if you can secure permission to ess one of their elemental beast dungeons, where elemental creatures presumably house unprocessed elemental essence crystals as their mana cores. If, by any chance, you encounter one of their settlements, explore ways to gain entry. Although it''s improbable, as they rarely admit outsiders to their regr cities, let alone their capital."

 Chapter 327: Another Eccentric Incarnation[II]

    After Randy articted the details of the mission to his recently conjured incarnation, he recollected the pieces of information gleaned from Brawler Randy.


    The crux of the pieces of information highlighted that the long-eared tribe possessed the expertise to efficiently process elemental mana cores from elemental beasts, culminating in the creation of elemental essence that wasparable to rare naturally urring elemental essence crystals formed in areas with highly concentrated mana.


    Contemting these elemental crystals led Randy to suddenly recall his brief encounter with the unreasonable woman at the Alpheotus City auction house, who seemed to hold significance within the obscured Long-eared Tribe as even the Society Leader of the branch of the Dungeon Hunter Exploration Society was respectable when addressing her.


    Randy harbored concerns about running into her again, fearing potential reprisals for their previous encounter. He hoped to avoid another encounter with her, as it might lead to his death if she recognized him.


    Despite his concerns, Randy deemed it improbable to encounter a prominent figure, who might possibly be from the noble or royal lineage, during his trip. nning ahead to avoid anyplications, he intended for his incarnation to adopt a convincing disguise before delving into the territory of the Long-eared Tribe and searching for the whereabouts of one of their cities.


    The worry that Randy was able to discover was rted to identification. His concerny in proving his identity should the tribe employ distinctive means of identification bypassing the disguise he nned on conducting using the [Myriad Species Transformation] Skill that he received when he underwent the awakening sequence in the dungeon in Alpheotus City.


    The trip to locate the obscured Long-eared Tribe was guided by Crown Prince Lukkas''s descriptions and the map provided. Randy didn''t hope for sess right away, but Lukkas''s familiarity with the areas he described suggested that he had personally visited those areas. This motivated Randy to rely on the current map and descriptions to attempt to search for the hidden Long-eared Tribe at least once.


    In the remote chance of sess, Randy would navigate the subsequent course of action. Regardless of the oue, he remained resolute in essing their dungeon, even if confronted by a formidable opponent capable of seeing through his disguise. If he did not seed due to the interference caused by his unlucky encounter, he would only risk the life of an incarnation and not his life.


    Upon absorbing Randy''s instructions, the incarnation responded lethargically: "The Long-eared Tribe? Elemental Essence Crystals? I understand."


    After parroting the crux of what Randy stated, a sudden lucidity flickered in its eyes as if rousing from a stupor, and it directed its attention to the proxy system projection of the Challenger''s System before issuing amand.


    "Transmit me to thest location... Forget that. Is it possible to transmit me to another dungeon within a different territory?"


    [That is not possible, as it is against the rules, Challenger Randy¡­]


    The Challenger''s System sinctly responded with a refusal based on established rules, further citing the impossibility of such teleportation to a dungeon without registering his identity beforehand.


    "Why? I recall you said the same thing about me not being able to transmit out of a dungeon without clearing it at least once, yet you still managed to transmit me out anyway when I asked, even though I didn''t clear it at that time."


    The incarnation unexpectedly challenged this, recalling a prior instance where the system contradicted its own rules by transmitting his main body out of a dungeon without clearing it. It was when he waspleting a request from the Dungeon Hunter Exploration Society, around the time he ran into those two cloaked demons.


    [That was because of an interference from...!]


    The proxy of the Challenger''s System abruptly halted mid-sentence, the main system experiencing a sudden sense of oppression from a fellow inhabitant that resided deeper inside Randy''s Mind Space.


    [[¡­]]


    [...]


    "Hmm?" Randy sensed a disturbance in his Mind Space, momentarily diverting his attention from the entric incarnation.


    Despite atent tension urring in Randy''s Mind Space, the incarnation, unaware of the disturbance, continued its doubtful inquiry: "Interference? Can you do it or not? I recall you mentioning that I''m a challenger whose purpose is to get stronger by using dungeons for a meaningful cause. You even talked about my chance to seed in some kind of trial being high.


    Why am I denied a simple request as a Challenger with a high chance of fulfilling a momentous trial? Why can''t I enjoy a simple privilege like teleporting to the nearest dungeon to expedite my growth and achieve that purpose?"


    Throughout Randy''s sojourn in the Safe Room, he engaged in thoughtful conversations with his systems during meditation.


    Naturally, his frequent conversations all urred in his mind so it was appropriate to call it mental dialogues conducted with his separate will that was not concentrated on meditation and instead monitoring the internal changes urring as he used the Nameless Meditation Technique.


    The dialogues deepened, particrly with the challenger''s system, which had introduced the concept of a Challenger''s Trial. The Challenger''s System imed Randy was eligible to participate in this trial.


    It expanded further by stating that after observing the changes urring within his body due to his unique approach to strength and power acquisition, which utilized the ancient method of meditation technique, it was convinced that he not only qualified for this trial but also held a high chance in seeding after participating in the trial held in a special dungeon within the human territory.


    Combining this insight from the Challenger''s System with information gleaned from his incarnations, he surmised it to be one of the dungeons, or the singr one under strict regtion by the Royal Family, which required enlistment as a soldier for ess.


    Randy contemted the motive of the Royal Family. He wondered if this regtion conducted by the Royal Family was not only to bind soldiers to their banner. This was due to what the Challenger''s System stated, which was what made Randy look forward to participating in the trial.


    The Challenger''s system divulged that the reward for clearing this special dungeon was a peerless treasure with the potential to reshape the power dynamics in Acruxia.


    The present incarnation of Randy, armed with this knowledge, decided to use it as leverage to strategically bargain with the Challenger''s System, creating a dilemma for thetter.


    Acknowledging that it had indeed defied its established rule concerning dungeon clearance before teleportation, the Challenger''s System''s proxy within the incarnation''s mindpsed into a momentary silence before resumingmunication.


    [...Fine, I understand. I shall send you to your destination, but only within the vicinity of an unsupervised dungeon close to your intended destination.]


    The Challenger''s system reluctantly conceded as it permitted a spatial light to begin to envelop the body of Randy''s new incarnation, ready to initiate transmission.


    "Fair enough." The incarnation acknowledged with a nod, allowing himself to be bathed in the light of teleportation.


    "Wait!"


    However, at this moment, Randy abruptly detected an oddity and voiced his concern, causing the spatial light to dissipate around the incarnation''s body.


    "What is it?" The incarnation inquired.


    Randy pointed at the incarnation and replied: "You''re not wearing anything."


    "Oh? You''re right." The new incarnation looked down and realized it was indeed naked, with everything exposed. If it had teleported into the vicinity of the Long-eared Tribe, it would have risked being killed based on indecency alone, let alone gaining entry to their city.


    After a moment of thought, the incarnation gestured with an open hand and requested: "Can you hand me some spare clothes from storage? Also, I need a storage pouch to carry the elemental essence crystals in case I manage to obtain some during the trip."


    Observing the slightly robotic and entric behavior of his new incarnation, Randy wondered if something was amiss with this incarnation just like its predecessors. He pondered if his incarnations somehow embodied a part of him that he wasn''t aware of until now, but these parts of him became visible through the conjured incarnations'' behaviors.


    This thought arose in Randy''s mind because all his incarnations disyed distinct behaviors after their creation, especially Brawler Randy, who evoked memories of his childhood days.


    Without dwelling too much on this topic, Randy handed the incarnation spare clothes and a storage pouch.


    After taking and quickly donning the spare clothes and attaching the storage pouch to its waist, the incarnation once again began to be enveloped in the spatial light, the voice of the challenger''s system echoing in its mind as it stood there with a nonchnt expression.


    [Transmitting in...]


    [3]


    [2]


    [1]


    While observing the new incarnation being consumed by the spatial light, Randy noticed an unusual sense of uncanny calmness around it as it stood there bathed in the teleportation light. Before being fully enveloped, the incarnation turned its head and spoke onest time.


    "I will be back soon."


    Fwhoosh!


    As soon as it finished speaking, its figure vanished from the Safe Room, its destination being the vicinity of a dungeon near the Long-eared Tribe''s territory.


    Randy stared at the disappearing incarnation with a pondering expression, but his gaze didn''t linger on it for long.


    He returned his focus to meditation, employing the Nameless Meditation Technique, as he was soon enveloped by pure, soothing mana particles that prated his body through every pore on his skin and settled in his Energy Vessel for mana, which, in his home world, was known as magical energy.


    In the Real World, the incarnation had already embarked on its journey a few days prior due to the time discrepancy, where the time in the Safe Room moved slowerpared to the Acruxia.


    ¡­


    Back to Imperial City¡­


    Brawler Randy pursued the fleeting ck-haired girl who had briskly run away after their brief, unfriendly encounter in the dark alley. In his new transfigured state, he discovered he now possessed an enhanced vision, a perceptual perception ability being unlocked in his eyes, allowing him to see details that were typically imperceptible to his eyes.


    This extended to a few radii around his body, presenting a clear and vivid picture of his surroundings.

 Chapter 328: Liena[I]

    Brawler Randy made a startling discovery when he realized that the newfound sense bore a resemnce to the [Dimensional Sense] skill possessed by his main body. However, his new surveying ability surpassed mere environmental detailing of [Dimensional Sense] skill''s effects.


    As he pursued the ck-haired girl, Randy could discern variegated glowing lights, each representing individuals he encountered on the way.


    Focusing on these lights provided basic information about the sources, including names, upations, and other trivial details. Although Randy acknowledged the usefulness of this information through the new ability, he chose not to delve into specific details, instinctively aware that it mighte at an undisclosed cost¡ª a price he was unwilling to explore at the moment.


    With that decision made, he opted to limit his perception to what he deemed necessary or interesting.


    Utilizing this newfound ability, he tracked the only moving dark shadow with exceptional speed, a figure distinct from others he had encountered while traversing Mercenary Street.


    Throughout the chase, Brawler Randy attempted to deactivate the transfigured state, only to discover that he couldn''t undo the state he had assumed identally once again since thest time. Despite trying various methods to return to his normal state, all efforts proved futile, leaving him with an ongoing heightened sensory experience.


    Fortunately, he managed to mitigate energy drainage for the activated eye powers by allowing them to passively activate only when he expressed interest in his surroundings. By refraining from seeking information or disying interest, he could prevent the activation of the eye ability and preserve his sole energy source¡ª Divine Points.


    Lacking an energy vessel, Brawler Randy relied solely on Divine Points essible through his main body to trigger any abilities or skills he could employ. Since these points couldn''t be recovered like mana points, Randy was cautious not to escte their consumption rate.


    Divine Points constituted one reason why Randy sought missions in Mercenary Street. By undertaking missions rted to hunting magical beasts or criminals, he would get many opportunities to harvest Divine Points and Knowledge Points.


    Although his main body had not utilized Knowledge Points recently due to the versatility of Divine Points, which rendered Knowledge useless for learning techniques, Brawler Randy knew that Randy nned to employ them in the future to enhance his Mental Strength attribute. This aspect of strength seemed relevant ording to the information Randy received from the Ancient Tome.


    ¡­


    Setting aside this matter and shifting the focus to the current developments...


    Through thebyrinthinework of roads, alleyways, and intersections, the determined silhouette of Brawler Randy pursued an elusive shadowy phantom, expertly navigating winding pathways as if they were familiar with the intricate pathways. asionally, the phantom form turned illusory, phasing through walls or sinking into the ground, showcasing speed and skillful evasion.


    No matter how long one observes this shadowy phantom, there does not seem to be any discernible destination, as they move haphazardly.


    "Liena, wait for me!"


    The ck-haired girl, whose identity was the shadowy phantom, heard her name uttered by a persistently annoying person whose voice she didn''t want to hear, as this wasn''t the first time her pursuer called out to her by uttering her name. Her frustration deepened as she quickened her pace, the echoes of her voice fading into the distance.


    "Stay away from me! How do you even know my name? I don''t recall introducing myself to you. Are you a creep following me around?" She shouted in annoyance as she navigated intersections and meandering pathways to lose her pursuer.


    "What do you mean by creep? Just because I know your name, youbel me a creep? I genuinely learned of your name not long ago. I already told you this, why don''t you believe me?" Brawler Randy exined, tracking her steps through the intricate pathways with unwavering precision, never losing her trace on the trail she zed.


    Liena remained unconvinced by his seemingly ludicrous ims of just discovering her name. Instead, she became determined to escape the persistent annoyance that was Brawler Randy by increasing her speed, gradually putting considerable distance between them as she spoke.


    "Do you think I''ll believe such tant lies? Also, how do you keep finding me? No one should be able to discover me in this form, much less track me with such precision." She expressed doubtfully, noticing Brawler Randy closing in with every stride he took.


    "It''s a secret." Brawler Randy yfully responded from behind. Without losing his determination, he continued to chase after her as he proposed: "Come on, stop running and show me around this street."


    "Why are you so annoying? Hasn''t anyone ever asked you that before?" Liena, expecting such a response, helplessly retorted.


    "You''re not the first to ask me that, actually. I had a childhood friend who¡­" Brawler Randy briefly disyed a reminiscent look but abruptly shook himself out of his reverie, saying: "Never mind. Just show me around, and I''ll leave you alone. What do you think? Is it a deal?"


    "No way! Leave me alone! I already told you to find somebody else. I don''t have time to entertain someone like you." Liena abruptly refused and pleaded: "Please, just stop following me, I have an appointment!"


    "Not happening! If I try walking around by myself, it would take me weeks to discover all the intricacies of this whole Imperial City. I don''t know anyone around here, after all." Brawler Randy curtly replied, seemingly not counting Gutz and his party as people he could confidently call his friends, as they were more like acquaintances of his main body.


    While he did get along with Gutz, he barely knew him well enough to feelfortable asking for a guided tour without it being awkward. Additionally, there was a possibility that Gutz and his party might be upied with their own pursuits, as he had gleaned from Gutz that they were prominent Dungeon Hunters in Imperial City.


    Setting that consideration aside, at the moment, he didn''t n on visiting the Society for Dungeon Hunters, as there was nothing for him to gain hunting in dungeons since dispatching the creatures inside did not yield Divine Points, which were more beneficial to him.


    "Why can''t you just leave me alone, you creep?!" Liena increased her speed once again, her despondent voice echoing as if she had been relentlessly tormented by the same bully, and she was unable to escape the persistent torment despite her efforts.


    "Hahaha!"


    In response to her plea, Brawler Randy burst outughing. Despite being amused by her, he still matched his pace with hers, unrelentingly following her trail.


    "This annoying bastard..." Liena muttered expletives upon realizing Brawler Randy had caught up to her once again while ignoring her plea.


    Her profanity only elicited moreughter from Brawler Randy, whose figure was not far away from her. After collecting himself, in a frisky tone, he replied: "I''ll take that as apliment."


    Liena had been navigating Mercenary Street, attempting to evade the enigmatic person trailing her since their encounter, but to her dismay, she couldn''t shake him off. Regardless of the path she chose or the speed she employed with her ability, she found him unyielding in his pursuit.


    She wondered what she had done wrong to be bothered by so many irritating people on this particr day¡­


    Having awakened normally and barely eaten her breakfast as she couldn''t stomach her food while contemting her impending mission, she wasn''t having a good day. As was usual before taking on her side job''s mission, she always experienced a nightmare that had haunted her since childhood, souring her mood.


    Just when she thought things couldn''t worsen after encountering those three men undoubtedly sent by someone she knew too well, she was spotted and followed by a creep who somehow managed to catch up to her in her [Illusory Shadow] form.


    It seemed as if the creep could anticipate her trajectory and perceive her, regardless of whether she was on the other side of a wall or hidden underground while in her intangible shadow form.


    This confirmation came after numerous attempts to change routes during their cat-and-mouse chase. Despite her efforts, the creep maintained pace at every turn she made, leaving her with a sense of immense despair rather than hatred toward this peculiar person following her.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile...


    Brawler Randy silently exhaled a sigh of relief, thankful that he no longer had to maintain his new eye ability. The activation of this ability not only drained his Divine Points when focused on a target but also depleted his Mental Strength, or more specifically his Psionic Energy under his Mental Strength attribute.


    Fortunately, his Mental Strength attribute surpassed even that of his main body, granting ess to units of Psionic Energy that his main body now possessed. This allowed him to sustain his Transfigured state without copsing from the expenditure of Psionic Energy.


    He attributed this to the inherent ws of his body, recognizing them as the reason for the changes to his body, which also granted his current form.


    Lost in contemtion, Liena, having abandoned her attempts to mislead him, reached her destination and came to a halt. She deactivated her skill, sweat covering her forehead as she breathed heavily.


    Turning her hooded head to view behind her, she immediately observed Brawler Randy approaching with a triumphant smile stered on his face.


    Although he stopped as soon as she did, he chose not to rush toward her, knowing that he had already achieved his purpose.


    Liena frowned in displeasure at his gloating expression. However, before she could voice her exasperation toward Brawler Randy, a voice interrupted her, prompting her to turn in its source.


    "L-Liena? Y-You''re here?" The voice, seemingly filled with surprise and questioning, echoed.


    Despite attempting to mask their surprise, the speaker failed, stuttering as Liena fiercely red at them with animosity etched in her eyes.

 Chapter 329: Liena[II]

    Despite recognizing the owner of the voice, a blonde-haired girl about her age, whose visage reflected in her eyes, Liena still chose to redirect her attention back to the approaching Brawler Randy.


    However, her act of ignoring the blonde-haired girl infuriated thetter, causing her face to darken, her body bubbling with power, which she seamlessly repressed as she struggled to maintain herposure.


    "Look at her ignoring us like she''s above us, as always."


    A ck-haired girl beside the blonde-haired girl chimed in with an annoyed expression. She appeared particrly irritated, though most of her annoyance seemed directed at something else rather than Liena.


    The blonde-haired girl, aware of the reason for Liena''s behavior and re, felt as though her facade had been seen through. However, despite her anger, she maintained herposure. She calmly scrutinized Liena''s body and confirmed that she truly was unscathed, bing inwardly surprised and then puzzled soon after


    ''How did she manage to survive those losers I sent after her? Moreover, she returned unscathed as usual. Though they were losers, those guys were still strong mercenaries notorious for using underhanded means to defeat every single one of their opponents.'' The blonde-haired girl pondered as she watched Liena redirect her attention behind her, toward someone slowly approaching their direction.


    Although they shared the same line of work, the blonde-haired girl had never harbored a liking for Liena. Despite being Liena''s senior in terms of experience in their profession, Liena was always held in high regard for her efficiency in tackling andpleting high-ranking missions. This eventually led to Liena earning the title of the Impable Assassin in Imperial City.


    The blonde-haired girl had repeatedly attempted to eliminate Liena through notorious criminals. On this particr day, she had hired a nefarious group to humiliate her, yet Liena, as always, emerged from the encounter unscathed, defying what should have been a deadly situation.


    While contemting this, the blonde-haired girl noticed Liena gazing behind her. Following her line of sight, she observed a young man around their age range approaching with a calm demeanor and an unhurried gait, as if he had decided to take his time. Upon seeing this young man and Liena''s unharmed appearance, the pieces of the puzzle connected in her mind.


    ''Is this person the one who helped her from her predicament?'' She thought to herself, feeling it to be the case.


    With that in mind, she disyed a devilish smile, raising her voice and suddenly speaking: "Who''s that guy, Liena?!"


    "..." Liena didn''t respond to her, as she truly didn''t know the identity of Brawler Randy. She recalled Sylvana learning of his name and approaching Randy, but she was never interested in Randy, much less memorizing his name.


    At the time, she had already made up her mind to not associate with him due to Randy''s bizarre disy of power through disying a derivative technique of the Blood Authority skill. However, her silence in response to the provocative question prompted the blonde-haired girl''s smile to grow even wider as she felt like she had hit the nail on the head.


    "Is he your lover?! Didn''t our best assassin im not to have a lover and that she wasn''t interested in romance?! Were you lying to everyone all this time about your romantic life? Are you finally showing your true colors, you dirty whore!"


    The blonde-haired girl purposely raised her voice while berating Liena to attract the attention of those entering and exiting the building behind her and across the street. As expected, those who heard her voice stopped in their tracks, whispering among themselves while pointing in their direction as if they were a spectacle.


    Liena, noticing the change in the atmosphere due to the blonde-haired girl''s orchestration and choice of words, had her face turn unsightly as she finally focused on the perpetrator. The intensity in her eyes grew as she faced the blonde-haired girl who locked gazes with her, a look of derision on her face.


    "Niana, you..."


    Before Liena couldplete her words, Brawler Randy''s surprised voice rang out clearly behind her.


    "Eh? Now who do you have here? Two little mice? What are you two doing here?"


    Hearing Brawler Randy''s words, which they felt were directed at them, the blonde and ck-haired girls both disyed an unsightly expression.


    "Who are you calling a mouse?" They both shouted, giving a deadly re at the young man, whose appearance became clearer in their view as he approached their direction. Simultaneously, the closer they observed the impolite young man, the more his face elicited a familiar image in their minds.


    Brawler Randy smiled as he walked and stood not far from the two girls, whose eyes widened in disbelief when they saw his visage, briefly glimpsed the night before.


    "Do you still not recognize me, two little mice?" Brawler Randy yfully asked as the two girls stepped back in shock.


    Meanwhile, the surrounding people, including Liena, were shocked by his words. The two assassin girls shuddered as they recognized his annoying yet familiar tone of voice, pointing at him.


    "It''s you!" They eximed in frightful tones as if encountering their nemesis.


    "Yeah, yeah, it''s me. How many times did I hear this today?" Brawler Randy remarked, experiencing a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. He turned to lock eyes with Liena, who observed the unfolding situation with bewilderment, pondering the connection between Brawler Randy and her coworkers.


    He shifted his gaze back and forth between Liena and the two assassin girls, asking quizzically: "What is it with you people? Do you all react with ''It''s you!'' when you see someone you''ve met before?"


    Liena was stunned by his words, but she regained focus as she discreetly approached the Assassin Guild''s building. She mulled over a solution to rid herself of both pests¡ªthe jealous coworkers eager to harm her and the persistent young man who wouldn''t cease his pursuit.


    While she didn''t understand the rtionship between Brawler Randy and her coworkers, their confrontation indicated they weren''t on good terms. She also discerned that Brawler Randy was confronting them based on what they had said about her and him, but she couldn''t care less about such trivial matters.


    At present, her sole concern was her mission. Therefore, she intended to use her Guild''s rules to rid herself of Brawler Randy. As for the two coworkers, she doubted they would dare follow her and create a scene in their Guild''s building.


    With her decision made, she surreptitiously approached the Assassin Guild''s entrance, which was only three meters away. She was well aware that the Assassin Guild did not permit entry to those who didn''t belong to their organization. Trespassers without proper identification would either be turned away or apprehended, depending on their actions when facing the Gatekeepers.


    Brawler Randy was unaware of Liena''s scheme beneath her guise of feigned engagement in the ongoing situation. Although he noticed her standing close to the building not far from them, he didn''t think much of it, assuming she was currently looking in his direction.


    He hoped that his actions in suppressing the two girls he encountered once before after his trip to the casino in Entertainment Street would increase his favorability with Liena and facilitatemunication between them.


    After expressing his thoughts, Brawler Randy didn''t wait for a response from either side. Instead, he turned his attention back to the two frightened blonde and ck-haired assassin girls he had defeated before and coldly stated: "You two didn''t get beaten up enoughst time that you decided to cause trouble for me again, is that it?


    Do you want to go at it again and see whether or not you''lle out alive this time? I''ll remind you that this time, I''ll break a few of your bones to etch my unforgettable marks on you so you won''t dare appear in front of me again. In the event you manage to survive my thrashing today, then only endless torment would await you."


    As he coldly addressed the two assassin girls he initially encountered at the casino as workers of the establishment, Brawler Randy suddenly sensed the presence of the person he was defending approaching the gate of the assassin building.


    While he was distracted, Liena had already reached the Assassin Guild''s entrance. After swiftly undergoing an identification check from the Gakekeepers that seemed to manifest out of thin air to confirm her identity, she proceeded to the gate of the Assassin Guild''s establishment.


    "Huh?"


    Turning around in disbelief, Brawler Randy fully witnessed the event unfolding by utilizing his 360-degree periphery vision granted by the Transfigured State. As if mocking him, Liena turned her head around to gaze at him once before entering the Assassin Guild''s edifice. Brawler Randy could have sworn he saw a devilish smirk on the corner of her lips as she took a step into the gateway.


    "What is she¡­" Brawler Randy was at a loss for words as he observed her figure entering the gateway, the gate shutting tightly behind her. Simultaneously, the two obscured Gatekeepers, shrouded in mysterious power, began blending into their surroundings as if they were immaterial entities.


    Abruptly snapping out of his reverie after witnessing this scene, Brawler Randy ignored the two frightened assassin girls and approached the Assassin Guild, his hurried voice echoing outward.


    "Liena, wait for me!"


    Just a meter away from the Assassin Guild''s edifice, Brawler Randy watched as the two Gatekeepers, who were turning illusory, suddenly became real, gaining physical form. One of the shadowy Gatekeepers then spoke in an apathetic and chilly voice toward him.


    "What business do you have in our Assassin Guild? If nothing important, I''d advise you to turn around and head back where you came from, vagrant."


    The tone was detached and derisive, with the source not deeming Brawler Randy worthy of their attention.

 Chapter 330: Liena[III]

    The two Gatekeepers seemed to have heard the words spoken by the blonde-haired girl, Niana, regarding the rtionship between Brawler Randy and Liena. Therefore, they didn''t have a good impression of him on their first encounter, considering the possibility that Niana''s words might be true.


    Liena was the best assassin among their younger generation members, and they wouldn''t allow her skills to be dulled by engaging in any unnecessary emotional endeavors, particrly romance. Even if it weren''t due to their Guild rules, they would have still found a way to get rid of him on this day.


    They refuse to acknowledge the possibility of a random nobody and a weakling whom they had never even heard the achievement of, forming any sort of rtionship with Liena.


    Meanwhile, upon hearing the disdainful words from the Gatekeepers, Brawler Randy wasn''t angered as one would expect. Instead, he smiled as he spoke, reining in his unbridled behavior.


    "Excuse me, sirs. I''m a friend of the one who just entered the building. Would you be so kind as to let me in? I don''t n on doing anything but following her around as a guest."


    Hearing his cordial response, the other Gatekeeper replied indifferently: "Buzz off, kid. If you''re not a member rmended to our Guild by one of the Guild Scouts, you can''t enter this building, regardless of your identity. That is the rule. No one can break it, not even the Royal Family. If you do not heed this warning and attempt to force your way in, only death awaits you."


    Observing the unyielding demeanor of the two Gatekeepers, Brawler Randy pondered and asked: "What if I am a Dungeon Hunter?"


    "Dungeon Hunter?"


    The same Gatekeeper who had warned him responded with mockery in his voice, saying: " So what if you''re a Dungeon Hunter? Do you think cowards who only know how to fight soulless creatures couldpare to our honorable Guild? Get out of here. This is yourst warning."


    A sudden intense atmosphere enveloped the two parties, and the tension permeating the air became palpable. Brawler Randy''s face turned fierce, relinquishing the smile on his face as his body exuded an immense battle aura, ready to explode at any moment.


    As the Gatekeepers sensed his unyielding will and battle intent, they turned to gaze at each other, a ferocious smile basking their face. They turned back to face the unbridled figure of the young man who dared to challenge without knowing his ce.


    Their bodies began to emanate a terrifying murderous aura, overwhelming enough to dim the consciousness of the strong and cause the weak to be muddle-headed, eventually losing their consciousness.


    The immensity of these murderous auras showcased by the two Gatekeepers had a potent effect that ignored the body to directly impact the mind. They nned on using it to suppress Brawler Randy, deeming him unworthy of disying their fullbat abilities.


    Despite being showered with an oppressive aura and potent mental damaging effects directly targeting his psyche, Brawler Randy remained unfazed. His liquefied Psionic Energy and Divine Point units were expended to activate his newly acquired ocr inspection skill as he gazed at the two Gatekeepers in his field of vision, their information entering his mind.


    Taking a few seconds topute whether or not he could take them down, a smile soon appeared on his lips. The two Gatekeepers felt a subtle chill run down their spines, but they maintained their firm gaze on the unfettered young man.


    Although Brawler Randy couldn''t defeat them in his normal state, in his current transfigured state, he might be able to fight them to a draw. If he fought one of them, he deduced that he stood a chance at defeating one of them, with scars and bruises being the only price to pay.


    "Fine. Then, I will wait here until my friendes out. As long as I don''t enter the building, there is no problem, right?"


    Brawler Randy retracted his battle aura as he spoke, a faint smile stered on his face. His mesmerizing countenance and demeanor left the two Gatekeepers looking at him in disbelief. They had thought he really wanted to confront them, but his response and action defied their expectations.


    After contemting for a moment, the two Gatekeepers slowly retracted their oppressive auras and intently observed the young man once again, various thoughts coursing through their minds.


    Despite Brawler Randy''s confidence in taking on the two Gatekeepers, considering their non-use of force against him, relying on coercion and intimidation, he chose to concede. He feared that even if he secured victory in his Transfigured State, it might attract other members of the Assassin Guild due to themotion of the battle, prompting them to join the Gatekeepers to eliminate him.


    Taking down one Gatekeeper could brand him as an aggressive disruptor of their business, risking severe punishment from the stronger individuals within the Assassin Guild. With this potential oue in mind, he chose restraint over recklessness.


    Despite his previous impulsiveness, Brawler Randy knew his limits. Now equipped with a new perception ability instilling a degree of caution in his unbridled character, making him contemte his current action before acting.


    Despite this development, he still maintained his unruly demeanor in front of the Assassin Guild''s building. He defiantly chose to stand face-to-face with the two Gatekeepers with confidence.


    The Gatekeepers were left speechless, as their Guild''s rules did not explicitly prohibit individuals from standing in front of their building, as most non-affiliated individuals wouldn''t dare approach their establishment. They found themselves in a dilemma of either driving him away or monitoring the situation.


    In the end, they chose to physically stay and observe the unruly young man instead of fading away and monitoring the situation in the background as usual.


    "¡­"


    Silence enveloped the surroundings. Brawler Randy and the two adamant Gatekeepers locked gazes, waiting for the catalyst of the current confrontation between them to emerge from the building.


    The Gatekeepers, having concluded that Brawler Randy''s actions aligned with their guild''s rules, refrained from any form of confrontation to avoid further tarnishing their Guild''s bad reputation.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Onlookers stood at a distance, intrigued by the unfolding scene but hesitant to approach the Assassin Guild. Even though intrigued by the unfolding scene, the onlookers kept their distance as if avoiding a cmity.


    It was well-known in Imperial City that the Civilians held the Assassin Guild in low regard, often ssifying its members as potential threats, deciding to avoid getting near them, no matter the asion.


    Due to this narrow perspective, almost all civilians preferred keeping their distance, attentively observingmotions from afar as they waited for the result. After the conclusion of such events, they would disseminate exaggerated ounts throughout Imperial City, perpetuating negative rumors about the Guild.

 Chapter 331: Gaining Ground

    At the same time...


    Inside the Assassin Guild''s building, Liena walked towards the reception desk, situated a few meters away, to receive her mission. However, the receptionist responsible for her assignment abruptly vanished behind the counter when Liena stood just a meter away.


    The receptionist''s feminine figure materialized behind Liena, wearing an innocent and vibrant smile. Her charming smile could easily render many men immobile, lowering their guard.


    At this moment, her slender arms opened wide, attempting to hug Liena from behind, but Liena''s expression turned stern. She swiftly turned around, giving the illusion that she had disappeared momentarily from her position.


    Then...


    Clink! ng! Clink!


    Metallic sounds resonated through the building as two figures, one tall and one short, engaged in a sh a few times in session. The aggressive forms of Liena and the receptionist were on disy, with Liena skillfully using her dagger to fend off and parry the spindle-like weapon wielded by the receptionist, the force knocking thetter backward.


    In response to Liena''s counter, the receptionist expertly executed a graceful backflip and twirled in the air beforending on one foot in a cross posture on the reception desk.


    "Gorgia, how many times must I tell you not to test me every time Ie in here!"


    Liena''s frustrated words echoed in the reception area, her fierce expression portrayed her annoyance at suddenly being attacked as soon she walked into the building.


    Despite noticing Liena''s annoyance, the receptionist, Gorgia, wore a yful smile, gracefully jumping down from the desk.


    "Come on, Liena. I haven''t seen you in forever. If it weren''t for the challenging mission, you wouldn''t even step into the assassin building to see me. You''re such a meanie~" She pouted, approaching Liena with a strange smile, a hint of craziness hidden in her eyes.


    Even though it was evident her battle intent was not quenched, Gorgia chose not to agitate Liena further, having already enjoyed shing with her a few times. As she walked toward Liena, she twirled her needle-like weapons before making them disappear into thin air, their origin and hiding ce remaining a mystery as no one could determine where she pulled it out from.


    Standing before Liena, Gorgia voiced her discontent.


    "Why don''t youe to see me anymore? What''s so great about being a Dungeon Hunter anyway? Isn''t it boring to kill lifeless creatures all the time?"


    Ignoring Gorgia''s antics, Liena tersely said: "I was only off-mission for only a month. Besides, we''re not that close. I''m only here to receive this month''s mission."


    After responding to Gorgia, Liena walked past her and stood before the reception desk, leaving her behind.


    Gorgia''s figure shed and appeared behind the counter, responding with a mncholic expression.


    "That hurts to hear, you know. After all we''ve been through, you still refuse to consider me your friend, my dear Liena?"


    While speaking, her dexterous hands retrieved the documents regarding the mission that Liena hade for. As soon as she had the document in her hands, she handed it to Liena, who promptly signed it, confirming her eptance of the mission.


    After finishing, Liena returned the document to the receptionist and turned around to leave. "I''m taking my leave now," she stated before walking away.


    "You''re too cold to me, Liena. Would you talk to me and befriend me if that hag, Sylvana, were to die inexplicably?" Gorgia remarked, prompting Liena to halt and turn around, ring at her with a heart-piercing killing intent.


    Gorgia disyed an unsightly smile in response to her reaction. "Now that''s more like the Liena that I know and love. Have a good hunt this time as well. Don''t die, though I doubt you''ll drop dead anytime soon. Hahaha!"


    Calming herself, Liena hurriedly left the building, a deep frown now visible on her face. a deep frown now visible on her face, destroying her beautiful countenance. As she exited in a bad mood, she had forgotten about the one who had contributed to ruining her mood for the day, the one currently waiting for her outside the Assassin Guild''s establishment.


    ¡­


    On the other side, near the location of an unsupervised dungeon, away from any form of civilization, the new incarnation conjured by Randy was gaining ground as it made its way toward one of the cities of the Long-eared Tribe, relying on the mental map transmitted to its mind by Randy before its departure.


    Over the past few days, the incarnation had traversed onnd, camping outside a few times, even facing harmless wild beasts that saw him as potential prey during his breaks in a forest. He also encountered stray magical beasts that followed him, remaining hidden in the bushes as they waited for an opportunity to strike.


    During one of the nights he camped outside, he faced a slight challenge when subjugating a different batch of magical beasts that seemed to possess extraordinary intelligence, making it difficult to draw them out like the other magical beasts he encountered.


    The magical beasts were more cautious in their approach than the wild beasts that immediately bared their ferocious fangs and ws when they saw him sitting motionless under a tree during the daytime.


    Observing the distinct behaviors of the two types of beasts, the incarnation devised a n to deal with the magical beasts concealed within the bushes.


    Eventually, the incarnation decided to wait until nighttime to set up a trap for them by lighting a bonfire and pretending to be asleep, hoping to trick them into thinking he had let down his guard.


    As the eastern side of the continent was entirely covered in nts, with overgrown and oversized vegetation reaching exaggerated lengths, the incarnation had no choice but to camp in a forest instead of an open field to avoid potential ambushes.


    However, these circumstances didn''t diminish its awareness as it made sure to hunt only weak wild beasts, avoiding those that might slow it down or take too much time to defeat due to their extraordinary endurance.


    The defeated wild beasts became dinner, allowing the incarnation to sustain itself without running out of energy as it continued its journey.


    Randy had not provided any food when he sent the incarnation on the mission. In hindsight, the incarnation realized it should have visited Imperial City before hastily deciding to venture to its destination. However, since the past couldn''t be rectified, it chose to focus on the present, deciding to hunt for food instead.


    Before the magical beasts could attack the incarnation, it had already determined that the hidden beasts nning their attack on him were weak. This was the incarnation''s initial inspection and deduction after observing their behaviors for an extended period.


    The incarnation believed that strong magical beasts would naturally disy tyrannical confidence when facing their prey, attacking after assessing and confirming that their opponent''s strength was weaker than theirs. However, the magical beasts that lurked in the dark took precautions beforeunching their attacks, suggesting ack of confidence in swiftly taking down their prey.

 Chapter 332: Suppressing a Reptilian Creature, Enraging an Unknown Creature

    With that conclusion, during the nighttime of that day, the incarnation orchestrated a scene of him falling asleep with a bonfire lighting up his camp to draw the attention of the weak magical beasts cowardly lurking in the surroundings while waiting for him to sleep.


    The reason the incarnation lit the bonfire was to ensure his vision was not impeded when the magical beasts attacked. When the magical beasts, unable to hold back their hunger any longer, finallyunched their attack, as the incarnation predicted, they were too weak to pose any threat.


    The incarnation easily took them down with nothing but its physical strength, matching Randy''s physical strength attribute. In the end, those magical beasts served to nourish the incarnation''s body, providing potent nutrients and allowing a swift journey without too much hassle on the way.


    After oveing many challenging hurdles on the way to his destination, the incarnation finally arrived at the unsupervised dungeon, realizing that the reason he was attacked by magical beasts on the way was due to the presence of the nearby dungeon, housing many magical creatures. The entrances of unsupervised dungeons were always swarmed with magical beasts attracted by its environmental allure.


    The reason magical beasts swarmed areas surrounding dungeons had to do with the abundant concentration of mana near the dungeon entrance, making them undergo their evolution faster.


    Even wild beasts were drawn by the allure of potent mana concentration, as exposure to excessive and potent mana would expedite their growth, allowing them to quickly evolve into magical beasts with intelligence nearly matching that of ordinary humans.


    Although wild beasts also possessed some traces of mana within their bodies, it usually wasn''t enough to transform them into magical beasts. Therefore, they were referred to by the denizens of Acruxia World as wild beasts and hunted as daily food by normal people with weaker strengths.


    While the meat of magical beasts was more scrumptious than wild beasts, the effort and risks it took to hunt them outweighed the mere nutritional value they provided. As a result, many people chose to hunt slightly dumber wild beasts that were easier to dispatch instead of risking their lives to hunt cunning magical beasts.


    The incarnation learned this knowledge from the assimted knowledge retrieved from Randy''s memory transferred over to it. This wasmon knowledgepiled from Zt Grant''s memory.


    With a pragmatic mindset, the incarnation chose to focus on the mission instead of picking unnecessary fights with any aggressive creatures it encountered throughout its journey. The incarnation made a habit of avoiding powerful magical beasts and even those with the same level of power as him, as it didn''t want to prolong its journey after iming it would be back soon.


    With the incarnation''s meticulous and efficient operational method, it eventually located the dungeon entrance by tracing the movement of magical beasts using the Traceless Form Technique and the Absolute Stealth skill, now upgraded to Level 2, providing enhanced concealing effects against creatures weaker than it inbat power.


    However, as the incarnation approached, despite its wless concealment, its presence was sensed by a cub of a reptilian creature with spotless white scales, preying on another magical beast unlucky enough to be its food. The reptilian cub''s appearance, characterized by a baby face and innocent eyes, distinguished it from the ferocious magical beasts faced on the journey.


    Noticing the incarnation''s presence through its keen senses, the reptilian cub disyed aggression, seemingly assuming the incarnation hade to snatch its food, as evidenced by it covering the partially devoured magical beast and roaring at the incarnation. Despite being a cub, it possessed strength equivalent to the incarnation, prompting thetter to take it seriously.


    After a few exchangessting about 10 minutes, creating amotion that scared nearby magical beasts away, either from the reptilian creature''s roar or the shock waves of their exchange, the incarnation took advantage of the creature''sck of experience. It decisively targeted the cub''s belly, inflicting a wound that caused it to roar in pain and bleed profusely.


    The incarnation employed the most efficient technique derived from the Blood Authority Skill, Blood Halt, temporarily slowing the creature''s movement and causing damage with the w of the Werewolf King of Wind''s Form, which temporarily boosted its attacking power.


    After inflicting critical damage, the incarnation used another derivative technique of the Blood Authority skill, Blood Siphon, to extract the creature''s blood, assimting with it and acquiring its assimted form. The incarnation ignored momentarily appearing lines of text in its vision, stating the acquisition of a new Assimted State.


    Subsequently, the incarnation used the assimted form to obtain strengthparable to the reptilian cub, stacking with its own physical attributes, allowing it to confront and swiftly suppress the cub.


    Contemting whether or not to kill the creature before it, the incarnation weighed the risk of letting a potential threat roam free and target it again in the future as it made a ruthless decision.


    As it prepared to deliver the final blow with an emotionless countenance, the incarnation suddenly heard a ferocious and maddened roar in the distance, prompting it to raise its head to stare into the distant forest where a formidable presence was making itself known.


    Judging by the resounding distant roar filled with pure hostility, the incarnation discerned it toe from a giant creature, perhaps belonging to the mother of the reptilian creature it was about to end the life of.


    With that realization, the incarnation gave up on dealing with the cub reptilian and immediately turned away from the direction leading to the entrance of the dungeon, bolting away without hesitation.


    Sensing the danger looming over it, the incarnation recalled when the cub roared in pain after its suppression. It surmised that the creature had not roared in pain but had called for its parent during that time.


    As the incarnation ran, it felt a dreadful gaze filled with tyrannical pressure increasingly aiming in its direction, even though it had already made a considerable distance from the reptilian cub.


    With a deft reaction, the incarnation immediately used all of its transformations¡ª the Werewolf King of Wind''s form to enhance its speed and Zt Grant''s form to mask its true appearance and identity from the creature''s gaze. Additionally, using the Body Strengthen skill, the incarnation strengthened its legs, kicking off the ground with tremendous force to escape the looming threat.


    Even with all these arrangements, the incarnation still felt the gaze of the obscene and outrageous creature linger on it as he ran away. It contemted using the newly acquired assimted form of the reptilian cub, but the incarnation quickly chose to forgo that decision as it wasn''t aware of the risk of posing as the reptilian cub''s kin in the gaze of the unknown creature targeting him.


    Gritting its teeth, the incarnation mustered all its strength to speed up its movement as it escaped from the vicinity under the unknown creature''s gaze. It was only after covering tens of miles that it felt like it had lost its pursuer, even though it didn''t seem like the creature was giving chase from the beginning to the end, only following the incarnation''s movement with its powerful gaze.

 Chapter 333: Escaping a Calamity

    Despite not being chased, the gaze of the unknown creature, which the incarnation concluded to be the mother of the reptilian creature, vividly conveyed the feeling of being locked onto by a predator.


    As though the unknown creature had a wide range of perception, the incarnation sensed its every single movement being observed closely and pursued by the gaze of the furious unknown creature, prompting it to continue making more distance between itself and the furious creature.


    Once the incarnation felt like it was in the safe range, no longer sensing the previous lingering gaze observing its movement, it didn''t stop running but changed its course instead. It picked a random direction and ran for a few more miles before deciding to stop to catch its breath.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, back in the forest where the reptilian cub, resembling a giant lizard with beautiful, shimmering white scales, now tainted with red blood from the incarnation''s earlier assault¡­


    Right after the incarnation frantically departed the scene, a mountainous figure of a towering creature with wingspans covering a few meters wide and a sizeparable to a building surfaced from the depth of the forest, appearing next to the reptilian cub.


    The creature had the same shimmering white scales as the reptilian cub, but its facial features, snout, and scales looked more pronounced, showcasing maturity and a ferocious countenance.


    As soon as it appeared beside the reptilian cub, it turned its gaze down to where its cuby sprawled on the ground, pitifully moaning in pain. Observing the weakened state of the reptilian cub, it roared madly and wanted to chase after the assant.


    However, considering the terrible condition of its cub, it decided to attend to the cub first. Having memorized the assant''s scent, it vowed to kill them if encountered again.


    Although the incarnation had no idea whose nest it had unintentionally ruffled, this mountainous creature was known by the people of Acruxia as the Cmitous White Dragon of the East. It was one of the Cardinal Magical Beasts of Acruxia, a Guardian Beast of the long-eared human race, and just like the long-eared human race, it chose a neutral stance in the war between humans and demons.


    However, just because it had chosen to be neutral didn''t mean that if anyone touched its blood kin, it would let them go unscathed. It was famous for turning anyone not of the long-eared human descent into food without listening to any plea or exnation once they barged into its territory.


    Those who crossed this ferocious creature recently couldn''t live to tell the tale, as they had turned into dinner for its cub. The Cmitous White Dragon ruthlessly bit down on the necks of its prey, munching on their heads before serving the torso, including the limbs, of the bodies to its cub.


    Fortunately, before facing the Cmitous White Dragon, the incarnation had already vacated the vicinity of the unsupervised dungeon. Thanks to its quick reaction, the incarnation managed to avoid and escape a cmity.


    ...


    On the other side, in a random location far away from the vicinity of the unsupervised Dungeon Entrance¡­


    After catching its breath, the incarnation finally had the time to take in its surroundings, realizing that it had no idea where it had traveled to. However, it didn''t fret as it pulled the map in its mind to discern its current location.


    However, it discovered that it was hard to discern its present location urately without andmark or a direction. With the situation developing to this stage, the incarnation decided to roam around to find anything that would allow it to identify its current location.


    Upon closer inspection and survey of its surroundings, the incarnation discovered that there were fewer trees where it found itself, only ins. The incarnation decided to survey the surroundings some more. While doing so, it couldn''t help but think back to the perilous encounter it had barely managed to evade with its decisive reaction.


    As the incarnation thought back to the location with the abundant concentration of mana, which should be close to the dungeon entrance presumed to be an unsupervised dungeon stated by the Challenger''s System, it deduced that the unknown creature that locked onto it was most likely guarding the entrance to the dungeon, though it had no idea of its true intention.


    The incarnation could only think of one possibility, which was the unknown creature utilizing the potent mana to evolve itself, just like other magical beasts.


    While the incarnation may not know the genuine reason for the unknown creature''s actions, its deduction was not far off the mark as the Cmitous White Dragon had indeed been guarding the entrance to the dungeon, asionally using it to train its cub that managed to reach Level 50 through venturing into the dungeon and hunting magical creatures.


    Even magical beasts, especially the intelligent ones, could enter the dungeons to gain levels and boost their growth, but like humans, the increase in level of power became slower in theter stages. In the White Dragon cub''s case, its leveling up slowed down when it reached level 50 and only managed to reach Level 65 after numerous dungeon raids.


    Considering that the incarnation inherited Randy''s level of power, at level 55, the cub, possessing thebat power of level 65, should have been able to defeat the incarnation.


    However, the incarnation didn''t give the cub any time to counterattack, swiftly taking it down by striking its belly using optimal skills, causing it to sustain slight injuries, but enough to allow the Blood Authority skill to suppress the childish and immature baby dragon.


    If the incarnation had prolonged the battle, turning it into a battle of attrition, the baby dragon would have utilized its extraordinary strength and mana pool, surpassing regr individuals of the same level, to potentially tie or even defeat the incarnation.


    Even though running away could have been the safest option for the incarnation to ensure its survival, avoiding conflict altogether, there was no guarantee that the reptilian cub wouldn''t pursue it, as in the creature''s eyes, it would be nothing but an escaping snack.


    Reflecting on the identity of the creature that prompted its hasty escape, the incarnation firmly concluded once again that the perceived threat might havee from apanion or a parent of the reptilian creature it fought. With this mental affirmation, it believed the other party arrived to rescue the reptilian cub when they sensed its impending demise.


    During their battle, the incarnation observed that despite the reptilian cub''s higher size and agility, it was clumsy in its attacks. This factor allowed the incarnation to achieve victory without sustaining any injuries.


    The only saving grace was its hesitation to kill the reptilian cub, as this hesitation ultimately saved its life. The incarnation had no doubt that if it had killed the reptilian cub, the parent would have chased after him and would stop at nothing to exterminate it for revenge.


    With various thoughts coursing through its mind, the incarnation scouted the unfamiliar environment, marking the path it took using recognizable details such as twigs and branches broken from the scarce trees found in the ins.

 Chapter 334: Demon Seed

    Shifting focus back to Brawler Randy¡­


    Despite facing rejection from Liena several times in a row, he persisted in following her for the next few days, imposing himself on her mission against her will.


    A few days ago, after emerging from the Assassin Guild''s building, Liena assumed that Brawler Randy had been driven away by the Gatekeepers after her little scheme. However, to her despairing gaze, he was still standing there, greeting her with a smirk on his face outside her Guild''s building, causing her to unconsciously step back.


    Subsequently, she attempted to elude Brawler Randy in the same way as before, but, without much surprise, she once again came to the realization she couldn''t get rid of him. Brawler Randy clung to her like a pest, refusing to let go.


    Relenting, she chose to allow him to follow her but warned him not to make any hasty decisions or confront anyone he met, even if he assumed they were criminals, as that could jeopardize her mission if the wrong target was apprehended. Brawler Randy concurred and acquiesced to her words.


    He also vowed to adhere to her other wishes as he apanied her during her mission, promising to only be a bystander. Liena only rolled her eyes, not believing his words or trusting in his ountability. She was d that they were away from her Guild before deciding to allow him to follow her, as due to the confidentiality of her mission, she was not allowed to bring anyone with her.


    With that development, Brawler Randy closely followed her with a gleeful expression, as if someone who had just won a lottery.


    Although following Liena was not Brawler Randy''s initial intention, as he merely wanted a tour of Mercenary Street to familiarize himself with the various establishments within the street, he deemed the current development not a bad one. Looking on the bright side, he realized he could learn more from an experienced person like Liena, who had a double upation as far as he was aware.


    Presently, Brawler Randy followed Liena to track down a criminal who allegedly was a pawn of the demon race, with the verdict for him being extermination, the same verdict for any aplice. Brawler Randy thought it was cruel but he didn''tment on it.


    They had visited a teleportation station and arrived at the outskirts of the human territory in the western part of their continent. The location they teleported to was an outpost for the army of humanity. Their purpose was to detect any anomalies concerning demons.


    After making their way from the outpost, they continued their journey to the very edge of the western territory of humanity. This location had many viges scattered around thend, inhabited by the poor or those who preferred to live a carefree lifestyle, away from the city where everything was extremely expensive or restrictive.


    As they made their way to the destination of Liena''s mission, Brawler Randy, despite iming to only be a bystander, fervently asked Liena a plethora of questions regarding her mission out of curiosity.


    "Didn''t you promise to only be a bystander? Why are you asking so many questions? You do realize that this is a secret mission that involves killing people, right? Normal people were not supposed to be aware of the details, let alone be curious about it." Remarked Liena, vexed by his persistent inquiries throughout their journey.


    As far as she was aware, this was the first precedent of someone asking about the details of an assassin''s job rather than outright being scared of the notion of killing someone in cold blood. She felt that Brawler Randy wasn''t normal or something was wrong with his head.


    Her thoughts made the image of Randy siphoning the blood from the body of the Vampire Man resurface in her mind, causing her face to turn solemn.


    Returning to her senses, she squinted her eyes and secretly turned to briefly look at the enigmatic person walking side by side with her on the same road, her thoughts hidden, but her furtive gaze met Brawler Randy''s scrutinizing eyes. He stared at her pondering face with a smile on his face.


    This caused her to be stunned and agitated as she didn''t know Brawler Randy was staring at her until she turned to face his direction, ming it on her distracted thoughts.


    To her queries from a moment ago, Brawler Randy unexpectedly replied: "I did say I''ll be a bystander and not interfere in your mission, but I never said I wouldn''t inquire about your mission. Also, so what if your mission involves killing people?


    I don''t think you''re a cold-blooded killer from what I''ve seen earlier, so I''m assuming those people you''ve killed as an assassin might''ve done something to warrant their death, am I right?"


    His reply caused Liena to be at a loss for words, as his words made sense from a general perspective. Only people with narrow minds would assume the job of the Assassin Guild that openly established their Guild in Imperial City would dabble in reaping the lives of the innocent.


    Additionally, she was slightly moved by his assessment of her character, that she wasn''t a cold-blooded killer. Although she didn''t know why Brawler Randy assumed she wasn''t a cold-blooded killer when they barely knew each other, he was right to assume that her targets indeed deserved death as they were all criminals or traitors of humanity.


    Despite being touched by his words, Liena still felt exasperated and still wanted to cut him down for his pestering from before till now, but she held back her anger and chose to answer his questions.


    "Fine. Whatever. It''s not like you''d stop pestering me if I kept my mouth shut, so I''ll answer all your questions at once, and then I want you to stop bothering me afterward. I need focus, not a distraction while I''m on my mission. Otherwise, I''ll give up on the mission, and I''ll make you take the me.


    You won''t like the result, I guarantee you." Liena said in frustration, her tone carrying a hint of threat.


    "Deal." Brawler Randy nodded in affirmation.


    Through his back-and-forth conversation with Liena, Brawler Randy learned about a piece of new information regarding people given the title of Demon Seed Bearers. Demon Seed Bearers, ording to Liena, had Demon Seeds nted in them by demons.


    As exined by Liena with a discernible scowl of disgust on her face, the targets of these Demon Seeds were mostly individuals who were far away from the protection of the Imperial City''s specialized guards that warded off demons. Usually, the countryside cities were subjected to most attacks from demons or captured to be sacrificialmbs for their rituals.


    Their target this time was someone who made a deal with a demon to preserve his family by taking a Demon Seed that granted unimaginable power. Unbeknownst to them, the Demon Seed also functioned as a means to create disposable demons to wreak havoc on the human territories.


    When the Demon Seed fully germinates, they turn into mindless beasts, with the only instinct being to destroy all life in their vicinity until they run out of steam and eventually die.


    These poor people were never shielded or protected by the demons after they transformed into hideous monsters to do their bidding. Additionally, as their sanity was gradually corroded, there was a possibility of them killing their family members with their own hands instead of protecting them as they had wished.

 Chapter 335: Demon Seed Host[I]

    Brawler Randy realized the cruelty of the demons from listening to Liena speak with a visible change in her emotion. He wondered if she had seen such a scene many times, causing her to be affected emotionally when she talked about it. After listening to her talk as they walked to their destination, he suddenly interrupted her when he thought of something.


    "Can they be saved if they''ve been nted with this Demon Seed?" Brawler Randy asked, even though he had an inkling of the answer to his own question.


    "Impossible." As expected, Liena became agitated, stopping in her tracks, turning her body to face him. She coldly added: "Once you''re affected by the Demon Seed, the only oue is the death of the host to prevent the death of many innocent lives. Do you think I''ll be on this mission if they could still be saved?"


    "How are you so certain? Can''t they be saved by extracting the Demon Seed? Is it from experience or just your spection?" Brawler Randy tentatively asked her, not expecting her to answer, but unexpectedly, he saw Liena''s face sh with anger and sadness before responding.


    "Spection? I have seen with my own eyes how my... someone had transformed and taken the lives of their own loved ones and the members of their vige. Do you think I''ll be on this mission if extracting the Demon Seed was possible?


    After studying the corpse, it was discovered that killing the Demon Seed would also kill the host, as their lifeline was inexplicably linked." Liena exined, taking a deep breath to calm her emotions at the end of the exnation, realizing that she was losing control of herself.


    Realizing that his questions were riling her up for some reason, Brawler Randy decided to not pursue any further. The two of them silently made their way to a vige in the distance.


    Not long after, they entered the vige. However, the vige was scarce and quiet with only a few people walking on the street. It was daytime, so it was strange for there to be fewer vigers walking about on the street. Furthermore, no one came to wee them, even though they entered the vige through their makeshift gate made from utilizing the logs from the nearby trees.


    Liena, without bothering to talk to the vigers, began to look around the ce, seemingly searching for the target of her mission.


    "What are you doing?" Brawler Randy couldn''tpletely understand her actions of merely staring at every house they passed by without uttering any words or approaching them to confirm the location of her target.


    "I''m looking for my target." Liena tersely replied.


    "I can kind of tell from your actions, though I can''tprehend your methods¡­" Brawler Randy shook his head helplessly and added: "Why are you not asking anyone in the vige? Wouldn''t it be faster that way instead of blindly looking around like that?"


    "I know what I''m doing." After uttering these words, she walked away from Brawler Randy, deciding to speed up her search and locate her target as soon as possible before another tragedy ensued.


    Earlier, Brawler Randy heard from Liena that the location of her target was estimated to be near the vige they had arrived in, but the precise location couldn''t be discerned. Asking how she got that information, Liena opened her mouth but didn''t respond to his question, prompting Brawler Randy to not pry too much into her business.


    While Liena was busy searching for her target, Brawler Randy approached an olddy who was trying to scurry to her house when she saw them approaching her.


    "Hello there. Can I bother you for a minute?" Brawler Randy said, startling the olddy, whose hand was ced on the doorknob, about to enter her house.


    "W-What do you want?" The olddy looked left and right as she stammered. Her reaction made Brawler Randy furrow his brow slightly, but he quickly disyed a smile and politely said: "Nothing. I just want to ask why there''s barely anyone on the street. We just arrived in this vige. We were on a mission, but we wanted to take a break here for a few days if possible."


    "Y-You can''t." The olddy stammered again, but her reply came almost instantly.


    Perplexed by her quick reply and suspicious behavior, Brawler Randy asked: "Why?"


    Seeing his genuinely perplexed expression, the olddy collected herself and said: "Young man, it''s not that our vigecked hospitality. It''s just thattely, some monster has been striking the vige, killing many people in its wake. Thest time that monster struck, it escaped in confusion, so not many people died."


    "Is that so? Was it a magical beast or...?" Brawler Randy ventured to confirm whether or not the monster mentioned by the olddy was their target.


    As expected, the olddy shook her head. She leaned in closer, then looked around to confirm that no one was listening to their conversation before uttering in a whisper.


    "That thing wasn''t a magical beast. I don''t know what it was either..." She spoke slowly before sighing and adding: "That day, I don''t know if I was lucky or not. You see, I was nearly killed by that monster, but at thest minute, it stopped. At that moment, I managed to glimpse its appearance. It looked like a human but had eyes like that of a demon.


    Also, before that monster left, I heard it muttering something in humannguage, saying: ''This can''t be happening. I only wanted to protect them.'' Then, as if in despair, that thing let out a piercing shrill before running away in the direction of the nearby forest where our local wild beasts lived."


    Before Brawler Randy could ask any further questions, the olddy had taken advantage of his contemtive state after hearing her recount to enter her house and lock the door, leaving him standing all alone in front of her house.


    While he was initially stunned and taken aback by her actions, he didn''t dwell on the quirkiness of the olddy and turned around to leave, only to notice Lienaing toward him.


    "Did you find them?" He asked when Liena stood before him. He thought Liena would attempt to leave him behind, but she defied his assumption and came back.


    Liena replied: "No. We''re leaving."


    Bewildered, Brawler asked: "Where are we going? Weren''t we here to find your target? Why are we suddenly leaving?"


    "I already know where they might be, and they are definitely not in this vige." Liena replied and began to walk away, prompting Brawler Randy to follow behind her.


    Following the clues discovered, Brawler Randy, led by Liena, traced the location of their target to a hut in the forest that housed wild beasts. When they arrived at the hut, they saw a man holding a wild beast that looked like a giant rabbit, seeminglying home from a hunt. When he saw them approaching his hut, he dropped the rabbit, about to run.


    At this juncture...


    Shockingly, Liena changed her tone and cold demeanor, disying an amiable smile as she addressed the man.


    "Hello there, mister. There''s no need to be afraid. We''re just hunters looking for a temporary space to rest, and we happened to notice your hut in the forest."

 Chapter 336: Demon Seed Host[II]

    The man stopped in his tracks and turned around to face them with a suspicious gaze. He appeared to have lowered his guard, but he still seemed skeptical of their identity. With a nagging suspicion, he doubtfully asked: "Why are you here? I don''t think you''re from the nearby vige. I haven''t seen you thest time I was there, and I''ve met everyone in that vige."


    "We''re just lost hunters from a different vige." Liena answered politely, Brawler Randy merely observing the y being put on by her with interest as he didn''t expect her to suddenly change her demeanor to put on an act.


    He could infer that she was most likely putting on a pretense to catch her target off guard, making her job much easier, so he didn''t n on interfering by adding on to her words.


    "Is that the case? I thought you were bandits. Then, which vige are you from?"


    As if waiting for this question, Liena quickly replied: "West Wind Vige. We were experiencing drought and our hunting forest yielded less game than usual. We decided to venture out of thefort of our vige and search for food in other viges and hunting forests."


    After listening to her narration, the man became silent briefly, seemingly pondering her words, before stating: "It must''ve been hard walking all the way here."


    "You must be thirsty. Can I offer you some water? There is a creek not far from here with fresh water. I happen to have some boiled and filtered. It is safe for drinking. If you don''t mind, you cane in to rest.


    I live here by myself. It''s good to have somepany once in a while."


    The man cordially offered, walking into his hut without waiting for their reply. Liena sharply exchanged a meaningful nce with Brawler Randy before taking a step forward, with thetter following behind her. They both entered the hut after the man.


    Inside the hut¡­


    Liena and Brawler Randy sat on a makeshift chair offered by the man. They sat side by side as they surveyed the interior of the hut, examining the rudimentary setup. Meanwhile, the man went to the back of the interior space where the storage was situated within the hut to fetch them some water.


    While they waited, Brawler Randy looked around the interior briefly before turning to Liena with an ambivalent expression.


    "Are you sure you''re not mistaken? From my observation, he looked like a normal person." Brawler Randy whispered, afraid his words might be heard by the man, whom Liena confirmed to be her target from her actions.


    Although he was slightly doubtful of Liena''s judgment, in the event she was right about her assessment of the man, he didn''t want to botch the current situation after promising he wouldn''t interfere.


    However, Liena didn''t respond to his remark and merely gave him an unreadable look. Though she didn''t speak a word, the frown on her face as she looked at him made Brawler Randy understand the meaning behind her stare. He was certain that she would have hurled insults his way if not for their current location and the seriousness of the scene unfolding before them.


    With that realization, Brawler Randy decided not to utter any more words as they both patiently waited for the man, who was taking his time, toe to the small living room after iming to be fetching them water. Shortly after, the man returned with two cups of water, offering it them.


    "I didn''t expect to have guests, so I had to make fresh cups using the log in the storage. Sorry for keeping you all waiting." The man said apologetically as he handed a cup of water to each of them.


    "No problem. We''re d to be able to drink fresh water after walking for a few days without water. Are you a craftsman, by any chance?" Liena said as she took the cup, but she didn''t drink it right away. Instead, she gave Brawler Randy a sidelong nce. To her surprise, he was happily drinking the water without a care.


    ''This idiot!'' Liena was in disbelief as she observed Brawler Randy''s carelessness. She wanted to warn him that the water was poisoned, but under the scrutiny of the man, who seemed to be observing their actions attentively, she relented and also ced the cup to her parted lips, ready to drink the water.


    ''Forget it. If he dies, then it''s his own problem. At least, he won''t pester me anymore.''


    With that thought in mind, Liena drank the water with crity, causing the man, who was bing impatient while disying unconscious subtle changes in his countenance, to be pleased, a smile blooming on his lips.


    "Something like that, but I merely craft things as a hobby." He happily responded.


    After pondering for a moment, he said:"Do you care to spend the night? I have a spare room with enough space for you couples to share."


    Liena and Brawler Randy became silent as they looked at each other with odd expressions.


    Noticing their reaction and silence, the man thought they were suspicious of his offer, so he rified.


    "Of course, you don''t have to stay if you don''t want to. It''s just that it''s getting dark outside. Since you wanted a ce to rest for a bit, I just thought it would be inappropriate to kick you out at night when feral wild beasts roamed the forest."


    The man pointed to the corner, where the giant rabbit-like wild beast, freshly caught earliery, and added: "Look, as you can see, I just caught a wild beast, preparing to cook it for dinner. If you don''t mind wild beast meat, I can share it with you."


    The man mentioned thest statement as a test because he presumed they might not be who they imed to be. If they were from the city, they might not like wild beast meat. From his experience associating with city people who came to his vige in the past, he concluded that people in the cities all preferred eating magical beast meat as it was more delicious than wild beast meat.


    He couldn''t discern their identities from their clothes. Liena changed into normal attire to blend into her mission environment beforehand. Brawler Randy, on the other hand, was still wearing a simple garment he bought in some random shop. He didn''t like dressing excessively, so his current attire didn''t give away his identity or situation.


    Contrary to his expectation, Liena gratefully responded: "Since you''re offering, we can''t be impolite to reject. Thank you for your hospitality."


    "Then, it''s settled." The man said, pping his hands.


    "Just wait for a moment, I shall prepare dinner soon. I don''t have a kitchen, so I''ll have to cook outside using firewood."


    As the man went to pick up the giant rabbit-like wild beast, about to turn around to leave, Liena suddenly stood up, stopping him, pulling out her dagger.


    "Wait, can I help you prep the meat? I am quite good at butchering." She offered, twirling her dagger.


    Hearing her eager words, the man contemted for a few moments before nodding.


    "Sure, I don''t mind. That would save me some time." The man said, gesturing for her to take the giant rabbit-like wild beast.


    "Good. You won''t regret it." After taking the giant rabbit-like wild beast from him, Liena followed the man outside to take on her role as a butcher, her sharp dagger gleaming with a deadly, cold light.

 Chapter 337: Confronting the Demon Seed Host[I]

    Outside the hut¡­


    There was a makeshift kitchen on the side of the hut. A pot positioned on three-sided stones, serving as a firewood stove. The pot was currently used to boil water as the man ced edible, vorful leaves and other seasonings in the boiling water, seemingly making some type of broth.


    Liena, on the other hand, was busy skillfully cutting the meat after removing the skin of the giant rabbit-like wild beast. As she sliced the meat into reasonable portions, she casually started a conversation with the man.


    "Have you heard of the recent monster attacks on the surrounding viges?" she broached.


    Her sudden remark caused the man, who was busy adding condiments to the broth he was making, to spill all the contents into the boiling water. Ignoring the mess he made, he turned to look at Liena with a scowl on his countenance.


    "Who told you that?" He asked, probing.


    "I heard it from the viges we visited. We also heard the same ount from the vige nearby." Liena replied to man, her gaze meeting his gaze. Her firm gaze was devoid of emotion, concealing her thoughts.


    Her deadpan countenance made the man uneasy. He quickly retorted: "That''s a lie."


    "What?" Liena sought rification from his statement.


    "I said it is an exaggeration. I¡­ That monster only attacked one vige. It wasn''t multiple viges like you''ve heard." He asserted confidently, prompting Liena to look at him with a surprised expression.


    At this point, Brawler Randy, who had juste outside after looking around the interior of the hut, heard the man, and he was also surprised by his statement. However, he didn''t interject. He merely sat on a log in front of the house, pretending to be uninterested as he waited for them to be done.


    Putting on a pretense, Liena doubtfully asked: "How do you know it was only one vige that was attacked?"


    The man, caught off guard, stood there nkly for a moment before responding while waving dismissively.


    "I just know."


    Seeing that they were still skeptical of his response, he exined: "I was there when the monster attacked our vige, the one you just came from. After it attacked, I went to inform the other viges to seek support. When I arrived there, they didn''t report having experienced what my vige did, so they didn''t heed my warning nor did they send reinforcement to aid us."


    Pondering his words for a moment, Liena asked: "If you''re from the vige the monster attacked, why are you here? I heard that the monster escaped into this hunting forest from an olddy."


    "This¡­ That was because I pursued the monster to this hunting forest. It killed my family and kid when it first attacked. I wanted revenge." The man became agitated as he revealed his reason.


    Realizing his unstable state, he paused, taking a deep, calming breaths before continuing with his response.


    "Because that monster took my family away, after returning to the vige, I chose to exact my revenge when I heard it escaped to this hunting forest. This is the reason I built a hut in this hunting forest, patiently waiting for it to appear. Even if I would die fighting it, I''ll try my best to take it down with me."


    The man uttered thest words with a mournful expression as if he were someone burdened with grief after losing his loved ones.


    Liena and Brawler Randy observed his reaction silently without saying anything for a while. However, Brawler Randy looked at Liena briefly, holding back from expressing himself during this moment.


    "Sorry for your loss." They both uttered in constion.


    After consoling the man for his loss, Liena and the man eventually had dinner prepared. When they finished dining, Liena and Brawler Randy attempted to leave, but the man once again insisted that they stay as it was already nighttime.


    He exined that they might run into wild beasts in the forest during the night, and that even if they were expert hunters, they might lose their lives venturing out with poor sight during the dark night.


    While the man was suggesting his opinion to the two of them, Liena''s eyelids were drooping, almost as though she was overwhelmed by extreme fatigue, unable to hold herself back from dropping on top of the dining table, lying unconscious a momentter.


    ''It has finally kicked in! The bodies of people from the city are indeed very tough. They can take in a highly toxic poison, which could even knock out a wild beast, into their system and still remain active for an hour.''


    Of course, the man didn''t believe any word uttered by Liena. He admitted, he nearly fell for her tricks. Even if she tried to mask her mannerisms and attitude with the pretense of an ''outspoken'' viger, she still gave herself away when she directed a subtle killing intent toward him upon their encounter.


    After the Demon Seed transformed his constitution, he became sensitive to things like killing intent as that was the driving force propelling his actions to kill all before him. Therefore, Liena made a mistake in disying even the slightest killing intent toward him.


    Unbeknownst to him, under normal circumstances, Liena did not humor her targets and instantly attacked them upon identifying them. The only reason she went through this process was to educate Brawler Randy who seemed skeptical of her actions, though there was no reason she should have cared what he thought of her.


    Watching the unconscious Liena, the man revealed an evil smirk, the corners of his lips curled up in a sinister smile, traces of disfigurement appearing on different parts of his face. He had fully shed the kind and friendly demeanor he carried throughout hosting his guests, slowly revealing his true self.


    Even though the youngdy had sumbed to the effects of the poison, he noticed the young man beside the youngdy was still very active as though he wasn''t affected by the poison, even though he took the poison he added to the water first. He squinted his eyes as he contemted outright killing him, forgoing his kindness of not letting them die in a gruesome manner.


    Closely observing the young man, he noticed that, aside from appearing bewildered by his partner falling asleep on the dining table without clearing the wooden tes, he looked unaffected by the effects of his potent poison.


    This made him convinced that the young man was somehow immune to poison. He initially didn''t want to kill and devour them while they were alive as that was too cruel, but that didn''t mean he couldn''t forsake his slight morality to devour and kill. The young man would only have to me himself for having immunity toward poison.


    If the young man had less immunity, he would have received a painless death instead of the cruel one that he was contemting. However, right as he was about to take action, the young man''s body swayed for a moment, as if ovee by drowsiness.


    While that happened, the man looked bewildered by his state. Then, as if he hade to a terrifying realization, the young man forced himself to raise his head to lock eyes with him, a furious expression on his face.


    "What did you do¡­ to us¡­?" Before he could get answers to his incoherent query, he suddenly dropped on the table in the same manner as his partner before falling unconscious.

 Chapter 338: Confronting the Demon Seed Host[II]

    Witnessing the tenacious young man, who seemed to have figured out the situation at thest moment, finally sumb to the poison and fall asleep, the man sighed, praising his endurance before his face turned devilish, his appearance also undergoing tremendous change.


    His skin color turned beet red, with his muscles bulging in and out of existence as his height and stature increased, gaining a very robust body iparable to his previous lean figure.


    Aside from his entire body undergoing total transformation, his pupils turned crimson red with the white section of his eyes turning ck, making his current appearance look very demonic. There was a single, sharp horn protruding from his forehead, confirming his identity as a demon or someone influenced by a magical ability of the demons.


    After undergoing the transition from an ordinary human to the hideous appearance of a demonic being, the man¡ª now the Demon Seed Bearer¡ª eyed the two unconscious individuals with a gluttonous expression. Without hesitation, he seized the youngdy''s arm and head, lifting her above the ground like an emotionless doll.


    The Demon Seed Bearer opened his mouth, his jaws extending to his ears, as he brought Liena''s neck close to his face, appearing as though he was about to bite into it.


    Unexpectedly, at this moment, just as it seemed her neck would be bitten, Liena''s eyes abruptly snapped open, revealing extreme coldness within. She swiftly withdrew her dagger from its sheath behind her and decisively severed the arms gripping her body. The Demon Seed Bearer roared in pain. Resembling a gory fountain of blood, crimson blood gushed out from the wounds inflicted by Liena''s dagger.


    Seizing the opportunity, Liena, having escaped the demonic being''s grip, turned to see Brawler Randy still sound asleep, undisturbed by themotion. She briefly entertained leaving him, knowing his fate was not her responsibility, as he had willingly followed her on the mission despite knowing the risks surrounding her mission.


    Yet, momentster, she clicked her tongue in frustration, opting to save him. While the Demon Seed Bearer thrashed about, she hoisted Brawler Randy''s hefty body onto her shoulders and hastily fled the hut, which was being torn apart by the rampaging, wounded demonic being after having its arms severed by her.


    Outside, Liena surveyed the surroundings, seeking a safe location in the darkness of the night, a task made challenging by the minimal light in the forest. Despite the challenges, she resolved to find a ce to deposit the unconscious Brawler Randy before returning to confront her mission target.


    Locating a suitable spot at a safe distance from the crumbling hut, she turned her attention to the person she was carrying. She nced at Brawler Randy''s face, which hung upside down. To her surprise, he was awake, disying no signs of confusion. Instead, he observed her silently.


    Hisck of confusion suggested he had roused on his own and was silently observing her, seemingly relishing the upside-down view.


    "You¡­" Liena nearly exploded in anger but restrained herself. However, out of spite, she hurled Brawler Randy onto the barren ground with considerable force, causing him to fall unceremoniously. He groaned, raising his head to re indignantly at Liena, who returned his gaze with a furious look.


    "Why did you do that?" He demanded, brushing the dust from his clothes as he rose from the ground.


    "Are you seriously asking me that, or are you ying dumb?" Liena''s expression conveyed a desire to pummel him for his seemingly innocent inquiry, as if he had been wrongfully treated by her.


    There she was, believing he had been poisoned and rendered unconscious, only to discover he had been pretending to be asleep the entire time. She felt as though her efforts to save him had been in vain, regretting that she hadn''t simply left him to his fate.


    "What do you mean?" Brawler Randy frowned, genuinely perplexed by her outburst.


    Growing increasingly annoyed, Liena responded coldly.


    "If you were awake, why didn''t you speak up instead of feigning unconsciousness while I carried you out? If I had known you were just being foolish by ying dumb, I would''ve left you for the monster to feast on your useless body, you idiot!"


    "Well¡­" Brawler Randy began, approaching her. Standing before her, he exined: "I was merely following your lead. Even though you were conscious, you pretended to be knocked out. I didn''t know your intentions, so I decided to y along until you made a move or give a sign. I didn''t anticipate you suddenly carrying me out.


    I was taken aback by your actions, but I stayed quiet, assuming it was part of your n."


    Their situation reminded Brawler Randy of a movie Randy had seen, where victims yed dead to catch a serial killer off guard and escape from his clutches.


    "¡­"


    Upon hearing his rationale, Liena wanted to rebuke him, finding fault with him, but she refrained. She chose to remain silent, realizing any furtherments might seem petty and unreasonable. Instead, she pondered how to respond without appearing irrational.


    Meanwhile, after rifying himself, Brawler Randy nced back to where they had fled, where the demonic figure continued its rampage after losing its limbs. His expression turned solemn, tinged with excitement, as he noticed the Demon Seed Bearer ring in their direction amid the wreckage of the hut.


    "That thing seems to have spotted us." He muttered thoughtfully, noting the monster''s crazed gaze fixed on them.


    "So, when do we begin?" He asked. Abruptly turning back to Liena, he cautioned: "If we''re going to do anything, now is the time."


    Hearing his somewhat impatient words, indicating his willingness to engage in subjugating the Demon Seed Bearer alongside her, Liena snapped back to reality and gestured for him to step aside, indicating her intention to confront the demonic being alone.


    With an annoyed snort, she turned and left, leaving behind a few cautionary words of her own.


    "This is my mission, and I intend to see it through alone. If you value your life, obediently stay put and don''t interfere."


    Brawler Randy felt perplexed by Liena''s words. He vividly recalled their brief skirmish a few days prior, where Liena had been bested by him. Thus, he couldn''tprehend why she assumed he was incapable of confronting a monster she believed she could handle herself.


    Although her remark left him momentarily bewildered, he decided to heed her warning, as he had indeed promised to not get involved when she apprehended her target. He merely thought there might be an unexpected variable if she fought alone.


    While this was his surface-level thought process, deep down, it was merely an excuse to delude and convince himself to participate in the battle. Despite his impulse to join the fray against the tough-looking demonic being, he restrained himself and merely observed Liena''s figure as she surged toward the approaching monstrosity, which was in the process of regenerating its lost limbs.


    As a spectator, Brawler Randy''s eyes glowed with a grayish-purple hue, enhancing his vision, granting him extremely clear perception even in the nighttime darkness. He focused intently on the petite figure of Liena charging to meet the Demon Seed Bearer head-on, hoping that she struggles against the monstrosity, allowing him to tap in.


    However, the expected scene of struggle he expected was nowhere to be seen. Only one-sided suppression of the Demon Seed Bearer.


    From his perspective, Liena¡ª after deftly dodging the monster''s consecutive kicks shot toward her as it continued to regenerate its lost arms¡ª seemed to transform into a vicious killer. With absolute precision, she began carving into the monstrous body of the Demon Seed Bearer.


    She began with shallow cuts, gradually umting wounds across the monster''s body, starting from the legs, moving to the stomach, chest, and finally the neck.


    Though her cuts appeared shallow, they became increasingly lethal as they umted on the monster''s body.


    The demonic transformation granted the man a perverse level of defense and regeneration, making the dagger wounds inflicted by Liena only manage to prate a few inches deep. Despite the monster''s enhanced defense and regeneration, Liena''s umted dagger wounds managed to leave deep injuries.


    She continuously struck the same spots with relentless uracy, executing dance-like moves, twirling and flipping in the air, as she dodged the clumsy and amateurish attacks from the inexperienced monster. She relied solely on her movement techniques and pure fighting skills, not even tapping into her shadow skills, to suppress the Demon Seed Bearer.


    The monster''s clumsiness allowed Liena to easily overwhelm it, making Brawler Randy realize he was truly unnecessary in the ongoing battle. He couldn''t envision himself stepping in to rece Liena anytime soon.


    As the fight progressed, the demonic being found itself increasingly cornered and losing ground. However, as it found itself cornered, it became unnerved by the situation, beginning to retreat from the aggressive onught of Liena. Reverting to his human form, the Demon Seed Bearer''s monstrous visage disappeared, reced by the figure of the man from before.


    As soon as he regained his human form, with his severed limbs miraculously restored, he began to beg Liena for mercy, frantically creating distance between them. He pleaded for his life, offering to surrender himself if Liena would agree to cease her assault.


    Of course, Liena turned a deaf ear to his pleas, immediately giving chase to the seemingly helpless man, intent on severing the connection between him and the world.

 Chapter 339: Subjudgating the Demon Seed Host[I]

    Despite transforming into his human form, the man''s speed had not diminished in the slightest. Instead, he appeared even faster, deftly evading some of Liena''s deadly attacks and only sustaining injuries to non-vital parts of his body.


    Witnessing Liena aggressively and ruthlessly shing at the seemingly helpless man, who could only dodge and defend himself, prompted Brawler Randy to intervene to prevent the inhuman act before him. Breaching the distance between them, he positioned himself in front of Liena, seemingly to stop her callous actions.


    "Stop! What are you doing?! He has already surrendered. Why are you still attacking him? Are you heartless? Just restrain him and bring him in." He eximed, obstructing Liena''s path in defense of the pitiful man.


    The man paused momentarily, turning to observe Randy obstructing Liena.


    "You dare question my actions? Why are you obstructing my path and interfering with my mission? Was your earlier promise just empty words?" Liena retorted in exasperation, emanating a terrifying level of power as if she were prepared to strike Randy down at any given moment.


    Unfazed by her threatening aura, Brawler Randy replied: "But he has transformed into his human form. Doesn''t that indicate sincerity in surrendering himself? If you bring him in alive, wouldn''t it provide the analysts with a specimen to study and ensure the removal of the Demon Seed without resorting to lethal measures like killing the helpless man in cold blood?"


    "What do you know? Do you think trusting a Demon Seed Bearer is wise? If you believe so, you''re naive. At this point, you''re nothing but a pest interfering with my mission. If you don''t get out of my way right now, I won''t hesitate to eliminate you before pursuing that monster." Liena uttered, her words devoid of sympathy as she directed killing intent toward Brawler Randy.


    Stunned by her cold detachment, Brawler Randy looked at Liena, feeling the palpable ferocity in her eyes. Despite Liena''s prior warnings about the dangers of the Demon Seed, he realized he had underestimated the gravity of the situation due to his own sense of morality.


    Though he knew Liena was frustrated with him for sticking by her side, refusing to leave until she assisted him in touring Mercenary Street, she had never shown such killing intent toward him before. This alone underscored the severity of the present circumstances.


    Taking this into ount, he chose to remain silent, refraining from responding to her emotionless words. Brawler stood there quietly, observing Liena.


    Realizing she had gone too far, Liena sought to rify herself.


    "The Demon Seed within him has already sprouted, and he has begun killing people to quell the murderous impulses. After battling him in his demonic form, his energy levels have significantly dropped, weakening his regenerative abilities. This is my only opportunity to eliminate him without causing further casualties in nearby viges. Do you understand?


    If he escapes now and regains his strength, it will be toote to deal with him." She exined.


    "The only reason he was running away and pretending to be helpless and repentant was to lower my guard, so it could seize the opportunity to head toward the nearby vige, where we just came from. He intends to ughter and consume the vulnerable vigers to regain his lost strength."


    Liena''s exnation caused Brawler Randy''s eyes to widen in shock and realization. To confirm and substantiate Liena''s assertion, a scene behind him suddenly caught his attention, prompting him to turn around.


    The man, who had momentarily paused to observe their dramatic confrontation, seized the chance to flee upon realizing his ns had been foiled before execution.


    Despite his injuries, his mildly disfigured form already healing from the influence of the germinated Demon Seed, he sprinted without hesitation, the resounding boom of his departure echoing behind Brawler Randy and under the gaze of Liena, who was obstructed by Brawler Randy.


    Observing the man''s trajectory as he shot away with rming speed, Brawler Randy''s appearance underwent a transformation. The ends of his hair gained a purple streak, his eyes emanating a grayish-purple luminosity.


    Under Liena''s watchful gaze, Brawler Randy turned and dashed with all his might, swiftly overtaking the fleeing man and apprehending him with a speed even greater than thetter''s.


    "What were you trying to aplish by fleeing in that direction?" Brawler Randy coldly demanded, eyeing the man, who had mostly healed from his injuries, with aplicated expression.


    Feeling a sense of betrayal and disappointment, Brawler Randy reflected on his attempt to save the man, only to find him attempting to escape toward their vige. The potential consequences of his misguided intervention weighed heavily on Randy''s mind. Despite hearing Liena''s words, he hadn''t entirely believed the man was beyond redemption.


    He had hoped there might be a way to save him if his sanity remained intact. However, the man''s actions seemed to confirm Liena''s assessment of being beyond redemption. They couldn''t allow someone capable of harming innocent lives, possibly even their own family, to roam free.


    Pinned to the ground by Brawler Randy''s firm grip, the man struggled with all his might, his veins bulging and his skin reddening as he attempted to transform. Despite his efforts, he failed toplete the transformation due to Brawler Randy actively manipting his blood flow through his Blood Authority Skill.


    When the man realized his transformation had failed, he pleaded for mercy in a pitiful manner, hoping to take advantage of the overly sympathetic Brawler Randy, who tried to save him earlier.


    Annoyed by the man''s pretense, Brawler Randy demanded sternly.


    "Tell me! Were you intending to attack the vige just now?"


    At the sound of his question, the man ceased his pretense, pondering for a moment to consider before defiantly replying with a righteous look stered on his face.


    "N-No¡­ You''re mistaken. I had no idea that was the direction of the nearby vige. I simply chose a path at random to escape."


    The man''s response caused Brawler Randy''s expression to turn extremely cold. He remembered the man''s earlier ims of being from the nearby vige and knowing everyone there, suggesting his familiarity with the area and the direction leading to the vige. Yet now, he asserted he had randomly chosen the location, which coincidentally led to the nearby vige.


    Even if his im were true, Brawler Randy felt the man might have attacked the vigers out of desperation if he had gone to the nearby vige, and he would have had to bear responsibility for such a tragedy. Even if he wasn''tplicit inmitting the act of murdering innocent lives, he would have been the catalyst that would have propelled the man tomit such actions.


    "Why did you allow yourself to be a pawn of the demons? Was it worth it?" Brawler Randy posed this question, sensing the man may have been a good person in the past before being ensnared by a trick of fate without considering the consequences of his actions.


    The man''s demeanor turned gloomy and mncholic as he muttered, "I only wanted to protect my family. They demanded sacrifices from our vige, but when the chief refused to offer our children, he was killed. Fearful for my family''s safety, I sought aid from the demons to spare my family. I didn''t do anything wrong.


    It was the Royal Family''s fault for failing to protect us, allowing the demons to exploit us and use our children for their sinister rituals."


    Suddenly, Liena, standing nearby, interjected with a burst of anger.


    "What made you think aligning with vile demons would save you and your family? Why not seek assistance from the nearby Outpost City?"


    Her words ignited resentment in the man. His bottled-up emotions erupted, and he shouted at Liena.


    "What do you know, huh?! What does someone living in safety andfort understand about our plight? If the Outpost City had listened and responded to our pleas, sent multiple times by ourte Chief, would I have made such a pact with demons?!"


    Though tempted to respond to his outburst, Liena remained silent, withholding her retort.


    After allowing the man to calm down, she spoke with a hint of sarcasm in her tone.


    "You may have a point. The Outpost City''s negligence may have driven you to seek help from the very demons you needed protection from. Since we can''t change the past, I won''t hold you entirely responsible for your actions. But in the end, did you manage to protect your family? Are they still alive?"


    "Of course, they''re alive. Did you think I would harm my own family?" The man retorted, seemingly contradicting his earlier im that his family had been killed by the monster, which was himself.


    "...For how long? How long do you think they''ll remain safe? A day? A week? Do you realize what you''ve be?" Liena pressed on, unfazed by his denial of his previous im.


    The man remained silent, his mind shing back to the atrocities he hadmitted since his transformation into a demonic being. He didn''t anticipate bing such a monster with uncontroble murderous impulses when he joined forces with the demon to seek asylum for his family. At the very least, he had expected to be a low-level demon, not a disposable pawn.


    "Since you''re unwilling to answer, I''ll do it for you. Your murderous impulses... Do you understand that by taking innocent lives and tearing families apart, you''ve be even worse than the demons? Perhaps, for now, your family is safe because you''ve isted yourself in this hut. But do you honestly believe you won''t pose a threat to them eventually?


    As your killing instincts grow stronger each day, do you believe you can hold on to your morality and still maintain the same assurance that you won''t harm your loved ones with the sinister powers you''ve gained as a pawn of the demons?" Liena''s words struck at the core of the man''s confidence, leaving him speechless.

 Chapter 340: Subjudgating the Demon Seed Host[II]

    "No, you''re wrong. I would never harm my own family. My wife and daughter are all I have left in this world. I could never bear to hurt them. You''re lying to me!" The man''s demeanor had shifted into a state of frenzy, his spirit broken as he adamantly denied the possibility of such a grim fate and reality.


    Observing the man''s unstable state, Liena persisted, her tone unwavering.


    "No, you would. You would transform into an unstoppable monster, driven by the urge to kill and consume your victims. Despite your love for them, you wouldn''t be able to shield your family from the horrors of the Demon Seed within you. That is the harsh reality and inevitable fate of someone imnted with a Demon Seed. So, what will you do now?"


    The moonlight bathed Liena''s figure, casting shadows of her holding her dagger. The light of the moon reflected the sharp edge of her dagger''s de with its glow as Liena approached the man pinned down by Brawler Randy.


    "Now that you know your tragic fate, what choice will you make?" Liena whispered, her soft voice carrying a haunting weight to the man''s ears, hinting at the decision she expected from him.


    After contemting with a somber expression, the distraught man''s demeanor shifted, his firm resolve apparent on his face. He spoke with newfound confidence.


    "I understand the decision you''re urging me to make. I agree, but before I proceed to give to you an answer, I need a promise from you. If you can assure me of this, then I''ll end my life on my own terms."


    Liena''s expression softened as she inquired: "What do you need?"


    "Can you promise to keep my family out of this? They''re innocent and unaware of my pact with the demons. Also, can you inform my wife and daughter that I perished at the hands of a magical beast rather than being branded a traitor to humanity and killed as a result?" As he made his pleas, tears welled up in his reddish eyes, though they refused to fall from the confines of his determined eyes.


    On top of the man, Brawler Randy, witnessing the scene, felt a pang of empathy and a strange emotion filling his heart. To prevent further tragedy involving many innocent lives, they werepelled to end the life of a man driven solely by the desire to protect his loved ones and their livelihood.


    After a moment of silence, Liena responded to the man''s plea of wanting to protect his family''s life in exchange for his death. Watching the man, her emotions were stirred by memories from her past, but before she shook her head.


    Liena observed the man pleading for his family''s safety in exchange for his death. Her emotions were stirred by memories from her past, but she shook her head before proceeding to reply to the honorable man.


    "I promise. I can even assist them in relocating if it ensures their safety. Besides, someone in your vige might have witnessed your actions and could use them ofplicity."


    "Thank you. But relocating isn''t necessary." The man expressed gratitude while declining her offer.


    Acknowledging his decision, Liena nodded. Despite her orders to eliminate any aplice of a Demon Seed Bearer, she couldn''t justify punishing those who hadn''t been imnted with Demon Seed or willingly participated in the decision leading to the man''s actions. She found it too harsh to condemn family members of her targets.


    Withpassion guiding her thoughts, she resolved to aid the man''s family to the best of her ability.


    "By the way, I didn''t catch your name. Once again, I''m Liena." She said.


    "Zandi. My name is Zandi." The man replied without much thought. Then, to the surprise of Liena and Brawler Randy, he revealed.


    "Actually, I''m from West Wind Vige. I knew from the start that you were lying about your identities and where you came from."


    Ignoring their reactions, Zandi locked eyes with Liena as he spoke directly to her.


    "Though I can''t be certain if you''ll keep your promise to me, I''m willing to take a chance. I''ll trust in thispassionate young man that you''ll honor your word."


    Taking a deep breath to steady himself and steel his nerves, tears welling in his eyes and trickling down from the corners of his eyes, Zandi calmly requested: "Now, I want you to end my life. Make it painless. I don''t want to die an agonizing death."


    "¡­Alright." Liena replied after a brief pause, approaching Zandi with her dagger in hand.


    Even though it was callous to kill someone desperate to protect his family, Liena was resolute in her actions, her expression impassive as she approached the man while brandishing her dagger.


    Having experienced simr tragic circumstances where her own father, as vige chief, transformed into a monstrous being due to a germinated Demon Seed, killing her mother and nearly killing her, she harbored a deep-seated hatred for demons. She sought to eradicate any connection to them to prevent others from suffering the same fate as her family.


    Knowing that those infected with Demon Seeds couldn''t be saved once the seed began to germinate, she felt no remorse. Only by killing the hosts could the Demon Seeds be rendered useless. However, she remained vignt, as Demon Seeds would seek new hosts if left unchecked after the old host died. They would have to be eradicated promptly as soon as the host died to prevent new chaos from ensuing.


    As she stood above the man, without hesitation, with Brawler Randy standing aside, she swiftly pierced Zandi''s heart from behind, ensuring his death with a decisive blow. But her vignce remained as she pierced his chest again, anticipating any unexpected developments.


    Her vignce paid off when a grotesque creature burst from his chest after Zandi''s death, its many tentacle-like limbs writhing menacingly. The grotesque creature with numerous tentacle-like limbs burst forth from Zandi''s chest, moving with malevolent intent.


    "Watch out!" Liena shouted, seeing the creature''s target, Brawler Randy, who was still reeling from the sight of Zandi''s death.


    Alerted by her warning, Brawler Randy realized the danger as, to his horror, the creature lunged toward him, its tentacles gathering to a point as it aimed for his chest. Before it could attach itself and merge with him, turning him into the unthinkable, Liena swiftly intervened, dispatching the creature with precise gleaming strikes of her dagger, reducing it to scattered pieces on the ground.


    Before it perished, the hideous creature emitted a harrowing shrill that could send shivers down the spines of the weak-minded. After dispatching the horrifying creature, Liena breathed out a sigh of relief before sharply turning to Brawler Randy with a stern and angry expression.


    "You idiot! Do you want to die? If that thing had possessed your body, I wouldn''t hesitate to cut you down too. Those affected by fully and partially germinated Demon Seeds can only be killed, the same verdict as the original host." She reprimanded before walking away in annoyance, having had enough of him.


    Brawler Randy was about to defend himself, stating that he would have been okay, but he thought better of it, afraid it would further agitate Liena, aggravating her mood. Instead, he took a deep breath and stomped on the creature that had been wriggling on the ground despite being cut into pieces by Liena''s multiple shes.


    "It''s not even dead even after being cut into pieces? What kind of creature is this? How repulsive."


    Expressing his disgust, he continued to stomp on the various pieces of the sprouted Demon Seed.


    The more Brawler Randy thought about the source of the creature, the angrier and more disgusted he became of it. Somehow, the death of the Demon Seed Bearer, Zandi, affected him more deeply than he anticipated, making him question if Liena had truly done the right thing.


    He may be unruly, but he discovered he also had a sense of justice, understanding the principle that criminals had to receive punishment and innocent civilians needed to be saved. This dilemma brought about by Zandi''s helpless circumstances made him realize that sometimes even doing a good deed may not leave a good aftertaste.


    Watching the disconcerting tentacle-like parts of the sprouted Demon Seed still wriggling on the ground as if alive, Brawler Randy worriedly asked Liena: "Are you sure this thing is dead?"


    "It''s dead." Liena replied without turning to look at him.


    "But it''s still wriggling like it''s still alive." Brawler Randy persisted, apparently unconvinced. He suddenly noticed a piece of ck, fleshy tentacle nearing his foot as he spoke to Liena.


    "Damn! A tentacle just tried to get close to me. Liena, are you sure this thing is dead? Why don''t you cut it into even more pieces, just in case?" He stomped on the appalling tentacle, but it continued to wriggle like a worm, prompting him to back away in trepidation, realizing the resilience of the tentacle.


    Annoyed by his plethora of doubtful queries, Liena reluctantly turned around. She exined: "It''s already dead because I destroyed its core with my dagger when I attacked it. Those tentacles writhing on the ground are caused by its residual muscle signals. They''ll jerk around for a while before stoppingpletely."


    Liena turned back and approached the hut that the rampage of the transformed Zandi had demolished. Though she could tell that Brawler Randy was still unconvinced by her exnation, she didn''t care. She had said what needed to be said.


    If he didn''t believe her words, it wasn''t her fault. He didn''t appear to pester her anymore with doubtful questions, indicating he had somewhat epted her exnation.


    While Brawler Randy kept an eye on the wriggling ck tentacles, remnants of the dispatched sprouted Demon Seed, Liena stood before the demolished hut. She gathered the pieces of the hut in one ce and set them on fire, watching as they burned.


    Brawler Randy walked toward her, announcing when he was a meter away.


    "The tentacles have stopped moving. I think that thing has finally died."

 Chapter 341: A Change in Attitude

    With the burning mes illuminating the night and reflecting in their eyes, Brawler Randy, still harboring concern, came and stood beside Liena and suggested.


    "Don''t you think we should also burn those disgusting tentacles, just in case?"


    Liena turned away from the fire and locked eyes with him, but unexpectedly, she nodded, handing him a me-igniting tool, saying: "Since you care so much, why don''t you go and do it yourself?"


    Brawler Randy was about to say something, but Liena interjected, adding: "A Demon Seed is hard to kill without locating and destroying its core. So far, only one element could weaken them. From what I heard from the Guild, mes seemed to be the weakness of Demon Seeds, though I''ve never tried to use fire on them before. Your paranoid idea is not a bad one.


    If it''s somehow still alive, burning it would definitely kill it."


    Hearing Liena''s words, Brawler Randy quickly took the me-igniting tool from her hand andined: "So that thing might still be alive? Why didn''t you burn it instead of pointlessly burning down the remaining parts of the hut, including its resources? What if someone needed an emergency shelter while in the forest?"


    "No, you''re mistaken about that." Liena shook her head, refusing his im. She added: "No one woulde this deep into a hunting forest to set up camp unless they are seeking death. Most hunters usually hunt their games and leave right away to avoid running into rare magical beasts residing deeper in the hunting forest.


    The only reason I''m burning down the hut is to eliminate any trace ofbat here after my missionpletion."


    "Then¡­ The reason why Zandi erected a hut in the forest¡­" Brawler Randy broached, with Liena finishing his sentence, saying: "That''s because he could handle himself after transforming using the power of the sprouted Demon Seed. That thing, despite being sinister from a general perspective, still granted power unimaginable by most to their host.


    The only problem lies with its mind-corroding side effects, which deprive one of their reason and sanity the more it grows and fuses with its host''s body."


    After listening to her words, Brawler Randy frowned and quickly went to set the remaining fragments of the Demon Seed, the ck fleshly tentacles, on fire, burning it until nothing remained of it. He was surprised by the device that didn''t need energy from him to operate, and also by the fact that he didn''t need to add any chemical to ignite the me.


    He could only attribute it to the unique function of the tool, which Liena imed she received from her Guild to get rid of evidence of her acts during missions.


    Brawler Randy saw Zandi''s corpse still lying on the ground and raised his voice to ask Liena in the distance.


    "What about the corpse?! Should I burn it?!"


    Liena facepalmed when she heard him screaming, forgetting where they were. However, she decided not to let Brawler Randy''s antics get to her, responding to his inquiry.


    "Do what you want and let''s get out of here before all hell breaks loose."


    A short whileter...


    After ensuring the fire hadn''t spread to cause deforestation and had settled down, Liena hurriedly turned around to leave, with Brawler Randy walking to catch up with her.


    "Why the rush?" He asked, running after her.


    "Do you want to fight the attracted wild beasts and magical creatures lurking in the shadows?" Liena retorted, not bothering to look at him.


    "Oh, that." Brawler Randy smiled, boastfully stating: "With the two of us, wouldn''t it be quick work?"


    Liena sighed and said: "If you want to stay and seek death, leave me out of it. I''m too tired to deal with your nonsense."


    Brawler Randy brushed aside his initial thoughts when he realized Liena wouldn''t help in fighting against the creatures he purposely attracted earlier. Pondering for a moment, he changed the topic.


    "By the way, when are you going to give me a tour of Mercenary Street?"


    "Where do you want to go? Mercenary Street is not small. I can''t give you a full tour unless we spend three days, and I can only spare you one day of my precious time." Liena nonchntly answered, catching Brawler Randy off guard, making him haltin his tracks and look at the figure of the departing Liena strangely.


    He had expected her to outright refuse his request as usual, but she somehow defied his expectations with her reply. He wondered what brought about the sudden change in attitude, making her agree to his request this time.


    While Brawler Randy remained stunned by her, Liena walked ahead of him. Suddenly, she voiced out.


    "If you don''t know where you want to go, you can forget about asking me to give you a tour."


    Hearing her indifferent words, Brawler Randy picked up the pace and chased after her. Once he caught up to her, he said: "I didn''t expect you to agree to my request. Are you bipr or someone with a split personality disorder?"


    Liena, who hadn''t heard such terms before but understood the meaning from the way Brawler Randy phrased it, coldly stared daggers at him, causing the atmosphere to be tense, and making Brawler Randy feel awkward.


    "Come on. Could you not take my words too seriously? I was merely joking. Just joking, okay?" Brawler Randy hurriedly tried to y off his snide remark as a joke, but Liena continued to stare at him with the same gaze, now filled with distrust, causing him difort. He hurriedly shifted the topic, exining his demand.


    "Anyway, I want to visit establishments that focus onbat or those that deal with criminals. I don''t want to be an assassin, so you can leave out the Assassin Guild."


    Having witnessed the entire process of the mission Liena had justpleted, he felt that, even though he preferredbat-rted upations, suchplicated and morally ambiguous missions did not suit him. He wanted to focus more on straightforward missions with clear indications of righteousness, evil, and justice.


    After listening to his specification, Liena pondered for a moment before suggesting.


    "If you''re interested in dealing with criminals, you might consider visiting the Bounty Hunter Guild. They function almost like the Assassin Guild, but their focus is mainly on local criminals, such as bandits or those whomit heinous crimes like murder or human trafficking.


    Unlike my Guild, they rarely take on demon-rted missions, but simr to ours, they sometimes hunt down demon aplices who still maintain their humanity to act as spies. Whether you''re seekingbat experience or training, you''ll find both by actively taking on missions from the Bounty Hunter Guild, as they offer a wide variety to choose from."


    "Yes, that''s the one!" Brawler Randy eximed with excitement as the two of them walked side by side, departing from the hunting forest.


    Soon, they exited the boundary of the hunting forest, greeted by the full illumination of the moon hanging in the sky. They made their way to the nearby vige to clean themselves up.


    Then, to uphold her promise to Zandi, Liena decided to head to West Wind Vige, which was not far from their current location, to ensure Zandi''s family had not been harmed by the person who reported the sighting of a Demon Seed Bearer, as that person might have known about Zandi''s condition.


    However, upon their arrival in West Wind Vige, they found that the mother and daughter were unharmed. Liena chose to deliver the tragic news of her husband''s untimely death to Zandi''s wife, caused by a magical beast assault, leading the woman to grieve her husband''s passing.


    As for how they presented their identities to Zandi''s wife and daughter, they exined that they were hunting in the forest and came across Zandi being attacked by a magical beast, a rare urrence in the parts of the forest where they found him.


    They imed to have warded off the magical beast, but his situation was already dire at the time, rendering any healing method appliedpletely useless. They couldn''t save him nor could they carry his bloodied body to his vige, as they didn''t want to attract wild or magical beasts.


    They also imed Zandi told them the name of his vige and about his family before dying, so they decided to bury him in the forest before departing to his vige.


    Before they departed from the mourning family, Liena withdrew some money from her pouch, with Brawler Randy chipping in with what little he had as they offered it to the mother and daughter.


    Initially, they refused the money, but Liena proudly dered herself as a Dungeon Hunter from the city, assuring the woman that she had no shortage of funds, and urging her not to worry about the small expense.


    Eventually, the wife of Zandi, not wanting to appear impolite to visitors from the city, reluctantly epted. She resolved to use the money to support her still-growing daughter.


    The next few days passed swiftly.


    Upon their return to Imperial City, under Liena''s guidance, Brawler Randy apanied her to the Bounty Hunter Guild and officially registered as a Bounty Hunter, adding a new upation to his repertoire, and bing a dual upation holder like Liena.

 Chapter 342: Ambush

    After assisting Brawler Randy in the registration process and securing his membership with her rmendation, Liena felt as though she had rid herself of an irritating pest, leaving her feeling free and liberated. As she relished her sense of freedom and triumph, a victorious smile graced her lips as she left Brawler Randy behind at the entrance of the Bounty Hunter Guild.


    However, after walking for about an hour and exiting Mercenary Street, Liena abruptly halted in her tracks and turned to confront Brawler Randy, who had trailed her to her destination.


    "Why did you follow me here?" Liena inquired, her previous cheerful expression reced by a deep frown.


    "What do you mean? I didn''t follow you. I just came to the inn I rented. The other one I had expired. Someone had booked my room ahead of time, making it so I couldn''t renew it. Although this inn was expensive, nearly taking all the money I had to book it for a week, I had no choice but to pay for it if I wanted to avoid bing homeless.


    Anyway, why did youe here? Do you happen to live here too?" Brawler Randy exined and inquired, standing beside Liena as they both faced an expensive-looking five-story building.


    "You creep!" Liena eximed, her exasperation boiling over. She couldn''t contain her pent-up emotions any longer as she exploded with fury, brandishing her dagger and ruthlessly assaulting Brawler Randy, who deftly sidestepped at thest moment to dodge her attack.


    Brawler Randy was perplexed by her sudden outburst, but he remained cautious, not letting her attacks reach him, knowing she wasn''t holding back. Anypse in his vignce could result in a serious injury, which could endanger his life.


    He had observed Liena fighting the Zandi, the Demon Seed Bearer, and knew firsthand how dangerous Liena''sbat skills were when she was serious. Every move she made was precise and deadly, her attacks aimed at exploiting the weaknesses of the human body, dealing a devastated blow with each strike.


    Thus, the two engaged in a sophisticated and deadly dance of entanglement in front of the inn where they would be residing together for the foreseeable future.


    Unbeknownst to them, the following day, they would be assigned a rare joint mission from the Bounty Hunter Guild and the Assassin Guild to hunt down a group of demons sighted at the border between the Western and Central Region of the Human Territory, encountering a deadly obstacle that would test their abilities to the limit, forcing them to make it or break it.


    ¡­


    Shifting the focus to the adventure of the new incarnation...


    After narrowly escaping the wrath of the enraged mother Dragon and finding itself stranded in an undetermined location, the incarnation pressed onward, attempting to follow the map in its mind, but to no avail. Despitecking precise coordinates to determine its location, at some point, it sensed a sudden shift in the atmosphere around it.


    Surrounded by ins as far as the eye could see, the incarnation found itself in a vulnerable state as it became an easier target for any hidden enemy.


    Not far from its location, the incarnation noticed a massive tree nearby whoserge branches obscured its view of whaty beyond. Additionally, the branches of therge tree were filled with broad leaves, extending in different directions, which further made it harder to perceive what was behind the massive tree.


    Upon reaching this location, an immediate sense of danger gripped the incarnation, prompting it to instinctively move from its position, narrowly avoiding a projectile infused with destructive energy that struck where it had stood moments before. Sharpening its focus, the incarnation fixed its gaze on the estimated origin of the projectile.


    Without hesitation, the incarnation activated its Dimensional Sense skill, extending its perception to epass tens of meters around it. Almost instantly, another projectile hurtled toward it, but this time, the incarnation could perceive it clearly, thanks to its heightened perception skill.


    To deny the perpetrator an advantage by remaining stationary, bing an easy target, the incarnation fearlessly sprinted forward, zigzagging to disrupt their uracy and alter the trajectory of the projectiles shot in his direction, causing them to miss their mark.


    As it weaved through the onught of projectiles, deftly maneuvering around the sessive attacks aimed at it, the incarnation swiftly closed in on the source of the arrows. This bold maneuvering only served to agitate the assant, who intensified their barrage attacks in response.


    Despite narrowly avoiding most of the rapid arrows shot by the agitated assant, an arrow hidden behind another arrow they shot out struck the incarnation''s left shoulder. Blood poured out of the inflicted wound caused by the arrow, making the incarnation''s gaze more focused as he pulled the arrow out of his body without hesitation, assuming it was poisoned.


    Despite the inflicted wound bleeding profusely, soaking its garments, the incarnation, seemingly unfazed by pain like an emotionless undead, chose to ignore the pain assaulting its body and pressed on toward its assant with unyielding determination.


    Closing the distance to within about five meters of the towering tree, the presumed source of the attacks, the incarnation spotted a figure crouching on top of a tree branch, who appeared to be the perpetrator behind the assaults. Observing closely at the crouching figure, the incarnation''s eyes widened in recognition, pleasantly surprised by the perpetrator''s identity.


    The assant was a member of the long-eared human race, a young man wielding a ck bow with green strings. Despite the incarnation approaching his direction, he continued the onught of magical arrows without losing momentum. Simultaneously, the long-eared young man attempted to retreat and summon reinforcements.


    The long-eared young man realized he had underestimated his target. From their exchange, he discovered the intruder he was facing was a tricky one, cunningly moving unpredictably and making most of his deadly shots miss their mark.


    Under normal circumstances, as a sentry, he would call upon his tribe''s protectors when intruders were spotted. However, he refrained from summoning reinforcements upon encountering the incarnation, believing he could handle a single human intruder alone.


    However, he now regretted his decision upon witnessing the incarnation''s seemingly unflinching resolve, even after being struck in the shoulder with a mana-infused arrow. If not because of the persistent pursuit of his target, he would have employed amunication magical tool to inform the protectors of his n.


    With the current development, the only recourse left was to stall his opponent with rapid arrows while he retreated to fulfill his initial duties as a sentry, which was directly alerting the protectors to deal with the persistent and cunning intruder.


    However, not giving him a chance, the incarnation swiftly transformed into its Werewolf King of Wind form and activated the Gale Riding skill, along with the Wind Sailing skill, a derivative movement skill of Gale Riding skill obtained from the awakening sequence, closing the distance rapidly overtaking the long-eared young man with remarkable speed.


    "Shit!"


    Taken aback by the incarnation''s sudden burst of speed, the long-eared young man eximed as he stumbled backward, falling unceremoniously on the ground. Despite his undignified fall, the courageous, long-eared young man managed to ready a mana-infused arrow, aiming it at the head of the incarnation before him.


    In a blur of movement, the incarnation vanished and reappeared behind the young man, rendering him unconscious with precise blows to the head. The Body Strengthen Skill was concentrated in the incarnation''s arm and fist to summon great physical force, ensuring the young man remained incapacitated.


    Before the long-eared young man slipped into unconsciousness, the incarnation decided to deliver a few additional blows to ensure he sumbed to the concussion and lost consciousness. However, the incarnation quickly discovered that the long-eared human wasn''t particrly resilient, as he passed out after just the second blow.


    The incarnation observed that despite hisck of physical strength, the long-eared young man seemed to possess immense mana, as evidenced by his rapid onught of sessive magical arrows.


    A few momentster, the incarnation impassively examined the unconscious body of the long-eared young man, confirming that he was unequivocally a member of the long-eared human tribe. Additionally, the incarnation realized that, after wandering aimlessly in a desperate attempt to flee for its life, it had coincidentally stumbled upon its intended destination.


    The incarnation couldn''t determine whether encountering the reptilian cub and being chased by its parent was a stroke of luck or a cmity. Regardless, the incarnation was relieved to have reached its intended destination.


    Now, the only task remaining was to locate the city, which should be concealed somewhere nearby. As the incarnation gazed in the direction the long-eared young man had been attempting to flee, it found only an empty field.


    However, drawing from its knowledge of the habits of the long-eared humans, it deduced that its current view might be a faux representation of the real world. Essentially, it was an illusion, a deceptive construct employed by the long-eared human race to mislead intruders.


    With this realization, the incarnation had solved one problem. The next problem was its appearance. If it wished to infiltrate the long-eared human tribe''s city without arousing suspicion and risking its life, it would need to disguise itself. After careful consideration, the incarnation identified multiple potential methods to achieve its goal.


    The first method was to utilize the Blood Assimtion ability.


    By employing the Blood Authority skill to extract the blood of the unconscious long-eared young man and consuming it to gain his assimted state, the incarnation would then activate the Ancestral Regression skill, which would treat the assimted blood of the long-eared young man as his Ancestral Bloodline, allowing him to assume the long-eared young man''s form.


    The second method was to employ a newly awakened skill that even Randy had yet to test¡ª the Myriad Species Transformation.


    ording to the description of the Myriad Species Transformation skill, simr to the Blood Assimtion ability, the incarnation could consume the blood of a target and analyze its effects. However, the skill description also mentioned touching the blood to analyze it, though the incarnation deemed this approach too time-consuming for the task at hand.

 Chapter 343: Turning Point[I]

    The Myriad Species Transformation skill appears to offer a more streamlined approach, enabling one to directly morph into the target whose blood has been consumed and analyzed. This method offered a practical and straightforward approachpared to the two-step process of the first method, which requires using the innate ability, Blood Assimtion, and skill, Ancestral Regression, in session.


    There was only one downside to Myriad Species Transformation skill. Despite its practical application, it only offered the biological transformation, meaning one could only assume the physical form. Innate skills or abilities of the target couldn''t be inherited like in the assimted state.


    However, the incarnation entertained a daring notion as it contemted these two methods of impable transformation.


    The incarnation sought to ensure that its disguise would be truly impable, possessing nearly wless qualities with minimal discernible differences between the original and the fake. This would minimize the risks involved in its infiltration.


    With this ambitious goal in mind, the incarnation conceived the idea ofbining both the first and second methods simultaneously, hoping to achieve a magnificent oue from this experiment.


    Although uncertain whether executing multiple skill effects simultaneously would yield the desired result or introduce unforeseen variables, the incarnation recalled Randy''s sessful experimentation with simultaneous activation of two assimted states when he faced the sunsses man and his subordinates.


    This recollection from Randy''s past experience bolstered the confidence and resolve of the incarnation in its endeavor.


    With determination fueled by this memory, the incarnation retrieved one of the arrows from the quiver belonging to the unconscious long-eared young man. Using the arrowhead, it carefully punctured a small wound on the long-eared young man''s thumb, causing a drop of blood to well up on his skin.


    The incarnation then utilized the Blood Authority skill, an imperceptible force prating through the punctured wound, manipting the flow of blood inside the long-eared young man''s body. This unseen force extracted the blood from the young man''s body through the opened wound on his thumb, coalescing the blood into a small marble-sized ball.


    Under the influence of the Blood Authority skill, the incarnation ensured there weren''t any harming substance within the blood before manipting it to hover in its direction.


    With the blood suspended before its eyes, the incarnation wasted no time in opening its mouth, swallowing the ball of purified blood with an audible gulp.


    To ensure precision and error-free execution of its experiment, the incarnation decided to utilize the guiding interface provided by the system from Randy''s world. Randy had abstained from using this guiding interface for some time, having mastered the activation method of his innate abilities and skills.


    Upon activating the Blood Assimtion ability, lines of text began to materialize before the incarnation''s eyes.


    [[Detected the blood of an otherworldly species: Long-eared human]]


    [[Assimtion Mode Activated]]


    [[Assimtion of Long-eared human''s blood hasmenced]]


    .


    .


    .


    [[Blood Assimtion Complete]]


    [[Assimtion Completion: 100%]]


    [[After assimting the long-eared human''s blood and acquiring their blood knowledge, you have gained the following ability in the form of a skill: Fixed Species Alteration skill (100%)]]


    Despite receiving only one ability from the long-eared human race, the incarnation disregarded it and proceeded to activate another two skills simultaneously from different sources¡ª one from Randy''s home world system and the other from the Acruxia World system.


    [[Ancestral Regression skill Activated]]


    [Myriad Species Transformation skill Activated]


    As the incarnation felt profound changes urring within its body. The changes were noticeable in his appearance, but it also sensed a struggle between the two skills, vying for dominance to determine the most effective and superior transformation base.


    Amidst this conflict of skills, the incarnation''s vision suddenly blurred for a moment before it was covered by darkness. As if deprived of vitality, the incarnation copsed lifelessly to the ground, unconscious.


    Before the incarnationpsed into unconsciousness, a mysterious phenomenon unfolded within its body. The incarnation felt its consciousness being pulled from its body by an irresistible force.


    This urrence wasn''t exclusive to this particr incarnation as the same phenomenon affected all of Randy''s incarnations, with Randy himself also sumbing to the enigmatic force.


    This event marked a pivotal moment that would alter Randy''s ns and those of his incarnations.


    ...


    Elsewhere in the Western Region of the human territory¡­


    Brawler Randy and Liena were en route after jointlypleting a mission assigned by their respective Guilds. Engaged in a banter and bickering as they made their way to the Outpost City to utilize the teleportation station, they unexpectedly encountered a group of werewolf tribe members who aggressively confronted them with sinister intentions.


    A few minutes earlier...


    "Damn humans!" Cursed a humanoid creature with ears resembling those of a wolf, its frustration palpable in his husky voice. Crimson fur adorned its robust body, marking it as a member of the Fire n within the werewolf tribe. This me Werewolf was not alone; it hadpanions. Seven of them, to be precise.


    The pack of me Werewolves strode along the forest''s edge, near a pathway that led to the human settlement. For days, they had scoured the area in search of two humans¡ª a young man and a young woman¡ª who had thwarted their ns, but their efforts had yielded no results. The scent of their prey seemed to vanish at one of the outpost cities along the road.


    "Calm yourself, me ws." Another me Werewolf urged, his demeanor moreposed as he addressed the pack''s leader in an attempt to pacify their pack leader.


    "How can I remain calm when our ns have been foiled by these city humans, me Legs? I hunger for their flesh and blood as retribution for their interference." me ws protested, envisioning the consequences they would face upon returning home empty-handed.


    The punishment awaiting them upon returning home with news of their failure to secure food was something me ws didn''t want to face, especially if the one delivering the punishment was their n Leader, the Werewolf King of Fire. As the leader of their pack, he would receive more punishment than his followers, which was why he was livid.


    "Let it go. We should turn back. Those humans have left the Western Region. We''ve been pursuing them for days with no luck. It appears they''ve returned to their origins, as their scent vanished toward the nearby Outpost City. They may have used teleportation to escape a day ago." me Legs, the pack''s strategist, reasoned, turning to depart with the other members following suit.


    Even me ws, the pack leader, acquiesced to his words.


    "Damn it! Perhaps we should have ughtered some humans in that vige. It wouldn''t have mattered, given the casualties caused by the demon''s puppet. Maybe there''s still time to do so now." me ws suggested with a cruel grin.


    "Go alone if you''re not afraid of encountering Bounty Hunters or Assassins, who have likely learned of the demon''s whereabouts in this region." me Legs calmly retorted, paying little heed to his leader. He was unconcerned with his pack leader''s whims. they concealed their presence within the forest.


    The members of the pack followed me Legs. Reluctantly, me ws followed me Legs as they departed from human territory, heading back to their tribe. They concealed their presence within the forest as they continued to shadow the road constructed by humans, albeit their destinationy in the opposite direction.


    Recent discord among the Werewolf Kings of Fire, Earth, Wind, and Water had led to the tribes'' separation. The Werewolf Kings of Fire and Earth had aligned with the demon race, while the typically peaceful Werewolf King of Wind stood as the sole adversary, condemning the demons for bringing chaos to their world.


    The Werewolf King of Water, on the other hand, had taken a neutral stance amidst the turmoil.


    A few weeks earlier, the Werewolf King of Wind received word of a demon force encroaching into Meistic Forest and decided to confront them head-on. He urgently alerted his tribe about the Vampire Queen establishing a stronghold in the forest, mentioning that he was pursued by the Vampire Queen''s general.


    Despite the factional divisions within their tribe, the news sent shockwaves through their ranks. The fact that a mere general of the Vampire Queen, a subordinate of the Vampire Empress in the Demon Continent, overpowered one of their own¡ª a Werewolf King¡ª stirred a profound concern and shock within them.


    This revtion bolstered the resolve of the Werewolf Kings of Fire and Earth, who vowed to join forces with the demons to confront the human race that had boldly expanded across the Central Continent, usurping vast territories.


    At present, the pack of me Werewolves embarked on a mission assigned by their King, the Werewolf King of Fire, to exploit the chaos caused by the Demon Seed Bearer to procure human flesh. However, they were taken aback to discover that the Demon Seed Bearer had been prematurely subdued by a pair of humans.


    Contrary to their King''s expectations, there was no disorder. Anger red within them upon learning from an elderly woman from the vige the Demon Seed Bearer had struck repeatedly that two humans visited their vige briefly before departing. As they were shown where the two humans had stayed briefly before departing, they recovered their scent.


    Using their heightened senses, they track them down for days before realizing that their targets have already left the Western Region.


    In the present moment, having abandoned their pursuit of the elusive humans and making their way back, they stumbled upon two individuals quarreling on the road, seemingly en route to Outpost City. Witnessing this scene, me ws, vexed by their failed mission and the loss of their prey, sought to vent his frustration on the unsuspecting pair of humans.


    Despite me Legs'' disagreement, me ws did not relent. Realizing that he couldn''t dissuade their pack leader, me Legs helplessly decided to let him proceed, suggesting ambushing their targets instead of rushing in carelessly.

 Chapter 344: Turning Point[II]

    Before me Legs could signal the attack, the brash and overconfident me ws lunged forward, confronting the two humans¡ª Brawler Randy and Liena¡ª with a menacing expression, his ws radiating intense heat, surrounded by flickering mes.


    "Humans, prepare to meet your demise!" He growled ferociously, mes dancing around his body.


    Brawler Randy and Liena exchanged nces, silently coordinating their response. Liena drew her dagger, nodding to Randy in a prearranged manner. However, before she could make a move, Randy had already sprung into action.


    He saw this encounter as an opportunity to test his martial prowess against a different race and to deliver justice against the hostile Werewolves threatening their lives.


    However, despite the approaching human, the overconfident me ws remained stationary. Instead, a group of five werewolves positioned themselves before him, ready to thwart Brawler Randy''s advance. Soon, the sh erupted, with Brawler Randy finding himself encircled by the pack of me Werewolves.


    "How dare a feeble human man, weaker than a human woman, stand before the pack leader? You''re courting death! You are unworthy of facing the pack leader. We alone are sufficient to deal with the likes of you." They jeered, swiping their ws at Brawler Randy, who adeptly dodged their assaults using Tiger Chasing Steps, a fundamental movement technique from Randy''s home world.


    Given Brawler Randy''s current physical prowess, the basic martial technique proved effective in evading the werewolves'' strikes. However, the searing mes apanying their coordinated attacks from all angles posed a challenge, singeing his skin despite his nimble dodges.


    Recognizing his dire situation, Brawler Randy swiftly entered his transfigured state. His physical attributes remained the same, but his other aspects, such as his dynamic visual acuity were drastically enhanced by his transfigured state.


    Employing his psionic powers and Blood Authority skill simultaneously, he initiated a slightly enhanced Blood Halt technique, slowing down the movement of the werewolves around him.


    Seizing the opportunity presented by their impaired mobility, he partially transformed into the Werewolf King of Wind, his wolf-like features entuated by his protruding fangs, giving him a feral appearance.


    With silvery-white hair streaked with purple cascading down his back, he moved with lethal intent, fully aware that the werewolves he faced might be allied with the Foot Soldier demons encountered during their recent mission.


    With levels only ranging from 30 to 50, the Foot Soldier demons were easily dispatched by Brawler Randy, whosebat power exceeded level 55 physically, and Liena, who boasted abat power of level 69.


    Meanwhile, me Legs was taken aback by the familiar aura emanating from Brawler Randy after his transformation. Instantly, he sensed that something was awry.


    Unlike the impulsive me ws, me Legs was methodical, always one to n before engaging his prey. As me Legs grasped the situation, he scrutinized their adversaries with his heightened senses, detecting traces of demon blood stench on them. This revtion led him to deduce their potential upations among humans.


    "Wait! Cease your attack! These humans reek of demon blood. Withdraw, me ws!" me Legs cautioned, but his warning came toote.


    In his transfigured state, Brawler Randy morphed into a literal beast, effortlessly dispatching two of the weakest me Werewolves by piercing through their chests and ripping out their hearts with his bare hands. The scene was undeniably extremely gruesome, yet Brawler Randy''s expression betrayed excitement rather than aversion. He harbored no hesitation in eliminating obvious enemies.


    To Brawler Randy, tant enemies with noplications to their nature of existence warranted no mercy from him, especially after learning about the cruelty of the werewolf tribe, which hunted down humans. He learned from Liena that the werewolf race relish feasting on human flesh, a practice that was ranking second only to the atrocious demons.


    The remaining three me Werewolves, possessing greater strength and more agility, reacted swiftly upon hearing me Legs'' warning, leaping backward with cautious apprehension. Drained and wary, the retreated werewolves cast a nce at the grisly aftermath of theirrades'' demise.


    me ws and me Legs scrutinized Brawler Randy, confirming that he indeed had the same aura as the Storm Werewolves of their tribe. Meanwhile, Brawler Randy returned their gaze with a predatory re, his multicolored eyes shing intensely, readying himself to pounce on the remaining werewolves.


    Though Brawler Randy''s blood seemed to boil with a craving for battle, he refrained from immediate action, realizing the need for caution against opponents, especially against a potentially cunning adversary. His initial n to catch his arrogant opponents off-guard was thwarted by me Legs'' warning, disrupting his strategy and prompting him to change his ns.


    Meanwhile¡­


    Observing Brawler Randy''s transformation for the first time, Liena was dumbfounded. She believed she had gleaned everything about him in the past few days, only to realize she was gravely mistaken, his true nature still remained enigmatic. In the past, she saw ''him'' take down a vampire man with some uncanny skill, which siphoned the blood out of the vampire''s body till his death.


    While he hadn''t used that terrifying skill since they met in Mercenary Street, she witnessed him use an immobility skill. He imed he could control the blood of others to achieve that effect, making her assume it was the same skill he used on the vampire man.


    Now, seeing him transform into a being with fangs akin to the werewolves they faced left her bewildered, shrouding his true identity in mystery. The more she learned about him, the deeper the mystery surrounding his identity.


    "Liena, can I handle them alone?" Brawler Randy asked, sensing her presence beside him.


    Still lost in her thoughts, Liena nodded nkly as she stepped to the side, prompting Brawler Randy to unleash a primal howl of a bestial wolf. With his fangs bared, he sprinted toward the stunned werewolves, his fangs ready to sink into their necks.


    However, something unexpected happened, causing Liena''s expression to drastically change, herplexion turning pale.


    With his jaws agape, poised to strike, Brawler Randy disappeared and reappeared beside one of the me Werewolves, catching them off-guard. But before he could sink his teeth into the unsuspecting werewolf''s neck, he suddenly faltered and wobbled unnaturally, halting his attack and allowing the me Werewolf to realize the situation and seize the opportunity to counterattack.


    The me Werewolf viciously wed at Brawler Randy''s defenseless and vulnerable chest with considerable force, tearing flesh from his torso and sending him hurtling through the air. Blood dripped from the deep w marks, yet Brawler Randy remained motionless, appearing lifeless, not even uttering a groan of pain as he fell to the ground.


    Unbeknownst to Liena and everyone else, just as Brawler Randy was about to strike, he was suddenly ovee by an overwhelming dizziness, losing consciousness amidst the chaos of battle. This unexpected turn of events sent Liena into a panic as she rushed to his aid, intercepting the me Werewolf intent on delivering the final blow to the incapacitated Brawler Randy.


    "Randy! What foolishness is this?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Liena shouted, assuming he was up to his usual antics. However, sensing something amiss, she hurried to his side to assess his condition.


    Brawler Randy''s stillness and Liena''s intervention alerted the perspicacious me Legs, allowing him to understand a certain truth. This certain truth prompted him to take decisive action. Betting on his honed agility, he ignited his legs with a burst of me, propelling himself toward the unconscious Brawler Randy, aiming to eliminate him while he remained vulnerable.


    me ws, sensing the shift in the situation, charged forward as well, driven by a desire for vengeance for his fallen pack members, his eyes gleaming with unbounded ruthless intent.


    This sudden turn of events ced Liena in grave peril, as she was now forced to contend not only with the brutish me ws but also the cunning me Legs. Whether she could safeguard Brawler Randy until he regained consciousness remained uncertain, leaving their fate hanging in the bnce.


    ¡­


    Meanwhile, in the Imperial City...


    Holy Knight Randy diligently prepared for the uing crusade to subjugate the Vampire Queen, with only four days remaining until their crusademenced. Eager to ry his ns to the elusive Brawler Randy, who had recently relocated from his previous inn.


    He discovered through his connections as Zt Grant that Brawler Randy had secured lodgings at Luxurious Inn located on Residential Street. Determined to find him, Holy Knight Randy set out to seek his elusive fellow incarnation.


    As Holy Knight Randy walked along Residential Street, tracing Brawler Randy''s whereabouts, he encountered a familiar face¡ª an acquaintance of Randy''s¡ª waiting in front of a five-story building, with a sign stating Luxurious Inn. Halting in his tracks, Holy Knight Randy realized he had reached his destination. He had arrived at the entrance of the inn Brawler Randy had rented.


    Before venturing inside to search for Brawler Randy, he observed the familiar figure. She worebat green attire, with a bow and quiver slung behind her, her silky blonde hair neatly tied and cascading down her back.


    Exuding a captivating noble aura, her luminous green eyes met his with a peculiar expression, catching Holy Knight Randy off guard and leaving him feeling somewhat awkward, as he hadn''t expected her attention to linger on him.


    "Ah, hello¡­" He began to greet the young woman in green clothes, but then he remembered he was not Randy, nor was he in his true form. Currently, he was Holy Knight Randy, posing as Zt Grant.


    Holy Knight Randy swiftly adjusted his demeanor, nodding in greeting, disregarding the green-clothed young woman before things gotplicated. He decided to avoid further interaction and depart the ce altogether to avoidplicating matters with his current appearance as Zt Grant.


    With four days remaining before themencement of the Church''s crusade to Meistic Forest, he decided to leave now, resolving to returnter to meet Brawler Randy.


    Recalling from his memories that the green-clothed young woman harbored disdain for and, perhaps, animosity toward the original Zt Grant due to his past misconduct, Holy Knight Randy reinforced his decision to leave. However, before he could step away, he unexpectedly felt lightheaded and stumbled forward toward the young woman, his vision blurring.

 Chapter 345: Turning Point[III]

    Despite his efforts to resist the encroaching drowsiness using sheer willpower and even employing his psionic powers, the overwhelming sensation proved irresistible. Holy Knight Randy found himself unable to fend off the overwhelming fatigue that had begun to build up in his body. Soon, he sumbed to unconsciousness, tumbling into the arms of the green-clothed young woman.


    The green-clothed young woman was none other than Sylvana. Randy encountered her during his assignment for the Dungeon Hunter Society when he ventured into Meistic Forest after defeating the two demons.


    Unconsciously, Sylvana caught Holy Knight Randy as he fell headlong in her direction. However, soon, she looked at him with a frown, dropping him to the ground with a disgusted expression. Holy Knight Randy fell unceremoniously onto the hard ground, his Holy Knight armor creating a dull metallic sound.


    [What are you doing to your savior?] A voice spoke in Sylvana''s mind, startling her. Realizing the source of the voice, she calmed down, but her expression became solemn.


    "What are you saying? Who is my savior? You don''t mean this disgusting human before me?" She inquired with a revolted expression, her voice echoing in her mind, directed at the voice that reprimanded her.


    [If you had epted my blessingspletely, you would''ve been able to tell the identity of the man before you.] The owner of the voice helplessly said and then added: [Anyway, I''ll tell you. This person is someone you''re familiar with. Right now, for whatever reason, they have taken on this appearance.]


    "You mean this person is not Zt Grant from the Grant Family?" Sylvana frowned and proceeded to scrutinize the unconscious armored Holy Knight on the ground, determining that he unequivocally looked and had the same aura as Zt Grant, whom she had met a few times in the past.


    Realizing this truth, she became curious about the identity of the impostor and wondered who among her associates had such an ability to take on the appearance of others impably. Finding no one who fit the description in her memories, she inquired.


    "What is the identity of this person? I don''t recall having any associates with a transformation skill, much less one of this level."


    [It is that young man who aided you in defeating the magical beast horde in Meistic Forest. At that time, if you had used my power earlier, you wouldn''t have found yourself in such a predicament.] The owner of the voice answered, recalling the time Sylvana almost lost her life because she was hesitant to ept its blessings.


    Sylvana was dumbfounded by the answer she received, her mouth slightly agape. Quickly regaining herposure, she sought confirmation.


    "Are you certain it''s that young man?" She asked, her voiceced with suspicion.


    [Of course. Why would I lie to you, you silly child!] The owner of the voice retorted, clearly offended by her doubtful query.


    [I must say, this human''s transformation skills are almost impable. Sadly, he couldn''tpletely mask his soul signature, so I could still recognize him. Now, do you understand why you couldn''t tell the difference? If you want to confirm yourself, ept my blessing.] The owner of the voicemented and urged Sylvana.


    Ignoring the remark made by the voice, Sylvana bent to briefly examine the apparently fake Zt Grant, her mind swirling with questions. Disregarding most of her thoughts, only a few thoughts became the focus of her curiosity.


    ''How could it be him? If it''s him, why the disguise? Was he being pursued? Since he assumed Zt Grant''s appearance, does that mean the real Zt Grant is dead or held hostage? What is his true identity? I''ll have to ask him when he wakes up.'' She pondered before reaching a decision, disregarding the potential peril Zt Grant may have faced at the hands of the young man before her.


    With confirmation that the Zt Grant before her was indeed Randy in disguise, Sylvana hoisted the unconscious but hefty Holy Knight Randy over her shoulders,carrying him away under the watchful eyes of many pedestrians passing by.


    She took him to Luxurious Inn, the one behind them, booking a room on the lower floor and letting him sleep. Once assured of hisfort, she left the building to attend to her affairs.


    ¡­


    In the Safe Room...


    A vortex of mana particles was gathered at the center of the chamber, drawn toward Randy''s body as they permeated his pores, infusing themselves with his flesh, cells, and bones. The ethereal glow of the white light on the surface of Randy''s skin made him appear as though he was a being made of light.


    Randy had been making progress in his meditation, attuning his body to mana and increasing his affinity with the magical particles. As he immersed himself in meditation, hepletely lost track of time. He didn''t bother to ask the system, as it was irrelevant.


    Worrying about the psed time each session would only serve as a distraction, affecting his mindset. However, due to the time discrepancy between the outside world and the Safe Room, he could spend more time in meditation to increase his mana pool without concern for the passage of time.


    From his connection with his new incarnation, only a few days had passed since he sent it to venture into the territory of the Long-eared human tribe. However, inside the Safe Room, several weeks or perhaps even a month had passed.


    Regarding concerns about the time psed affecting his body, he had confirmed with his home world system that his physical appearance wouldn''t be affected. The system stated that the cells in his body were essentially ced in stasis as they were nourished by the effect of the Safe Room.


    The fact that his cells weren''t losing energy implied that he would maintain his physical appearance, regardless of how much time passed.


    Based on his estimates, he would soon achieve a body perfectly attuned to mana, allowing him to significantly increase his mana pool within his Mana Vessel without relying on meditation, as his body would naturally draw in mana faster with the help of his Myriad Energy Devouring Physique.


    Though the process was extremely slow and tedious, as the mana particles continued to fuse with his body, he found that his body limated to his meditative state without feeling any suffocation brought by the initial difort.


    Waves of pure mana particles were drawn much faster as he progressed, thanks to his unique physique, leading him to wonder if his physique could still improve, potentially expediting his meditation.


    As he contemted this possibility during his meditation, he suddenly felt a disturbance in his consciousness, his eyes snapping open in bewilderment. Previously, he could split his consciousness as he meditated, allowing him to ponder multiple thoughts to pass the time, but at this moment, he felt like he couldn''t maintain that state of mind, causing him to lose concentration.


    Randy examined his state of mind as he pondered what had happened.


    "What''s going on? Ah!" Before he could ponder any further, he felt his consciousness being yanked by an unstoppable force. Randy broke out in a cold sweat as he wrestled with the irresistible force in an attempt to break its influence on his mind. With no other recourse, he turned to his trusted system.


    "Hey, system, do you know what''s going on?"


    [[Be patient, it''s a favorable opportunity]] The system stated in response.


    "What do you mean it''s a favorable opportunity? Are you the one doing this? Why didn''t you inform me ahead of time?" Randy retorted, his voice sounding impatient.


    [[You''ll find out soon]] The system replied cryptically.


    "What the hell¡­"


    Randy was peeved by the system''s response, but he couldn''t do anything to help his situation. As he couldn''t resist the infallible force anymore, his consciousness left his body while he was still in meditation. Luckily, he was in a stable posture, so he didn''t fall over and instead looked like he fell asleep while sitting.


    ¡­


    After an unknown time, Randy could feel his consciousness returning, but not fully. He felt his vision darken one moment and brighten the next. This continued for a while. As he tried to focus his ''gaze'', he saw a blurred but familiar starry space, filled with celestial bodies varying in shape and size.


    He could infer that he was passing through the void of space, but it was at an extremely fast speed, making him wonder if he was being forcefully transported back home due to the space-time fluctuation mentioned by his system upon his arrival to Acruxia. While Randy entertained that possibility, he suddenly noticed a shocking scene pass by.


    He saw glittering cosmic rays and then clusters of gxies. Simultaneously, as he tried to turn his head, he felt a strange sensation in his ''body'', almost like he was lighter than usual. He also noticed that he was somehow in some membrane shielding him from any cosmic radiation and the deadly cold temperature in space.


    Thinking to observe his hands, he looked down. He realized he was somehow in his spirit form, a personified image of himself, as he traveled through the vast expanse of space inside the translucent membrane. Even though he was moving at an extremely fast speed, crossing many light-years, his spiritual body wasn''t obliterated by the terrifying force of the speed.


    Under the embrace of the protective membrane, Randy drifted through the boundless expanse of space, navigating the cosmic currents with precision. He passed by shimmering stars, swirling gxies, and ethereal nebe, witnessing the unfathomable beauty of the universe.


    asionally, the protective membrane slowed down as it reached gxies, maneuvering around and allowing him to catch a glimpse of the celestial bodies held within. Randy marveled at the beauty of the varying gxies he encountered as he moved through the expanse of space.

 Chapter 346: Solitary Colossal Starry Gate in the Void, Meeting the Grand Librarian

    After witnessing many wondrous sights for an unknown duration, Randy concluded that his consciousness was not being transported to his home world. Instead, his consciousness was somehow being guided somewhere through countless stars, gxies, and destroyeds floating in the weightless space of the universe.


    Additionally, he determined that he was headed toward a predetermined destination under the guidance of the force exerted on him. Although he had no idea where he was headed, he decided to enjoy the journey until he reached his destination.


    During his previous passage through the void of space after passing through the dimensional rift, he didn''t see anys, let alone stars. Instead, he felt like he was passing through a sticky wall membrane to cross over to the world behind it.


    However, through this unexpected journey, he was able to see things like stars and even gxies in the distance. Although he was moving at an extremely fast speed, unlike the turtle-like speed of his first experience traveling through space, with his improved visual acuity, he could make out the objects he passed by for a brief moment before overtaking them.


    After much deliberation, Randy attempted to call out to his system to confirm his destination, but he found himself unable to contact it. This momentary inability filled him with anxiety before he managed to settle his emotions down.


    Turning to the Acruxia world system, he tried once more, only to realize he hadpletely lost touch with it, causing his bottled-up worry to resurface and intensify for another moment.


    Pondering briefly, he recalled the words of his home world''s system mentioned before his consciousness was yanked out of his body, choosing to put his faith in it. Calming down, he waited in anticipation of where his current journey would lead him. As Randy settled into this mindset, his consciousness felt a surge of strange memories and experiences entering his spiritual mind.


    These memories and experiences belonged to his incarnations. After processing the memories and experiences from his three incarnations, Randyprehended the root cause of the current situation.


    With this discovery, Randy settled his emotionspletely, now curious about what activating twopatible skills might entail, as this wasn''t the first time a phenomenon urred during his dual skill or ability activation.


    A while back, when he activated his Blood Retain skill, he found himself transported inside the mysterious Blood Space located somewhere within his body. At that time too, he was in his spiritual form, leading him to wonder if the current phenomenon would y out simrly, just like how he discovered a corrtion between the different colored balls of light and his bloodline inheritances.


    Another instance of a spiritual journey urred when hebined the two Synergy skills into one, witnessing the entire process in a dark space, which he assumed was within his imaginary mind space created by his subconscious self to visualize the fusion process.


    While he made various connections and possible conclusions regarding his current experience, he passed through an invisible force field, causing him to be disoriented, his vision darkening once again.


    Upon regaining his senses and opening his eyes, Randy saw a starry wall stretching endlessly in the void, expanding in all directions. He couldn''t discern its height or length, but the wall shimmered with the glow of kaleidoscopic starlight. Before he could assess it further, the wall suddenly split apart, revealing an interior devoid of light and filled with pitch-ck darkness.


    While floating safely inside the protective membrane, Randy was propelled by the irresistible force into the opening of the wall. At this point, he deduced that the starry wall wasn''t an actual wall but a giant gate. It was an otherworldly, colossal gate with no discernible length or width, causing one to lose their sense of distance due to its iprehensible measurements.


    Upon entering the opened colossal starry gate, it closed behind him. Moving onward in the darkness for an unknown duration, Randy discovered a singr light in the distance, seemingly approaching it, or rather, teleporting intermittently in its direction as he felt space distort every once in a while. The entire experience was mystifying, leaving him lost in wonder and anticipation.


    Despite theck of discernible surroundings, Randy still observed his location diligently, reaffirming that most of the area was enveloped in darkness save for the distant glowing speck of light he appeared to be heading toward.


    Soon, Randy''s protective membrane came to a halt before a mysterious golden door, standing solitary amid the void. Upon closer inspection, the golden door looked weathered, beaten, and broken, as if corroded by the ravages of time. Below the stationary golden door was a winding golden stairway that led to its doorstep.


    As soon as he arrived at the first step of the golden stairway, Randy felt himself entering an imperceptible bubble, the membrane protecting him no longer visible around his spiritual body. With the loss of the protective membrane, Randy regained the sense of a living human being under the pressure of gravity.


    He felt as though he had regained his body, although that was merely his imagination as he remained in his spiritual form.


    Without dy, Randy ascended the stairs one by one, feeling the firmness of the stairs beneath his spiritual body''s feet. After climbing for about an hour, by his estimation, Randy stood before the ravaged golden door.


    With a sense of trepidation, Randy approached and cautiously attempted to push it open. Before stretching out his arm, he pondered the possibility of being incapable of touching the solid object due to his spiritual state. However, he disregarded the thought and took a deep breath before pushing it with all his strength.


    Surprisingly, it yielded contrary to his belief that he wouldn''t be able to touch the golden door in his spiritual form.


    Inside the slightly open door, he saw what could only be described as chaos. Many objects were floating around in the background, yet mysteriously missing each other. This phenomenon caused him to hesitate before taking a step inside.


    However, he didn''t have a choice in the matter. Moments after he opened the door, he was sucked into it. Inside, he found himself standing on a tform, or more precisely, a lounge with a counter not far from him. The chaotic environment he witnessed from outside the golden door felt like an illusion.


    The size of the lounge was iprehensible, as the distance felt like an eternity. At the same time, it gave the illusion of being closer than it appeared from one''s perspective. The counter, on the other hand, felt closer to Randy. With that discovery, he decided to head in the direction of the counter.


    As Randy thought about walking to the counter, before he could move his legs, he appeared before the counter, startling him. However, there was no one behind the counter, prompting him to look around. He found multiple human-sized doors on the expansive walls of the lounge. He decided to walk around and pick a random door, snapping it open by pulling on its doorknob.


    Randy stepped through the threshold and found himself in a vast circr chamber lined with towering shelves, eachden with countless scrolls, books, storage artifacts, and other recording items like jade stones and mystic pearls.


    The air in the chamber hummed with a palpable energy, showcasing various mystical illusions, as if every piece of wisdom contained within the shelves yearned to be unearthed.


    "Incredible¡­" Randy''s eyes widened in awe as he took in his surroundings.


    Among the partitioned shelves in the expansive chamber were texts that looked like titles. They were written in bold fonts in an unknownnguage but could still be interpreted by Randy. The discernible names below the shelves were [Ancient Civilizations Compendium], [Akashic Records of the Infinite Worlds], [Lost Histories], [Universal Secrets], [The Gnosis], and many others that were illegible.


    At the center of the chamber stood the figure of a mysterious man cloaked in starry robes, his luminous eyes twinkling with ancient wisdom. Randy couldn''t discern the appearance of the mysterious man as they wore a hood over their head, shrouding their face.


    As soon as Randy noticed the mysterious man, thetter smiled in a friendly manner, showcasing his amiable demeanor. This made Randy, who had been apprehensive of the being before him, almost lower his guard. However, he maintained his vignce because he could only see the man''s teeth when he smiled. His actual appearance was shrouded with dark, smog of smoke, making it hard to discern.


    "Wee, young aspirant. You have arrived at the Universal Library, a repository of the universe''s most profound secrets." The mysterious man with a voice resonating with eons of wisdom introduced himself.


    After recovering from his shock at the mysterious man''s words, Randy tentatively asked: "Who are you?"


    Hearing Randy''s query, the mysterious man smiled, not bothered by the question. Instead, he appeared surprised by Randy''s capability to retain his calmness despite the shock he had just received.


    "I am the Grand Librarian, guardian of the cosmic archives. My eternal duty is to safeguard the wisdom of the cosmos and bestow it upon those deemed worthy or chosen by the elusive fate." The mysterious man replied, bowing with one arm across his chest.


    Randy was taken aback by the gesture. He scrutinized the mysterious man, discovering his youthful demeanor despite having visible gray hair. From his voice, Randy discovered that the self-proimed Grand Librarian sounded like a middle-aged man, but his barely discernible countenance couldn''t hide the countless eons he had lived through.


    Randy''s tiny spiritual body stood before the towering Grand Librarian, who emanated an aura of ancient wisdom that seemed to span the entirety of existence, making him feel quite insignificant.


    The towering Grand Librarian, cloaked in the essence of endless epochs, beckoned him forward.


    "Step forward, young aspirant, and prepare to receive the wisdom of the cosmos." The Grand Librarianmanded, his presence billowing with the profound essence of antiquity.

 Chapter 347: Apotheosis, Clues from the Grand Librarian

    Hearing the Grand Librarian''smand, Randy hesitated for a moment, his gaze fixed upon the enigmatic symbols beneath his feet. The tform upon which Randy stood was adorned with intricate symbols and glyphs that seemed to pulse with otherworldly energy. They shifted and morphed, reminiscent of ancient runes yet infinitely moreplex.


    They were unlike any runes Randy had ever seen, theirplexity hinting at their origins as the very foundation of the runguage itself.


    Randy was mesmerized by the ancient runes beneath, but he forcefully extricated himself, making up his mind as he looked toward the Grand Librarian. As he took his first tentative step, he felt a surge of power wash over his entire spiritual body.


    Remaining motionless, he felt a profound pressure bearing down upon his soul, as though the very fabric of his being was being scrutinized by an unfathomable consciousness.


    For a moment, he felt like he was on the brink of oblivion, as if his existence hung by a thread. Pressure mounted upon his psyche, threatening to obliterate his very essence. But then, just as suddenly as it began, the pressure subsided, leaving Randy trembling with cold sweat, even though he knew he possessed no physical body nor sweat nds in his spiritual form.


    Suddenly, he became aware of a new sensation ¡ª a sensation of a body, heavy and more imposing than his original physical form. He stared down at his hands. To his astonishment, he realized that he truly had been granted a physical form ¡ª a body that felt alien and cumbersome,rger than his mortal frame. It felt foreign and unnatural, and he struggled to maintain bnce.


    Before he could stumble, the Grand Librarian rushed forward, his expression a mix of shock and solemnity. As he approached Randy, his true form was revealed as a cosmic entity, looking quite enigmatic. His skin tone was uniquely, covered with starry luminosity and sprinkled with glittering nebe, and his eyes shone with a mystic glow of gxies.


    Closely observing the Grand Librarian''s humanoid form, Randy determined his appearance to be reminiscent of an old man due to the wrinkles on his face. He wasn''t sure if that was merely the preferred appearance of the cosmic being or if that was its true appearance.


    Appearing beside him, the Grand Librarian held Randy''s shoulder, supporting his body, but secretly, he was assessing Randy''s body. Randy was startled by his presence beside him, but he chose to disregard such a detail, focusing on something else.


    "What... What is happening to me?!" Randy eximed, feeling shocked by the strange phenomenon urring to him.


    He asked about the pressing matter regarding the sudden change in his body, from a human-sized spiritual body into a humanoid giant body that matched the towering figure of the Grand Librarian.


    "So you are their progeny. To think they left you to grow in a mortal world. Not just any mortal world but a null mortal world that had only recently gained enlightenment due to the awakening of the Cardinal Gnosis. It all makes sense now. No wonder your fate led you here." The Grand Librarianmented, observing Randy''s towering and imposing body.


    Pensively, the Grand Librarian observed the physical features of Randy''s current appearance, only to discover that his current form was shrouded in mist, obscuring his aura and preventing his presence from leaking. Not even Randy could observe his own appearance. In his perception, he had a kaleidoscopic nimbus surrounding his body, almost simr to the Grand Librarian''s starry skinpletion.


    This discovery was what caused Randy''s initial panic when he saw his new body.


    After the Grand Librarian spoke meaningfully, Randy became perplexed by his remarks. How could this cosmic being know anything about his parents? As far as he was aware, his parents were mere humans who had never left Earth, his home.


    "My parents... How do you know them? They''re just ordinary humans. As far as I''m aware, they''ve never left Earth." Randy inquired directly, sensing that whatever secrets his parents were hiding might be rted to their identity.


    The Grand Librarian seemed to ignore Randy''s question, his attention diverted to the matter at hand.


    "Regardless of your origins, young aspirant, you have indeed been chosen by the Universal Library. Your destiny awaits."


    "What do you mean chosen by the Universal Library? Earlier, you also mentioned the wisdom of the cosmos and those chosen by fate. Did I end up here because of the Universal Library?" Randy pressed, seeking to confirm his doubts regarding the sudden phenomenon that befell him.


    "Indeed." With a solemn nod, the Grand Librarian gestured toward the heart of the chamber, where a shimmering light pulsed with cosmic energy. His sonorous voice entered Randy''s ears as he began to walk in that direction.


    "Follow me, young aspirant." He beckoned.


    Pondering for a moment, Randy followed behind the towering Grand Librarian with his colossal body. Oddly enough, he didn''t feel any difort as he felt before the Grand Librarian held him up. He steadily walked forward without any hassle.


    He could only attribute thefortable state of his body to something the cosmic being had done when he touched him. Besides feelingfortable in his towering body, Randy realized that every step he took covered several miles, feeling amazed by how tall his stature had be.


    As they walked, Randy couldn''t help but ask some questions to pass the time. While he felt intimidated by the appearance of the cosmic being, the Grand Librarian''s demeanor reassured him that he wouldn''t cause any harm to him. Before he could utter any words, the Grand Librarian suddenly spoke.


    "Within these hallowed halls lie the mysteries of existence itself ¡ª truths that transcend mortal understanding." The Grand Librarian exined, gesturing toward various pedestals adorned with shimmering jade stones and lustrous pearls.


    "Amazing¡­" Randy unconsciously muttered in wonder as he looked at some of the magic scrolls and more familiar storage artifacts scattered around the chamber as if they were discarded trash.


    "These are but a fraction of the treasures within the collection. Each holds a fragment of the universe''s vast tapestry, waiting to be unraveled by those who seek enlightenment." The Grand Librarian added, not bothering to even look at the scrolls and artifacts strewn on both sides of their pathway as if they were insignificant.


    Witnessing the illustrious treasures that seemed to be calling out to him, Randy felt breathless. Clearing his distraction, he further inquired about another pressing matter.


    "Old man, what am I truly here for? Where are were headed?" Randy questioned, his tone sounding serious.


    "Old man?" The Grand Librarian was amused by Randy''s choice of address, but he solemnly replied: "You, young aspirant, have triggered the divine resonance prematurely. As a result, you have been chosen by the cosmic forces to receive a gift ¡ª a mere glimpse into the boundless depths of knowledge that will aid you on your journey to apotheosis."


    "Apotheosis?" Randy was perplexed by this new terminology.


    "Attaining the divine status. Isn''t that the reason you began your journey, young aspirant?" The Grand Librarian rified, his wisdom-filled eyes peering into Randy''s soul.


    As soon as the gazended on Randy''s body, he felt as though he had bepletely naked with all his informationid bare before the mysterious cosmic being iming to be the Grand Librarian of the Universal Library.


    A momentter, a sense of realization dawned on the Grand Librarian, breaking into a monologue.


    "So, he has no idea of his true identity, nor did he begin his journey to reach apotheosis¡­? Fascinating¡­ As for the reason for such development¡­ As I chose to not meddle in the lives of mortals, I have no idea why his parents concealed his identity from him. However, as always, I''ll let things progress in their natural course. I would not interfere with their arrangements.


    It shall be as they determined."


    Overhearing the monologue of the Grand Librarian, Randy''s interest was piqued, his brow rising. This was particrly so when he heard the former mention his parents.


    "Do you know my parents? Have you met them before?" He inquired once again, eager for answers. He added: "And don''t dodge my question this time."


    Pondering for a moment, the Grand Librarian replied: "Indeed. I met them a few times in the past."


    "Then, do you know what secrets they''re hiding from me?" Randy ventured, attempting to pry the mystery surrounding his parents from the Grand Librarian.


    "Secrets? Yes, there are secrets shrouded in mystery surrounding you, but your parents chose not to inform you. I do not know their reason, but I believe their decision serves an ultimate purpose." The Grand Librarian confirmed.


    "What purpose could it be?!" Randy became agitated, recalling his disconcerting experiences with his parents in the past.


    Increasing his pace, Randy overtook the Grand Librarian, obstructing his path, as he continued.


    "At one point, they cherished and loved me, but the moment I failed to awaken, my whole life was overturned. They chose to neglect me because I couldn''t meet their expectations. What ultimate purpose could they possibly have for casting me aside in my vulnerable state?"

 Chapter 348: Newfound Determination, Wisdom Scroll

    Randy bombarded the Grand Librarian with questions as if the cosmic being was responsible for his hardships in life.


    Even though he had resolved to uncover the secrets his parents were keeping from him by bing stronger and demanding answers directly from them, he couldn''t help but outburst with emotions upon hearing the same lines his parents had insinuated when he overheard their secret conversation.


    Carefully listening to the sudden outburst, the Grand Librarian retained his indifferent demeanor, impassively gazing at the young aspirant before him.


    "I do not know because I chose not to know. What I can confirm from your past is that the parents you''re referring to are not responsible for your past struggles." The Grand Librarian stated cryptically.


    Hearing the calm reply from the Grand Librarian, Randy came to himself, realizing he was losing control of his emotions despite managing to keep emotions rted to his past in check all this time. Regaining control, he sought rity in the Grand Librarian''s remark.


    "What do you mean by that statement? Didn''t you say my parents neglected me because of some ultimate purpose?" He inquired, feeling confused.


    The Grand Librarian didn''t directly respond to his inquiry, stating instead.


    "With their achievements from their temporary stay in this universe, I assumed they wouldn''t act without purpose. Even to someone of my caliber, possessing nigh infinite wisdom of the cosmos, their intentions and motives are iprehensible and unfathomable, making it impossible for such existences to cause their child to feel neglected without an ultimate purpose."


    Randy felt exasperated by his words, sensing that the Grand Librarian was evading his questions rather than providing direct answers. Despite his frustration, he retained a degree of calmness as he prepared to reiterate his query. He opened his mouth to speak, but the Grand Librarian''s voice preempted his action.


    "Be that as it may, I suggest you don''t dwell too much on your past circumstances. Moreover, I would advise against harboring resentment toward your parents. Your mortal mother endured excruciating pain to deliver a being of your caliber to the mortal world."


    "What are you talking about? Just tell me who my parents are. If a strange old man like you knows their identities, why am I, their son, the only one kept in the dark?"


    Randy''s frustration mounted as he demanded answers, feeling increasingly agitated by the Grand Librarian''s elusive responses.


    Despite listening to the Grand Librarian, Randy found himself no closer to learning his parents'' identities or unraveling the secrets they withheld from him. Instead, the Grand Librarian''s indirect and cryptic manner of speaking only deepened the mystery surrounding them.


    "Young aspirant, disclosing your parents'' true identities is unwise. It would alert hidden forces currently wreaking havoc across the cosmos. If these sinister forces were to be alerted, it would lead to catastrophic consequences, engulfing countless worlds in death and misery.


    Your carefree lifestyle would be jeopardized, with the certainty of peril and death looming over you." The Grand Librarian solemnly exined, prompting Randy to furrow his brow as he sensed the sincerity in the words spoken.


    The Grand Librarian''s manner of speaking made Randy realize something was fundamentally amiss. Initially, he believed his current struggles were significant, but the Grand Librarian''s exnation implied a greater purpose beyond his earthlyprehension.


    This led him to ponder what the Great Librarian had mentioned about hidden forces currently ravaging the cosmos, and how they would be alerted merely by learning about his parents'' identities. Stirred by a growing sense of urgency, a sense of curiosity began to sprout within Randy, and his desire to learn more about his parents skyrocketed.


    Before returning to his home world, Randy resolved to elevate hisbat power and strength to unprecedented levels, surpassing his peers. At that point, he aimed to confront his parents,pelling them to reveal their true identities and the reasons behind their past mistreatment of him in a time of need.


    With this newfound determination, Randy''s gaze became firm, his mind no longer filled with cluttered thoughts of consideration.


    Sensing the change in Randy''s demeanor, the Grand Librarian nodded in appreciation, finally deciding to broach the main subject.


    "You have been chosen to receive great wisdom, young aspirant."


    Snapping out of his reverie, Randy regained his calm mental state and asked: "Why choose me? I''m sure there are others out there who deserve this so-called great wisdom more than I do. I don''t have any grand ambitions or promises to fulfill."


    "Fate works in mysterious ways. Your ambitions and promises are irrelevant. What matters is that you have met the criteria set forth by the creators of this library, and thus, you have been brought here to fulfill your destiny." The Grand Librarian announced grandly, his ethereal starry robe fluttering in the non-existent wind.


    With a mixture of awe and trepidation, Randy watched as the Great Librarian gestured toward a shimmering portal, through which unfathomable knowledge seemed to beckon.


    "What kind of wisdom would I be receiving?" Randy ventured for an exnation.


    Instead of offering an exnation, the Grand Librarian retrieved something from the void of space and hovered it toward Randy.


    "Take this jade stone, young aspirant. It will serve as your guide and protection during the trial." The Grand Librarian urged.


    Determined and filled with anticipation, Randy epted the jade stone, feeling its energy pulsating beneath his fingertips. With the stone in hand, he approached the portal, ready to embark on his spiritual journey into the unknown.


    Standing before the portal, Randy couldn''t resist another question.


    "What lies beyond this portal?"


    "That, young aspirant, is for you to discover." The Grand Librarian stated cryptically.


    Before Randy could voice any further inquiries in protest to the cryptic reply, the Great Librarian dered in an enchanting tone, as if reciting an incantation.


    "Enter, young aspirant, and receive the wisdom predestined for you. The cosmos awaits the awakening of the champions in this tumultuous era."


    Randy was astounded by the Grand Librarian''s recitation, which immediately beckoned him to step through the pulsating portal, ignoring the possible dangers inside.


    As Randy stepped through the portal, a mixture of awe and trepidation coursed through his psyche. He braced himself for the revtions that awaited him.


    Simultaneously, behind him, the chamber reverberated with the whispers of ancient secrets, its surroundings bathed in a golden hue cast by illuminating mystical runes. Observing the changes unfolding around him with a profound expression, the Great Librarian patiently waited for Randy to emerge.


    ..


    Momentster...


    The Grand Librarian''s gaze, transfixed on the pulsating portal, glowed visibly in cosmic light, his lips curling into a satisfied smile. Not long after, Randy emerged from the portal with a profound expression on his face, his demeanor solemn as he gazed at the crumbled pieces of the Jade Stone in his hands, which had served its purpose during his time in the space the portal led him to.


    Earlier, inside the space beyond the portal, Randy was greeted by nothing butplete emptiness, devoid of any source of light. He found himself unable to move his towering figure within the void of total darkness for reasons unknown.


    Before he could regret his impulsive decision to heed the Grand Librarian''s counsel, he felt the same boundless consciousness from earlier scanning his prodigious body.


    Kaleidoscopic rays of light manifested out of thin air, converging and entering the Jade Stone in his hand. Instantly, the stone began to glow with intense luminosity, enveloping him in its luminous light.


    Soon, mysterious characters began to manifest in his spiritual mind. Though Randy sensed a profound knowledge entering his mind, transmitted from the Jade Stone, he couldn''t decipher its meaning.


    Despite his inability toprehend the mysteries of the knowledge he received, Randy instinctively believed that upon returning to his true body, he would understand and be able to decipher the knowledge engraved on his consciousness. When the transmission process waspleted, he was teleported out of the portal space.


    In the present...


    Squeezing the crumbled jade stone still in his grasp, it scattered, transforming into stardust before disappearing altogether.


    "It appears that you''ve seeded." The Grand Librarianmented.


    "What would have happened if I failed?" Randy inquired, sensing a hidden implication behind the Grand Librarian''s words.


    "Then your consciousness would have been destroyed, akin to dying in mortal terms." The Grand Librarian casually replied, sending a chill down Randy''s spine.


    "I know you have many queries and concerns. While I cannot divulge the answers to your demands, I can assist you in reaching the full potential in one of the skills you possess." The Grand Librarian stated calmly, causing Randy''s eyes to widen with surprise.


    However, his surprised expression vanished the next instant as he felt skeptical of the Grand Librarian''s motives. He suspected that the reason he received the knowledge earlier was most likely due to the simultaneous activation of his skills, but receiving something else from the mysterious Grand Librarian might suggest that thetter wanted something from him in return.


    Randy was hesitant to subject himself to any constraints for a temporary boost in just one of his skills.


    The Grand Librarian noticed Randy''s change in demeanor and reassured him.


    "No need to worry. I''m merely helping out the son of a friend, nothing more."


    This statement made Randy infinitely certain that his parents might be influential figures, to have a friendship with such a cosmic entity.


    He stood amid the expansive chamber, his eyes fixed upon the Grand Librarian who moved with otherworldly grace, his robes billowing in a cosmic breeze.


    With a wave of his hand, the Grand Librarian produced a scroll from under the depths of his starry sleeve, its ethereal glow illuminating the chamber in ethereal light.


    "Behold, young aspirant. This is the Wisdom Scroll envied by myriad living beings of the cosmos. I shall bestow it upon you at this moment in hopes that you might put it to good use during your journey." The Grand Librarian dered with a hint of pride in his intonation.

 Chapter 349: Unique Qualification, Arrogant Mortal

    After the Grand Librarian''s passionate deration, the Wisdom Scrolldisappeared from his hand andhovered before Randy, its contents pulsating with otherworldly energy.Randy received the scroll, feeling its weight in his hands as if it contained the secrets of the universe itself.


    With a sense of reverence, Randy unfurled the scroll, allowing the knowledge within to seep into his very being. His skepticisminstantlyvanished when he instinctively realized the kind of power coursing through him.


    Without hesitation, Randy epted the knowledge it offered, witnessing the scrollscatter and merge with his consciousness. In an instant, his towering form shrank back to its original size and state, leaving him momentarily disoriented.


    As Randy''s body began to revert to his human-sized spiritual form, confusion became evident in his expression. He hadn''t expected the unique experience of walking with his towering body to end so soon.


    Perplexed by the change, Randy inquired:"What... What just happened? Why did I change back?"


    Even though his towering figure was initially cumbersome, as he limated to the new form, he felt boundless power coursing through his veins, bones, and every single fiber of his colossal body. He became intoxicated by the boundless power in his body, making him feel less afraid of the cosmic being iming to be the Grand Librarian.


    Despite iming to be a librarian, the Grand Librarian possessed insurmountable and unfathomable power that made him, when he first confronted him, feel small in his heart, albeit managing to keep his calm outwardly at that time.


    Meanwhile, the Grand Librarian regarded him with a knowing gaze, his expression solemn yet indifferent.


    "You have received a fragment of the universe''s wisdom, young aspirant. But know this ¡ª your presence here is unprecedented. Typically, only beings of unparalleled strength and distinction hailing from the Divine Realm are granted entry to the Universal Library. Your arrival here is...


    unique." The Grand Librarian remarked, waving his hands to depict intricate diagrams and shapes as a visual representation of his exnation.


    Hearing the remark spoken with gravitas, Randy''s confusion deepened, and he opened his mouth to speak, but the Great Librarian raised a hand to silence him.


    "You see, young aspirant, only beings of divine origin possess the strength and resilience to withstand the weight of these forms of wisdom from the Universe itself. Furthermore, only one form of wisdom could be received each time.


    To protect you from harm, the Universal Library has stimted yourtent potential attributes, allowing you to absorb the knowledge without sumbing to its overwhelming power. In short, your consciousness was stimted and your potential was unlocked, so that you may bear the weight of this newfound wisdom without risking permanent harm to both your mortal body and weakened consciousness."


    Understanding dawned upon Randy as the Grand Librarian continued to exin.


    "To safeguard the sanctity of the boundless knowledge contained within these hallowed walls, the Universal Library has taken measures to deter those who are not of divine origin. Fortunately, I recognized your mortal origin during the divine resonance and was able to employ my authority to allow you to pass the requirements.


    Otherwise, your mortal vessel would have been annihted by the chaotic energy roaming the void of space. Even if you survived the chaotic energy with your mortal vessel, your consciousness would have been eroded by the cosmic radiation before reaching the threshold of the Void Gate."


    The Grand Librarian spoke as he recalled the visage of a middle-aged mortal man who also managed to trigger the divine resonance prematurely and was granted immense knowledge toplete a type of unique magic that shouldn''t have existed in the mortal world.


    At the time, using his authority as the GrandLibrarian, he granted thatmortalthe opportunity to gain the knowledge he triggered in the Universal Library as he discovered thatitwas the fate of that mortal.


    That mortal, as he recalled, had already perished after challenging the apparitions that destroyed his homnd. However, the Grand Librarianter discovered that the reason why that mortal challenged the apparitions was not due topassion for the inhabitants of his homeworld.


    Rather, it was due to his inted ego and overconfidence in his new form of magic, an act that spelled his doom at the hands of the formidable apparitions capable of causing devastation to the totality of the cosmos.


    That recent mortal wasn''t the only one who managed to trigger the divine resonance before reaching the path to apotheosis. Once every century, and sometimes millennium,depending on the world''s rank, there were some unparalleled geniuses within each generation whose feats were iprehensible, and their talents surpassed their peers on many parameters.


    They possessed extraordinary fates, making them quite famous or infamous within their respective worlds.


    That recent mortal was one of them. He wasan infamous genius hated by the inhabitants of hisworld. Hisworld was destroyed by the apparitions that invaded it, killing allofits guardiansbefore proceeding to destroy the along with its inhabitants.


    The Grand Librarian only found out about the result of that infamous mortal''s demise when their world was destroyed, its historical events encapsted in a historical artifact, joining the countless world''s AkashicRecords in the Universal Library.


    Reying the Akashic Record of that world, the Grand Librarian observed how the arrogant mortal had been overpowered and outmatched by legions of apparitions, yet he still managed to kill some of thembeforemeetinghis demise.


    Before his death, the Grand Librarian, with his keen perception, detected a spell being cast at thest minute, making him realize that the arrogant mortal might have used a life-saving spell to save his soul from perishing.


    As for what kind of spell it was and what kind of effect it had, the Grand Librarian, with his boundless knowledge,could easily guess some possibilities based on the energy signal, but he didn''t bother to investigate, upholding his motto of not interfering too much with the mortal coils of living beings. He chose to let nature take its rational course.


    Upon hearing the Grand Librarian, Randy absorbed the gravity of the situation, realizing the significance of what had just transpired.


    Randy pondered intently for a brief moment. Finally reaching a conclusion, he looked up at the colossal figure of the Grand Librarian.


    "So¡­ You mean to say that I''m not strong enough to be here? And that the only reason I''m still alive with my spiritual body still intact was due to your protection?" He asked for confirmation.


    The Grand Librarian nodded, confirming his words. Shrinking his cosmic body to match the size of a human, the Grand Librarian continued.


    "It is not a matter of strength, but rather of qualification. The rules set forth by the creators of this library are absolute ¡ª we cannot risk allowing unqualified individuals and those with ill intentions to gain ess to the boundless knowledge and countless mysteries that could disrupt the delicate bnce of the cosmos."


    Randy''s mind raced with questions when he heard the Grand Librarian''s exnation. Feeling the need to interrupt the exnation for rification, he opened his mouth, but the Grand Librarian silenced him with a raised hand, suggesting that he should be patient.


    "I know what you''re thinking, but you''re still too weak to know any more than this level of information. Knowing too much would only bring you endless trouble. Your journey is far from over, young Randy. Use the two forms of wisdom you have gained here wisely during your journey, and one day you may yet prove yourself worthy of the secrets held within these hallowed halls.


    As for the Wisdom Scroll you received from me, ensure that it is used sagaciously when you return." The Grand Librarian firmly stated, calling him by his name for the first time since they met.


    This startled Randy, but he soon regained hisposure, recalling the entity before him was a cosmic being with powers that he wouldn''t be able toprehend. Just standing there, he exuded an endless aura of vicissitudes, making him seem akin to a living divine existence.


    Additionally, the Grand Librarian knowing about his identity was less surprising as he also seemed to know about his enigmatic parents as well as their true identities, which he refused to divulge for an overarching reason.


    "I understand. I will honor the trust ced upon me and wield these giftsresponsibly."


    Randy bowed and thanked the cosmic being before him, realizing that he was initially supposed to receive one form of wisdom, but he ended up receiving two.The first one from the Jade Stone and the second one from the Wisdom Scroll that encapsted a type of wisdom simr to the Jade Stone.


    He recalled that the Grand Librarian stated the only reason for granting him the Wisdom Scroll was because of his friendship with both of his parents or perhaps one of them. At this realization, he felt extremely gratefulto the cosmic being.


    The Grand Librarian nodded in appreciation when Randyexpressed hisgratitudetoward him. He watched him briefly and then continued with his exnation.


    "Remember, young Randy, anyWisdom received from the Universal Librarycan elevate even the most untalented individuals into greatness. But fate, whether good or bad,virtuous or malevolent,is the prerequisite. Those who enter the Universal Library must be revolutionary souls. Lazy tyrants with no ambition are automatically disqualified."

 Chapter 350: Revolutionary and Tyrannical Rulers, Imminent Threat

    Randy listened intently as the Grand Librarian, his words carrying the weight of eons. However, he suddenly interrupted the cosmic being to express his understanding.


    "Are you saying that it is fate, regardless of whether virtuous or malevolent in nature, that determines who gains ess to the Universal Library?" He inquired, not fullyprehending the meaning behind the cosmic being''s remark.


    "Indeed." The Grand Librarian nodded in confirmation.


    "What of those who seek power without ambition?" Randy ventured.


    "Those who aspire to rule in any form without revolutionary ideas are deemed unworthy by the Universal Library, regardless of their achievements. Only revolutionary rulers are epted, and tyrannical rulers are rejected, regardless of whether their endeavors were perceived as righteous or malicious by others." The Grand Librarian stated profoundly, his voice emanating a sense of passiveness.


    "Revolutionary individuals with ruling power and driven by fate are weed here. But those who seek power for the sake of tyranny without any revolutionary ideas are denied entry.


    So, either way, you need to elevate yourself to the status of ruling over a dominion of some caliber to qualify for the Universal Library''s selection?" Randy reiterated the Grand Librarian''s words to the best of his understanding.


    "Exactly." The Grand Librarian confirmed, his cosmic eyes twinkling with approval.


    "I see... Wait a minute. That doesn''t make sense. Since I don''t have any grand ambitions to rule over anything or anyone, by your logic, I shouldn''t have qualified to be here." Randy stated, feeling puzzled.


    However,the Grand Librarian seemed to have anticipated his rebuttal, answering him right away.


    "That was due to your fate and destiny."


    Despite hearing the Grand Librarian''s response, Randy still appeared unconvinced as he had no idea what fate really represented in the context in which the Grand Librarian was using to speak. Was the Grand Librarian stating that his fate was predetermined?


    If his life was arranged by some entity, then he didn''t know how he would be able to reconcile this information with his choices and decisions in life thus far. He needed to pry further if he wanted answers.


    "What about my fate? What does it hold? Is it virtuous or malevolent?" Randy curiously asked, attempting to peer into his own existence since the concept of fate seemed ambiguous from hearing the Grand Librarian''s exnations,which madehim feel ambivalentabout the topic.


    "The Universal Library only recognizes revolutionaries, not mindless rulers. As a result, it holds secrets for those who dream of greatness, not those who crave power."


    Seemingly aware of his concerns, the Grand Librarian tersely answered in a sage-like tone, his cosmic gaze peering into Randy''s spiritual eyes. This disconcerting gaze made Randy reaffirm the Grand Librarian''s identity as a being overseeing infinite knowledge and wisdom of the cosmos.


    "As for your fate, it is uncertain. Most of your future paths are hazy, making it unpredictable. The form you assumed before was most likely from one of the possible futures, one that had noexternal interferences. However, if an external force were to interfere with your current path, your future paths would drastically change to incalcble oues, your destiny suffering in the process."


    "Are you saying that my future path might lead to a malevolent oue?"Randy inquired, feeling a foreboding meaning behind the cosmic being''s words.


    "Not necessarily." The Grand Librarian''s shook his head.


    "As I mentioned, your path is unpredictable. In short, even I am unable to see your potential future destinationwithout breaking karmic regtions, an oue that might alert the apparitions of my hidden location. But don''t fret too much. Your mortal form may be weak, but through enlightenment, you shall discover your true potential.


    You and the otherhumanwere born with mortal bodies but possessed extraordinary legacies, so youshouldbe finejust like that human when they embarked on the path to apotheosis."


    With a pensive expression, Randy listened to the Grand Librarian, absorbing and contemting the hidden meaning behind the cosmic being''s long response. However, he suddenly raised his head to look at the Grand Librarian, his gaze filled with curiosity.


    "What did you mean by the ''other human''?" Randy inquired, not anticipating a straightforward response.


    "Two other mortals preceded youin arriving here, bearing the same unique qualification. In your mortal time reckoning, it would be deemed an exceedingly distant past. If I had to guess, it should be a few centuries using your world''s standards."


    The Grand Librarian unexpectedly replied,his responsedevoid of cryptic utterances.


    ''Two mortals? Could it be¡­'' The cosmic being''s revtion sparked a flurry of spection in Randy''s mind, prompting him to seek rification on the identities of the two individuals to corroborate his conjecture.


    "Who were they? Can you enlighten me?" Randy pressed, harboring a suspicion that the two mortals might be his parents.


    Unfortunately, the Grand Librarian shook his head, declining to divulge their identities.


    "Perhaps someday, if fate permits. Ah... You seem to bear the legacy of one of them.I see¡­Your destinies appear intertwinedsomehow.Thus, you may encounter one of them imminently, or perhaps, you already have."


    "Legacy?" Randy probed, growing more convinced that the two mortals were indeed his parents.


    Despite his conviction, he refrained from certitude without definitive confirmation from the Grand Librarian. He regarded the cosmic being before him, who seemingly disregarded him, realizing the other party did not n on answering him. He sighedinwardly,resigning himself as he chose to abandon the inquiry.


    Although the Grand Librarianheard Randy''s words, the cosmic being appeared preupied, hisboundlessgaze fixated as though peering into a distant realm. Abruptly, his form flickered akin to a malfunctioning image on a screen, briefly assuming an ethereal state before swiftly returning to his starry physical manifestation.


    "Our meeting hase to an end, young aspirant. It seems mydeparture is imminent. Lingering in this segment of the boundless space any longermay jeopardize my concealmentandpromise my location." The Grand Librarian remarked, his tone conveying urgency.


    Randy acquiesced silently, not protesting against the Grand Librarian''s final statement, discerning an urgency in his voice that suggested a foreboding threat on its way.


    Despite the absence of explicit elucidation, deducing from their earlier discourse and the Grand Librarian''s demeanor and urgent tonality, Randy surmised that the cosmic being was evading pursuit, possibly due to the enemy''s discovery of his whereabouts.


    Though this was mostly spective, Randy believed it was not far from reality. For a cosmic entity of such magnitude to exhibit agitation after maintaining indifference throughout their encounter, then behaving akin to a fugitive absconding from a crime suggested a formidable pursuer. Randy had less doubt about his spections being false.


    However, these musingspelled Randy to recognize the implications and peril posed by theso-calledhiddenforces alluded to by the Grand Librarianin their earlier discussion. Aside fromdiscovering the truth about his parents, he realized the imperative of uncovering the enigmatic hidden forcesalluded to earlier by the cosmic being.


    From the cosmic being''s statement, it was evident that a roaming threat loomed over the cosmos. Despite its absence on their thus far, it did not assure their long-term safety. On second thought, Randy deduced that the invasion of otherworldly creatures and dimensional rifts might corrte with the hidden forces wreaking havoc across the cosmos.


    Upon further contemtion, he realized the coherence of his conjecture, as it could ount for all the phenomena afflicting thei.With a resolute sense of purpose, Randy readied himself to embark on this newfound path, his mind azewith both apprehension regarding the concealed adversaries and determination to bolster his strength to safeguard himself and his familyagainst the looming threat.


    Unbeknownst to him, the Grand Librarian was simply evading conflict, wary of excessive involvement in the predestined cataclysm of the cosmos. From his experience, excessive interference from a being of his stature might disrupt the delicate bnce, resulting in the loss of countless lives.


    As a Grand Librarian and one of the Connate Cosmic Existence tasked with overseeing the universe''s development, his fate diverged from that of the cosmic beings born after the universe''s inception. Unlike him and other connate lifeforms, those new cosmic beings chose to inhabit the Divine Realm of Existence.


    Some of these new generation cosmic beingsgradually becameguardians of the mortal worlds that proliferated throughout the universe''s diverse realms.


    As Randy drifted in thought, the Grand Librarian waved his hand, conjuring a shimmering portal behind him. Gesturing toward the swirling vortex, the cosmic being spoke.


    "Your time hase."


    Before Randy could snap out of his reverie, the Grand Librarian solemnly added.


    "Depart promptly, lest you find yourself trapped in this ce for eternity as this temporarily constructed space is on the cusp of copsing."


    Upon hearing these cautionary words, Randy blinked instinctively and then bowed to the Grand Librarian.


    "I am deeply grateful for this opportunity. I vow to repay your trustin the future." His solemn pledge amused the Grand Librarian, who recognized the limitations of his assistance in the current predicamentthe universe was facing.


    If he wished to repay him, he simply needed to be stronger and fend off the threat faced by all living beings in the cosmos. Although the cosmic being entertained these thoughts, he refrained from voicing them and simply nodded in acknowledgment.


    However,at this moment,an unexpected development ensued, causing a slight furrow to crease the Grand Librarian''s countenance. As Randy turned to proceed toward the portal, his movement abruptly halted, as if he had been petrified.

 Chapter 351: Reappearance of the Mysterious Ovoid, Return

    In the Grand Librarian''s perception, just as Randy prepared to step through the portal, his surroundings turned grayscale, his motion seemingly halting in mid-air unnaturally. The phenomenon froze both Randy and his surrounding particles in its wake, creating atemporarysuspended tableau that defied the concept of time.


    Despite witnessing the formation of the frozen temporal zone, an areaattemptingto encapste everything into stasis, the Grand Librarian remained unaffected by the mysterious phenomenon. Moments after this strange urrence, a mystical object, shaped like an ovoid, emerged from Randy''s spiritual body.


    This object emitted a kaleidoscopic light that illuminated the grayscale backdrop of the frozen temporal zone, casting vibrant hues onto the previously monochromatic scene.


    Upon recognizing the multi-colored, crystalline ovoid emitting a mystical, kaleidoscopic radiance, the Grand Librarian found himself unfazed byits appearance, nor did he feel concerned aboutthe unexpected turn of events. With aposedcountenance, he nonchntly observed the neer, his curiosity piqued but his demeanor unruffled.


    Momentster, the mysterious ovoid ceased its motion, reining in its boundless power. It began to assume a humanoid form that closely resembled Randy''s physical appearance. However, the being had shimmering, starry hair that emanated profound cosmic energy. The cosmic energy danced and flickered around their shimmering hair, making it appear as though each strand of hair was set aze.


    As soon as the head was fully formed, one could see that the eyes were closed. Yet, sparks of boundless energy seemed to escape from the corners of the closed eyes, sending ripples throughout the frozen temporal space.


    The Grand Librarian patiently observed the transformation of the being before him. Although the new entity had assumed Randy''s physical form, there were subtle changes in their overall appearance. Mystical ancient runes, simr to the ones Randy had seen in the library''s chamber, adorned the entity''s body, giving them an otherworldly and mystifying appearance.


    The kaleidoscopic, shoulder-length hair cascading down their shoulders made them appear divine. As they slowly opened their eyes, their multi-colored irises betrayed no emotion, as if theycked a soul. Despite this, when they turned to face the Grand Librarian, a momentary emotion shed through their eyes, momentarily breaking their calm facade.


    The Grand Librarian smiled as he witnessed theplete transformation of the mystical ovoid into a humanoid incarnate. An ancient voice echoed from the ovoid incarnate a momentter.


    "Hey, old man. You''re still alive? I thought those invaders had erased you by now. Why haven''t you created a descendant to take your ce?" The ovoid incarnatestated impassively, approaching the Grand Librarian with steady steps that seemed slow but closed a vast distance with each stride.


    The Grand Librarianwas unperturbed. Hedid not take offense to the ovoid incarnate''s crude and tactless remark.


    "I love my job, little one. None, under the suppression of the universalws, can erase my existence without my permission." He stated confidently, his ancient voice filled with absolute certainty.


    The ovoid incarnate shook their head, standing before the Grand Librarian.


    "As always, you''re too full of yourself. And don''t call me ''littleone.'' Just because you have existed long before my conception doesn''t mean I''m beneath you. I have lived and experienced countless iterations in this dying universe." The ovoid incarnate retorted, not appreciating the way the Grand Librarian addressed them.


    "Is that so? But to me, you''re still the same impertinent child that I raised." The Grand Librarian replied with a knowing smile, which irritated the ovoid incarnate.


    The ovoid incarnate scowledat his words, but the Grand Librarian ignored their expression, broaching the topic at hand with a solemn demeanor.


    "Anyway, what are you doing associating with him? Was this part of the arrangement with his parents?" The Grand Librarian inquired, intending to uncover the truth directlyfrom the ovoid incarnaterather than employhis own authority. However, he was disappointed by the reply.


    "Noment." The ovoid incarnate stated bluntly, not even taking a moment to ponder their response.


    "Does acknowledging the truth bring about an irrevocable change?" The Grand Librarian pressed, unwilling to give upeasily.


    "Noment." The Ovoid Incarnate remained steadfast, refusing to provide an answer in any manner.


    "Very well.I won''t pry any further." The Grand Librarian conceded, but he decided to ask for something else.


    "Since you''re connected to the other simted universes, have you glimpsed any favorable oues that could save this universe from total destruction?" He asked, but the same curt reply came from the ovoid incarnate, irritation evident in their voice.


    "Noment. Old man, stop asking me these questions. I won''t answer them. You know the rules better than anyone. Anything about the nes of existence is kept a secret from the main inhabitants. Even I only know what had been transferred over after a failure had urred."


    "So, why did you appear before me right now? Did you have something to inform me, or do you simply miss me?" The Grand Librarian jokedat the end, annoying the ovoid incarnate.


    "As if anyone would care about you. I only wanted to inform you that one of them had perished, and I have received their memories. Honestly, it was disappointing. They barely achieved enough to transfer over."


    "Who perished? Your current host?"


    "..."


    The Ovoid Incarnate remained silent, not directly confirming anything. But, their silence spoke volumes. The Grand Librarian, with his boundless wisdom, immediately understood the implication.


    "Right. The fact that you''re informing me about this means that something significant had urred on the other side to bring a possible change to this one."The Grand Librarian concluded, gazing at the ovoid incarnate with a deep frown.


    "Since you''ve figured it out yourself, I need to leave now. My interference with the temporal flowhereis weakening."


    "Little one. Make sure to protect him when the timees. Do you understand?"


    "Why should I?"


    "You... You don''t n on fulfilling your role?"


    "...I don''t feel like it."


    After making such a defiant statement, the ovoid incarnate began to turn into particles of light before scattering and returning to the frozen Randy''s spiritual body, melding into it. Their ancient voice echoed in the frozen space shortly after.


    "The universe can end for all I care. When the timees, I pray for your deathas well, old man. Goodbye."


    The Grand Librarian stood motionless, seemingly baffled by the ovoid incarnate''sst statement. Cognizant of thtter''s nature, he didn''t take them seriously. Instead, he deeply pondered the message he received from them.


    "This brat... It seems a great change is ahead of us. I hope the chosen champions will seed in defending the cosmos." The Grand Librarian shook his head and muttered in a profound tone, his cosmic body shattering into countless twinkling stars before disappearing inside the depths of the Universal Library.


    As he disappeared, every single manifestation, such as the Void Gate, the Golden Door, the Library''s lobby, and the chambers, seemed to fold in on themselves, scatteringinto sprites of light before converging into a single vortex in space that mimicked a ck hole.


    ¡­


    In the boundless expanse of space...


    Randy was oblivious to the exchange between the mysterious ovoid he had encounteredoncein his dream and the Grand Librarian. By his sense of awareness, he had simply passed through the return portal and found himselffloating amidst the stars,surrounded by the vastness of space.


    Upon passing through the portal, hehad hoped to witness the same celestial bodies,s, and gxies he had seen before. However, he found himself in an empty,deste expanseof space, devoid of any celestial bodies, with only cosmic rays streaming around him. Fortunately, he was still protected by the same membrane that had shielded him from the dangers of the cosmic radiationsearlier.


    Despite thefort of being able to traverse space without any safety concerns, Randy couldn''t help but feel frustrated by his slow pace. It was as if he were crawling through the cosmos at a turtle''s speed, reminding him of his journey through the dimensional rift to enter the Acruxia World. Realizing this, he immediately attempted to contact his system.


    "System, are you there?" Randy called out tentatively, hoping for a reply. However, recalling his earlier failure to contact the entric system, his anticipation waned almost immediately.


    [[I''m here. What do you want?]] The voice resonated in Randy''s head, causing him to feel both ted and irritated.


    The system''s tone sounded angry, prompting Randy to recall the peculiarity of his system''s duality of function. The first form was the emotionless voice, while the second was the slightly emotional voice he had heard during the earlier stages of his awakening. Randy hadn''t heard this voice for a while and had nearly forgotten about it.


    Ignoring the system''s antics, Randy quickly inquired:"Why is my movement so slow in this space?"


    [[You''rereturning to a world that operates on a different time flow. Naturally, you''ll experience a slight dyduring navigation. Don''t worry,you''ll arrive in the next few moments.]] The system replied.


    Sure enough, a few momentster, Randy felt his body suddenly elerate, swiftly breaking through an invisible barrier. As he returned to the surface of the Acruxia World, he noticed his consciousness splitting into four parts, each looking like Randy''s spiritual body, before disappearing.


    Three of the spiritual bodies headed in differentcardinaldirections, toward the locations of his three incarnations. Thest one, which seemed more powerful than the other three, disappeared from the world altogether. It breached space and headed tothe Safe Room, which existed in a different dimensional space and time.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 352: Danger

    Inside the Safe Room...


    Randy''s body, which had been maintaining a meditative posture with its eyes closed, suddenly moved. At this moment, Randy had returned to his body, his eyes slowly fluttering open. As soon as he opened his eyes, he felt a disconnect between all his senses, making him wonder if he had returned to the wrong body.


    Having just returned from the cosmic journey, he was now faced with a dilemma. He felt a sense of difort and rejection as he issuedmands to his own body. Forcefully attempting to stand, he managed to stand on his feet.


    Despite his sess, he found it difficult to maintain his bnce, which reminded him of the unwieldy nature of his previous towering stature.Much like his feelings towards his former colossal body, his original body now seemed foreign to him, despite no changes having urred.


    He took a few moments to readjust and familiarize himself with his body.Once limated, Randy pondered the reason behind the disconnectionbetween his consciousness and body.


    After a brief moment of contemtion, he arrived at a few potential exnations. Eventually, he attributed hisck of control over his original body to his previous experience of possessing fundamentally different type of body.


    Back in the Universal Library, he had transformed into a colossal being and, albeit temporarily,limated to its power, thanks to the Grand Librarian. Upon returning to his regr human body, hebelieved that was the reason hefound it challenging to move, as his human bodypossessed a significantly lesser amount of powerpared to the colossal form he had previously assumed.


    Realizing the disparity between the human form and the previously assumed cosmic form further strengthened Randy''s resolve to be more powerful. This realization also bolstered his unyielding will to discover the truth about everything rted to him.


    However, amidst his thoughts, he suddenly remembered something, causing a frown of concern to crease his brow.


    "I wonder if he''s alright." He muttered, recalling the predicament Brawler Randy was in before sumbing to unconsciousness due to the Divine Resonance. Brawler Randy had been the one most affected by the Divine Resonance, as he had been engaged in a deadly battle at the time of his copse.


    Randy was not constantly connected with his incarnations, as the strain of conducting the process through a different dimensional space was too great. Additionally, his inability to maintain a constant connection meant that he was not always aware of his incarnations'' actions unless he intentionally established a conscious connection.


    He contemted the possible methodof creating a permanent link between his consciousness and that of his incarnations''s consciousness,so he could intervene if they found themselves in a life-threatening predicament. In such dire circumstances, he could utilize the link to teleport the incarnationsinto the Safe Room.


    Despite his musings, Randy was uncertain about how he could achieve such a feat with his current psionic energy. This uncertainty frustrated him, as he once again found himself limited by hick ofpower.


    Regardless, he had no intention of losing any of his incarnations, even if they were not his primary body. Although he had mentally prepared himself for the potential demise of an incarnation, such an eventuality was only eptable if there were truly no other options.


    Setting aside his ns, Randy decided to check on Brawler Randy. He closed his eyes and focused on the connection between them. After a few moments, he was able to sessfully link his consciousness with Brawler Randy''s consciousness, which was still on its way to its host.


    This allowed Randy''s consciousness to enter Brawler Randy''s body when thetter''s consciousness returned, witnessing the set of events that unfolded afterward.


    ¡­


    In the real world, near the Western Region''s Outpost City...


    Liena''s face was haggard, her hair disheveled, and her body marked with multiple injuries that bled freely. She had exerted her full strength in the simultaneousbat against me Legs and me ws.


    Not only that, she had to fend off the other me Werewolves attempting to seize the opportunity to attack the unconscious Brawler Randy. Despite her efforts, the sheer number of opponents had made it nearly impossible for her to remain unscathed.


    Their exchange had been brief,sting only a few seconds. Liena couldn''t fathom the state she would be in if the fight were tost a minute. Despite the risk of danger, she refused to let her enemies have their way, knowing all too well the nature and cravings of the werewolf race.


    She could have escaped on her own, freeing herself from danger and the bothersome Brawler Randy, but her conscience wouldn''t allow her to abandon arade she had worked with, albeit briefly. With newfound determination, shewas resolved to stand her ground as sheassumed a fighting stance, her form poised to battle to the death.


    Brandishing her dagger and summoning her shadow skills, she red at the leaders of the werewolf pack with a defiant gaze.


    "You despicable human!" me ws snarled, his frustration evident.He viewed Liena''s persistence as nothing but a hindrance in his path to exact his revenge.


    "You dare to stand in the way of my revenge? No matter, I''ll rip you apart with my fangs and feast on your flesh before dealing with that bastardthat killed my pack members!"


    Meanwhile, me Legs carefully observed the protectiveand resoluteLiena and the unconsciousandinjured Brawler Randy behind her, a thoughtful expression on his face.


    ''This woman is physically weak, but her shadow maniption always manages to thwart my advances on that strange and unpredictable human within these few seconds of exchange.'' He mused.


    ''I''ll let me ws wither down her mana, then I''ll seize the opportunity to finish her off swiftly.''


    As he formted his n, me ws had already charged forward, a ferocious growl escaping his lips.


    "Die, you wench!" He bellowed, swiping his me-infused ws at Liena''s chest.


    Witnessing the iing attack, Liena bit her lip and braced herself to block the iing assaultof the feral me ws. Before they could sh, however, she saw a figure appear behind me ws, causing her eyes to widen in shock.


    me ws smiled sinisterly, assuming that Liena''s expression was one of terror upon realizing his full strength. However, in the next moment, he felt a stingingand painfulsensation on his back.


    Instinctively, he tensed his muscles in the affected area, which allowed him to lessen the impact of the pain. He then frantically jumped to the side, distancing himself from both Liena and the mysterious figurethat inflicted the pain on his back.


    Afterward, he looked in the direction of Liena and saw a figure standing before her, smiling. The figure was dressed in a ck coat that billowed behind him.The most shocking part, however,was the figure''s identity.


    It was none other than the human who had been unconscious the entire time during their battle with the human woman. With this realization, me ws hesitantly turned to look behind Liena, but the human was still lying there, which shocked him to his core.


    He blinked his eyes a few times, thinking that he was seeing things, but when he regained rity of his eyes and looked behind the human woman, the sleeping human man had disappeared, leaving him dumbfounded.


    At this point, he had no choice but to conclude he was hallucinating seeing the human man behind Liena, probably induced by having just received a sneak attack from the same human man he assumed was incapacitated and defenselessly lying down behind the human woman, Liena.


    Even me Legs, who had been scheming in the background and asionally keeping an eye on the unconscious Brawler Randy, didn''t see what had transpired. From his perspective, the target was lying on the ground one moment, and then another one appeared behind me ws, wearing a different outfit.


    The uncanny development had urred when the unconscious target had turned illusory, fading away in misty,dark particles. This phenomenon sent a chill down me Legs'' spine as he pondered the possibility that this had been the target''s n all along to catch them off guard.


    "Impossible!"


    He couldn''t believe that he had fallen for such a scheme. He hadn''t anticipated such a possibility because he had sensed the target getting injured when one of his pack members had attacked earlier.


    There was no way he could have mistaken the scent of human blood. Doubting theirprevious experience, he wondered if their current situation was all an illusion constructed by their targets. The thought alone terrified him as he looked in the direction of the target with a somber expression before turning to face me ws, who still had a puzzled expression on his face.


    "me ws! Retreat for now! We need to regroup!" me Legs instructed hurriedly, his tone sounding verymanding. He didn''t care what me ws would think of it.


    On the other hand, me ws regained his focus. He gazed intently at his quarry with a reluctant look. With an unwilling expression, he gritted his teeth in frustration before retreating to join up with me Legs and the others.


    Meanwhile...


    Brawler Randy stood before the confused Liena with a mischievous smile that slowly faded away as he examined her condition. Earlier, when he had silently returned to his body, he had assessed it using [Dimensional Sense]and noticed that his injury had nearly healed.


    This was because he was still in his Werewolf King of Wind''s form, which granted him a mild regenerative factor. This allowed him to not lose too much blood and preserve his body, enabling him to remain in stable condition until his consciousness returned.

 Chapter 353: Ruthless Reprisal, Blood Ray

    Upon his return and seeing Liena defending him, he immediately equipped the Shadow Beast Leather Armor and used one of its unique properties, [Shadow Swap], to escape the battlefield while leaving behind a shadow clone to rece him. The swap happened instantaneously, eluding the gaze of those who were watching him.


    [Shadow Swap: This property allows the user to instantly create a clone made of shadow energy that can rece the user''s body to evade deadly attacks. In the process, the user''s form is hidden temporarily in the void and then swiftly teleported to a safe distance away from the battlefield. The interval of teleportation is dependent on the amount of mana used.]


    As he utilized little energy to employ the ability, he didn''t depart the battlefield. He was fortunate enough to reappear behind me ws andunched a w attack, aiming for the left side of his back. If not for me ws'' quick reflexes, jumping out of the way just in time, he would have impaled and ripped out his heart with the decisive attack.


    Despite missing the chance to deal a fatal blow to his opponent, he did not feel disheartened. Instead, he decided to confirm the time psed since he had fallen unconscious. After checking with the system, he learned that only a few seconds had passed.


    The realization that not much time had psed made him feel relieved, but the sight of Liena''s battered state in front of him made him scowl. A look of concern reced his initial mischievous smile, and he instantly became furious, feeling guilty that he had caused the enemy to harm Liena in his absence.


    "Liena, what happened? Why are you bleeding all over? Are you okay? Did they do that to you?" He asked, restraining his anger and expressing his concern, snapping Liena out of her reverieto focus on him.


    She gazed at him for a moment, uncertainty clouding her thoughts on how to respond. She had been poised tosh out at him should he have awakened amidst the battle, but his disy of concern for her well-being disarmed heranger, rendering her unable to act upon her initial impulses. Besides, given their present circumstances, it was hardly the time for petty squabbles.


    "What happened to you just now? Why did you suddenly lose consciousness in the heat of the battle? And when did you find the opportunity to change into such an outfit?" She inquired, disregarding Brawler Randy''s question, scrutinizing him from head to toe with a narrowed gaze.


    Throughout the course of their mission, Brawler Randy had been d in simple attire, but now he donned a ck coat that, while unassuming in appearance, exuded an aura of power that belied its simplicity. She could sense a dramatic shift in the energy emanating from Brawler Randy with the new outfiton.


    As an individual with an affinity for darkness, specifically the shadow attribute, she was highly attuned to the presence of others who possessed the same attribute. At present, she could sense an immense shadow energy radiating from Brawler Randy.


    Feeling the weight of her scrutinizing gaze, Brawler Randy feltpelled to provide her with an exnation before she had the opportunity to voice her suspicions.He would give her a fabricated exnation. Then, he would listen to her side of the story, regarding what happened to her after he fell unconscious.


    "I''m not entirely sure. I felt a wave of dizziness and cked out in the middle of my attack a few momentsago. Perhaps it''s a result of pushing my current state beyond its limits without adequate rest, causing my body to shut down and relievemy mental fatigue?"


    Brawler Randy''s exnation was not entirely false, as assuming the form of the Werewolf King of Wind multiple times a day did have its consequences. However, he had yet to reach his limits, which was why he was still able to maintain the state.


    Liena nodded outwardly in response to his exnation, but inwardly, she harbored suspicions about the vagueness of his ountthat sounded like he was only guessing what had transpired. However, she had no intention of confronting him about it, as she believed that there must be a valid reason for his unusual behavior. Besides, she hardly knew him well enough to pry into his personal affairs.


    Despite having engaged in several conversations during their time together, neither of them had divulged any significant information about themselves. As she pondered his words, Brawler Randy, who had not forgotten his earlier concerns, voiced them once again.


    "What transpired to cause you such grievous injuries? I was only unconscious for about 30 seconds, wasn''t I? They couldn''t possibly have inflicted such damage on you in that short time, unless..."


    He left the statement unfinished and turned his head to re fiercely at the pack of me werewolves. His eyes shed with a purple glint that betrayed a terrifying murderous intent.


    Sensing the depth of his murderous intent, w ws and me Legs scowled deeply. Suddenly, the head of one of the me werewolves exploded, pierced by a destructive, blood-red heat ray of light. With half of their head, including an eye, obliterated, the werewolf''s body copsed to the ground, devoid of any signs of life.


    This unforeseen turn of events startled everyone present. The belligerent me ws'' eyes were marred with ruptured blood vessels, as he felt a sense of responsibility for the sudden demise of one of his pack members.Filled with rage and grief, me ws was poised to abandon all rationality and attack Brawler Randy, the root cause of the sudden tragedy.


    me Legs had to restrain him from making any impulsive moves until they could ascertain the situation properly.


    Despite maintaining a facade of calmness, me Legs could not conceal the dread in his eyes as he gazed upon the partially headless corpse of one of his pack members, their only remaining eyeball bulging with shock and fear, seemingly perplexed by the nature of the attack that had befallen them before their inevitable death.


    Before the death of one of their pack members, me Legs, whose visual acuity was superior to that of the others, was the only one who had witnessed the dreadful ray of light, tinged with a red hue, hurtling towards them at an rming speed, targeting one of them. Before he could fullyprehend the nature of the ray of light, one of them had already sumbed to its destructive properties.


    [Blood Ray]


    This was one of the recently acquired skills that Randy had learned from the Crystallized Ability Stones. Due to the connection that all the incarnations shared with Randy, Brawler Randy was able to effortlessly employ this skill to swiftly eliminate one of the unsuspecting me werewolves.


    Brawler Randy had initially intended to rely primarily on his martial arts skills tobat his opponents, as thatwas what his natureyearned for following his inception as anincarnation. However, the current situation had made him realize that relying solely on his martial arts, when he had ess to Randy''s set of skills, was not a wise decision, as it would limit his versatility inbat.


    Despite this realization, Brawler Randy had nned to utilize Randy''s skill sets only as ast resort to deal with his opponents. However, this time, he decided to employ the [Blood Ray] skill for two reasons.


    Firstly, it was due to the skill''s fast activation speed and the swiftness with which the attack could travel within a short duration. Additionally, when aimed at an unsuspecting opponent, the skill''s destructive nature would result in irreversible damage.


    Secondly, Brawler Randy realized that me ws'' body was more durable than that of the werewolves he had previously eliminated, making it difficult to prate their flesh with his attacks. In his Werewolf King of Wind form, Brawler Randy was much faster and stronger, and his deadly, sharp ws were no less formidable than the genuine ws of a werewolf.


    However, his attempt tounch a surprise attack on me ws had proven to be futile, as thetter had merely clenched their flesh to resist the w attack heunched. His initial goal was to aim at their heart from behind, but he failed in his attempt.


    With his understandingof his opponents, Brawler Randy had decided to set aside his pride and utilize the set of skills that Randy possessed, hence his decision to employ the [Blood Ray] skill.


    As much as he would have liked to employ the other skillsin Randy''s collection, he could only utilize [Blood Ray] as it required less energy to activate while possessing a destructive property.


    Unlike the other incarnations, hecked an energy vessel and could only rely on Divine Points to activate his skills. Therefore,he was reluctant to squander his umted divine points.


    His decision to dispatch the weaker pack membersof the me werewolvesfirst was a strategic move to gather divine points to utilize his skills. He had depleted his reserves and waspelled to resort to borrowing from the umted pool of divine points shared withRandy and the other incarnations.


    In his quest for independence from Randy, he engaged in a discussion with the system and ultimately severed his connection to the others, allowing him to possess his own umtion of divine points without feeling as though he was dependent on the other incarnations or his original self, Randy, for survival.

 Chapter 354: Dispatching the Weaklings

    With a cold expression, he regarded the apprehensive me Werewolves, briefly assessing the two most formidable threats among them before shifting his gaze to the remaining pack members, whom he deemed weaker and easier to eliminate. Without any preamble, he extended his index finger forward, toward the pack of werewolves, formless energy coalescing from the surroundings onto his fingertip.


    The energy then abruptly transformed in nature, taking on a crimson hue that began to swirl into existence. Brawler Randy observed the formation of the crimson swirl of energy with a contemtive expression.


    Subsequently, he decided to conduct an experiment by infusing a few strands of his psionic energy into the swirling mass of energy on his fingertip, causing another change to ur in the nature of the energy.


    As he meticulously conducted his experiment, me Legs and me ws observed the energy formation process, their eyes widening as they sensed dread emanating from the crimson ball of light on Brawler Randy''s fingertip. me Legs reacted first, issuing a cautionarymand to his pack members.


    "Watch out!" He eximed btedly, jumping out of the way with astonishing speed.


    Before the others could register his warning, a swirling ray of light, carrying a terrifying heat signature, arrived in front of them. It targeted one of the me werewolves, burrowing directly through their chest and leaving a gaping hole.


    At some unknown point, Brawler Randy hadunched his attack, which traveled at remarkable speed, catching the me werewolves, including the target, off-guard.


    Witnessing the terrifying and shocking urence, me ws jumped away from the pack members to protect himself, unaware that he had just done what the assant wanted. From the beginning, the target of the ray of light wasn''t even him, nor was it me Legs.


    Brawler Randy wasn''t expecting his attack to work on the two leaders of the me werewolves, even if it hadnded on them. With that awareness, he redirected his attention, targeting the weaker members of their pack.


    After seeding in eliminating his first target, he didn''t stop there. His gaze turned sharp and ruthless as hemanded the ray of light to target each and every member of the me werewolves, except for me ws and me Legs, who had conveniently separated from their pack members to safeguard against his attacks.


    The scene that unfolded was horrifying as the crimson ray of light, as if alive, chased after the fleeing me werewolves and extinguished their lives by either burrowing through their skull or chest as if their bodies were made out of butter.


    Very soon, the power held within the crimson ray of light died down along with the death of the weaker me werewolves it targeted. This terrifying sight left both me Legs and me ws in disbelief. They showed frightened expressions the next moment as they witnessed the aftermath of the annihtion conducted by Brawler Randy.


    Even Liena, who was behind Brawler Randy, was shocked by his disy of power and dominance, after witnessing the death of the weaker me werewolves within seconds.


    To ensure a meticulous sweep of his targets, Randy used his psionic energy on the skill to allow him to control its mobility telekically, making it easy for him to take down his opponents before it ran out of its destructive force. Previously, the [Blood Ray] skill could only attack one target at a time, which was why his first attack had onlynded on one of the me werewolves.


    However, with his new application of psionic energy, which contained a trace of his will, he couldmand the Blood Ray to target multiple opponents. The only downside was that it demanded more time to develop and umte its potency, eliminating the element of surprise disyed by the regr effect of the skill.


    Despite the downsides, which made it unusable on an opponent more than once, Brawler Randy couldn''t deny the power of the skill. When facing opponents where he had no choice but to rely on a skill, the Blood Ray skill seemed like the one he nned on relying on the most.


    At this point, he turned to face the only remaining me werewolves, me ws and me Legs, their eyes locking. As he nced in me ws'' direction, he could feel an immense hatred emanating from his being, but he ignored it as he turned his attention to me Legs, who had a calm expression on his face as he scrutinized Brawler Randy.


    Brawler Randy narrowed his eyes as he locked eyes with me Legs for a brief moment before turning his attention, facing Liena.


    "Liena, can you take care of the big guy over there? I''ll take care of thenky one." Brawler Randy suggested, assigning Liena to fight me ws. Meanwhile, he nned on dealing with me Legs, as he seemed more dangerous, judging from the aura of indifference he felt from his being. For some reason, he detested his calm expression despite witnessing the death of his pack members.


    Upon hearing Brawler Randy''s suggestion, Liena sighed as she wanted to fight me Legs instead of me ws. She had faced off against the two before Brawler Randy awakened, so she knew how strong both of them were, including their strengths and weaknesses.


    From their earlier exchange, she discovered that me ws was a straightforward type who relied heavily on his strength to overpower his opponents. On the other hand, me Legs relied on his speed and judgment tobat his opponent, making him deadly as time went on in the battle.


    When she fought against me Legs, she found herself defending against assaults that targeted her blind spots, and she was blindsided a few times, causing her deadly injuries. All the deadly injuries on her body were mostly caused by me Legs, even though he only attacked her a few timespared to the savage me ws.


    She wanted revenge, but with her haggard state, she was not sure if she could handle him. As she thought of her depleted state, Brawler Randy approached her and touched her shoulder. She tilted her head with a questioning gaze.


    "What are you doing? Ah¡­ This¡­" Her voice trailed off as she tried asking him about his intentions.


    As soon as Randy''s handnded on her shoulder, her body jolted, feeling a warm sensation coursing through her body. All her injuries began to sting slightly, making her feel an itching sensation all over her body.

 Chapter 355: Frightening the Enemies into not Taking Action

    Brawler Randy continued to pour in ethereal energy, the converted divine points, into Liena. She couldn''t resist the urge to moan momentarily as the warm energy flowing through her body was too soothing as if she was in the embrace of angelic being.


    Torn between ecstasy and restraint, she observed as the injuries on her body began to close up, new skin growing to rece the scabs that had formed and fallen off.


    Despite Brawler Randy intentionally letting down his guard, both me ws and me Legs didn''t seize the opportunity presented before them out of caution, assuming the opponent wouldn''t be so careless let down his guard at this stage. They were deeply frightened by his earlier act of mercilessly killing off their pack members to take action against him recklessly.


    At the end of the treatment, Brawler Randy retracted his hand from her shoulder. Liena''s eyes widened as she examined her current state. She was visibly shocked by the miraculous healing of her injuries, prompting her to recall Randy using a simr method to heal her team members in Meistic Forest before aiding her in carrying them back to Alpheotus City.


    Indeed, Brawler Randy had used the Divine Points to heal her wounds, causing his total divine points to dwindle. In theing battle, he would have to rely less on skills to deal with his opponent due to the limited divine points.


    "That should do it." Hemented, observing her healed injuries with satisfaction.


    "Now you can fight without worrying about losing due to your injuries." He said with a smile and then turned around to briefly re at me ws before focusing his attention on me Legs.


    With his back facing Liena, he red at the two me werewolves who took advantage of his copse to nearly inflict irreversible harm on her. He knew Liena wouldn''t have found herself in such a predicament if she had abandoned him to save herself. He wouldn''t have med her had she chosen that option.


    However, even with such a logical option avable, she chose to stay and defend him against threats to his unconscious body, risking her life to ensure he wasn''t harmed, even at the cost of suffering multiple deadly injuries all over her body. After receiving such a selfless favor from her, how could he worry about measly divine points?


    Even if he only had a little bit of divine points left to conductbat, that wouldn''t hinder him too much as he wasn''t someone that relied on skills. Additionally, after killing me Legs, he would replenish his loss with the help of the system. If that wasn''t enough, he might take on more missions that involve killing and replenish the divine points that way.


    "I''ll go ahead and deal with that shrewd one over there on the right. You deal with that rough-looking one on the left." He informed Liena, before shooting toward me Legs, leaving her to deal with me ws, who was in the opposite direction.


    Despite hearing his words, Liena didn''t pay him much attention as she was still shocked by how quickly she was able to recover due to Brawler Randy''s healing method. She continued to observe her body, feeling surprise by her discovery. Not only did her injuries heal without scars, but she also felt energized, almost as if she hadn''t endured a tough battle earlier.


    Watching his receding figure, a glint of light shed in her eyes as she turned her attention to me ws, the one that had been trying to kill her before Brawler Randy intervened. Honestly, she wasn''t sure she would have been able to block me ws'' attack in her previous haggard state.


    Recalling it made her feel annoyed and irritated, as she realized that she nearly lost her life protecting Brawler Randy, something that she wouldn''t have done in the past. She wondered why she even bothered to defend him.


    Despite iming her reasoning for taking action was because of their camaraderie, having tackled a joint mission together, she still found it odd that she went through with it, considering how Brawler Randy had pestered her since their encounter in Mercenary Street.


    Realizing her thoughts were going on a tangent, she refocused her attention on her opponent, the belligerent and ferocious me ws.


    Now that she had recovered her full vitality thanks to Brawler Randy, and she didn''t need to battle against two tough opponents simultaneously, she would employ all her means to repay me ws for belittling her during their brief exchange earlier. Dealing with me ws wouldn''t be easy, but she was confident she could manage to take him down with only a few moves.


    Having fought him before, she had already figured out his weakness, and she intended to exploit it to its utmost, leaving him no choice but to fall under her cold dagger. That was how confident she felt as she leered at me ws with a condescending demeanor.


    Meanwhile...


    Feeling the contemptuous gaze on him, me ws frowned, his face contorting when he realized the human woman was underestimating him, judging by the confident look in her eyes. However, instead of charging at her with reckless abandon in response to her taunt, he decided to examine his opponent before engaging.


    Moments ago, he had witnessed the human man touch her shoulder, and her deadly injuries, mostly caused by me Legs, had vanished as if she hadn''t been injured before. From that alone, he could infer that the human man was not normal, possessing such an unnatural skill to heal others to their perfect state.


    In me ws'' perspective, Brawler Randy''s means seemed unpredictable, possessing a myriad of skills to employ against them since the beginning of their encounter. For instance, he had first transformed into a variant version of a storm werewolf and killed some of his pack members, and then he had suddenly fainted in the middle of the battle.


    Afterward, they had tried to deal with him in his incapacitated state. However, at thest minute, he had split into two, leaving behind a fake to pretend to be unconscious, and then sneak attacked him, me ws, with his true body. At that point, even he, me ws, could conclude that the human man had nned it all from the beginning to catch them off guard.


    Recalling how he had nearly suffered an irreversible and deadly injury at the hands of that human man made him tremble in fear, feeling shivers run down his spine. With that experience, me ws had confirmed that the human man was a terrifying figure and shouldn''t be approached lightly.


    Furthermore, he carried the scent of the Storm Werewolf n, making him doubt his identity, wondering if he was rted to the storm werewolves. However, as far as he was aware, the Storm Werewolves did not have a deep-seated grudge against the me Werewolves, albeit they opposed their choice in siding with the demons to uproot the tyrannical rule of the humans.


    Even though the Werewolf King of Fire had joined forces with the demons, the Werewolf King of Wind didn''t actively attack the Werewolf King of Fire for his decision, only advising him to not get involved with the demons. With that line of reasoning, he suddenly remembered that the Werewolf King of Wind had gone missing for quite some time after visiting the Meistic Forest.


    me ws wondered if his disappearance had something to do with the human man before him. An unbelievable thought crossed his mind at this moment. However, he shook away the thought as the Werewolf King of Wind was much stronger than the human man. He believed there was no way the Werewolf King of Wind, possessing the innate power tomand speed itself, would lose to a mere human man.

 Chapter 356: Shadows Versus Flames[I]

    As Liena confronted me ws, Brawler Randy had already reached me Legs'' position. The atmosphere grew tense as two distinct battles were about tomence. Abruptly, the conflict erupted, all of them kicking off the ground to propel themselves forward, causing a booming sound to reverberate through the earth.


    In the foreground, the hulking me ws'' arms began to glow, forming me-like ws that exuded intense heat, enough to melt metal upon contact. He didn''t take any chances with Liena, preparing his full strength to deal with her once and for all.


    Despite his preparation, when the battle began, he struggled to keep up with the agile and ephemeral Liena, who danced around his attacks like a ghost.


    Meanwhile, in the background, Brawler Randy, d in his Shadow Beast Leather armor, traded blows with the calm and calcting me Legs, whose legs were wreathed in flickering mes. The two seemed locked in a stalemate, with neither gaining an advantage for the time being.


    On Liena''s side of the battlefield, me ws consecutively swung his massive, ming ws with brute force, each strike powerful enough to shatter boulders. But Liena was like an elusive phantom, effortlessly dodging his destructive attacks with fluid grace. Her expression was calm, almost bored, as she stepped lightly out of the way of each blow.


    "Stand still, you wraith!" me ws grunted in frustration, having repeatedly missed his target.


    He lunged forward with all his might, his ws carving through the air with a fiery roar. Liena anticipated his movement, spinning gracefully on her heel as she sidestepped, her movements seeming to blend with the wind. She didn''t even break a sweat executing such intricate maneuvers.


    "Is that all you''ve got? Earlier, I was on the defense, but now that it''s just us, I was looking forward to your me w attack. However, I''m disappointed¡ªyou can''t evennd a single strike with those ws of yours."


    Liena mocked as she darted behind him, her speed and precision unmatched. me ws roared in anger, his movements growing more erratic and wild.


    Boom!


    He mmed his ws into the ground with tremendous force, sending a shockwave of mes outward. Liena leaped into the air, flipping gracefully to avoid the fiery wave.


    While still airborne, she smirked andmented disdainfully:"You''re strong, I''ll give you that."


    Shended lightly on her feet, her eyes sharp and focused.


    "When ites to pure physical strength, I''m no match for you, but strength without control is nothing but recklessness in battle." She coldly stated, pointing her dagger at him.


    Unconvinced, me ws charged again, but Liena disappeared in a sh, reappearing behind him once more. She tapped him lightly on the shoulderwith a little force, disrupting his bnce and causing him to stumble forward. He managed to stabilize himself before angrily swinging in a wide arc behind him.


    However, Liena skillfully dodged the crude and predictable attack by jumping backward to a safe distance.


    With a disappointed expression, she said, "Is this really the best you can do? Lashing out in angerlike a wild animal? I expected more from a leader of the so-calledunparalleledme Werewolf tribe, known for their explosivebat prowess. Then again, you''re pretty pathetic for a pack leader. That burning legs guy seems more suited to the role."


    Meanwhile...


    Brawler Randy and me Legs shed with incredible speed, their movements a blur as they struck and countered multiple times within seconds. The air around them crackled with turbulent energy, the force of their blows creating small whirlwinds.


    Brawler Randy dodged a kick from me Legs, the mes on his legs leaving scorch marks on the ground. Brawler Randy countered with a swift punch, his fist rippling with an ethereal light of vitality.


    Void Rippling Punch!


    me Legs barely managed to deflect it, but the impact still sent him skidding backward.


    "Damn you...!" me Legs growled in frustration, gritting his teethin an attempt to hold in the pain his body had suffered.


    As the battle raged on, me Legs struggled to maintain hisposure under Brawler Randy''s relentless onught. He tried to regain his bnce, but Brawler Randy''s attacks were unyielding, not allowing him a moment''s respite.


    me Legs'' fighting style resembled Liena''s, as both relied heavily on speed to execute their attacks. However, when an opponent could match their speed in battle, the element of surprise in their strikes would be lost.


    That was why me Legs struggled against the Transfigured Brawler Randy, who had assumed the Werewolf King of Wind''s humanoid form, temporarily gaining ess to the wind element and its inherent attributes of motion and speed.


    In addition to the speed boost, Brawler Randy inherited basic martial arts skills from his original body, Randy. He could execute movement and striking techniques with precision, delivering powerful blows withoutwasting unnecessaryenergy¡ªespecially when he tapped into the internal energy umted in his body.


    Although Brawler Randycked an energy vessel after beingincarnated by Randy, over time he realized that his internal, or bodily, energy¡ªgenerated through the digestion and conversion of food and supplements¡ªwas abundant and easily essible with just a thought.


    While Brawler Randy could ess this energy at will, particrly in his transfigured state, there was a drawback. Unlike those with an energy vessel who could recover their energy through meditation, he was unable to do so.


    After experimenting with meditationa few times, he painfully concluded that he had to rely solely on external sources, such as energy-infused supplements or high-energy foodsto achieve the same effect. As a result, he needed to consume significantly more food than others to generate enough energy to fuel hisbody and execute hismartial arts techniques.


    In addition to having attributes superior to most natives of Acruxia at his level, Brawler Randy''s ability to harness his internal energy to enhance his body andexecutemartial arts techniques made him stronger than most fighters¡ªeven those above his level.


    Using internal energyin his transfigured state, he could perform martial arts techniques that delivered devastating force by concentrating his strength into a single pointof impact.


    With such potent strength andbat prowess, Brawler Randy was, in essence, an armipotent with no equals inbat. This allowed him to confidently stand toe-to-toe with battle-oriented race like the me Werewolves, who matched him in raw speed and strength.


    Stimtedby hisadvantage, Brawler Randy fervently exchanged blows with me Legs,nding several sessful punches. However, me Legs remained unfazed, retaliating with strikes of his own, his kicks leaving behind trails of intense heat.


    Still in his Werewolf King of Wind form, Brawler Randy instinctively used the Gale Riding skill from the Werewolf King of Wind''s skill set, moving with the wind itself to strike from unexpected angles. This left me Legs barely able to react to Brawler Randy''s tricky attacks.


    A series of rapid punches and kicks rained down on me Legs, each one finding its mark. His once calm demeanor shattered, reced by panic and fear.


    As Brawler Randy unleashed a flurry ofbination attackson the distressed me Legs, he found a brief moment toment between strikes.


    "You''re fast, but youck discipline in your movement techniques. That''s why you''re losing to me despite your experience in manipting your mes in such an intricate manner. Let me show you what truebat skills look like with your body. Only pain would make you learn faster. If you manage to survive today''s ordeal, you should be able to be a warrior unmatched inbat like me! Hah!"


    Boom!


    me Legs ignored the taunts as he attempted to maintain his distance, using his explosive speed to his advantage. However, Brawler Randy chased after him like a persistent pest. Frustrated, me Legs swung his fist at Brawler Randy''s face, but Brawler Randy tilted his head to avoid the blow.


    Brawler Randy pressed on, matching me Legs blow for blow. His fundamental martial movements gave him the edge in dodging attacks and countering effectively. With each exchange, he forced me Legs back, his strikes growing more precise and deadly.


    With a powerful roundhouse kick, Brawler Randy sent me Legs hurtling toward a nearby boulder. After spinning briefly in the air, me Legs collided with it,eliciting a booming sound, followed bya sickeningcreaking sound echoing in the air.


    Before he could recover, Brawler Randy was already on him again. A swift knee strike to the jaw left him dazedfor a moment.


    me Legs'' expression shifted multiple times, veins bulging on his slightly furry face. Feeling the metallic taste of blood in his mouth, he realized the painful truth. He had been outmaneuvered in bothbat skill and speed, his specialty. Rather, he had been aware of this truth after a few exchanges with his opponent, but he refused to acknowledge it until now.


    "Enough of this!"


    me Legs suddenly growled in protest to the reality unfolding before him, anger bubbling over, attempting to take over his rationality. Despite his enraged state, me Legs still managed to subdue his clouded mind, regaining rity. Afterward, he fiercely looked at Brawler Randy, who was preparing to assault him with another kick.


    Boom!


    Suddenly, me Legs''s body began to undergo a transformation, his form bing more beastly. His entire aura morphed into that of a primal predator, a wave of turbulent energy radiating from his body, forcing Brawler Randy to step back a few paces.


    Despite assuming his ultimate form, me Legs didn''t rush to attack. Instead, he leaped a considerable distance backward to catch his breath, his legs igniting with intense fiery heat.


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 Chapter 357 Shadows Versus Flames[II]

    357 Shadows Versus mes[II]


    A popping sound, reminiscent of heated corn, filled the surroundings as he infused me-attributed mana into his bulging legs.Once his legs were fully charged,with an explosive sound,he swiftly lunged forward to confronthis prey.


    As he closed the distancebetween himself and Brawler Randy with a remarkable speed iparable to his speed before, me Legs leaped into the air, delivering a powerful kick aimed directly at Brawler Randy''s midsection. The mes around his legs roared furiously, promising destruction to anyone in their path.


    But Brawler Randy''s eyes flickered with a purple light as the attack approached. When the kick connected with his body, me Legs smiled in victory. However, his expression suddenly changed. He felt no resistance, only a burst of shadowy sprites flooding his vision. The prey he had struck appeared to have dissipated into the air like misty shadows.


    "How is that possible?" He uttered in disbelief.


    Shadow Swap!


    Before he couldnd after missing his target, Brawler Randy had already materialized behind him, his fists already in motion. He drove a crushing blow toward me Legs'' spine, his face a mask of ruthlessness.


    Shocked, me Legs eximed:"What?!"


    At that critical juncture, me Legs'' survival instincts kicked in just in time. With remarkable reflexes, he twisted his body mid-air, narrowly avoiding the lethal attack aimed at his spine.


    Boom!


    He unleashed a fiery explosion beneath his feet, creating distance between himself and Brawler Randy. Hended a few meters away, breathing heavily, his eyes wide with the realization of how close he hade to defeat.


    He was in an extremely precarious situation, and his survival instincts had taken over, maneuvering him away from an attack that would have spelled his doom. This near-death experience left him terrified but also more determined. If he wanted to ensure his survival, he needed to fight with everything he had, no holds barred.


    Exhausted, battered, and bruised, me Legs rose to his feet, determination burning in his eyes. He channeled all his remaining energy into his legs, the mes intensifying until they zed blindingly bright.


    With a bestial roar, me Legsunched himself at Brawler Randy with remarkable speed, catching him off guard, his eyes widening at the sudden increase in me Legs''s speed. me Legs aimed a devastating kick at Brawler Randy''s stomach, the concentrated mes threatening to turn him to cinders.


    However, contrary to me Legs''s expectation,Brawler Randy had anticipated hisattackand was merely faking his surprise. With a cunning smirk, he sidestepped at thest possible moment, and me Legs''sstrike hit nothing but air. As he stumbled forward with themomentumof his attack, Brawler Randy appeared behind him with lightning speed, his fist glowing with rippling power.


    Before he struck, Brawler Randy grinned fiercely and muttered:"Nice try, me wolf. But this ends now!"


    Void Rippling Punch! Full Power!


    With absolute precision and no holds barred, he delivered a crushing blow to the back of me Legs''shead, a cracking sound reverberating through the air. The impact sent me Legs crashing to the ground, rolling a considerable distance beforeing to a halt.


    The mes around his legs flickered onest time before extinguishing as he lost consciousness. Observing the blood oozing out of his orifices, dying his orange fur red, it appeared as though a powerful chaotic force had run amok inside his head.


    He had perished before he could fullyprehend the attack that sealed his fate.


    Back on Liena''s side...


    Liena heard the sounds of intense battle behind her and turned, intrigued by themotion. At that moment, me Legs had gathered an immense me-attributed mana into his legs for an all-out attack. She watched as he charged toward Brawler Randy, but squinted when me Legs'' attack failed tond.


    "Shadow skill¡­?" Liena muttered, watching as Brawler Randy countered the attackwith a shadow skill simr to hers. She observed as Brawler Randy followed up with a brawling move, effortlessly striking down me Legs and ending his life.


    She wondered what kind of skill it was¡ªits shockwave effect was unlike anything she had seen before. As a professional assassin, Liena had encountered many techniques, but this one was new to her.By her assessment, it didn''t appear to be conceived from an innate affinity like her shadow skills.


    Meanwhile...


    While Liena pondered, me ws sensed the death of thest remaining member of his pack, me Legs. A wave of sadness clouded his mind, his eyes turning bloodshot.


    Liena''s taunting words echoed in his head, especially her remark that me Legs was more suited to be the leader of their pack. Now, with me Legs dead, his heart was filled with rage and indignation.


    The topic of who should lead the pack had long been debated within their tribe. Many had proposed me Legs for the position, but he always refused.


    me ws wasn''t naive. He knew why me Legs declined.It wasn''t out of a desire to avoidpetition, but because he didn''t want to strain their rtionshipas childhood friends. me Legs hadoftensaid he preferred staying in the background, giving instructions rather than taking the role of leaderin the foreground.


    Understanding me Legs''s true reasons made me ws feel as though his own position as leader was unnecessary, his role bing redundant.


    Evenworse, during critical moments, the entire pack¡ªincluding me wshimself¡ªwould instinctively look to me Legs for guidance. This wounded his pride deeply, though he never voiced his feelings. Now, with Liena deeming him unworthy of leadership and openly iming me Legs would have been a better leader, his bottled-up emotions surged like aragingstorm.


    His rage soonturned tobitterresentment upon sensing me Legs'' death at the hands of thatstrangehuman. As the pack leader, witnessing the deaths of all his pack members was not just painful¡ªit was a disgrace, a mark of his ipetence.


    me ws growled in fury, his body transforming much like me Legs''s had during his battle with Brawler Randy. His form was now wreathed in mes, but unlike me Legs'' streamlined transformation, which focused on speed, me ws''s new form was bulkier and sturdier, greatly enhancing his physical strength. His strength was nearly doubled.


    The downside to this transformation was apparent. His movement, already slow before, had now be even more sluggish, eliminating anyadvantage he once had.


    Aware of this weakness, me wspensated by igniting the mes around his legs, much like me Legs, using them as propellers to maintain a speedparable to his humanoid form. In addition, he now moved on all fours, having shifted to a quadrupedal stance.


    Boom!


    With a sharp focus, Liena effortlessly sidestepped the attack, her movements fluid and precise. However, the heat from the strike still grazed her shoulder, leaving a burn mark. Her nonchnt expression turned serious as she realized me ws''s attack range had increased beyondparison.


    Recognizing the threat,she began pacing herself more carefully. She adjusted her stance,gauging me ws''sreach and attack patterns. Soonenough, shedeciphered the attack range and patternand, once again, found herself unimpressed with me ws.


    me ws, realizing he was losing his advantage once again, roared angrily:"Stand still, you coward!"


    He swung his arms in a wide, sweeping motion. Liena ducked under the attack, her body bending in an almost unnatural way. With a swift spin, she shed from a distance, sending a crescent-shaped shadow de toward his side¡ªa dagger technique powered by her innate shadow skill. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    me ws barelymanaged toavoid the strike, stumbling sideways with a frustrated snarl. Regaining his footing, he resumed his reckless assault. This time, he nned to lure Liena in by remaining stationary.


    Noticing hisck of movement, Liena moved with blinding speed, darting around him in a blur and striking at his exposed areas. Each attack was precise, probing his defenses and searching for weaknesses in his new, enhanced body.


    ''Keep attacking just like that. Once I figure out your pattern, I''ll crush your feeble skund feast on your flesh as revenge for my fallen pack members!''me ws thought with boiling animosity, watching as Lienanded a series of light but calcted strikes across his sturdy body.


    With hisenhanced state, even if he couldn''t defeat her immediately, he could withstand her attacks, receivinglittle damage.He was gambling on taking the hits to analyze her attack pattern, waiting for the moment he could strike back with one decisive blowto settle the score.


    All it would take was one hit from him to pulverize his prey. After all, his preymight be quick on her feet, but her body was much weaker than hisnormal form, much less his transformed state that doubled his physical strength.


    Liena, unaware of me ws'' n, continued to strike and weave around him. Her expression remained almost bored as she seamlessly dodged his powerful but clumsy swings.


    ''What is he doing? Has he given up, or has he lost his mind again?''Liena thought, assessing me ws'' erratic and increasingly ineffective attacks. The rage and focus he had disyed earlier seemed to have faded, leaving only desperation.


    From an observer''s perspective, me ws'' frustration was palpable. His movements were slower, his attacks bing more desperate. In contrast, Liena remained calm andposed, weaving around him like a ghostly shadow, her movements fluid and unnatural.


    After a while, me wssuddenlysaw an opening¡ªor so he thought. Ina sudden burstof power, he roared and unleashed every ounce of his strengthhe had left.


    With a beastly cry, he swung his massive, ming ws in a wide arc, aiming directly for Liena''s midsection. The scene eerily resembled me Legs'' final, desperate strike.


    However, me Legs, in the end, failed in his attempt, losing his life tragically. As for whether me ws would fare any differently, only fate could decide the oue.

 Chapter 358 Holy Knight Randys Fear

    358 Holy Knight Randy''s Fear


    As expected, but just as the fiery ws made contact with Liena, her form abruptly dissolved into a shadowy mist, disappearing. Unbeknownst to me ws, her true form reappeared behind him, emerging from his own shadow with her dagger poised.


    "Predictable." She whispered, her voice cold and detached.


    me ws, alerted by her voice, began to turn his head, but it was toote. Liena had already driven her dagger into the base of his spine, paralyzing him for a moment.


    me ws copsed to the ground, gasping for breath. Liena stepped out of his shadow and stood before him, her eyes cold and indifferent as she gazed down at him like he was an insect.


    "You''re too slow." She said, her voice devoid of emotion. "You never stood a chance against me in the first ce. But, with how reckless you were, it made it easier for me to defeat you."


    "You witch!" me ws growled, attempting to stand. But Liena stomped him back down, forcing him to sprawl helplessly on the ground. He struggled to rise, but it was futile. The mes surrounding his body flickered weakly, their luminosity fading. Having exhausted all his mana in that desperate,st-ditch attack, his transformation could no longer be sustained, and he reverted to his original form, lying prone and defeated.


    Weakened and on lying t on the ground, me wsforced his head tolook up at Liena, a mixture of fear and defiance in his eyes. She stared down at him, her expressionunreadable.


    "H-How...?" me ws, on hisst breath,mutteredin rasped voice. He could barely utter this single questioning word. His disbelief was palpable¡ªhow could he have lost to this human woman when he was clearly stronger?


    As if sensing his thoughts, Liena scowled before responding.


    "You muscle for brains. Did you think I won by chance? Let me break it down for you so that you can understand." She said, her tone sharp.


    "I won because I fight using my brain. And, more importantly, I adapt to my enemies. You, on the other hand, relied heavily on brute strength, one of the blessings of your race, a natural ability you inherently possessed rather than one obtained through rigorous training. Unfortunately, you never truly mastered your inherent ability. Finally, your overconfidence in your physical strength made youcent, and that''s why you lost."


    Swish!


    In one swift, fluid motion, Liena activated her technique, extended her Shadow de phantom on her dagger, and struck me ws through the heart, ending the fight. She severed their connection, preventing any potential future dangers.


    Meanwhile, me ws''s eyes widened in shock and disbelief. His body slowly went limp. Then, he slumped lifelessly to the ground. Liena stood over his fallen form for a brief moment, her face impassive, then turned away.


    She headed toward Brawler Randy, who was approaching her with a matter to discuss¡ªsomething to do with the dead bodies of the me Werewolvesthey had dispatched.They needed to figure out how to deal with the remains of me Werewolves. Otherwise, it might attract attention or bring disaster to them with the corpses littering the roadway to the outpost city.


    ¡­


    Imperial City, Residential Street.


    Holy Knight Randy''s eyes fluttered open as he awoke on a simple butfortable bed. His eyes were dazed and unfocused,his mind clouded in a lingering state of reverie.He blinked a few times, as if waking from a long yet fleeting dream.


    As he slowly regained some rity, he gradually took in his surroundings. The room''s unfamiliarity was his initial observation. His thoughts were too chaotic to be certain about his own assessment.


    He pushed himself upright, feeling the cool, soft linen against his skin. The room was dimly lit, with soft sunlight filtering through the curtains. The light reflected off a set of metallic golden armor beside the bed.


    ''That''s my Holy Knight armor... Who took it off me?'' The thought crossed his mind briefly before he dismissed it.


    "Wait... This isn''t my estate¡­ This isn''t Zt Grant''s estate on Aristocratic Street. Which means..."


    Randy gripped the edge of the bed, feeling the smooth, sturdy wooden frame beneath his fingers instead of the familiar metal frame as he confirmed his suspicions. Sitting up, he donned his Holy Knight armor with a contemtive look. Afterward, he decided to survey the room. As he walked around the room, the clinking of his armor echoed in the silence. Regaining full rity at some point, his mind drifted back to the strange experience he hadexperiencedthrough his original body''s perspective.


    ''So,it wasn''t a dream?That cosmic being... The Grand Librarian? Such an entityactually exists in this universe?''He thought, his brow furrowing in concern.


    Recallingthe memory of the overwhelming and dreadful presence of the Grand Librarian, Holy Knight Randy scowled as he felt a sense of trepidation wash over him. The more he recalled the experience, the more he felt a shiver run down his spine.


    Although he hadn''t been the dominantconsciousness during the encounter, he had experienced everything through his original body''s perception, making it seem as though that was his own experience.


    While most of the pressure exerted by the cosmic being was focused on the main consciousness, Holy Knight Randy, along with Brawler Randy, and thetest incarnation, also felt the residual force weigh on their consciousness. The force became more potent particrly when the Grand Librarian peered into Randy''s existence. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    At that moment, they sensed the cosmic being''s gaze momentarily brush against them, deep within Randy''s consciousness, before shifting away. That brief nce carried an unsettling animosity, leaving Holy Knight Randy feeling as though he were teetering on the edge of life and death.


    The experience shook himtremendously. Holy Knight Randy, whose consciousness was weaker than that of Randy''s original consciousness, felt utterly exposed. Had they not shared the same essenceas the original consciousness, he feared the cosmic being might have erased him and the other consciousnesses within Randyfrom existence altogether.


    Suddenly, Holy Knight Randy snapped out of his spiralingthoughts, shaking his head to clear his mind.


    ''Now isn''t the time for this. I need to confirm my location, though I have an inkling of where I am.''


    He pushedaside the lingering feargnawing at his mind, refocusing on his present situation.With his mind cleared, he stepped toward the door to the room.


    Reaching for the door, he grasped the doorknob and swung the door open. Stepping out, he found himself in a long corridor lined with doors simr to the one he had just exited.


    ''As expected. This is an inn.''Holy Knight Randy concludedin his mind, scanning his surroundings.


    At that moment, a noise caught his attention. Turning, he saw a young woman in what appeared to be a maid''s uniform, carrying a mop and bucket, exiting the room adjacent to his. She seemed to be the inn''s room attendant. Startled by the sight of him in full Holy Knight armor, the young woman stiffened but quickly feigned rxation when she recognized him.


    "Oh, sir Holy Knight, you''re awake. I hope the room was to your liking."


    "Which inn is this?" Holy Knight Randy ignored her words and demanded, his tone firm but not overly harsh.


    Realizing the inappropriateness of holding onto the cleaning tools, the attendant hastily leaned the mop against the wall and set the bucket down, wiping her hands on her apron before replying.


    "This is the Luxurious Inn, sir." The attendant replied hastily, wringing her hands slightly under his continuous sharp gaze.


    Holy Knight Randy frowned, processing the information. This was the inn where Brawler Randy had stayed.


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 Chapter 359 Holy Knight Randys Thoughts

    359 Holy Knight Randy''s Thoughts n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Holy Knight Randy had visited the Luxurious Inn earlier to visit Brawler Randy before his copse, but now he ended up inside one of their rooms when he woke up.


    ''It can''t be him who brought me here¡­ right?''The thought flickered in his mind, but he quickly dismissed it, focusing instead on the woman before him, his sharp gaze making her tremble slightlythe longer it lingered on her.


    "How did I¡­ No, who brought me here?" He asked, recalling thest person he had encountered before losing consciousness. However, considering his current guise as Zt Grant, he found it hard to believe. Despite his doubts, he decided to inquire further.


    "You were brought here by a woman in green clothes ¡ª abat uniform, I believe. She made sure everything was taken care of for you." The attendant answered to the best of her knowledge.


    Holy Knight Randy''s eyes narrowed at the mention of the green-clothedwoman, his mind shing back to their brief encounter outside the inn. He remainedposed, though inwardly, he was surprised by this revtion.


    Tentatively, he pried further.


    "That woman... did she say anything when she brought me here?"


    Though puzzled by his questioning, the attendant thought for a moment before responding, recalling what she had heard.


    "Only that you needed rest and should not be disturbed. I also overheard the innkeepermentioning that she paid for the entire day''s worth of residence. Everything, including food and amodations, was taken care of. You''re wee to stay until noon tomorrow, Sir Holy Knight." She added sincerely.


    Holy Knight Randy''s thoughts momentarily drifted.


    ''She not only ensured my, or rather Zt Grant''s amodations but also secured his privacy, which is highly unusual, considering her impression of Zt Grant.'' He remained outwardly calm, though his mind raced with possible reasons for why she would help someone she disliked. After much deliberation, Holy Knight Randy could only arrive at one odd conclusion.


    ''Does she secretly harbor feelings for Zt Grant?'' The thought crossed his mind more than once, but he eventually dismissed it as absurd. ''No, that''s just my conjecture.''


    Perhaps she was simply apassionate person. She saw someone in need and acted out of kindness. That exnation seemed far more reasonable to Holy Knight Randy than imagining she harbored feelings for the hedonistic Holy Knight just because of a single kind gesture from her.


    Nodding to himself, Holy Knight Randy addressed the young woman.


    "Thank you for your help and suggestion, but I must be on my way now."


    The young womannodded, lowering her gaze as he walked pasther. Only after he left did she dare to nce in the direction he had gone.


    "Was that really the infamous Holy Knight Captain Zt Grant? He''s so different from the rumors."She murmured to herself.


    As a new worker, she had heard tales of Zt Grant from her seniors, and none of them were ttering despite Zt Grant''s status. They spoke of him as a notorious lecherous man who preyed on women wherever he went, even harassing staff at the inn. Some of the room attendants had been on the receiving end of his advances during his previous visits.


    She had dreaded the thought of encountering him, and when her luck ran out and she did, fear took hold. However, Despite her initial fright upon their encounter, she still managed to salvage the situation by feigning a smile and acting surprised. In the end, though, it seemed unnecessary.


    The Zt Grant she encountered did not seem to show any interest in her, nor did he seem to have noticed her difort. On the contrary, she believed he might have noticed, but he didn''t feel offended by her reaction.


    ''Maybe my seniors exaggerated the rumors a bit when they said he pursued every woman he saw. I mean, I''m not a stunning beauty, but as a woman in my early twenties, I''m still considered attractive by normalstandards.What am I thinking? If he was even anything close to the rumors, I should be d he didn''t target me.''With this thought, she shook her headand returned to her dutiesas a room attendant, though her mind lingered on the encounterwith the infamous Zt Grant.


    Meanwhile, downstairs¡­


    Holy Knight Randy entered the lobby, passing by the front desk where a middle-aged woman ¡ª the innkeeper, ording to Zt Grant''s memories ¡ª approached him with a warm smile.


    "Greetings, sir Holy Knight. I trust your stay at our inn was pleasant?" She inquired perfunctorily about his stay, her tone polite but professional. Just as he was about to respond, a thought urred to him.


    ''If I recall correctly, I believethatgreen-clothedwoman''s name was Sylvana. The main body had quite a memorable encounter with herin the past. Maybe I should leave a message to express my gratitude. Even though I don''t fully understand why she helped Zt Grant ¡ªme¡ª it''s still customary to thank someone who aids you in a vulnerable moment.'' With this thought in mind, he addressed the innkeeper.


    "The woman in green who brought me here¡­ When she returns,please convey my gratitude for her kindness. Inform her that I intend to repay her in the future." Holy Knight Randy instructed, deciding to leave a message to express his gratitudeto his benefactor.


    He then made his way to the door, pausing at the threshold of the inn''s exit before responding to the innkeeper''s polite inquiry.


    "And yes, while the room''s setup was simple and understated, perhaps a bit too modest for someone of my standing, it was nhelessfortable." He added, surprising the innkeeper, who hadn''t expected such a courteous response from the usually grumpyZt Grant.


    Leaving theinnkeeper in stunned silence,Holy Knight Randystepped out of the establishment. The street outside was quiet, as one would expect from a residential area. Unlike the bustling market and rowdy mercenary districts, the aristocratic and residential streets were distinct in their tranquility.


    That should expected as the two streets housed the city''s inhabitants. Additionally, they were subjected to strict noise regtions enforced byw enforcement. No one dared to disturb the peace, lest they draw the ire ofw enforcement.


    As he walked the narrow streets, his thoughts turned to the primary agenda for taking the trip to Residential Street. He came to inform Brawler Randy of his uing mission from the Holy Church of Light. Unfortunately, he had missed him.


    ording to his sources, Brawler Randy had already departed early on a joint mission with a notable woman from the Assassin''s Guild. He knew of this information thanks to the Grant family''s extensive informationwork, which he exploited through Zt Grant''s identity to gather intel on Brawler Randy.


    While he didn''t know the specifics of their mission, based on Brawler Randy''s reckless behaviorand attitude, Holy Knight Randy doubted it was anything of real significance to their original


    To assess Brawler Randy''s actions and behavior, he shadowed Brawler Randy''s movements through his men and discovered that he had gone to a casino to stir up trouble, caused a scene, and even offended the owner. In retaliation, the owner sent his best assassins after him, but Brawler Randy managed to escape unscathed, not before leaving the two female assassins sent after him severely beaten.


    As someone with a stringentcharacter,dedicated to the mission assigned by theiroriginal body, Holy Knight Randydisapproved of the carelessness and recklessness exhibited by his fellow incarnation.


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